W. C. Graybill Biography


	This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
 	compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography,
	including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and 
	representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & 
	Co., Chicago, 1899. Page 245

	Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. 

	This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit 
	organizations for their private use. 

	Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval 
	system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other 
	means requires the written approval of the file's author.

	This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside
	a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at

	http://usgwarchives.org/sd/sdfiles.htm


HON. W. C. GRAYBILL, one of the leading attorneys of the west, whose 
executive ability and sagacious judgment, entitle him to more than 
passing mention in the annals of South Dakota, is a native of Fairfield 
county, Ohio, and was born January 1851. He is now a resident of 
Chamberlain, South Dakota. He was the fourth of twelve children born to 
Samuel R. and Sarah A. (Carlisle) Graybill, both of whom are deceased. 
His father was educated in law, but poor hearth caused him to engage in 
farming. His grandfather was a German by birth, but emigrated to 
America and settled in Pennsylvania during the pioneer days of that 
state. 

When nineteen years of age the subject of this review began teaching 
school during the winter months and spent the summer months attending 
normal school and taking up a collegiate course. He devoted thirteen 
years to teaching, and pursuing the study of law, and, in 1883 started 
on a pleasure trip through the western states. Dakota held forth bright 
prospects and he remained in the state for five years. In 1884 he was 
made a justice of the peace, and in 1886 and again in 1888 was elected 
county judge. In 1890 he was elected register of deeds, and in the 
spring of 1893 went to Washington, D. C. where he remained until 1894, 
at which time he received the appointment of receiver of public moneys 
of the United States land office, which office he filled until the 
spring of 1898. The marriage of our subject occurred in 1895, Miss M. 
W. Perry being the lady of his choice. 

Mr. Graybill has faithfully fulfilled the duties of the respective 
offices to which he has been elected, and is one of the well known and 
respected citizens of South Dakota. He is prominent in secret society 
circles, and holds membership in the Masonic fraternity, and has taken 
the degrees of the Mystic Shrine, and in the Knights of Pythias is past 
grand chancellor of South Dakota. His political views are democratic 
and he is an ardent admirer of William Jennings Bryan and the issues 
which he advocates. He is in favor of high license and opposed to equal 
suffrage.