Philo Hall Biography


	This biography appears on pages 312-313 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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				HON. PHILO HALL. 

	Hon. Philo Hall, one of the foremost members of the bar of 
eastern South Dakota, has been engaged in practice at Brookings for 
more than a quarter of a century and has also been a prominent figure 
in the public life of the state. As a member of the well known law firm 
of Hall, Alexander & Purdy he has been accorded an enviable and 
gratifying clientage. His birth occurred in Waseca county, Minnesota, 
on the 31st of December, 1865, his parents being Philo and Mary E. 
(Green) Hall, the former a native of Canada and the latter of New York 
city. When a young man Philo Hall, Sr., crossed the border into the 
United States and attended school at Kenosha, Wisconsin. Subsequently 
he removed to Waseca county, Minnesota, where he met and married Miss 
Green, who had accompanied her parents on their removal to the Gopher 
state in girlhood. During the period of the Civil war he served for 
three years with the First Minnesota Infantry, acting as first sergeant 
of his company and making a most creditable military record. After 
returning from the front he embarked in the merchandising business at 
Wilton and later conducted a similar enterprise at Waseca. In 1879 he 
went to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and was there successfully engaged 
in business until his demise, which occurred in 1883. His widow, who 
survives, now makes her home in Brookings. 

	Philo Hall was reared under the parental roof and in the 
acquirement of an education attended the public schools of Waseca, 
Minnesota, and the Baptist College of Sioux Falls. Following his 
graduation he located in Brookings in 1883, there took up the study of 
law in the office of Judge J. O. Andrews and was admitted to the bar in 
1887. Throughout the intervening twenty-eight years to the present time 
he has remained an active and successful representative of the legal 
profession in Brookings. Gaining merited recognition in political and 
public life, he was first chosen for the office of states attorney and 
filled the same most creditably for two terms. In 1901 he was elected 
to the state senate of South Dakota, remaining a member of that body 
for one term and ably representing the interests of his constituents. 
In 1902 he was chosen attorney general of South Dakota, holding that 
important office for two terms or until 1906, when he was elected to 
congress from his district and served for one term. Since its 
conclusion he has given his undivided attention to his law practice and 
enjoys the distinction of being one of the leading representatives of 
the profession in eastern South Dakota. 

	In April, 1890, Mr. Hall was joined in wedlock to Mrs. Mary A. 
Cooke, of Brookings, by whom he has had three children, two of whom 
survive, as follows: Vivian, who is the wife of Henry Shea, assistant 
professor in chemistry in the South Dakota State College of Brookings; 
and Morell, who is a student in the Brookings high school. 

	Mr. Hall's fraternal relations are with the following 
organizations: Brookings Lodge, No. 24, A. F. & A. M.; Brookings 
Chapter, No. 18, R. A. M.; Brookings Commandery, K. T.; El Riad Temple, 
A. A. O. N. M. S., of Sioux Falls; Brookings Lodge, No. 40, Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows; and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is 
also a valued member of the Brookings-Commercial Club, and Mrs. Hall 
belongs to the Baptist church. He has wisely used the talents with 
which nature has endowed him and his record proves that he regards a 
public office as a public trust-and it is a well known fact that no 
trust reposed in him has ever been betrayed in the slightest degree.