A. M. Knight Biography This biography appears on pages 468-471 in "History of Dakota Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://usgwarchives.org/sd/sdfiles.htm A. M. KNIGHT. A. M. Knight, of Sisseton, was one of the prominent pioneer bankers and real-estate men of South Dakota. He was born at Peru, Oxford county, Maine, on the 8th of August, 1843, and received his early education in the common schools of that place, later attending Bates College at Lewiston, Maine. For a number of years he was engaged in school work, being successively superintendent of schools of New Albany, Indiana, instructor in the high school at West -Peru, Maine, superintendent of the public schools of St. Anthony Falls, Minnesota, and principal of the schools of Glencoe, Minnesota. He became a resident of Glencoe in 1869 and gave his attention to the administration of the schools until 1873, when he embarked in the loan and real-estate business in that place. The following year he established the Bank of McLeod County at Glencoe and for more than two decades he successfully conducted that institution, which survived the panic of 1893, causing the failure of so many banks. In 1880 he established branch offices for the Minnesota Mortgage Company at Milbank, Britton, Webster and Aberdeen, South Dakota. From 1880 until his death he had practically resided in South Dakota and made loans throughout this state totaling over seven million dollars. He maintained his family residence in Glencoe, Minnesota, how ever, until 1898, when he removed to Sisseton, this state. He engaged in banking and in the real-estate business and continued active until his demise although he was almost seventy years of age when his death occurred on the 14th of July, 1912. He was admitted to the practice of law in the '60s and as a title examiner and master of real-estate law he had few equals He was the head of the firm of A M. Knight & Son and all of his business undertakings were carried through to a successful completion. The prosperity which he gained was doubly creditable in that he was a self-made man, having been to some extent dependent upon his own resources from the early age of ten years, as he lost his father at that age. Mr. Knight was married at Glencoe, Minnesota, to Miss Celia A Glover, formerly of Hartford, Maine, and to their union were born four sons: Bertram G., who died in infancy; Aubrey, who died in childhood; Harold M.; and Bertram G., the second of the name, an artist of Pleasantville, New York, who is associated with the Aeolian Musical Company. Harold M. Knight was born September 30, 1877, at Glencoe, Minnesota, and received his education at the Stevens Seminary of Glencoe, from which he was graduated in 1897, and in the State University of Minnesota. He completed a liberal arts course in that institution by graduation in 1901 and later took a special law course. He was admitted to the bar in 1910 and has since engaged to some extent in the practice of his profession although since 1901 he has given a great deal of his time to the real-estate business. He was associated with his father under the firm name of A. M. Knight &; Son until the latter's demise and is still carrying on the business under that style. He makes a specialty of real-estate loans and does the largest business of that character in his section of the state. He also negotiates many important transfers of realty and represents a number of reliable insurance companies. Moreover, he personally owns considerable land, the cultivation of which he oversees. In 1912 he was elected county judge and his record was endorsed by reelection to that office in 1914. In May, 1915, he was appointed United States commissioner, the duties of which office he has discharged with ability and conscientiousness. Harold M. Knight was married in 1911 to Miss Mary E. Karn, a daughter of Dr. Jacob Karn, of Orton, South Dakota, who has successfully engaged in the practice of medicine in that locality for many years and who is well known throughout his section of the state. Mr. Knight is a republican and has taken quite an active part in political affairs, serving as secretary of the central committee for five years. Fraternally he belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America. As a business man he is energetic and alert, as an official he seeks to serve the best interests of the people, and in all relations of life his conduct conforms to high standards. He has won the respect of all who have been associated with him and there are many who hold him in warm regard.