Robert S. Vessey - Wessington Springs - 7th Gov. SD 1910-1913

Robert Scadden Vessey Wessington Springs, South Dakota Seventh Governor of South Dakota 1910-1913

By Alan Budahl Reproduced from “The Making of a Community – A history of Jerauld County 10 1980”

Robert Scadden Vessey was born on May 16, 1858 on a farm near Oshkosh, Wisconsin. His parents immigrated to the United States from England in 1850. His father, Charles, who was a Methodist minister-farmer and his mother, Elizabeth Jane, had a family of 15 children. Vessey attended common schools of Winnebago County until he reached the age of thirteen. He then attended Oshkosh Commercial College for a brief period. At the age of 16, he went to the north woods of Wisconsin to be a lumberjack. Five years later, he spent a year working and roaming through Texas, Kansas and other southern states.

Gov. R.S. Vessey home in Wessington Springs - 2009

He then returned to Wisconsin and lumbering, where he advanced to a position of foreman.(1) Vessey was married to a daughter of Mr. Albert, a lumberman for whom he was working, in August of 1882. He spent one more winter in Wisconsin working in the pineries. Robert, his wife Florence and his brother John, left Wisconsin and arrived at White Lake, South Dakota on May 17, 1883. They immediately began to transport their goods to the still unsurveyed country of what is now the SE Section 12-107-66 of Pleasant Township in Jerauld County, where Robert had established the rights of a squatter. (2)

Vessey’s first adventure in Dakota Territory was in the sheep business. In August of 1883, he had 600 head of sheep brought out from Wisconsin by S. H. Albert. In February of 1884, Vessey, Joseph O’Brien and the Stanley register of deeds were appointed to the branding committee of Jerauld County. After two years of prosperity in this enterprise, he moved to Wessington Springs because of his wife’s failing health.(3)

On May 31, 1884, J. H. Vessey and Allan Ransom formed a partnership and began a mercantile business. In October of that year R. S. Vessey and S. H. Albert became partners. The firm became known as Vessey Bros., Ransom and Company. Soon they expanded the business and added a store at Crow Lake. The first convention of the Jerauld County Republican Party was held on September 6, 1884. Vessey was nominated to be the Republican candidate for county assessor. The results of the convention were unsatisfactory to a large number of people within the county.

The Republican party in the county had become divided into two factions so bitterly opposed that reconciliation was impossible. Finally on October 25, the Peoples Party held a convention. Vessey was then nominated on the Peoples ticket and was elected Jerauld County Assessor on November 4, 1884. He was not a candidate for re-election in 1886. In 1885, on June 18, Vessey Bros., Ransom and Co., started construction of a new building on a corner lot at mid-Main Street in Wessington Springs. In 1887 J. H. Vessey and Ransom drew out of the business and it became known as the Albert and Vessey store. On December 5, 1888, a cigar stub thrown into a pile of street refuse under the Albert and Vessey Store sidewalk started a fire which burned down four buildings. Albert and Vessey located elsewhere, soon after the fire. In February of 1889, J. H. Vessey bought the Albert and Vessey Store. R. S. Vessey then formed a partnership with C. E. Nordyke to deal in real estate in Jerauld County.

This partnership only lasted until October 1 of that year. In the latter part of April, 1890, Robert Vessey and S. H. Albert purchased their old firm back from J. H. Vessey.(4) During the years in the mercantile business Vessey had retained his ranching interests. In 1892 he disposed of his sheep business and turned to raising cattle. At one time the R. S. Vessey Cattle Company had more than 450 head of cattle grazing over more than two thousand acres of the rich pasture lands of Jerauld County.

Then in 1900, Vessey sold out his share in the mercantile business. He established a real estate business and at the same time became President of the Wessington Springs State Bank. He was president of the bank for a short time, as he wanted to devote his entire attention to his real estate and title business. On March 18, 1903, he formed a real estate partnership with C. E. Gingery. Throughout his residency in Wessington Springs, Vessy took an active part in the civic and economic development of the town and county. In the spring of 1890, a board of trade was organized and Vessey was elected secretary. In August of 1896, a cooperative grain exchange was formed in Wessington Springs and Vessey was a member of the board. In January 1898 R .S. Vessey and J. D. Chamberlain of Alpena, began a move to get a telephone line extended from Woonsocket to both the Jerauld County towns.

