Progressive Men of Minnesota

Minneapolis Journal 1897

DAVID SECOR One of the most successful bankers in the southern portion of the state is David Secor, president of the Faribault County Bank, at Winnebago City. Mr. Secor comes from good old Colonial stock. The founder of the Secor family in America was Ambrose Secor a Huguenot, who emigrated to this country from France about 1665, settling at New Rochelle, New York. Isaac Secor, the great-grandfather of David, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, serving in the Harvestrow Regiment, from Orange County, New York. He married Mary Gedney, and their son, Gedney Secor, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, married Catharine Strang, who was related to Major Henry Strang, a Revolutionary hero. Gedney Secor was a direct descendant of Henry L’Estrange, one of the persecuted French Huguenots, who fled to England, where he remained a few months serving as a member of the King’s staff, and then came to America, settling in Westchester County, New York. The patronymic, originally L’ Estrange, is now written Strang, and, by some of the descendants, Strong.  The parents of David Secor were Alson Secor, oldest child of Gedney and Catharine (Strang) Secor, and Sarah C. Knapp (Secor), natives of Putnam County, New York. The father was a prominent and influential citizen of the community in which he lived, and held several offices of trust during his life time, among which was that of one of the associate justices of his native county. The mother was born in 1806, and died at Peekskill, New York, in 1881.

Their son David was the fourth of a family of eleven children, and was born in Putnam County, New York, on January 6, 1836. He resided with his parents on the farm until he reached his twentieth year, attending a country district school in the winter and working on the farm in the summer.  In May 1856, he came West to seek his fortune and located in Linn County, Iowa, where he remained three years, working at such employment as he could get in the summer and attending Western College, a United Brethren institution, in the winter. Young Secor’s financial resources having been exhausted in his endeavors to secure a college education, he removed to Forest City, Winnebago County, Iowa, in the spring of 1859.  Here he commenced, without the aid of fortune or friends, to carve out his future business career, and by dint of perseverance and industry he gradually climbed the ladder of success. His spare time he devoted to the study of law, and after being admitted to the bar he followed that profession.  Within ten years, however, the business interests with which he had become connected, especially banking, had assumed such proportions that he was compelled to give up his law practice altogether.

Mr. Secor held a number of public offices of trust while in Iowa. He was elected to the Iowa legislature, and re-elected to a second term. His popularity is attested by the fact that each time he received the full vote of the district, no opposition candidate having been nominated against him. He was postmaster of Forest City for nine years, and resigned that office on his election to the legislature. In 1874 he was elected to the office of register of the Iowa state land office, which he held for two successive terms.  His political affiliations have always been with the Republican party. Mr. Secor came to Minnesota in 1887, and located at Winnebago City, becoming interested in the banking business in Faribault County. He is now president of the Faribault County Bank, at Winnebago City, and is part owner of the Granada State Bank, the Bank of Delevan and the Bank of Amboy, in Minnesota; also director and part owner of the First National Bank, of Forest City, Iowa.

When the Civil War broke out Mr. Secor responded to his country’s call and enlisted as a private in Company C, Second Iowa Infantry. He served in the Georgia campaign, participating in Sherman’s celebrated march to the sea. Mr. Secor, aside from his large business interests, takes a deep interest in educational matters. He is president of the board of education of Winnebago City, and one of the trustees of Parker College. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and commander of Clabaugh Post at Winnebago City.

His church connections are with the Presbyterian body, and he is president of the board of trustees of the church at Winnebago City. On the tenth day of December, 1862, he was married to Samantha E.  Van Curren, of Mason City, Iowa, by whom he had three children: Ellsworth E., cashier of the Buffalo Center State Bank, at Buffalo Center, Iowa; Stanley S., cashier of the Faribault County Bank at Winnebago City, and Mary Myrtle, wife of Paul M. Reagan, residing in Chicago. His wife died in July, 1871. He was married again May 20, 1878, to S. Jennie Lyons, at Des Moines, Iowa. Two daughters are the result of this union, Joy and Ruth, who reside with their father. The mother died in Chicago in November, 1886 whither she had gone for medical treatment.