William Theodore Doolittle Biography


	This biography appears on pages 204-207 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				WILLIAM THEODORE DOOLITTLE. 

	Sioux Falls has a valued citizen in William Theodore Doohittle, 
who is a veteran railroad man and a prominent Mason. Moreover, he 
enjoys the distinction of being the best mayor that the city has ever 
had and his devotion to the public good stands as an unquestioned fact 
in his career, whether occupying office or out of it. He was born March 
30, 1849, in Loudonville, Ohio, and the ancestry of the family can be 
traced back to the sixteenth century. 

	Mr. Doolittle's parents, Lucius and Eleanor (Ayres) Doolittle, 
removed to Upper Sandusky, Ohio, in 1859 and there the son attended the 
public schools to the age of fourteen years. The father × as well-to-do 
and had planned a good education for his son, but when the Pittsburg, 
Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad, the second line constructed in Ohio, was 
built through Sandusky William T. Doolittle was so much impressed that 
he decided to be a railroad man and, much against the wishes of his 
parents, abandoned the schoolroom to take up railroad work. He went to 
Fort Wayne, Indiana, where the new shops of the road were opened, and 
there served an apprenticeship of three years. When a youth of 
seventeen he went upon the road as a fireman and after serving two 
years in that capacity was promoted to the position of engineer of a 
freight train. A year later he was given a passenger run, which he held 
for two years and when the engineers of the line went upon a strike he 
removed westward to Sioux City, Iowa, in March, 1873. At that date he 
entered the employ of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha 
Railroad, with which he continued on the run from Sioux City to St. 
James, Minnesota, until 1878. In that year was built the first road 
that ever entered Sioux Falls and Mr. Doolittle ran the first train 
into the city. With the exception of one year, when he was instructor 
for the road, he has remained upon this run continuously since, 
covering a period of thirty-seven years, but has been with the company 
for about forty-three years. Mr. Doolittle is a member of the 
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, an organization with seventy-two 
thousand members. He organized the first division of the order in the 
northwest at Sioux City in 1876. The grand international division of 
the order with headquarters at Cleveland, Ohio, presented him on the 
16th of August, 1913, with a medal in appreciation of his forty years 
of faithful service for the order and made him an honorary member of 
the grand lodge for life. Of the seven thousand employee of the Omaha 
road he has the honor of being No. 1 on their lists. In fact, there is 
no other one of the seven thousand employee on the two thousand miles 
of road who was with the company when Mr. Doolittle joined it. This 
road has a Veterans Association and Mr. Doolittle is one of the one 
hundred and sixty-two who have been with the company for more than 
thirty years and is thus entitled to membership in and is a member of 
the association. 

	Mr. Doolittle has been in only one railroad wreck and that was 
when they were running a double header through a blinding snow storm, 
the front engine breaking down and leaving the rails and pulling him 
with it. He was pinned under the engine for an hour and a half with the 
thermometer thirty degrees below zero yet escaped with only a broken 
jaw and lacerated face. In 1879 he figured in an incident which brought 
to him a thirty days, vacation. R. F. Pettigrew, a Sioux Falls 
attorney, boarded the train in Minneapolis with a deed that would clear 
up the title to what is now the town site of Sioux Falls. The title 
heretofore had been clouded as the only title was on Indian script. Mr. 
Pettigrew saw the Minneapolis attorney board the same train and knew 
that he had a quitclaim deed to this property. If he reached the 
courthouse in Sioux Falls first and recorded the deed it would give him 
the tithe to the property on which the Sioux Falls people had built 
their homes. If Mr. Pettigrew recorded his deed first the homes of the 
people would be saved to them. He stepped into a telegraph office on 
the way only to learn that the other attorney had wired first for a cab 
to meet him at the train. Greatly worried, he walked up to the engine 
on which was his friend, William T. Doolittle, and told him of the 
situation. Mr. Doolittle then instructed Mr. Pettigrew to come and get 
on the engine at the first station out of Sioux Falls, which he did, 
not saying a word to the conductor or anyone. A few miles out of Sioux 
Falls Mr. Doolittle stopped his train, uncoupled his engine and made 
the run in, getting Mr. Pettigrew there first to record the deed and 
thereby saving the homes of the people. He was called into the office 
of one of the railroad officials, who told him that the attorney had 
started suit against the railroad for fifty thousand dollars and that 
his dismissal was demanded. He replied: "If my dismissal will appease 
the wrath of this gentleman it is of small matter", and he explained 
the situation to the superintendent, who instead of dismissing him gave 
him a thirty-days, lay-off with full pay. 

	Mr. Doolittle has ever had the interests of Sioux Falls at heart 
and a recognition of this fact has led to his selection for various 
positions of public trust. He was elected alderman of the first ward in 
1896 and was reelected in 1898, acting as president of the city council 
in 1897. He was on the committee with C. A. Jewett and J. W. Tuthill to 
build the new waterworks plant for the city of Sioux Falls and the work 
was completed at a figure less than the estimated cost. This was one 
job entirely free from any suspicion of graft. On the 21st of April, 
1908, Mr. Doolittle was elected mayor and it is generally admitted 
without argument that he gave the city the cleanest administration that 
it has ever had. The opposition tried to unearth some skeleton in his 
private or public life that would be to his discredit, but the only 
thing that they could find was the story that he did not obey the 
orders of the railroad company when he uncoupled his engine and brought 
Mr. Pettigrew to Sioux Falls-an act which won for him the gratitude of 
the residents of the town. As the chief executive of the city he stood 
constantly for reform and progress, working untiringly for the 
interests of the people. 

On the 26th of December, 1873, Mr. Doolittle was married to Miss 
Catherine Stroch and they became the parents of three children: Jessie, 
who died at the age of three years; Walter S.; and Grace. Walter S., 
now an engineer on the Omaha road, wedded Marie Freeble, of Sioux 
Falls, and they have five children, Eden K., Eunice, Norman, Theodore 
Frederick and Richard, the eldest of whom is now attending high school 
in Sioux Falls. Walter S. Doolittle served in the Spanish-American war, 
going out as a private in Company B, but at the end of the war had 
risen to the rank of first lieutenant. The daughter Grace is the wife 
of Neil D. Graham, a commercial traveler living in Sioux Falls, and 
they have one child, Janet Catherine. 

	The family are Episcopalians in religious faith and Mr. Doolittle 
is a very prominent and influential Mason. He has taken the degrees of 
the York and Scottish Rites and was potentate of El Riad Temple, A. A. 
O. N. M. S., for four years and grand commander of the Grand Commandery 
of Knights Templar of South Dakota. He has also been president of the 
Masonic Temple Association from its beginning and has ever taken the 
keenest and most helpful interest in the work of the craft. The life 
record of no mall in public office has been more fearless in conduct 
and stainless in reputation and over his life history there falls no 
shadow of wrong nor suspicion of evil.