Vessey later became manager of the Dakota Southern Telephone Company. He also became the first President of the Wessington Springs Lodge #81 of the Order of Home Guardians. The order is a fraternal, social and insurance society.(5) Robert Vessey also had great interest in the spiritual and cultural development of the area. He wanted to create the right environment for his four children, Harry, Vera, Bernice and Robert Jr.

 He gave many contributions of money and time to help establish the Wessington Springs Seminary in 1887. In 1889 he was made president of the Lecture Association. He was a faithful member of the Methodist Church. He was president of the Wessington Springs Improvement Company which in 1905 built a new auditorium.(6) On May 11, 1904, Vessey was elected to the city council. This was the first city election in Wessington Springs and he received 18 votes. You can say this was Vessey’s start of active life in politics.

Soon after this he was attracted to the progressive political platform of Theodore Roosevelt and was induced to run for state senator. At the county republican convention, Vessey was nominated with 43½ votes over T. W. Lane’s 101/2 votes and Milliken’s 3 votes. On election day R. S. Vessey was elected senator from the 19th district by defeating T. L. White, 458 to 401 votes. (7)

During his campaign he pledged to work for a South Dakota primary election law, and to compel the railroads to give the small business operators the same traffic rates as were given large operators. He was also concerned about the educational institutions and the care of the insane and the feeble minded.

After taking oath in January of 1905, he worked to make his campaign pledges a reality. As a Senator in the Ninth Session of the Legislature, Vessey was appointed to serve on the committees of education, counties and towns, warehouses and grain grading, and temperance. Vessey introduced the first Senate Bill which was a bill to amend a section of the Code of Civil Procedures dealing with the transmission of paper from the Circuit Courts to the Supreme Court of this State.

Unfortunately his first bill never made it past the Judiciary Committee. Vessey also introduced another bill to amend the same code, but this one related to the justifications of sureties or arrest and bail. This amendment passed the Senate and the House and was signed by the Governor. Senate Bill Number 60 is also one initiated by Vessey. This bill dealt with the Political Code and related to the fees of jurors. This bill died in the Judiciary Committee. (8) Vessey’s next bill is one that awakened the people of South Dakota. Senate Bill Number 61 dealt with the granting of divorce in the State. He closed by saying, “this amendment will aid the foreign divorce industry, as no one can here obtain a divorce who is not a married resident of this state.”(9) Number 61 never made it past the Judiciary Committee.

Vessey introduced a bill on the study of physiology and hygiene in the public schools, which passed the Senate but was lost in the House.

Robert Vessey worked hard in the Senate and even though only one of his bills passed, his reputation was well known throughout the state. In the November elections of 1906, Vessey was re-elected to the Senate. He defeated the Democratic candidate G. H. Sickler and the Citizen’s candidate Rev. W. C. Houts. Vessey received 497 votes compared to 258 for Sickler and 36 for Houts.(10)

On the second day of the Tenth Session of the State Legislature, Senator Cook from Aurora County nominated Mr. Vessey for President of the Pro-Tern of the Senate. He received the majority of the votes over Senator Dudley from Custer and Fall River Counties. Vessey served as chairman of the Insurance Committee and was a member of the Appropriations, Counties and Towns and State Affairs Committee.

Mr. Vessey introduced Senate Bill Number 4, which was a bill to regulate campaign and election expenses and to require the reporting and filing of such accounts. His bill also provided penalties for violations of this Act. The committee on Engrossing and Enrolling found this bill engrossed in another piece of legislation. As chairman of the Insurance Committee he wanted a law to revise the Civil Code of 1903 relating to Stock Insurance Companies. This bill passed and was signed into law.

Vessey also introduced a bill to prohibit the sale of cigarettes, cigarette papers or substitutes. This bill passed both Houses and the Governor. Mr. Vessey campaigned to hold back railroads’ power. His Senate Bill Number 55, amended the Political Code giving the Railroad commission the power to require companies to connect tracks at intersect points. The bill died in the Railroad committee.

Another bill which Vessey initiated but was lost in the House, provided for assessment and taxation of Mutual Fire and Life Insurance Companies and Fraternal Beneficiary Associations. His Senate Bill Number 93 tried to establish a state printing and book binding plant and to create the Office of Superintendent of State Printing. It died in the Committee on Public Printing.

Another bill introduced by Vessey was an act forbidding the sale of intoxicating liquors within a one-third mile of any college or academy providing regular classical or scientific courses. The bill was signed into law. Another bill introduced by Vessey that died in the Committee on Charitable and Penal Institutions, was Number 153. It tried to define insanity and to prescribe conditions under which a person may be committed to the institution.

