Biography - Alexander C. Wiper

Not to know Alexander C. Wiper, whose friends call him Sandy Wiper, is to argue one's self unknown in Bowbells and Burke county, with the history of which he has been largely connected as a representative of its business development and of its political interests as well. He is today president of the First National Bank of Bowbells and one of the extensive landowners and cattle raisers of the county. He was born near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, March 2, 1863, a son of Robert and Mary Ann (Coleman) Wiper. The father was born in Glasgow, Scotland, was educated in the schools of that city and remained in Scotland until he reached the age of twenty-four, becoming a coal miner there. Crossing the Atlantic, he engaged in coal mining in Pennsylvania until 1874, when he was employed by General Warren to go to Noble county, Ohio, and develop coal mines in the vicinity of Marietta and act as mine boss. Later at Buchtel, Ohio, he was pit or mine boss for John R. Buchtel, one of the coal kings of Ohio. In 1885 he retired from coal mining and removed to Sargent county. North Dakota, where he filed on the northwest quarter of section 15, town 132, range 55. With characteristic energy he began to break the sod and for many years actively engaged in farming, becoming one of the most prominent agriculturists of his section of the state. As his financial resources increased he added to his holdings from time to time until his possessions aggregated several hundred acres. At the time of the Civil war he as well as all his brothers and his father had manifested his loyalty to his country by enlisting in 1862 as a member of Company I, Sixty-third Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, for ninety days. At the close of that term, however, he immediately reenlisted and continued to serve until the cessation of hostilities. He participated in a number of hotly contested engagements and was wounded at the battle of Gettysburg. His wife was born, reared and educated on the present site of Pittsburgh and passed away on the old homestead farm in Sargent county, North Dakota, two years prior to the death of her husband, who died at the age of seventy-three years. They were the parents of twelve children, eight sons and four daughters, all of whom came to North Dakota in 1885, were reared to manhood in this .state and are still living within its borders save one son, J. H. Wiper, who is now mayor of Monongahela, Pennsylvania. While on a visit to that state he was injured in a railroad accident, causing the loss of both limbs, and the railroad company in settling his damage claim offered him a position in the office at Monongahela, which he accepted, and he has since made his home in that city, which contains a population of one hundred and fifty thousand and of which he is now the chief executive.

Alexander C. Wiper, whose name introduces this review, was a lad of thirteen years at the time of the removal of the family to Ohio and in the schools of that state and Pennsylvania acquired his education. He afterward engaged in cultivating a small farm of forty acres which his father owned and on which the family resided while the father worked in the mines. In 1885 they arrived in Sargent county and he continued as active assistant to his father in the development of the homestead claim until 1891, when he removed to Hankinson, North Dakota, where he entered the employ of John R. Jones, implement dealer, with whom he continued for ten years. In 1901 he took up his abode at Lidgerwood, North Dakota, and traveled for the McCormick Harvester Company as salesman and collector for two years. In 1903 he became a resident of Bowbells, a newly established town, in which he opened the First National Bank, remaining active as its president since that time. In fact he has figured prominently in banking circles in his section of the state for more than a decade. In 1905 he established the Citizens State Bank at Ryder, of which he was president for some time, and in 1907 he organized the First State Bank of Lignite, Burke county, of which he is still the president. In 1914 he promoted the Farmers & Merchants Bank at Colgan, of which he has always been president, and in the same year he established the First State Bank at Northgate, Burke county, but has retired from the presidency of that institution. He is an extensive landowner, having made judicious investments in property from time to time until he now has fifty-two farms in Ward and Burke counties, his holdings exceeding those of any other individual in the latter county. The work of farming, however, is carried on by others. Upon his land he has Rowan Durham cows of high grade, also seventy-five head of horses on his ranch, four-fifths of which he has raised himself. His property interests likewise include a fine residence in Bowbells.

On the 21st of July, 1896, at Lidgerwood, North Dakota, Mr. Wiper wedded Miss Louisa Wohlwend, who was born in Buffalo county, Wisconsin, and in her girlhood days became a resident of Richland county, North Dakota, where she completed her education. Her father, Benjamin Wohlwend, a native of Germany, settled in Buffalo county, Wisconsin, on coming to the new world and subsequently removed with his family to this state. Mr. and Mrs. Wiper became parents of four children, three of whom are living: Raymond C. and Thomas B., who were born in Richland county; and Robert, born in Bowbells.

Mr. Wiper is a "stand pat" republican. He has been very active in political circles in Burke county and is now a member of the county executive committee. He served as deputy United States marshal under A. F. Pierce for the southern district of North Dakota for four years and he has been mayor of his city and also president of its school board. Fraternally he is connected with the Masonic lodge at Bowbells and has attained high rank in the order, being now a member of Kem Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Grand Forks. He also has membership with the Knights of Pythias at Bowbells and the Elks lodge in Minot. His religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal church and he is a very ardent supporter of the temperance cause, doing all in his power to secure the suppression of the liquor traffic. His life has been guided by high and honorable principles. His business career has been the expression of justice and honor as well as of enterprise and diligence. He is a big man in thought, purpose and act and has been one of the prominent builders of city and county to whom his fellow citizens instinctively pay deference, not alone by reason of the success he has achieved but also owing to the honorable, straightforward methods which he has ever followed in every relation of life.

Extracted 05 Nov 2019 by Norma Hass from North Dakota History and People, published in 1917, volume 2, pages 512-514.