Lester H. Clow, born on November 2, 1843, in Highgate, Vermont, served on the Pierre city council and managed the Rust-Owen Lumber Company’s local interests. After moving to Chicago in 1857 and graduating from Bryant & Stratton Business College in 1862, Clow pursued a career in the lumber industry across several states before settling in Pierre in 1895. A dedicated Republican, he cast his first presidential vote for Lincoln and held significant roles in Freemasonry. Clow married twice, first to Adella J. Taft, with whom he had two children, and later to Delia Franck, with whom he had five children.
Lester H. Clow, who is a member of the city council of Pierre and the local manager for the extensive interests of the Rust-Owen Lumber Company, was born at Highgate, Franklin County, Vermont, on the 2nd of November, 1843, and is a son of John H. and Catherine D. (Smith) Clow, the former of whom died in the old Green Mountain state, in 1853, while the latter now resides in Evanston, Illinois, having attained the venerable age of ninety-seven years. The subject attended the common schools of his native town until he had attained the age of fifteen years, when, in 1857, he accompanied his mother on her removal to Chicago, Illinois, where he continued his studies in the public schools, finally entering the Bryant & Stratton Business College in that city, in which he was graduated in 1862. In 1858 he had entered the employ of a lumber concern in Chicago, and he there remained until 1875, when he went to Hamburg, Wisconsin, where he conducted a lumber yard for the ensuing two years, thereafter being identified with the same line of enterprise in Sparta, that state, for three years; at Merrillan for two years, and at Eau Claire for four years, at the expiration of which, in 1885, he located in Blair, Nebraska, where he was in the lumber business for seven years. In 1892 he went to Hinkley, Minnesota, where he was concerned in the same line of business until January, 1895, when he came to Pierre as manager of the interests of the Rust-Owen Lumber Company, of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, in which connection he has built up a large and important trade and gained the confidence and esteem of all with whom he has had dealings, while he has also been interested in the cattle business to a considerable extent. While a resident of Chicago, Mr. Clow was a member of the Ellsworth Zouaves, who made so enviable a record during the Civil War, but on account of his age he was not accepted for service when his command volunteered for enlistment. He cast his first presidential vote for Lincoln and has ever since been a stalwart supporter of the Republican Party. He is now serving his third term as a member of the city council of Pierre, as a representative of the second ward. He is one of the oldest Freemasons in the state, being identified with the lodge, chapter, commandery and Mystic Shrine, and also with the correlated Order of the Eastern Star and the Veterans. He was secretary of the blue lodge in Chicago for eight years, and for a number of years was secretary of Washington Lodge No. 21, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Blair, having been a member of the order since 1864. He is also affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, and his religious faith is that of the Congregational Church, in whose work he takes an active part, contributing liberally to its support. He is essentially progressive and public-spirited and is one of Pierre’s most loyal citizens, being one of those who did efficient work in securing the location of the capital here and doing all in his power to advance the welfare of the city along normal lines of progress.
On the 3rd of September, 1868, Mr. Clow married Miss Adella J. Taft, of Paxton, Illinois, and she died January 5, 1878, leaving two children, Irma, who is now the wife of Charles A. Raver, of Tekamah, Nebraska, and Byron L., who is engaged in business in Sioux Falls. On the 8th of August, 1880, Mr. Clow was united in marriage to Miss Delia Franck, of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, and they have five children, Franck Alice, Dorothy Iris, Dudley Sebastian, Louise Markham, and Ruth Delia.
Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.