John Carlyle Southwick (b. 1866, Waukegan, Illinois) was a prominent abstract business owner in Watertown, South Dakota. A key figure in local real estate, Southwick compiled a comprehensive set of title abstracts for Codington County, using a system he developed, which became widely adopted in the Northwest. He moved to Dakota Territory in 1883 and gained experience in Kingsbury County before establishing his business in Watertown in 1889. Elected register of deeds in 1893, Southwick held various public offices and was highly active in the Knights of Pythias, serving in multiple leadership roles. He also owned significant real estate, including his office building.
John Carlyle Southwick is one of the representative businessmen of Watertown, where for fifteen years he has been engaged in the abstract business, being the owner of a complete set of abstracts of title for Codington County, compiled by him personally, under a system of his origination, the excellence of which is attested by the fact that it has been adopted by many abstracters in the Northwest. Mr. Southwick is a representative of one of the honored pioneer families of this section of the state, and is a native of the city of Waukegan, Lake County, Illinois, where he was born on the 28th of June, 1866, being a son of John C. and Helen M. (Gates) Southwick, both of whom were born and reared in Chautauqua County, New York, whence they removed to Illinois about the year 1852. There the father engaged in general mercantile business and in 1878 removed to Dakota Territory and took up a tract of government land in Kingsbury County, where he became one of the prominent and influential citizens of this section, having taken up his residence at Arlington in 1880, and having been engaged in the real estate and loan business there until his death, which occurred on the 4th of July, 1901.
He represented Kingsbury County in the territorial legislature in 1885 and was an active factor in public affairs during his residence here, having been a staunch Republican in politics. The death of Helen M. Southwick occurred June 6, 1888, at Waukegan, Illinois, where she was visiting her former home.
The subject of this sketch secured his early education in the public schools of his native city, having been graduated in the Waukegan high school in 1883, on the seventeenth anniversary of his birth. In the following August, he joined his parents in what is now South Dakota, and in the next few years familiarized himself with the business of abstracting titles to real estate, having been employed in the office of the register of deeds of Kingsbury County, and later by the Kingsbury County Abstract Company. In December 1889, he located in Watertown and began the compilation of a complete set of abstracts from the records of Codington County, and in 1893 was elected register of deeds for the county, serving two years in this capacity, and afterward being called upon to serve in other municipal and county offices. He takes a prominent part in public affairs of a local nature, being a stalwart Republican in his political proclivities. He has continued in the abstract business and his records are in constant and popular use, the same being admirably systematized.
Mr. Southwick is one of the most prominent members of the Knights of Pythias in the state, being affiliated with Trishocotyn Lodge, No. 17, in Watertown, in which he passed the various official chairs, attaining the honor of past chancellor on the 6th of July, 1893. In 1894 he represented his lodge in the grand lodge of the state, and has since attended every session of the grand lodge. In 1895 he was elected grand prelate of this body, and in 1897 was chosen grand tribune, while in the following year he was elected chief tribune of the grand tribune of the order, retaining this office until the meeting of the grand lodge in 1899, when he resigned to accept the position of grand keeper of records and seal, in which capacity he served the order until 1903, when he was elected grand chancellor. He is also a leading member and officer of Watertown Lodge No. 838, of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mr. Southwick has been successful in his business affairs and is one of the popular young men of his city and county. He is the owner of a considerable amount of city property, including the two-story brick block on the corner of Codington Avenue and Oak Street, where his offices are located.
Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.