George W. Walters Biography


	This biography appears on pages 812-813 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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				GEORGE W. WALTERS. 

	Farming and dairying claim the time and energies of George W. 
Walters, whose home farm comprises one hundred and seventy acres on 
section 34, Mapleton township, Minnehaha county. He also gives much 
time to the raising of live stock and his various interests have 
brought to him a success that numbers him among the substantial and 
influential residents of his section of the state. 

	Mr. Walters is a native of Iowa, born in Cedar county on the 22d 
of February, 1861. His parents, Henry and Mary (Thompson) Walters, were 
natives of the east, the former born in Pennsylvania, while the latter 
claimed the Buckeye state as the place of her nativity. They were 
pioneers of Cedar county, Iowa, the mother accompanying her parents 
there on their removal from Ohio, while the father was induced to 
locate in the middle west from the fact that he had a brother living in 
Cedar county. They were married in Tipton, Iowa, and subsequently in 
1849, crossed the plains to California during the gold excitement on 
the Pacific coast, the journey being made with ox teams. The father 
spent two years in the mines and later devoted a similar period to 
farming in the Golden state. In 1853 he returned by way of the Isthmus 
route and the Mississippi river to Iowa, and with the capital he had 
acquired while sojourning in the west, he purchased a farm near Tipton, 
in Cedar county. He spent many years on that farm but a few years prior 
to his demise he retired and took up his abode in Tipton, where he 
passed away in 1896. The mother departed this life in 1894. 

	In the district schools of Cedar county George W. Walters 
acquired his education. He continued on the home farm and displayed in 
early manhood qualities of application and good judgment, which have 
been prominent throughout his subsequent career. Upon reaching manhood 
he engaged in farming for himself, first renting land in Cedar county. 
A year later he purchased one hundred and sixty acres but at the end of 
four years sold that property and rented his father's farm, his parents 
removing to Tipton to live in retirement. He remained on the latter 
place for five years, at the end of which time he purchased a tract of 
one hundred and sixty acres in Ida county, Iowa, giving his attention 
to its management for ten years. He then engaged in the hardware 
business in Galva, Iowa, forming a partnership with his brother for 
this purpose. This, however, did not appeal favorably to him and at the 
end of two years, having in the meantime disposed of his farm, he came 
to South Dakota and purchased his present property, embracing one 
hundred and seventy acres on section 34, Mapleton township, Minnehaha 
county. This is one of the well improved tracts of the locality and 
here he engages in general farming to some extent but also raises 
thoroughbred Holstein cattle and Duroc Jersey hogs. He also conducts a 
dairy business, keeping on hand for this purpose twenty-five milch 
cows, and this industry is bringing him a gratifying return. 

	In 1883 Mr. Walters led to the marriage altar Miss Mae Easton, of 
Cedar county, Iowa, and to this union five children were born but two 
of the number are deceased. The three surviving members are: Ralph, who 
is on the home farm and is carrying on business in partnership with his 
father; Cora, who is a stenographer, in the employ of the secretary of 
the college at Brookings, South Dakota; and Alice, who is a student in 
the State University at Vermillion. 

	Mr. Walters and the other members of his household are identified 
with the Methodist Episcopal church, and in politics he is a democrat. 
He is well thought of by his neighbors, and being a man of thoroughly 
reliable principles stands high in the estimation of all who know him.