Biography of W. H. Stokes

	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 410-414

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


W. H. STOKES, one of the early settlers of South Dakota, who by his 
ability, careful judgment and close attention to the various details of 
his business has become one of the wealthy and influential citizens of 
his adopted county, and one of the most prominent business men of South 
Dakota, is now the proprietor of the roller mills at Watertown, 
Codington county. He was born in Rock county, Wisconsin, May 16, 1845.

	The father of our subject, Charles Stokes, was born in 
Summershire, England, in the year 1812, and migrated from thence to 
America and located in the New England states, when about twenty years 
of age, and was there engaged in wholesaling whips and clothing for a 
number of years. About 1838 he moved to Wisconsin and was one of the 
first settlers of Rock county, took a claim and was there married. From 
there he moved to Mitchell county, Iowa, where he died in 1890. He was 
one of the "forty-niners" who crossed the plains, spending six months on 
the journey, and then remained in California with good success. His 
wife, Ann (Kimble) Stokes, was born at Saugerties, New York, and moved 
with her parents when a young girl to Wisconsin, and is still living. 
Her father was one of the earliest settlers of Wisconsin.

	W. H. Stokes, the subject of this sketch, is the third child and 
the second son in the order of birth of a family of thirteen children, 
eleven of whom grew to maturity and nine are still living. He was reared 
and educated in Rock county, Wisconsin, until nineteen years of age, 
attending the common schools of his district, and then went to Mitchell 
county, Iowa, where he attended a select school two terms, living with 
his parents until attaining his majority. He was then manager of his 
father's sawmill one year, receiving as a compensation one dollar and 
seventy-five cents per day, but on September 12, 1867, he met with an 
accident which resulted in a broken limb and he was obliged to suspend 
business for about six months, and during that time all the money he had 
saved during the previous year was consumed. April 1, 1868, he joined a 
company of men and hired out as a day laborer to the Milwaukee railroad 
company during the summer, and the following fall, worked in the harvest 
fields, and returned to Mitchell county, Iowa, with eighty-eight dollars 
which he had saved from his earnings, and worked that winter in his 
father's sawmill in the capacity of manager. In the meantime, he bought 
a team of horses, which, the following spring, he turned in as part 
payment to his father for the mill, which was located twenty miles north 
of Osage, Iowa, and in connection with his brother, he operated the mill 
there one year with considerable success. They then moved the mill to 
Alma City, known as the Big Woods, where they did a profitable business 
for about two years, and then moved to Janesville, Minnesota, and there, 
in connection with his brother, Frank, and his two uncles, John and 
George Kimble, built what is now known as the "Banner Flouring Mills," 
each partner owning one-fourth interest in the business, and thus it was 
operated three years.

	Our subject and his brother then bought the interest of their 
uncles and the firm then did business under the name of "Stokes Bros.", 
until 188l, when Mr. W. J. Jennison became a partner and the firm name 
was changed to "Stokes Bros. & Jennison, " and continued as such about 
five years. In the meantime, the Watertown Roller Mills were established 
and the company jointly operated the two mills until about 1886, when 
Mr. Stokes and his brother exchanged their interest in the Janesville 
mill for the one in Watertown. This enterprise was carried on under the 
firm name of "Stokes Bros." until 1891,  when our subject bought the 
interest of his brother and has since been the sole owner and manager. 
He is also operating thirteen elevators outside of Watertown, located at 
the following places: Gettysburg, Lebanon, Henry, Kampeska, and 
Altamont, all in South Dakota, and all on the Chicago & Northwestern 
railroad. Also Palmer, Alto, Clear Lake, Brandt, and Toronto, on the B., 
C. R. & N. railroad; Rauville, on the G. N. railroad; and Waverly, on 
the M. & St. L. railroad. At all of these points he also handles coal, 
wood and flour. The capacity of the flouring mill is five hundred 
barrels per day, and the total capacity of the elevators of which Mr. 
Stokes has charge is three hundred and fifty thousand bushels. He has 
fifteen hundred acres of land which is tilled by his own teams, and is 
the owner of about four thousand six hundred acres of farm land, mostly 
in Codington county. Mr. Stokes is a thoroughgoing and systematic 
business man, and handles one of the greatest business enterprises in 
the state. He has cablegraph connections with all the principal points 
of Europe, and employs fifty men.

	December 23, 1872, Mr. Stokes married Miss Elsie M. Grout, of 
Mitchell county, Iowa, a daughter of Leroy and Cordelia (Flower) Grout, 
and their wedded life has been blessed to them by the advent of nine 
children, as follows: Ella Glencora, wife of Frank E. Hawley, of 
Bridgeport, Connecticut, Gladys May, now attending the Oberlin college 
at Oberlin, Ohio; Maud L., now attending the Conservatory at Oberlin, 
Ohio; Alice W.; Elsie; W. H., Jr.; Louisa A.; Anna K. and Philip D. In 
social and religious circles, Mr. Stokes is also known as a leader and 
an influential member and affiliates with the Masonic order and the 
Congregational church. Politically he is a Republican.

	A portrait of Mr. Stokes appears on another other page of this 
work.