Herbert Lawrence Greene Biography

	This biography appears on pages 547-548, 549 in "History of Minnehaha 
	County, South Dakota" by Dana R. Bailey and was scanned, OCRed 
	and edited by Joy Fisher, http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/vols/00001.html#0000031
.

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GREENE, HERBERT LAWRENCE, was born in Boston, Mass., October 14, 1861, and 
removed with his parents to Iowa in 1866.  He received an academic education at 
McGregor, Iowa.  At the age of eighteen years he was appointed to a clerkship in 
the Interior Department at Washington and remained there nine months.  The chief 
clerk in the department accused him one day of being sparing of the truth, and a 
little episode occurred "then and there," and the next day the chief clerk was 
well enough to get Mr. Greene discharged.  He then went to Rock Rapids, Iowa, 
and was engaged as principal of the high school for one year, at the expiration 
of which time he came to Sioux Falls.  While in Washington he attended lectures 
at the Columbian law school, and upon his arrival in Sioux Falls in 1883, 
entered the law office of Winsor & Swezey and remained with them until he was 
admitted to the bar April 7, 1884.  After his admission he practiced law in 
Sioux Falls for one year alone, and then formed a copartnership with Judge 
Parliman under the name of Parliman & Greene.  This partnership continued for 
one year, when Mr. Greene accepted the position of general solicitor for the 
Insurance Company of Dakota, and remained with this company two years. After 
severing his connection with the insurance company be left the practice of law 
and engaged in the real estate business in Sioux Falls, in which he proved to be 
a successful promoter.  During the dull times of 1892, he, with one or two 
others, secured the town site of Sisseton, in Roberts county, and this 
enterprise will undoubtedly materalize to his advantage in due time.  He is well 
up in Masonry, and was one of the charter members of Granite lodge No.18, of the 
Knights of Pythias, and was the first commander of the order in South Dakota.  
He has been very prominent in political matters. For two years he was president 
of the State Republican league, and received universal praise for a masterly 
thirty days' campaign, which he conducted at the time of the first Congressional 
election in the state.  He was also at the Mitchell convention in 1890, and 
distinguished himself by his admirable conduct of J. M. Bailey's fight for the 
nomination for state treasurer.  His speech in placing his friend in nomination 
before the convention was excellent, and called forth the heartiest applause 
from his opponents.  He is one of the finest after-dinner speakers in the state.  
At the banquet upon the opening of the Sioux Falls, Yankton and Southwestern R. 
R. he responded to the toast "South Dakota and South Dakotans." It was a 
splendid speech and was pronounced by those who heard it as one of the finest, 
most finished oratorical efforts that South Dakotans ever had the pleasure of 
listening to.  This sketch will close here, but the future history of the county 
and state will undoubtedly have many lines interwoven, inspired by the work of 
Herbert L. Greene.