Turner County, SD Biographies.....Rector, W. H. 1837 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/vols/00001.html#0000031 February 17, 2008, 1:05 pm

Author: Geo. A. Ogle & Co. (1897)

W. H. RECTOR. On another page is presented a portrait of this gentleman, who is
one of Turner county's largest general farmers and a prominent citizen of Parker
township where he has his residence. He is a native of the Empire State, and was
born in Schenectady, N. Y., December 25, 1837. He is a son of George Sherman and
Martha (Campbell) Rector, the former of German descent, and born in New York,
and the latter also of German descent and a native of the same state. Mr. Rector
died at the age of seventy-eight years. Mrs. Rector is still spared to this
world and has reached the mile-stone of four-score years. They had a family of
twelve children.

   The subject of this biography was the second child and was brought to
Illinois by his parents when four years old. They located in McHenry county,
Ill., on a farm where our subject was reared and attended the log school house
of the township of Alden which was situated three miles from his home. This
distance he traversed every day on his way to and from school. He remained under
the parental roof until he attained his majority when he started out for
himself. He had nothing to rely on for a livelihood except the tools which
nature gave him—his hands—but he was equal to the emergency and set bravely to
work. He was united in marriage September 28, 1859, to Miss Harriett Fink, a
native of New York, and the first year of wedded life he worked for $150, out of
which he supported himself and wife. At the end of that time he had $5 in money,
and with this rented a farm on shares. For three years after he continued to
rent land and carried on farming, and in 1864 gallantly responded to the call of
the President of the United States for troops to suppress the rebellion. He
enlisted in company C, Ninety-fifth Illinois regiment, infantry, as a private,
and served until the close of hostilities. He was a participant in many of the
battles of the Civil war and was honorably discharged in 1865 at Montgomery,
Ala., and returned to his family in McHenry county, Ill. In the spring of 1866
he bought a farm in Marshall county, Iowa, but on account of his wife's illness
they did not move to their new home, and remained in McHenry county. He bought
fifty acres of land there first and gradually added to it as he prospered until
when he sold out in 1881 he disposed of 200 acres of well improved property. In
1882 he came to Dakota territory and purchased the farm where he now lives. His
present holdings comprise 800 acres, all in a body and all located in Parker
township, under fence and in a high state of cultivation. All of this land has
been accumulated by his own thrift and industry and the exercise of sound and
mature judgment in conducting his affairs. He is a Republican politically "from
the feet up," and always has been. He held the position of justice of the peace
while a resident of Illinois and also various other public offices, deputy
sheriff, constable, etc.

    Mr. and Mrs. Rector are the parents of five children, one of whom died the
day Mr. Rector was discharged from the army, and another in December of the same
year. Three sons are yet living, viz.: John, Clarence R. and Julius B.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

MEMORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
OF 
Turner, Lincoln, Union and Clay Counties,
SOUTH DAKOTA.

Containing Biographical Sketches of Hundreds of Prominent Old Settlers and
Representative Citizens, with a Review of their Life Work; their Identity with
the Growth and Development of these Counties; Reminiscences of Personal History
and Pioneer Life; and other Interesting and Valuable Matter which should be
Preserved in History.

ILLUSTRATED
CHICAGO.
GEO. A. OGLE & CO.
Publishers, Engravers and Book Manufacturers.
1897.


Biography is the only true history.—EMERSON.

A people that take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will
never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote
generations.—MACAULAY.


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