Mr. Vessey felt that South Dakota needed an Office of Commissioner of Immigration. The bill he introduced died in the Committee of State Affairs. He also introduced a bill legalizing incorporations of cities of the third class in this state. This bill was made law. He also introduced several Joint Resolutions. The first was one to amend the Constitution by striking out the word “male” in the section relating to Elections and rights of suffrage. This resolution was lost in the House.

His next resolution memorialized the President and the Congress of the United States to amend the Internal Revenue Laws to forbid granting liquor licenses to anyone who is not legally authorized to sell under the laws of the State. This resolution passed the legislature and was sent to Washington.(l1) Mr. Vessey also introduced Joint Resolution, Number 15, which requested Congress to call a convention to propose an amendment to the Constitution of the United States: whereby polygamous cohabitation shall be prohibited. This resolution became lost within the House.

The last resolution had to deal with his district. He asked Congress to open the Crow Creek Indian Reservation to settlement. This resolution passed South Dakota and was sent to Washington.(12) In 1906 Vessey began building his home on College Avenue in Smart’s Addition where the house stands today. In December of 1907, R. S. Vessey announced his candidacy for Governor. He was encouraged by many to seek that office because of his outstanding record in the Senate. Vessey’s platform endorsed Roosevelt’s principles on all economic questions, especially regarding government regulation of corporations and enforcement of law.

He wanted clean, honest, economical administration of state affairs. He stood for equal taxation for all property. He believed in clean politics, where the people, not the corporation, rule. He wanted to see ‘state law whereby the state should stand for deposits in state banks and require banks to deposit funds with the State Treasurer to protect that guarantee.

Finally he endorsed the Republican State Platform of 1906. This also was the year the new primary election law came into effect. Mr: Vessey won the primary on June 9, 1908 along with H. C. Shober of Highmore for Lt. Governor. The Democrats ran Lee for Governor and Lafollette for Lt. Governor. The Prohibition Party gave Knappen and Rafferty as their choices for the offices. Knapp ran for Governor for the Socialists with Cochrane as his running mate, Warne, along with Bonne, were running on the Scales of Justice ticket.

Elected Governor of SD

Vessey won with nearly a 15,000 vote majority. (13) On January 5, 1909, Robert Scadden Vessey was sworn in as the seventh governor of the State of South Dakota. In his inaugural address to the Congress and the people of South Dakota he asked the largely Republican Congress to carry into effective legislation every principle advocated in the platform. He recommended careful attention to the subject of the indeterminate sentence, and the use of parole of convicted criminals.

 He asked for the continuance of the wise and liberal practices of the past and ample provision for the growing demand for education. He asked for restriction on further building. At this time the new capitol building was under construction and the new governor became administrator of its construction. He recommended the enactment of a law providing for the designation of depositories of state funds, plus a measure should be framed so that all depositors will be assured against losses.

Also, no bank, he felt, should be allowed to incorporate with less than $10,000 capital. He wanted officers of banks to be bonded and to allow no banks to be stockholders in other banks. In addition he requested more severe penalties for bank robbery and to make it a crime for any person to be found with nitro-glycerine or burglar’s tools without showing good intentions. He asked for additional bank examiners.(14) The Governor asked for revision in the new primary election law to eliminate unnecessary expenses. He asked for the ‘separation of the Commissioner of Immigration and the Secretary of the Board of Agriculture. He wanted advertising to lure people to South Dakota. He recommended the creation of county road supervisor and the improvement of the roads.

He asked congress for another seat on the Supreme Court of South Dakota. He urged the passage of laws to regulate trusts and corporations. Also, he recommended the complete revision of the Insurance Code. He asked the Congress to raise the standard of efficiency of State employees, and asked for the establishment of a hospital for inebriates and a crusade against cigarettes.(15)

Many of the Governor’s recommendations were passed into laws. A law was passed providing for indeterminate sentences for those never convicted before. Laws and amendments pertaining to liquor, cigarettes and gambling were enacted. Probably some of the most important legislation passed were those bills dealing with banks. Twenty-five laws in all were passed establishing a Bank Department and rules and regulations covering trusts, corporations and banks themselves. Many appropriations were made for the new Capitol building. This session continued with the policy on education and passed laws to meet the growing demands.

