James Halley Biography


	This biography appears on pages 558-561 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. JAMES HALLEY. 

	Hon. James Halley is the president of the First National Bank of 
Rapid City and has left the impress of his individuality for good upon 
the financial history of his state. He was born in Stirling, 
Perthshire, Scotland, January 7, 1854, and when but two years of age 
was brought by his parents to the United States, settling in 
Washington, D. C., where he lived to the age of sixteen years, pursuing 
his education in the meantime in the public schools. He afterward 
learned telegraphy and was employed in various places in the south for 
a year, after which he returned to Washington and after a brief period 
removed west to Cheyenne, Wyoming, there becoming chief operator for 
the Western Union Telegraph Company. He remained at that place for 
three years and then went to the Pacific coast, afterward returning to 
Omaha, where he spent a few months. Once more he went to Cheyenne and 
in 1876 he opened a series of offices between that place and the Black 
Hills for a company composed of Cheyenne and Deadwood capitalists. He 
arrived in Custer in August and at Deadwood late that year. He 
continued in the employ of the company until 1879, when he entered 
banking circles through appointment to the position of teller in the 
First National Bank of Deadwood. The following year, 1880, in 
connection with Mr. Lake of Deadwood and Mr. Patterson of Rapid City, 
he organized the banking house of Lake, Halley & Patterson at Rapid 
City and was largely responsible for the management of that institution 
until September 1, 1884, when it was merged into the First National 
Bank of Rapid City, of which he became the cashier. On the 13th of 
January, 1898, he was elevated to the presidency and has since remained 
at the head of the institution, bending his efforts to administrative 
direction and executive control. He has closely studied progressive 
methods of banking and he is also identified with the Bank of Hot 
Springs as its president and is president of the Keystone Bank of 
Keystone, South Dakota, and treasurer of the Rapid River Milling 
Company. 

	While his business connections are extensive and important, he 
has never been neglectful of the other duties and obligations of life. 
In polities a republican, he has been actively interested in both 
territorial and state polities and has done not a little toward shaping 
the policy and guiding the destiny of his party. He served for one term 
in the upper house of the territorial legislature, which was the last 
before the division of the territory into the two states of North and 
South Dakota. He served for two terms as mayor of Rapid City and was 
chosen as a delegate to the republican national convention at 
Minneapolis in 1892 and to the one in Philadelphia in 1900. For years 
he acted as state central committeeman and was also chairman of the 
county committee. Outside of his banking interests and his public 
activities he is known as the owner of large landed holdings and is one 
of the principal owners of the Box Elder ranch.  

	On the 13th of September, 1878, at Cheyenne, Wyoming, Mr. Halley 
was united in marriage to Miss Lottie Smith, a daughter of S. L. Smith 
of Cheyenne. Their wedding journey was made by stage from Cheyenne to 
Deadwood. Their children are nine in number, as follows: Albert, Helen, 
James, Francis, Lottie, Sarah, Samuel Russell, Walter and Donald, and 
all have a college education.  

	Mr. Halley belongs to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and 
is also identified with Gate City Lodge, No. 8, K. P. A hunting trip, a 
fishing excursion or a tour in his automobile constitute his chief 
sources of recreation. He possesses a genial. social nature which has 
won him personal popularity and it has been well said of him that he is 
never too busy to be cordial nor too cordial to be busy.