H. Wallace Shipton Biography


	This biography appears on pages 241-242 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



				H. WALLACE SHIPTON.  

	H. Wallace Shipton, who is engaged in farming and gardening on 
section 9, Yankton precinct, in Yankton county, was born in Rush Creek 
valley, Jo Daviess county, Illinois, March 8, 1866, the family home 
being situated six miles from the village of Hanover. His parents were 
Frank and Rose A. (Wolcott) Shipton, who spent their last days in Jo 
Daviess county, and both died between the ages of thirty-five and 
forty. The ancestors of the Shipton family came from England three 
hundred years ago with the colonists who first settled upon the 
American continent.  

	H. W. Shipton remained under the parental roof until 1887, when, 
having attained his majority, he left home and removed to Plymouth 
county, Iowa. There he became a collector for an art company and 
engaged in that business for four years. In March, 1894, he arrived in 
Yankton county and rented land near the city of Yankton, turning his 
attention to market gardening. Success has since attended his efforts 
and in 1896 he purchased sixty acres of land upon which his dwelling 
now stands. He has added thereto one hundred and sixty acres and he 
also has forty acres in Kanabec county, Minnesota. While now actively 
and successfully engaged in general farming, he still raises vegetables 
to a large extent, supplying the market of Yankton and of other places. 
At times he has harvested as high as fifteen hundred bushels of onions. 
He has made a close study of soil and climatic conditions and knows 
what can best be produced in this section of the country.  

	On the 25th of January, 1897, in Yankton, Mr. Shipton was united 
in marriage to Miss Belle Branaugh, who was born in Bellevue, Nebraska, 
a daughter of Archibald and Mary J. (Gong) Branaugh, the former a 
native of New York and the latter of Canada. They spent the summer of 
1878 in Omaha and from that point drove across the country to 
Hutchinson county, South Dakota, settling near Parkston, where the 
father filed on a homestead and timber claim and later secured a 
preemption. For many years he was actively identified with farming 
interests but in the fall of 1893 retired from active life and took up 
his abode in Yankton, where he has since resided, having disposed of 
all his Hutchinson county land. The Branaugh family went through all 
the experiences of pioneer life. At the time of the memorable blizzard 
of 1888 two of the brothers of Mrs. Shipton were at school. They 
attempted to go home and passed the house about a mile. They retraced 
their steps along their own trail and, hearing their father calling 
them, reached home. They had passed quite near and would have missed 
the house again had it not been for hearing the father's voice. Mr. 
Branaugh lost many cattle in that storm. The family lived in a sod 
house in true pioneer style, and they suffered from the grasshopper 
pest for several years, lost crops through the years of drought and 
fought prairie fires. In fact they endured all of the hardships 
incident to the settlement of the frontier but lived to reap the reward 
of their labors and see the county transformed into a populous and 
prosperous district. To Mr. and Mrs. Shipton has been born a daughter, 
Edna, who is now a student in the Yankton high school. Mr. Shipton 
belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Ancient Order 
of United Workmen. In politics he supports the republican party and has 
filled local offices such as road supervisor and member of school 
board. He is an energetic, enterprising business man and his well 
directed efforts have brought to him a measure of success that is both 
creditable and desirable.