William G. Gesley Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1042 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 G. GESLEY. 

	William G. Gesley, who has served ably as clerk of the courts, is 
a young man of ability, well known in Watertown, his native city, and 
throughout that section of the state. He was born on the 4th of April, 
1883, his parents being Ole and Annie Gesley, who arrived in South 
Dakota in the spring of 1879. The father first engaged in business as a 
hardware and implement merchant and after continuing in that line for a 
period started the Merchants Bank, becoming a prominent factor in 
financial circles. While in the store he also served as county 
treasurer. In 1892 he disposed of his interests in the Merchants Bank, 
which was one of the first financial institutions of Watertown. He then 
engaged in the real-estate business, in which he continued until his 
death, which occurred in 1902. His widow survives and yet makes her 
home in Watertown. 

	At the usual age William G. Gesley became a public-school pupil 
and passed through consecutive grades until he became a student in the 
high school. Still later he took a course in a business college and 
then entered the employ of Lee Stover, with whom he remained from 
April, 1904, until the 1st of January, 1907. In 1906 he was elected to 
the office of clerk of the courts and entered upon the duties of that 
position on the 1st of January following. He has been again and again 
elected, and his reelection stands as unmistakable evidence of his 
ability and his trustworthiness in office. In October, 1910, he was 
admitted to the bar, and aside from his official duties he is acting as 
secretary of the Watertown Home Building & Savings Association. 

	In his political views Mr. Gesley has always been a stalwart 
republican, unswerving in his advocacy of party principles. He belongs 
to the Lutheran church and is secretary of the Lutheran Hospital 
Association of South Dakota, which has recently erected a fine seventy 
five thousand dollar hospital in Watertown. Fraternally he is connected 
with the Elks and he is a lover of manly outdoor sports. In Codington 
county, where he has always lived, he has a wide acquaintance and among 
those who have known him from boyhood he numbers many stanch friends.