William W. Rounds, born on June 1, 1857, in Monkton, Addison County, Vermont, was the youngest of six children. Leaving home at age twelve, he worked various jobs before moving to Chicago in 1877 and then to Spink County, South Dakota, in 1882. There, he initially took up a pre-emption claim, later establishing a homestead in what became Conde. Transitioning from farming to business, he developed a successful hardware store and held several public service roles, including deputy sheriff. Rounds married Margaret Park in 1884, and they had a daughter, Hazel.
William W. Rounds hails from the old Green Mountain state, being a scion of staunch old English stock early established in New England. The ancestry is traced in a direct way to the noble family of Walworth, Lord Walworth, lord mayor of London, having been an ancestor. Mr. Rounds was born in the village of Monkton, Addison County, Vermont, on the 1st of June, 1857, and was the youngest in a family of six children. He attended the common schools until he had attained the age of twelve years, when he left the parental home and faced the stern battle of life on his own responsibility, so that he is well deserving of the proud American title of self-made man. He was variously employed in the east until 1877, when he came to the west and located in the city of Chicago, where he was variously employed until 1882, in the spring of which year he came to what is now the state of South Dakota and located in Spink County, where he took up a pre-emption claim of a quarter section of government land two miles south of the post office of Rose. In the fall of the same year he disposed of this property and took up a homestead claim in the same county, the place being the site of the town of Conde, as before noted. Here he continued to be actively engaged in farming until 1886, when the railroad was completed through the county and he sold his farm to the Western Townsite Company, and the village of Conde was soon afterward founded and platted, being now a progressive and attractive town. He identified himself forthwith with the business interests of the new village, erecting a large livery barn, which he equipped with good facilities, continuing to conduct the same for three years, at the expiration of which, in 1890, he traded his barn and business for the building and stock of a local hardware establishment. The stock was a small one and the enterprise was one of modest proportions at the time when he came into control, but within two years he had so increased its scope as to necessitate the building of an addition to his store, and he also installed a stock of furniture, while in 1896 he erected another addition, so that he has a large and conveniently arranged store, besides a large warehouse, and controls a flourishing business, maintaining also a branch store at Groton, Brown County. In politics, he is a staunch advocate of the principles of the Republican Party, and he has been called upon to serve in various positions of public trust, having been for several years a member of the board of trustees of the village and also a member of the board of education, while he also rendered excellent service as deputy sheriff of the county. He has attained the thirty-second degree in Scottish Rite Masonry, being identified with the consistory at Aberdeen, South Dakota, while he was one of the charter members of Conde Lodge, No. 134, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, in Conde, which he has served as worshipful master. He has also passed the official chairs in the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he is past grand, also being affiliated with the auxiliary organization, the Daughters of Rebekah, and being a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Degree of Honor.
On the 27th of November, 1884, Mr. Rounds was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Park, who was born in Michigan, and they have one daughter, Hazel, who is one of the popular young ladies of the village of Conde.
Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.