Biography of Henry S. Rowe

	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. Page 303.

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


HENRY S. ROWE, cashier of the Merchants Bank of Bryant, was born on a farm in Mondovi, 
Buffalo county, Wisconsin, June 9, 1864. His father, William B. Rowe, was a native of 
the Keystone state, born in 1820. In early life he was engaged in the manufacture of 
carriages in his native state. In 1863 he moved to Buffalo county, Wisconsin, and 
located on a farm, succeeded in that calling, and retired from active life several 
years before his death, which occurred in 1891. He was regarded as one of the prominent 
and representative farmers of his county. He married Elizabeth Smiley in Pennsylvania, 
in which state she was born in the year 1820. She died in Wisconsin, in April, 1895, 
leaving a family of six children, of whom our subject is the sixth in the order of 
their birth.

	Mr. Rowe attended the district school near the old farm, and later attended the 
high school at Mondovi, Wisconsin, where he finished his education in June, 1881. In 
the fall of the same year he went west and settled at Volga, Brookings county, South 
Dakota. The first position he secured there was that of clerk for the firm of William 
Fisher & Co., in a general store; and remained with them six years, after which he 
began business on his own account, putting in a full line of merchandise, and operating 
the same for eight years. In 1895 the building in which he was doing business was 
destroyed by fire. He then concluded to enter into another line of business, and 
accordingly accepted a position with the Equitable Loan & Trust Company, whose 
headquarters are at Volga. He had charge of the company's outside work in the state, 
and continued in its service for two years, or until 1897, in April of which year he 
was elected cashier of the Merchants Bank.

	Mr. Rowe was married to Miss Alice Keith, in Volga, September 18, 1889. Miss 
Keith was born in Buffalo county, Wisconsin, on a farm, April 22, 1865, and is a 
daughter of Charles and Jane Keith, both natives of Scotland, and who now reside 
in the city of Brookings. To Mr. and Mrs. Rowe have been born three children: William 
Irwin, Charles S., and Nellie F., all of whom were born in Volga. Politically 
Mr. Rowe is a Republican although he formerly affiliated with the Democratic party. 
Socially he is a member of the Blue and Royal Arch Masonic lodges, and is also a 
Knight Templar and an A. O. U. W. Mr. Rowe is a fine type of our self-made men. 
He arrived in Dakota with very little capital, but by diligence and study and close 
and careful attention to each and every duty devolving upon him, he has 
risen from one position to another until he is now considered one of the most 
popular, highly respected and substantial citizens of Bryant, which, together 
with the fact that he is still a young man, predicts for him a brilliant future.