Loring Ellis Gaffy Biography


	This biography appears on pages 56-57 in "History of Dakota Territory" 
	by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				HON. LORING ELLIS GAFFY. 

	Hon. Loring Ellis Gaffy, lawyer, jurist and Dakota pioneer, now 
one of the leading citizens of Pierre, was born in Clinton county, New 
York, on the 12th of January, 1850, a son of James Gaffy, whose birth 
occurred in County Westmeath, Ireland, and who in the year 1834 crossed 
the Atlantic to the United States, settling in New York, where he 
remained until 1855. In that year he removed westward to Wisconsin with 
his family, settling near Fond du Lac, where he engaged in farming 
until his death, which occurred in 1886 when he was on a visit to North 
Dakota. He wedded Nancy Dale, a native of Vermont, and of their family 
of three children, Judge Gaffy is the second in order of birth. His 
sisters are Mrs. C. A. Walker, of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin; and Mrs. W. 
J. Young, of Seattle, Washington. 

	The public-school system of Fond du Lac afforded Judge Gaffy his 
early educational privileges, which were supplemented by study in De 
Lands Commercial College. His review of the broad opportunities of the 
business world led to his selection of the law as a life work and he 
began his preliminary reading in the office and under the direction of 
Judge Drury in his home city. In 1871 he went to Greeley county, 
Nebraska, where he remained until 1873, when he became compass man on 
the United States survey of western Nebraska. In 1874 he went to Grand 
Island, Nebraska, where he continued his studies in the office of 
George H. Thummel, and in 1876 was admitted to the Nebraska bar. The 
following year he came to Dakota territory, settling at Deadwood, where 
he continued in active practice until 1884. In the meantime be had 
become recognized as one of the leaders of the republican party in that 
locality and was made the candidate for the territorial senate in his 
district in 1880. 

	Four years afterward Judge Gaffy removed to Pierre, where he has 
since resided, and throughout the intervening years he has been almost 
continuously in office, his official duties, however, always being in 
the strict path of his profession. He was elected states attorney of 
Hughes county in 1888 and was the incumbent in that office for four 
years, or until 1893. In 1894 he was appointed judge of the sixth 
judicial district and was thereafter elected and reelected to the bench 
until he had served continuously for twelve and a half years. His 
decisions were strictly fair and impartial and were characterized by a 
masterful grasp of every problem presented for solution. On his 
retirement from the bench he resumed the private practice of law as a 
member of the firm of Gaffy & Stephens and is now senior partner in the 
well known and leading law firm of Gaffy, Stephens & Fuller. He has 
always made the practice of law his real life work and there is no one 
who more fully recognizes tile necessity for a most thorough 
preparation or prepares his cases with greater care. In argument he is 
strong, logical and convincing and his utterances lead through the 
steps of orderly progression to the logical conclusion upon which the 
decision of every ease finally turns. His interests outside of his 
profession are those which have to do with general business development 
as well as with individual success. In 1912 he was elected president of 
the First National Life & Accident Insurance Company and now largely 
devotes his time and energies to his important and responsible duties 
in that connection. He is also president of the Suburban Acreage 
Company and through that medium is largely interested in irrigated 
lands. 

	Judge Gaffy has been married twice. In March, 1878, he wedded 
Fannie B.Price, whose death occurred in Pierre in 1887. In February, 
1900, he wedded Adelaide W. Warwick, of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, a 
daughter of Judge William I. Warwick, and again death entered his 
household on the 14th of February, 1913. 

	Judge Gaffy is prominently known as one of the foremost leaders 
of the republican party in South Dakota. He was among those most active 
in the spirited contest which finally resulted in the choice of Pierre 
as the state capital and he has always been found in the van of every 
movement of a progressive nature affecting his city or the state at 
large His fraternal relations are with the Masons and Huron Lodge, No. 
444, B. P. O. E., and along professional lines he is known as a member 
of the South Dakota Bar Association and the American Bar Association. 
He has broad insight into the basic principles of the law, supplemented 
by an intellect keen, discriminating and analytical. Moreover, he is a 
profound student along many lines and an omnivorous reader of the best 
English literature Outside the diverse activities of an especially busy 
life he has found time to devote to the many complex questions arising 
from the development of a new country from the condition when sod and 
claim shacks were prevailing features of the landscape to that of 
modern civilization. His influence has ever been a potent force for 
progress and development. For many years he has been deeply interested 
in prison labor reform and the general betterment of prison conditions 
and is a member of the Prison Labor Reform Society. In fact, he has 
studied deeply the grave political, sociological and economic questions 
of the day and at all times keeps abreast with the best thinking men of 
the age. He finds pleasure and recreation in hunting, fishing and 
horseback riding and through these means has maintained that even 
balance in life which is lacking when business care monopolize 
attention. The state accords him position as one of its foremost 
lawyers and Pierre places him among its most prominent citizens.