Born at Mt. Sterling, Illinois, October 7, 1859, of Scotch parentage, James D. ELLIOTT was, nevertheless, while yet a mere babe, taken by his parents to Ringgold county, Iowa, where he spent his early childhood. His father served two enlistments in the Civil War. Although but a mere child at the time, Judge ELLIOTT remembers seeing his father bid the family farewell, mount his horse and ride away to the service of his country. He also remembers the assassination of President LINCOLN. After the war, the family removed to Guthrie county, Iowa. Here young ELLIOTT attended a district school and later took up work in an academy. He would have graduated from the latter institution in June, 1872, had not his parents, in April of that year, moved to Clay county, South Dakota.

This brought a new chapter into his life. Here was a boy who had entered school at four years of age and who had practically completed an academic course at thirteen. Once in Dakota, conditions changed. He lingered along at the old home on the Missouri bottom, for several years, getting such help in his studies as he could from intelligent settlers here and there. Finally, when the Vermillion city schools were organized he went there and took a four-year course in two years; that is, he took the two-year high school course which was established and a special two-year course beyond it, in half time. Yet this achievement was not accomplished without one of the most severe struggles in the history of a man. His parents were exceedingly poor. James hadn't a dollar. He slept in the rear of a vacated building, with no fire. Night after night he shivered himself to sleep. For food he hadn't a bite except that sent to him now and then in a rough wooden box by his loyal mother. He piled sticks in the alley, set them on fire, thawed out his food, ate it and underwent hardships that would make even Dr. COOK blush in his quest for the north pole. The second year was easier, — he got janitor work to do to pay for his board.

Upon the completion of his school work at Vermillion, he taught school — one year in Clay county, one in Yankton county, and one term in Nebraska. During this time, he saved his money and invested it in cattle which he turned into his father's herd, and which he hoped to sell later to raise money with which to put himself through the law school at Ann Arbor, Michigan. But the great flood of 1881 swept away his father's property, drowned all their cattle and destroyed everything they had, leaving the family penniless, and young ELLIOTT to lay the foundation for his destiny all over again. Accordingly the next year he entered the law offices of GAMBLE brothers — John R. and Robert J. — at Yankton and began to read law for himself, while for a livelihood he slept in the office and kept books at night, dividing his surplus earnings with his parents and five sisters. In this connection it may be well to state that no boy ever had a better opportunity to read law, for, without casting any reflection upon any other man, it is safe to state that John R. GAMBLE, who at one time was our congressman, was the brainiest and most brilliant attorney that has ever graced either of the Dakotas. It was a rare privilege for a young man of ELLIOTT's temperament to have known him and to have studied under him. So thorough and so broad was his instruction and that of his brother Robert's to their devoted law student that today their young protege occupies the leading bench of the state, with no other legal preparation, save that secured under their tutelage.

Young Elliott was admitted to the bar in 1884, and he at once settled at Tyndall, where for twenty-seven years, he was on one side or the other of practically every case that was tried in court, or else associated with the lawyer who did try it. His learning was so broad, his conception of duty so high, that more than a hundred times during his Tyndall practice, aggrieved parties came into his office together, constituted him judge and jury, stated their grievances, took his verdict, abided by it and went home without going into court at all. This confidence arose from his noble manhood, from his exemplary life, and from the fact that he was never known to stoop to low scheming in order to win a case. Forgetful of self, he never urged litigation, but invariably sought to keep his clients out of court.

In politics he is a complete master of the game. During those long years at Tyndall, he handled the politics of Bon Homme county in a masterly way, yet nobody fought his leadership; in fact they all sought it. He was made chairman of the republican state central committee in 1896. A number of his friends begged him to run for governor or for congress, and on one occasion the leaders of the state legislature urged him to leave Pierre and return to Tyndall, so that they might on the morrow elect him to the United States senate. But James ELLIOTT emphatically refused. Unlike most politicians who always have "an axe to grind," Judge ELLIOTT was in politics only for the good he might do his party and his personal friends. He never sought preferment for himself; rather, he incessantly refused it.