It was during this session that a bill was signed into law creating the flag of South Dakota. Also election laws were revised to help eliminate unnecessary expenses. When Senate Bill Number 328 was signed into law the Office of State Game Warden was created. Governor Vessey appointed Fred Bancroft, postmaster at Wessington Springs, as the first head of the Game and Fish Department. Vessey asked for complete revision of the Insurance Code, and received many revisions and additions to it. He also succeeded in having legislation passed pertaining to livestock and the spread of diseases among animals. The Governor signed every bill presented him dealing with the railroads. Much of this legislation was very costly to the railroads.

Probably the most progressive acts of the legislature were the bills which conferred upon the governor large powers for the enforcement of law, and in the removal of delinquent officers, but it was referendumed and defeated in the election of 1910.(16) Governor Vessey had a busy year his second year in office. In the early spring the new capitol building was ready for occupancy. He also became President of the Board of Directors of the Carrizo Copper and Mining Company.

It was also time to start campaigning for a second term. In the Republican primary, he was being challenged by another progressive candidate, Egan, who was campaigning very hard. The Stalwarts’ candidate, former Governor S. H. Elrod, who served from 1905-1907, before losing to progressive Coe Crawford, was becoming quite popular among the Republicans again. In an article in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader the Stalwarts had declared Vessey a loser on June 6, 1910. The article said, “The farmers of this State will vote against the Vessey administration, because of its wasteful financial management, and the fight is now clearly between Egan and Elrod.” (17) On primary day it was a close election with Vessey receiving the nomination by slim majorities. The Republican Platform of 1910 asked for legislation regulating common carriers and other public service corporations and to restrain the powers of combinations of capital for purposes of monopoly and restraint of legitimate competition.

They favored party nomination of postmaster for presidential post offices by popular vote of the resident party electors of the municipality in which the post office is located. They favored the repeal of the law requiring publication of insurance statements. Finally they declared continued support of Roosevelt’s policies and commended Taft on carrying out these principles. In the November election of 1910, Vessey was re-elected by nearly a 23,000 vote majority over the Democratic candidate Chauncey L. Wood. The Prohibition Party ran 0. W. Butterfield while the Socialists supported M. G. Opsahl.(18) Governor Vessey in his biennial message to the twelfth session of the legislature commended them and the people of South Dakota on the fine new state building. He cautioned the legislators to make more appropriations and asked for continued funding of the state and educational institutions.

The subject of public health was a matter to which he called their attention. He recommended that they listen to the State Board of Agriculture and try to advance the agricultural industry. He was proud to see the changes in the State Fair and wanted continued work on experiment stations. He asked for money for the farmers’ institute.

He again asked for legislation providing for better roads. He asked for a liberal appropriation to start a National Guard. As he did in 1909 he stressed the evils of liquor, cigarettes and gambling, and asked for more enforcement, training and education on the matters. He again asked for advertising to give South Dakota publicity.

Vessey asked the legislature not to build an executive mansion but asked if the state would rent a place of residency for the governor and his family.

He asked that more power be given to the Railroad Commission. Again he asked for improvements in the primary election laws of South Dakota. Vessey requested that a position of Assistant Attorney General be created. He strongly recommended a constitutional convention to amend or revise our statutory laws. (19)

The legislature of 1911 gave Vessey some of the appropriations he wanted. They did make amendments to the election laws and also legislation to aid in building better roads. A bill was passed to allow for funds for the maintenance of a National Guard.

Probably the biggest law signed during this session was one called the Daylight Saloon bill. On February 9, 1911, Governor Vessey signed the daylight bill, setting the closing hour of all saloons in the state at nine o’clock each evening. Of course this law made many people of the state angry and they began to fight but only to be blocked by the temperance people. (20) The progressive program was by this time pretty well established in law.

The legislature of 1911 did little more than to strengthen some of these acts. Vessey’s whole second term became filled with hardship. The harvest of 1911 was bad and the failure fell heavily upon the homesteaders who flocked to the lands west of the Missouri. These settlers were unable to stand up under the almost total loss of the crop and the exodus was begun. Governor Vessey lost much of his fortune during his term of office.

In 1912, Vessey bought part interest in a Mercantile Agency in Philadelphia. After completing his second term as Governor in January 1913, Vessey moved to Chicago and turned his attention to real estate. There he became chairman of the Advisory Board of the United Mercantile Agency. World War I terminated this venture, so he moved to California where he entered the real estate business.

He was active in business until the time of his death on October 18, 1929, at Pasadena, California.

