Harry E. Swander Biography


	This biography appears on pages 776-779 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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				HARRY E. SWANDER. 

	A large grocery and bakery business in Rapid City -one of the 
largest of its kind in the state -is incontrovertible proof of the 
ability and energy of its owner, Harry E. Swander. He was born in 
Tiffin, Ohio, on the 8th of July, 1863, and is a son of Harrison and 
Alice (Farley) Swander, natives of the Buckeye state and of Missouri 
respectively. The father, who was a merchant and farmer by occupation, 
removed to Iowa in 1859 and was there married. He subsequently returned 
to Ohio with his wife and there she resided during the Civil war. He 
bore arms during the entire conflict, serving in all for four years and 
eight months, or through three enlistments, as a member of Missouri 
volunteer cavalry. In 1868 he returned to Iowa with his family and 
first located in Decatur county, but subsequently removed to Taylor 
county and is now living retired at Gravity, that county. His wife 
passed away when the subject of this review was but five years old. She 
was the mother of two children, the other being Edward H., a resident 
of Missouri. 

	Harry E. Swander attended district school for a short time and 
made the best of his rather limited opportunities for securing an 
education. When but twelve years of age he left home and began work 
upon a farm. In 1879 he became an apprentice to the baker's trade at 
Bedford, Iowa, but after serving in that capacity for one and a half 
years he worked in various places as a journeyman baker. In 1883 he 
began business on his own account at Clarinda, Iowa, in partnership 
with another ambitious man who, like himself, possessed little capital 
but a great deal of determination and business ability. They began 
their enterprise with less than one hundred dollars to invest, Mr. 
Swander's share being thirty-seven dollars. The venture, however, 
proved a success and the bakery was sold a year later at a good profit. 
Mr. Swander then went to the Black Hills but remained for only a short 
time, after which he returned to Bedford, Iowa. A year later he went to 
southwestern Nebraska but the hard times of 1887 proved disastrous to 
him and he lost all that he had accumulated. In 1888 he removed to 
Alliance, Nebraska, where he found employment as a lineman, and kit' 
worked into the Black Hills while connected with the Burlington Railway 
line. He returned to Alliance, however, and opened a restaurant there 
which he conducted for a year. In 1890 Mr. Swander arrived in Rapid 
City and established a fancy grocery, confectionery and bakery business 
upon a small scale but so well did he understand his trade and so 
efficiently were his business interests managed that the enterprise 
grew rapidly. In 1900 he sold out and turned his attention to the stock 
business but after two years he abandoned that line or endeavor, as he 
lost heavily owing to the fact that large numbers of his stock had been 
killed by severe winter storms. In 1902 he again engaged in the grocery 
and bakery business and has since continued therein, as it has proved 
an unqualified success. His trade is constantly increasing in volume 
and importance and his establishment is one of the best and largest of 
its kind in South Dakota. He is interested in other enterprises, being 
one of the company which is operating the New Harney Hotel of Rapid 
City, a stockholder in the Dakota Power Company and in the Dakota 
Plaster Company. He has also invested to some extent in mining 
property. 

	Mr. Swander was married in 1884 and had four children by his 
first wife, as follows: Edward H., a traveling salesman; Geraldine; 
Charles; and Harry A., who lost his life by drowning when seven years 
old. Mr. Swander was married January 30, 1915, to Mrs. Clara I. Patton, 
the widow of John D. Patton. Mrs. Swander is well and favorably known 
by the traveling public as the owner of the Patton Hotel. 

	Fraternally Mr. Swander is a member of the Knights of Pythias, 
the Elks and the Masons and in all of those organizations is highly 
esteemed and popular. He has at various times met with discouragement 
and financial reverses but his determination has never wavered and his 
faith in the value of industry, coupled with sound judgment, has been 
justified, as he is now one of the leading business men in his line in 
the Black Hills. In striving for and gaining material success he has 
never forgotten that to deal justly and live uprightly is to most truly 
succeed and the respect which all who know him entertain for him is 
proof of his integrity.