Dr. Hervey A. Tarbell, born on November 16, 1854, in Windsor County, Vermont, was a prominent physician and surgeon in Watertown, Codington County, South Dakota. A descendant of New England settlers, Tarbell graduated from Dartmouth College in 1878 and the University of New York’s medical department in 1883. He initially practiced in Plankinton, Aurora County, before moving to Watertown in 1890, where he significantly contributed to the local medical community, including establishing the Watertown hospital. Married to Anna M. Gleason in 1884, they had three children. Dr. Tarbell was also involved in various civic and professional organizations.
Hervey A. Tarbell, M.D., is one of the representative physicians and surgeons of the state, being established in the practice of his profession in Watertown, Codington County, where he has built up a large and lucrative business. The Doctor comes of stanch old New England stock and is a native of the Green Mountain state, having been born in Windsor County, Vermont, on the 16th of November, 1854, and being a son of Addison and Florella (Parker) Tarbell. His father was a farmer by vocation and passed his entire life in Windsor County, being a son of Captain Oliver Tarbell, who was likewise a prominent farmer and a man of much influence in his locality, having been captain of a company of militia during the war of 1812. The mother of the Doctor was likewise born in Vermont, the Parkers having been the first settlers in Cavendish, that state, in the early colonial epoch, while the lineage is traced back to Scotch-Irish derivation. Rev. J. W. Parker, brother of Mrs. Tarbell, was a prominent clergyman of the Baptist church and held for many years an important pastorate in the city of Washington, while another brother, Rev. H. I. Parker, was likewise a clergyman of the same church, the family name having for many generations been prominently identified with public affairs and professional work.
Dr. Tarbell passed his boyhood days on the home farm and after completing the curriculum of the common schools, he continued his studies in the Kimball Union Academy, at Meriden, New Hampshire, where he was graduated as a member of the class of 1874. He was soon afterward matriculated in the famous old Dartmouth College, where he completed the classical course and was graduated in 1878. After leaving college he came west to Minnesota, where he was engaged in teaching in the public schools, in the meanwhile devoting much attention to the reading of medicine, with a view to adopting the practice of the same as a life work. He entered the medical department of the University of New York, where he was graduated in 1883, receiving the degree of Doctor of Medicine and coming forth well fortified for the practical work of his chosen profession. In 1896 he took a special post-graduate course in the New York Post-Graduate Medical College, while he continues at all times a close and discriminating student of the sciences of medicine and surgery and keeps in touch with the advances made in both departments of his profession. After receiving his professional degree Dr. Tarbell came to South Dakota and located in Plankinton, Aurora County, where he built up a fine practice, continuing his residence there until 1890, when he removed to Watertown, where he now controls a large and representative practice, which places exigent demands upon his time, attention, and energies. He is recognized as one of the leading physicians and surgeons of this section and his friends are as numerous as his acquaintances, since he enjoys marked popularity in business, professional, and social circles. He and his brother, Oliver H., established the first drug store in Watertown in 1879, but the Doctor finally sold his interest in the enterprise to his brother, who had had the supervision of the business from its initiation. The Doctor was also one of those primarily instrumental in the establishing of that noble and valued institution, the Watertown hospital, of which he is secretary at the present time. For several years he served as County physician, and at the time of this writing is incumbent of the office of county coroner, while for a number of years he held the same offices in Plankinton. He is identified with various professional and fraternal organizations, and both he and his wife are prominent members of the Congregational church in Watertown, of whose board of trustees he has been a member for several years. In politics, the Doctor gives his allegiance to the Republican party.
In Mankato, Minnesota, on the 24th of May, 1884, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Tarbell to Miss Anna M. Gleason, who was born and reared in that state, having been graduated in the State Normal School at Mankato, and having been for several years a popular and successful teacher in the public schools of that city. Dr. and Mrs. Tarbell have three children, Lilla M., Helen I., and Hervey Gleason. The family home is one of the most attractive and modern residences in the city, being pleasantly located on Warner Avenue and having been erected at a cost of about eight thousand dollars, while it is recognized as a center of gracious and refined hospitality.
Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.