Now, there was a reason for this. When young ELLIOTT was reading law in the GAMBLE brother's offices at Yankton, the only court in those days was the federal court which convened in Yankton which was the territorial capital. Here the lad saw federal court conducted, and saw the United States district attorney in action. It appealed to him and it gave birth within him to some day become our United States district attorney and later on to sit on the bench as federal judge. With these two ideals before him, he never swerved from his realization of them. The percentage of men who realize their ambitions in life is so small that it perhaps does not exceed one in every ten thousand. ELLIOTT is one of them.

For the good work which he did in 1896 as chairman of the republican state central committee, in stemming the tide of populism that was sweeping the state, President McKINLEY, almost immediately after his inauguration in the spring of 1897, appointed Mr. ELLIOTT United States district attorney for South Dakota. His first ambition was realized. This position he held for ten years.

Then he became general attorney for the Milwaukee railroad company in the two Dakotas. ELLIOTT named his own salary; the company accepted it. There was but one stipulation — he refused to do their political work. They exempted him from it. This new legal department out in the west for a great corporation needed organization; ELLIOTT undertook it. So well did he succeed that the company raised his salary several thousand dollars before the end of the first year.

But, what about that second ambition—the federal judgeship? Strangely enough, in the winter of 1910-11, a vacancy was created on the federal bench at Sioux Falls, by reason of Judge CARLAND's promotion to a position on the new Commerce Court created by special act of Congress. A scramble took place at once among politicians for this federal judgeship. One dignified lawyer looked calmly on and awaited the verdict, while his friends remained busy in his behalf. And in June, 1911, President TAFT appointed to the vacancy that poverty-stricken lad from the Missouri bottoms, the early teacher in the Dakotas, the lawyer who had mastered law outside of a law school, the Honorable James D. ELLIOTT — now Judge ELLIOTT, if you please.

At last his cherished ambitions were realized. They had been harbored in his soul for twenty-nine years. Perseverance wins. In order to accept the honor he took a reduction in salary of $5,000 per year. But he could do this. Those early days in Dakota had taught him the art of saving. At present he owns sixteen farms in Bon Homme county, containing six sets of magnificent buildings. His income is sufficient for life without his judge's salary. If it had not been, he could not have accepted it, for the salary of the position is not commensurate with the financial obligations which it entails.

Immediately upon his appointment, Judge ELLIOTT sold off every dollar of his bank stock and as far as possible liberated himself from all corporate influences. He also withdrew from polities and has isolated himself from all entangling matters, so as to make a great judge — one whom the people might love and revere as they did the young Tyndall attorney in days gone by. Thus far he has already adjudged some of the most important cases in the history of the state, yet not a single newspaper or individual has found fault with his verdicts. In the one large case from Pierre which was carried to circuit court of appeals, he was sustained on every point, even though some new law had been written into it.

Said he to a friend not long since: "When I was sworn in as federal judge, I also registered a secret oath with my God that I would never knowingly misjudge or wrongly sentence any man, and that every person, rich or poor, black or white, accused of crime, would have to stand before me and have his guilt or innocence weighed in the same scales of justice, and I shall never break that oath." He never will!

Let us all unite in congratulating him on the achievement of his ambitions, and in hoping that the boys of the rising generation may emulate his noble example!

When he was active in politics,[Judge ELLIOTT] was never known to err in judgment or in prophecy. He was identified with the old wing of the Republican party until 1906, and until that time they never tasted total defeat. His judgment in politics was infallible. But when the practices of the old organization became intolerable to him, he promptly left them and became one of the leaders in the reform movement. Momentarily a new chapter was written in our political history.

SOURCE: COURSEY, O. W. Who's Who in South Dakota Vol. 1. Pp. 254-260. Educator School Supply Co. Mitchell, South Dakota. 1912.