John C. Whaley Biography


	This biography appears on pages 701-702 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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				JOHN C. WHALEY. 

	John C. Whaley, of Hot Springs, is connected with various 
business interests, being secretary and treasurer of the Fall River 
Abstract Company, secretary and treasurer of the Tri-State Land &; Loan 
Company and president of the Bennett Abstract Company. He was born at 
Norfolk, Nebraska, April 2, 1885, and is numbered among the more 
enterprising of the younger business men of Fall River county. 

	His parents were Harrison H. and Hannah Emily (McCrillis) Whaley. 
The former was born near Athens, Ohio, June 30, 1835, and the latter's 
birth occurred in Topsham, Vermont, February 6, 1848. In early life Mr. 
Whaley was a captain and pilot on the Mississippi river until he 
removed to the northwest, the birth of his son John C. occurring while 
the family were en route for the Black Hills in 1885. The father first 
came to South Dakota in 1876, when he went to Deadwood. He afterward 
made a number of trips back and forth between Dakota territory and his 
old home before he brought his family to the northwest in 1885. At one 
time he operated a ranch near Hill City at the dam in Whaley canyon for 
a number of years. He was a resident of Watertown, South Dakota, from 
1881 until 1886 and in the spring of the latter year returned to the 
vicinity of Hot Springs, where he spent his remaining days, being 
engaged in the stock business to some extent. He was elected register 
of deeds, taking the office on the 1st of January, 1909, but after a 
brief period that position was left vacant owing to his death on the 
14th of July, of the same year. He had served as sheriff at Prairie du 
Chien, Wisconsin, for four years and was deputy sheriff in the same 
county for four years. He resided at that place prior to his removal to 
the Black Hills and when the call to arms sounded he proved his loyalty 
to his country, serving for three years as a member of Company A, 
Thirty-first Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, in which he was orderly 
sergeant. He was twice married and of the three children born of the 
first union all have now passed away. His second wife was Hannah Emily 
McCrillis, who died November 29, 1907. 

	John C. Whaley was the third of the four children born of the 
father's second marriage. He attended school at Edgemont in Fall River 
county and was also a pupil in the district schools. When fifteen years 
of age he began working for others as a cowboy, spending a number of 
years in that way in Wyoming, Montana and South Dakota. It was when 
nineteen years of age that he entered high school at Edgemont and he 
later attended business college for a year. He afterward entered the 
employ of the Burlington Railroad Company in 1905 as night agent at 
Edgemont, where he remained for three years. He afterward spent about 
two years as car accountant and was engaged at day work in the yards. 
He was also employed as a switchman in Edgemont for a short time, when, 
in December, 1910, he removed to Hot Springs and on the 3d of January 
entered the duties of the office of register of deeds. He is secretary 
and treasurer of the Fall River Abstract Company, secretary and 
treasurer of the Tri-State Land & Loan Company and president of the 
Bennett County Abstract Company. He owns city property in Edgemont and 
is well informed concerning realty values. 

	On the 27th of July, 1909, Mr. Whaley was united in marriage to 
Miss Cora M. Sanders, who was born at Jewell City, Kansas, a daughter 
of John and Mary Sanders, both natives of Pennsylvania. Her father is a 
farmer and stock-raiser and he and his wife are still residents of 
Jewell City, Kansas. To Mr. and Mrs. Whaley has been born a daughter, 
Faustina Elizabeth, whose birth occurred on the 18th of May, 1910. 

	In his political views Mr. Whaley is a republican and upon the 
party ticket was elected to the office of register of deeds of Fall 
River county, in which position his second term expired on the 5th of 
January, 1915, and he retired from the office as he had entered it-with 
the confidence and goodwill of all concerned. Fraternally he is 
connected with the Elks at Lead, and in Masonry he has taken all the 
degrees of the blue lodge of Edgemont and of the chapter at Hot 
Springs. He is likewise connected with Hot Springs Lodge of Odd 
Fellows. He is a lover of sports and is considered the champion duck 
hunter of the county, returning always from his trips laden with many 
evidences of his skill with the rifle. He has also killed a number of 
deer and he enjoys various phases of outdoor life. His comparative 
youth prevented the possibility of his being an active participant in 
affairs in pioneer days, but he is contributing to the later progress 
and upbuilding of the section of the state in which he lives and is 
everywhere recognized as a public-spirited citizen.