Henry H. Motley 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. Pages 484-485

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

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HENRY H. MOTLEY, an extensive agriculturist of Spink county, and one of 
the rising young men of his locality, is a native of Cass county, 
Michigan, and was born in 1875. He is now the proprietor of a fine 
stock and grain farm in Harrison township, where he has spent the 
greater part of his years. 

Our subject's father, Hon. George W. Motley, was born in the same 
county and town as our subject and resided there until his eighteenth 
year, when he took an extended trip through the western states and 
engaged in mining. His marriage to Miss Add Carter, the mother of our 
subject, occurred in Michigan, and he worked on the home farm until 
locating in Dakota in 1883. The mother was a native of Michigan, and 
was raised in her native state, although her parents died when she was 
but a young girl. The grandfather of our subject emigrated from England 
as a youth and settled in New York during the early days, and afterward 
removed to Michigan. 

Our subject was the only child in the family, and removed to Dakota 
with his parents in 1883, the family locating on the west half of 
section 7 in Harrison township, purchasing the land from former 
settlers. There was but a few acres of land broken and a small house 12 
x 16 was the only improvement on the place. Our subject's father took a 
car load and a half of effects, including six head of horses, one cow 
and four pigs. Prairie fires kept them continually on the watch, and 
many nights were spent in checking their course. They went into wheat 
raising on an extensive scale, at one time cultivating most of fourteen 
hundred acres, the father working about one thousand acres himself. 
Claim and sod shanties were the only buildings to be seen in that 
locality when the family settled there. The present dwelling was 
erected in 1884, and a horse barn 40x 58 feet, and a cattle barn 24 x 
48 feet were erected in 1888, and the farm teas been otherwise improved 
and is second to none in Spink county. In 1897 the house was struck by 
lightning, and hail storms destroyed the crops in 1883, and again in 
1898. Some of the best crops averaged twenty bushels of wheat per acre, 
and in 1892 the yield was ten thousand bushels of wheat and five 
thousand bushels of oats, flax, barley and corn. George W. Motley died 
January 2, 1899, leaving a wife and son to mourn his death. He was one 
of the central figures in the early history of Dakota, and in 1892 was 
elected a representative from Spink county in the state legislature. He 
was a successful farmer, and his farm bears the evidence of his care 
and personal supervision. A small grove, comprising ten acres, enhances 
the beauty of the landscape, and other improvements are in keeping with 
the prosperity of the owners. A one-and-a-half inch artesian well was 
sunk in 1896, and at a depth of nine hundred feet a good supply of 
water was obtained, but at the expiration of four months' time the flow 
was stopped by the well clogging, which will be cleared shortly. The 
mother has one section of land and our subject is also the owner of a 
section, and both are under cultivation and form the largest farm in 
the township, comprising between seven and eight hundred acres. He has 
a school section rented and fenced, and engages in grain and cattle 
raising. 

Our subject was married in December, 1897, to Miss Rena Smith, a native 
of Andrew, Iowa, and daughter of a prominent attorney of that city. She 
was accorded an excellent education, and at the age of seventeen years 
began teaching, continuing in the same until her marriage. Mr. Motley 
is at present justice of the peace in Harrison township, and is one of 
the upright citizens of Spink county. In political faith he is a 
Republican. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of 
Frankfort, and also the Masonic fraternity.