Biography of William H. Edmunds

	From: History of Dakota Territory  by George W. Kingsbury (1915), vol. V, 
	p. 684 - 685
	
	Transcribed by Judy Huber, huberj@btigate.com


WILLIAM H. EDMUNDS.

For thirty-eight years William H. Edmunds was prominently associated with 
banking interests in Yankton. He now owns one of the finest homes in that 
city, in which he spends the summer months, while he passes the winter 
seasons in Florida, where lie also has an attractive residence. He was 
born in Ypsilanti, Michigan, December 7, 1854, a son of Newton and Margaret 
F. (Heartt) Edmunds, both of whom were natives of New York. They were married, 
however, in Michigan, having accompanied their respective parents to that 
state in early life. After attaining adult age Newton Edmunds embarked in the 
lumber business in Michigan, operating in the Saginaw district. In 1861, however, 
he cast in his lot with the earliest residents of Dakota territory. He arrived 
in Yankton in 1861 and was joined by his family in 1864. He became chief clerk in 
the office of the surveyor general and was appointed governor of Dakota territory 
in the year of his arrival, being the second incumbent in that position. As the 
years passed he played a more and more important part in the development and 
upbuilding of city, county and state. On the 13th of August, 1891, he organized 
the Yankton National Bank but for many years before had been identified with 
financial interests.  About 1872 he bought out the private bank of P. P. 
Wintermute and conducted that institution under the name of Edmunds & Sons 
until he reorganized the business under the name of the Yankton National Bank, 
of which he became president, with Charles P. Edmunds as vice president and 
William H. Edmunds as cashier. In 1909 they sold out to the First National Bank, 
that is, the business was sold but their bank was liquidated. The father remained 
as president of the institution until his death in 1905. He did much to firmly 
establish financial conditions upon a sound basis and otherwise advanced the 
business interests of city and state. He was active in republican politics and 
a recognized leader of his party and served as a member of the school board and 
as a member of the city council of Yankton. His wife, who has also passed away, 
was a consistent member of the Episcopal church.

	Mr. and Mrs. Newton Edmunds were the parents of seven children. Frank H., 
who was a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, rose to 
the rank of major in the United States army and died of yellow fever in Cuba while 
serving in the Spanish-American war. Charles P., who served as deputy United States 
marshal at Yankton at an early day and was afterward prominently connected with 
banking for an extended period, is now living retired in Yankton. William H. is 
the third of the family. Eliza F. is the wife of Frank J. Washabaugh, of Yankton. 
John died at the age of five years. Maggie and Minnie, twins, have both passed away. 

	William H. Edmunds spent the first ten years of his life in his native state 
and then accompanied the family to South Dakota, where he continued his education 
as a public-school pupil to the age of seventeen years, when he secured a position 
in the private bank of P. P. Wintermute.  Later, when the firm of Edmunds & Sons 
was organized, he became cashier and afterward was cashier of the Yankton National 
Bank until it was sold. He was in the bank continuously for thirty-eight years and 
became one of the best known representatives of financial interests in his part of 
the state. In 1910 he first went south to spend the winter in Florida and has returned 
to the Peninsula state each year, sojourning there in a beautiful home through the months 
in which Dakota is wrapt in winter. His residence in Yankton is one of the finest in the 
city and it indicates the success which bas come to him as the result of an honorable, 
well spent life.

On the 20th of December, 1882, Mr. Edmunds was united in marriage to Miss Ella J. Dewey, 
who was born in Platteville, Wisconsin, a daughter of William P. and Eleanor Dewey, who 
came to Dakota territory in 1873. Her father was appointed surveyor general of the 
territory when living in Wisconsin and came to Dakota to enter upon the duties of the 
office, in which he served for two terms.  He afterward filled the position of mayor 
of Yankton and was engaged in the practice of law in that city to the time of his death. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Edmunds was born a son, Woodward, who died at the age of eighteen months.
Mr. Edmunds has exerted a widely felt and beneficial influence along many lines. He 
belongs to St. John's Lodge, No.1, F. & A. M., of which he was secretary for many years; 
Yankton Chapter, No.1, R. A. M.; Oriental Consistory, No. 1, S. P. R. S.; and El Riad 
Temple, A. A. 0. N. M. S., of Sioux Falls. He likewise has membership with the Elks. 
His political indorsement is given to the republican party and Yankton has called him 
to the office of mayor, in which position he exercised his official prerogatives in 
support of many plans and measures for the general good. He was also chairman of the 
board of county commissioners for six years and at no time has he ever been neglectful 
of the duties of citizenship. On the contrary, he has fully recognized the obligations 
which have devolved upon him in this connection and his efforts have been a strong and 
beneficial element for progress and upbuilding in Yankton and in the state. There are 
indeed few who have longer been identified with South Dakota or have witnessed in larger 
measure those events which have shaped its history. Moreover, he has done his full share 
in advancing every project which he has deemed of benefit to county and state, and viewed 
from the business standpoint, he has garnered in the fullness of time the merited harvest 
of his labors, which have ever been directed by sound judgment and keen sagacity.

George W. Kingsbury

History of Dakota Territory; South Dakota Its History and Its
People, Volume 5, p. 684 - 685.

 1915, Chicago:  S. J. Clarke Publishing Company