James Walkins Biography


	This biography appears on pages 769-770 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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				JAMES WALKINS. 

	James Walkins needs no introduction to the readers of this 
volume, for he is well and favorably known in Sioux Falls as a member 
of the firm of Walkins & McDonald, one of the leading real-estate firms 
in the city. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1862 and at the age 
of five years went to Tipton, Iowa, where he was reared upon a farm. 
Later he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, engaging in 
that occupation in the vicinity of Tipton until he located in Sioux 
Falls. He purchased one thousand eight hundred acres of land in 
Minnehaha county and with Sioux Falls as his headquarters engaged 
extensively in farming and stock-raising, buying, selling and shipping 
cattle on an extensive scale. 

	In 1905 he turned his attention to the real-estate business and 
in 1909 associated himself with Charles S. McDonald, forming the 
present firm of Walkins & McDonald. Believing that location is as much 
to be considered in the real-estate business as in any other, the 
partners procured the very best by taking a long term lease on their 
present quarters in the Cataract Hotel building on West Ninth street 
and, knowing that no merchant can sell goods to advantage unless he is 
directly interested, they began investing in city property and farm 
lands and today the county records show that they are the heaviest 
owners of Sioux Falls city property and Minnehaha county farming lands 
in their locality. From the very beginning their success was assured. 
Their personal acquaintance and reputation were such that when they 
formed a partnership more business came to them in a short time than it 
is sometimes possible to obtain in many years. As a result they have 
taken the front rank among the real-estate dealers in Sioux Falls, a 
position usually held by a firm of greater age, but in this instance 
made possible by a strict adherence to good business principles. Their 
record of sales shows that clients to whom they have sold property 
often buy realty of them again and that men to whom they have sold land 
afterward make them their agents when they have property to sell. In 
the real-estate business no better endorsement of a firm can be given 
than this. Both Mr. Walkins and Mr. McDonald arc enthusiastic allies of 
any scheme which has as its object the further advancement of Sioux 
Falls and the state of South Dakota. Each is thoroughly familiar with 
the conditions which have made the city and state what they are today 
and this knowledge is one of the most valuable assets the company has 
in its present line of business. Mr. Walkins gives practically all of 
his time and attention to the affairs of the firm and his judgment on 
everything connected with land values is accepted as authoritative. 

	At Iowa City, Iowa, Mr. Walkins married Miss Anna B. Wingert and 
they have become the parents of four children: Myrtle Belle, the wife 
of Arthur Dunn, of Sioux Falls; Earl M.; Floyd J.; and Edna Grace. Mr. 
Walkins is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and belongs to 
the Mystic Shrine. He gives his political allegiance to the republican 
party but has never been active as an office seeker, preferring to 
concentrate his attention upon his business affairs. In these he has 
been most successful and much credit is due him for the position which 
he has attained among the substantial and representative business men 
of Sioux Falls.