John Wilkes 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 430-431

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

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JOHN WILKES, a resident farmer of Plummer township, Brule county, South 
Dakota, is one of the well known citizens of the state, having been 
instrumental in organizing the party whose object is political reform. 
In tracing a history of his life we find his birth occurred in Morgan 
county, Ohio, May 25, 1838, and he was the son of Ira and Elizabeth 
(McFarlen) Wilkes. 

After the close of the war our subject engaged in teaching until he 
located in Dakota, in 1883, since which time he has lived on his farm 
in section 8, in Brule county, where he has a flock of fine sheep 
numbering about three hundred, and a flock of Angora goats, about 
twenty-five in number, which are thriving admirably. He does not engage 
in active farm life, but rents his land on shares. His attention during 
the last few years is directed to the care of his wife, who is an 
invalid. Mrs. Wilkes' maiden name was Miss Martha Kilso. 

Our subject enlisted for the cause of his country in August, 1862, in 
Company C, Ninety-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was engaged at 
Perryville and Stone River, after which he was confined to a hospital 
and was discharged in 1863. 

Mr. Wilkes has figured prominently in local politics, since his 
residence in Dakota, and he may well be called one of the founders of 
the People's party of South Dakota. He is a man strong in his 
convictions and after casting his last vote with the Republican party 
for Lincoln, he became a Greenbacker and is now a firm believer in the 
principles of the People's party, and at Huron, when the party was 
organized he was a member of the committee on a platform, and he used 
his utmost influence toward the inserting of the free silver plank, 
since which time he has been a central figure at all state conventions 
and party gatherings. He advocates. the state control of liquors, and 
favors equal suffrage. From 1891 to 1893 he served as county 
commissioner of the fifth district.