Joseph M. Devine, once North Dakota’s governor and immigration commissioner, died on this date in 1938. He was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, on March 15, 1861, the son of Hugh Calhoun and Jane (McMurry) Devine.

As a 12 year old, Devine began gaining business experience delivering the Wheeling Daily Register and helping his father at the landscape and florist business.

After being educated in the schools of Wheeling, Devine graduated from the University of West Virginia and came to Dakota Territory in 1884. He filed on land in what is now LaMoure County, but farmed for only a short time.

Devine promoted a strong education system for North Dakota and was one of its earliest educators. In 1886, he was elected LaMoure County Superintendent of Schools, serving for 10 years.

He became president of the North Dakota State Education Association in 1889, and his work on behalf of education in North Dakota was “potent and far reaching. Much of the state’s general system of education is due to his untiring efforts . . .,” according to his biography in the Compendium of History and Biography.

Devine also served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in St. Louis in 1896 and as one of the vice-presidents of the convention. From 1905-1911, he was chairman of the Progressive-Republican Party in North Dakota.

Devine was elected lieutenant-governor of North Dakota in 1896 and 1898, then serving as governor from April 1898 to January 1, 1899, after Governor Briggs’ death. A strong supporter of the Republican Party, at age 22 he traveled the state for the presidential campaign.

In 1897, Devine became vice-president of the National Sound Money League, a position through which he wrote several articles on finance that were carried extensively in Eastern papers.

In 1900, Devine was chosen as state superintendent of schools and later as chairman of the State Normal School Board of Trustees and executive head of the State Training School in Mandan. In 1922, Devine became Commissioner of Immigration and was reappointed to that office by two more governors.

Devine untiringly promoted his adopted state. In addressing the North Dakota Annual Banquet in Washington, D.C., in February 1928, he said, “We have everything that a prospective home settler seeks or can desire . . . North Dakota leads all states in the production of No. 1 Hard Wheat, flax, barley, winter rye and fourth in oats . . . North Dakota’s citizenry is as sound as her No. 1 Hard Wheat and as clean as the air they breathe . . . .”

In 1891, Devine married Ida F. Holloway at Lake Crystal, Minnesota. She died, leaving a young daughter. In 1900, Devine married Mary Bernadine Hanscom, and they had three children.

Devine died of a heart attack on this date in 1938 and is buried in the Mandan Union Cemetery.

By Cathy A. Langemo, WritePlus Inc.

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