Arthur Calvin Mellette, born in 1842 in Henry County, Indiana, was the last governor of Dakota Territory and the first governor of South Dakota. Of French Huguenot descent, Mellette graduated from Bloomington University in 1863 and served in the Civil War as a substitute for his drafted brother. After the war, he practiced law, published the Muncie Times, and served in the Indiana legislature. Moving to Dakota in 1878, he became a key advocate for statehood, culminating in his appointment as territorial governor in 1889. Mellette was later elected South Dakota’s first governor and served until 1893. He passed away in 1895.
Arthur Calvin Mellette, tenth and last governor of Dakota territory, and first governor of the state of South Dakota, was born in Henry County, Indiana, in 1842. He was of French Huguenot stock. He graduated from Bloomington University in 1863 and at once proceeded to a recruiting camp to enlist, but while waiting in the camp he learned that an elder invalid brother had been drafted. He at once proceeded to the provost marshal’s office and offered himself as a substitute for his brother and served to the end of the war in the Ninth Indiana as a conscript’s substitute. After the war he studied law and engaged in practice. He was also publisher of the Muncie Times. He served in the Indiana legislature and was the author of Indiana’s efficient school law. He came to Dakota in 1878 and served as register of the Springfield land office, which in 1880 was removed to Watertown. He was a member of the constitutional convention of 1883 and in 1885 was elected governor under the constitution of that year. He devoted himself to the cause of the division of Dakota territory, being profoundly convinced that it would be a crime against future generations to allow the territory to be admitted as a single state. He was in prosperous circumstances and spent large sums of money to further this cause, defraying much the larger portion of the expense incident to the campaign which was protracted over many years. Among the first acts of President Harrison was the appointment of Mr. Mellette to be the governor of Dakota territory. That season of 1889 he was elected first governor of South Dakota and was re-elected in 1890. After his retirement from office, January 1, 1893, he was afflicted with Bright’s disease and his death resulted May 25, 1895.
Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.