Mini Bios of People of Scots Descent
Walter C. Buchanan Biography

Walter C. Buchanan, secretary and manager of the W. C. Buchanan Lumber Company and well known in business circles of Sioux Falls as a man of insight, capacity and intelligence, was born on a farm in Howard county, Iowa, August 3, 1876. He is a son of Robert and Sarah Margaret (Vandever) Buchanan, the former of whom was born in Dane county, Wisconsin, in 1850. The parents removed from Howard county, Iowa, in 1883, to Lincoln county, South Dakota, where the father engaged in farming. He was also connected with public life as sheriff of Lincoln county, resigning before the close of his term of office. He died in Sioux Falls in 1913 and is survived by his wife, who lives in that city. The Buchanan family is of Scotch ancestry and was founded in America by Hugh Buchanan, grandfather of the subject of this review, who came from Scotland to the United States in early manhood. He located first in New York state and later went to Wisconsin, and thence to Iowa, where he died in 1882 at the age of fifty-seven. 

Walter C. Buchanan acquired his early education in the country schools of Lincoln county, South Dakota, and later attended business college in Sioux Falls, graduating in 1898. Following this he entered the employ of the Tuthill Lumber Company and remained connected with this concern for a period of ten years. He was afterward traveling salesman in North Dakota until 1910, when he established himself in the lumber business at Letcher, South Dakota, where he remained for two years. At the end of that time he disposed of his interests there and returned to Sioux Falls, purchasing the business controlled by the Sioux Falls Lumber Company and reorganizing this under the name of the W. C. Buchanan Lumber Company. Mr. Buchanan has since acted as secretary and manager of this concern and he has been very successful in the conduct of his interests, for he understands the lumber business in principle and detail, having become thoroughly familiar with it through long experience in its many departments. 

On the 24th of June, 1905, at Sioux Falls, Mr. Buchanan married Miss Nellie M. Snyder, a daughter of S. J. Snyder, and they have become the parents of a daughter, Bernice L. Mr. Buchanan is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and gives his political allegiance to the republican party. Aside from his connections with the W. C. Buchanan Lumber Company he is well known in the affairs of the State Mutual Fire Assurance Company of Sioux Falls, serving as a member of the board of directors. His personal characteristics have gained him the warm regard and friendship of many, while in business lines he has gained that prominence which comes only as a reward of industry and perseverance.