Nelson Lee Finch Biography

This biography appears on pages 1201-1202 in "History of South Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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NELSON LEE FINCH, president of the Citizens' State Bank of Andover, Andover, Day County, is a native of the Empire state of the Union, having been born in Broadalbin, Fulton county, New York, on the 12th of January, 1873, a son of William W. and Carrie (Lee) Finch, both of whom were likewise born in the state of New York, being of English and English-French lineage respectively.

The subject of this sketch attended the public schools of his native town until he had attained the age of ten years, when, in 1883, he accompanied his parents on their removal to South Dakota, the family locating in Andover, Day county, where the father engaged in the mercantile business. Here Nelson continued to attend the public schools until 1889, during which year and that following he was a student in the South Dakota State Agricultural College, at Brookings, as a member of the class of 1893. In 1890 he continued his educational discipline in the Curtiss Commercial College, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, being graduated in July of that year. He then returned to his home in Andover and was thereafter associated with his father in the management of his business affairs until 1895. In January of that year his parents removed to New York state, our subject purchasing at that time his father's general merchandise business in Andover. This enterprise he successfully conducted until June, 1897, when he sold the same to E. C. Toy and soon afterward effected the organization of the Citizens' Bank, of which he continued proprietor and manager until July, 1902, when the institution was reorganized and incorporated as the Citizens' State Bank, and Mr. Finch has been its president from its inception, while Wallace Finch, of Gloversville, New York, is vice-president, and J. W. Krueger, cashier. The bank has a capital and surplus of twenty-five thousand dollars and is one of the solid and well-managed financial concerns of the state. The bank building is a substantial and attractive brick structure and the counting rooms are modern in their equipments and facilities, a portion of the building being utilized for the offices of the Day County Land Company. Of this latter corporation Mr. Finch was one of the organizers, in 1898, and when it was incorporated, in 1902, he was elected secretary and treasurer, which dual office he held until November 1, 1903. In December of the same year Mr. Finch disposed of his stock and retired from the institution. Mr. Finch was the first president of the Andover Hotel Company, owners of the magnificent Hotel Waldorf, recently erected in Andover, and for several years was a director and executive officer in two other corporations there. He is president of the board of education, and has ever taken a deep and helpful interest in educational affairs and in all else that makes for the well-being of his home town, county and state.

Mr. Finch is a member of the Baptist church, and fraternally is a Knight Templar, a thirty-second-degree Mason and a Noble of the Mystic Shrine. In politics he is a stanch Republican, and while he has taken an active part in the promotion of the party cause he has never sought or held official preferment, except that of city treasurer, of which he has been continuously incumbent since 1897.. He enjoys the highest popularity in business and social circles and is one of the progressive and able young businessmen of South Dakota. Mr. Finch is a bachelor.