Robert Vessey has been best known, perhaps as the first governor officially to proclaim the observance of Mother’s Day. In March of 1909, Mrs. Jarvis of Philadelphia, wrote to all the governors of the nation urging them to set aside the second Sunday of May as a day to honor the mothers of the nation. Vessey immediately drew up a proclamation and issued it on April 9, 1909. He was later surprised to hear he was the only one to do so. The next year, the governor of West Virginia followed South Dakota and Vessey’s example, and issued a similar proclamation. Finally the idea became so popular that President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed it a national observance in 1913. This action was typical of the governor, who was noted for his personal kindness and zeal for moral legislation.(21)

FOOTNOTES 1. Dalthrop, Charles. South Dakota’s Governors. Midwest Beach Company, 1953, pp. 23-25. 2. Dunham, N. J. A History of Jerauld County. Wessing. ton Springs South Dakota. From the earliest settlement to Jan. 1, 1909. 3. Dalthrop, Charles. South Dakota’s Governors. Midwest Beach Company, 1953, pp. 23-25. 4. Dunham, N. J. A History of Jerauld County. Wessington Springs, South Dakota. From the earliest settlement to Jan. 1, 1909. 5. Dakota Sieve. Newspaper from Wessington Springs, South Dakota. Published from May 7, 1903 – June 29, 1905. 6. Dalthrop, Charles. South Dakota’s Governors. Midwest Beach Company, 1953, pp. 23-25. South Dakota. Published from May 7, 1903 – June 29, 1905. 8. Journal of the Senate of South Dakota. 1905. 9. Dakota Sieve. Newspaper from Wessington Springs, South Dakota. Published from May 7, 1903 – June 29, 1905. 10. Jerauld County Review. Newspaper from Wessington Springs, South Dakota. Published from July 13, 1906 – June 10, 1915. 11. Journal of the Senate of South Dakota. 1907. 12. ibid. 13. Jerould County Review. Newspaper from Wessington Springs, South Dakota. Published from July 13, 1906 – June 10, 1915. 14. ibid. 15. Inaugural Address of Governor R. S. Vessey to the Dakota Sieve. Newspaper from Wessington Springs, Eleventh Legislative Session of the State of South Dakota. State Publishing Company, 1909. 16. Session Laws of the State of South Dakota. Hipple Printing, 1909. 17. Sioux Falls Argus Leader, Vol. 26, No. 78, June 6, 1910. 18. Jerauld County Review. Newspaper from Wessington Springs, South Dakota. Published from July 13, 1906 – June 10, 1915. 19. Biennial Message of Governor R. S. Vessey to the Twelfth Legislature of the State of South Dakota. State Publishing Company. 1911. 20. Session Laws of the State of South Dakota. 1911, Hipple Printing: 21. Dunham, Fred. A History of Jerauld County. From January 1, 1909 to December 31, 1961.

SCHAEFER SCHOOL ABOUT 1946 – left row: ? Mettler, Marilyn Buehler; middle row: ? Mettler, Joyce Thum, Betty Conklin; right row: Gary Thum, ?, Peggy Schaefer

BY CRAIG WENZEL

EARLY IN THE LAST CENTURY, in the 1900’s, farmers in South Dakota would get together to help each other get their work done. Using teams of horses and plenty of man power, the men would make light work of a seemingly impossible task. The women butchered a few chickens and gathered vegetables from the garden to put together a feast for the workers. This photo of a haying bee in northern South Dakota was loaned to the True Dakotan by Myron Kleppin, longtime Crow Lake area farmer. Watch future issues of the True Dakotan to see more of the photographs in this series.

A page from the 1910 Jerauld County history book - available on line FREE

This history book is quite sought after… since it was printed a century ago and includes all of the Jerauld County (SD) history up to that date. If you find them on local auction sales, they are a little “pricey”. This link is free and lets you read  your heart out.  We have a copy of the history book here in the True Dakotan office and we’ve often been asked about re-printing it and having it for sale. Now you don’t have to pay!!  FREE DOWNLOAD (PDF) or read on line http://www.archive.org/details/historyofjerauld00dunh

At the base of the Coteau are several clear gushing springs, which lose themselves immediately in the light soil of the prairie. These springs furnish the only continually running water between the Big Sioux and Missouri rivers, excepting that of the James.

In the ravines in the face of the Coteau are considerable quantities of oak, ash, and elm timber of good growth. A favorable ascent of the Coteau was obtained on a narrow divide between the two ravines, which, extending nearly a mile into time lower prairie, formed an easy grade to the high land. Two miles over rolling prairie, from the edge of the high land, a small lake of good water is passed, lying in a narrow valley. Two miles further, over a broken surface, reaches the summit of the Coteau.

History