Burnace Worth Baer (1877-1954)

From the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, November 17, 1954.

   Iowa native Burnace Worth Baer devoted over fifty years of his life to government service in South Dakota, where he had resettled in 1900. Admitted to the state bar soon after his arrival, Baer would serve terms as Prosecuting Attorney for Sanborn County, Sanborn County Judge, and reached his highest degree of political notoriety when he was appointed as chairman of the South Dakota State Tax Commission. After stepping down from that post Baer was again elected as county judge, remaining on the bench until his death. Born in Ash Grove, Iowa on February 4, 1877, Burnace Worth Baer was the son of William and Alice (Wonn) Baer. The origins of Baer's unusual first name remain a mystery and he is referred to by a majority of period literature by the initials "B.W."

   Baer's formative education saw him in schools local to Harlan, Iowa, and he would later attend the Southern Iowa Normal College. Following a three-year stint teaching school in his native state, Baer began reading law at the State University of Iowa and in 1900 obtained his law degree. Within a short period after his graduation, Baer left Iowa to establish a career for himself in South Dakota, and, after settling in the Sanborn County town of Woonsocket, began his law practice. 

  Within two years of his establishing himself in Woonsocket Baer had begun a political career, successfully running for Prosecuting Attorney of Sanborn County in 1902. He would serve in that capacity until 1906, and during his term married in June 1904 to Blanche Elizabeth Smith (1885-1960). The couple was wed for over fifty years and their union saw the births of four children, Ross Melvin (1905-2000), Donald Smith (1906-1984), Charles Wallace (1913-2003) and Thomas R. (1917-2008). Attentive to farming pursuits in addition to his law practice, Baer is noted as having made a specialty of breeding Percheron horses and was a member of the Farmer's Institute Association. An "enthusiastic" backer of alfalfa crop production, Baer was remarked as

"Experimenting and studying broadly in order to acquaint himself with the best methods of growing this crop."

  In the 1909 Baer entered into the office of Judge of Sanborn County, an office that would see "his fidelity to the highest standards of the profession." He would continue to win reelection to that post and served until January 1922, when he resigned due to his appointment to the South Dakota State Tax Commission. Succeeding board member H.C. Preston (who had died a few weeks previous), Baer had, by 1927, assumed the role of State  Director of Taxation in the Department of Finance. His tenure in that office extended through the gubernatorial administrations of William McMaster, Carl Gunderson, William Bulow, and Warren Green. In 1928 Baer was honored by the National Tax Association convention in Seattle with his election to the executive board of the National Tax Association, his full dates of service being unknown at this time.

  Burnace W. Baer retired as tax commissioner in 1933, and was succeeded by L.E. Corey. He later returned to his law practice in Woonsocket and in February 1941 began another stint as Judge of Sanborn County. He served on the bench until his death at age 77 on November 15, 1954, at St. John's Hospital in Huron, South Dakota. His wife Blanche survived him by six years, and following her death in 1960 was interred alongside him at the Eventide Cemetery in Woonsocket.

From the Sioux Falls Argus Leader.