Isaac Piles Biography


	This biography appears on pages 455-456 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


				ISAAC PILES.  

	Isaac Piles is a retired merchant of Yankton and president of the 
Yankton Gas Company. His name long stood as a synonym for business 
integrity and enterprise in the city in which he resides, for his 
energy and determination made him ready to meet any emergency and his 
laudable ambition, guided by honorable principles, carried him forward 
to success. Every state in the Union has contributed to the citizenship 
of South Dakota, and Isaac Piles is among those whom Ohio has given to 
the northwest. He was born in Noble county, on the 15th of January, 
1848. He represents an old family of Maryland, his father, James Piles, 
and his grandfather, Nathaniel Piles, having both been born in that 
state. James Piles devoted his life to various business pursuits, 
engaging in farming, merchandising and hotel keeping, continuing active 
in business up to the time of his ten children--then removed to the 
middle west, settling in Pottawattamie county, Iowa, where her eldest 
son, William H. Piles, had entered a large tract of land in 1855.  

	Isaac Piles was a lad of eight summers when the family arrived in 
Iowa. He was the youngest in a family of ten children, of whom three 
are yet living, and largely reared in Iowa, he attended the public 
schools of Council Bluffs and when his school days were over secured a 
clerkship in a general store, being afterward employed in a similar 
capacity in a shoe store. Previous to this time he had had other 
interesting experiences, for in his fifteenth year he crossed the 
plains to Denver and the mining country, driving a team both to and 
from Colorado. The year 1873 witnessed his arrival in Yankton and, 
believing this a good field for commercial activity, he opened a shoe 
store. Time proved the wisdom of his opinion, for as the years passed 
his trade grew and his business returned to him a gratifying income. 
For thirty-eight years he was thus actively connected with commercial 
interests in Yankton, retiring from business in 1911, with a 
competency, which he had acquired entirely through his close 
application and able management. He was one of those who reorganized 
the Yankton Gas Company, of which he has since been the president and 
is one of the directors.  

	On the 21st of September, 1873, Mr. Piles was joined in marriage 
to Miss Florence A. King, a daughter of Robert and Mary Ellen (Gier) 
King, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Robert King was a soldier in the 
Civil war and lost his life on the battlefield. Mr. and Mrs. Piles now 
have an attractive home in Yankton and its good cheer and hospitality 
have been greatly enjoyed by their many friends. Close application and 
strict integrity in the conduct of his business affairs were important 
factors in his continued success, but in more recent years, when there 
have been periods of recreation, Mr. Piles has spent some time in 
fishing and in travel, both of which are sources of delight to him. He 
votes with the democratic party, while not a politician in the usually 
accepted sense of the term. He has served for two terms as a member of 
the city council, exercising his official prerogatives in support of 
various movements for the public good.  

	In Masonry Mr. Piles has attained high rank, belonging to St. 
John's Lodge, No. 1, A. F. & A. M.; Yankton Chapter, No. 1, R. A. M.; 
De Molay Commandery, No. 3, K. T.; Oriental Consistory, No. 1, in which 
he has taken the thirty-second degree; and the K. C. C. H. He is now a 
past eminent commander of the commandery and has held various other 
offices in the organization, and in his life exemplifies the beneficent 
spirit of the craft. For many years he has belonged to the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows, and likewise has membership with the Elks. He 
served for some years as president of the Commercial Club and made it 
an effective organization for improving conditions along business and 
civic lines in Yankton. He is widely known as one of the honored 
pioneer merchants of southeastern Dakota and one of its most highly 
esteemed citizens.