Biography of George Morehouse

	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, 1898. Pages 414-415

	Scan and OCR by Joy Fisher, 1997. This file may be copied for non-profit 
	purposes. All other rights reserved. 


GEORGE MOREHOUSE is one of the self made men of Brookings whose 
successful career is due to well directed effort and strict business 
integrity rather than to unusual preparation or extraordinary 
opportunity. His early educational advantages were very limited and his 
business experience was acquired by dint of determination and 
painstaking endeavor. He was born at Holley, Orleans county, New York, 
December 23, 1839, and a son of Carlton and Eliza (Cornell) Morehouse. 
The father was a son of Caleb Morehouse, a pioneer farmer of Saratoga 
county. The father of Caleb Morehouse came from England to western 
Connecticut during the Colonial period. In the subsequent struggle for 
American independence he espoused the patriot cause, in consequence of 
which he and one of his sons were taken prisoners at their home and 
their stock confiscated by the British troops during one of their raids 
through the state. Carlton Morehouse moved in 1846 to Plato, Kane 
county, Illinois. He spent several" years as traveling agent for the 
sale of agricultural implements in that state. His death occurred at 
Plato in 1855 when he was fifty-eight years of age. He was one of the 
chief supporters of the Baptist church in that vicinity, performing' the 
duties of deacon for years. He filled various local offices including 
those of supervisor and justice of the peace and was an exemplary and 
influential citizen. Mrs. Eliza Morehouse was also active in the work of 
the Baptist church and was a devout Christian lady. She in 1863 at the 
age of fifty-eight years.

	George Morehouse, the subject of this sketch, left home at the age 
of twenty years and went to Racine, Wisconsin. and spent a year and a 
half in the Racine County Bank. For another year he was employed as 
bookkeeper and collector in the office of the "Racine Advocate," one of 
the leading newspapers of southern Wisconsin. When the Civil war began 
he was employed as clerk for the United States marshal at Milwaukee, and 
afterward went to Brazier (now Morgan) City, Louisiana, as clerk for a 
captain and commissary in the Union army, spending the last two years of 
the war in that capacity. He then went to Janesville, Bremer county, 
Iowa, as bookkeeper and grain buyer for his brother, Ransom Morehouse, a 
miller and grain dealer at that point. In 1872  he was elected treasurer 
of the county and moved to Waverly, the county seat, and performed the 
duties of that office for six years in succession. During the last two 
years of this period he became cashier of the Bremer County Bank, a 
position which he held until 1880. Having become familiar with the 
details of this line of business and acquired sonic capital of his own, 
he came to Brookings, and in conjunction with his brother, William H. 
Morehouse, started the first banking institution in the place. This was 
conducted as a private bank until 1884 , when it was incorporated as the 
Bank of Brookings. Mr. Morehouse has been the cashier and manager of the 
concern from its inception, and has always conducted a prosperous and 
conservative business, enjoying the unlimited confidence of the people. 
In addition to this business he is also interested to some extent in 
real estate, and in 1895 helped to organize the Brookings Land & Trust 
Company, of which he is treasurer.

	Mr. Morehouse was united in marriage to Miss Anna B. Crosby, in 
August, 1867. Mrs. Morehouse is a native of Belvidere, Illinois, and a 
daughter of Henry L. and Mary E. Crosby, formerly of Belvidere, 
Illinois. Their wedded life has been blessed by the presence of one son: 
Henry Carlton.

	The family is connected with the Baptist church of Brookings, of 
which Mr. Morehouse was one of its earliest members. He has served as 
clerk and janitor of the society from its organization. He is a member 
of the Brookings lodge A. F. & A. M. Politically he has been for many 
years a Republican, although not a rabid partisan. For eight years he 
served as a member of the board of regents of the Dakota Agricultural 
college at Brookings, and has always taken an active interest in the 
progress of the institution. He has also been a member of the city board 
of education for several years and strives to encourage every public 
movement calculated to improve the moral and intellectual status of the 
community.