History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 130

Author: Robinson, Doane, 1856-1946. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 998

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walk and conversation. James M. Carson was seventy-five years of age at the time of his de- mise, while his wife passed away at the age of thirty-seven years.

Dr. Carson was reared to the sturdy dis- cipline of the homestead farm and secured his early educational training in the common schools of his native county. In 1863 he was matricu- lated in Blackburn University, at Carlinville, Illinois, where he was graduated in 1870, re- ceiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts, while the master's degree was conferred upon him three years later by the same institution. In 1889 his alma mater gave further evidence of apprecia- tion of his ability and services by conferring upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. In this institution he completed both the classical and divinity courses, and he was ordained to the ministry of the Presbyterian church in 1872. He worked his way through college, securing the requisite funds by teaching and other such work as came to hand. He was for one year principal of the public schools of Whitehall, Illinois, and then took up the active work of the ministry. He held pastoral charge of the Presbyterian church at Hardin, Illinois, for more than eight years, was thereafter pastor of the church at Taylorville, that state, for one year, and in May, 1880, he came to South Dakota and assumed the pastorate of the Presbyterian church at Scot- land, over which he continued to preside for more than eight years. Since resigning this pastorate Dr. Carson has served consecutively as superintendent of home missions for this state, in which connection it is scarcely necessary to say that he has .proved a vitalizing and amplify- ing power in the promotion of the work assigned to his care. At the time of the war of the Re- bellion the Doctor enlisted as a private in the One Hundred and Thirty-third Regiment of Illinois Volunteer Infantry, remaining in the service for his term of one hundred days. He has been unabating in his zeal for the advance- ment of church work in South Dakota, and his influence has permeated all departments of the same. He aided materially in the founding and operating of Pierre University and Scotland

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Academy until they were merged into Huron College ; he was the editor and publisher of the Presbyterian Chronicler, the church monthly of the state, for five years, at the expiration of which it was sold to the publishers of a church paper in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has been indefatigable in his opposition to the liquor traffic ; and he has ever aimed to be tolerant in his views. Though he is liberal in his views he is not lacking in conservatism, is firm in his convictions, in which he is ever found amply fortified, and in the essentials of the religion of the Master he serves he will never show the slightest flexibility or deviation. He is genial, benevolent and always helpful; earnest and ani- mated as a public speaker, his every utterance ringing true and bespeaking confidence, sin- cerity and conviction. Dr. Carson has organized several churches and has taken the leadership in the erection of four different church edifices. He has been president of the Hon Homme County Bible Society since 1883, was for eight years stated clerk of the presbytery of South Dakota, has been stated clerk of the synod of the state from the time of its organization, in 1884, and he is a member of the board of directors of the Omaha Theological Seminary, as well as of the directors of Huron College. It may be said that the Doctor is taking a particularly active part in the establishing of the Omaha Seminary upon a proper basis, the high function of the in- stitution being to offer proper accommodations for the training of ministers of the gospel for work in South Dakota and other sections nor- mally tributary to the city of Omaha. The Doc- tor is an independent Republican in his political proclivities, and he is essentially public spirited and most loyal to the state in which he is liv- ing and laboring to so goodly ends.

On the 8th of October, 1873, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Carson to Miss Elizabeth Holliday, daughter of Arthur D. Holliday, of Virden, Illinois, and she was summoned into eternal rest, at her home in Scotland, South Da- kota, on the 4th of July, 1886, being survived by her two children, Rollin G., who was born September 25, 1874, and Elizabeth, born Janu-

ary 3, 1877. On the 19th of June, 1888, the Doctor consummated a second marriage, being then united to Mrs. Sarah (Child) Keating, of Hardin, Illinois, widow of William Keating, Esq., to whom she bore one daughter, Helen S., who remains in the home of her stepfather. Mrs. Sarah Carson passed to the life eternal on the 19th of June, 1896, in Hardin, Illinois. By her union to Dr. Carson was born one child, Harriet I., the date of whose nativity was February I, 1892.

EUDELL J. MILLER is a native of the state of Iowa, having been born on a farm in Cedar county, on the 15th of June, 1859, and being a son of Henry and Nancy Miller, the former of whom was born in the state of Ohio, April 11, 1825, and died February 15, 1897, and the latter born in Ohio, November 13, 1831, and died May 26, 1902. They were numbered among the pioneers of Iowa, being among the first set- tlers in Cedar county. William Miller, the grandfather, was one of the first county super- visors and came to Dakota territory in 1881. When the subject was a child of four years his parents removed to Benton county, Iowa, from Cedar county, that state, where he was reared to manhood, growing up under the sturdy train- ing of the farm and securing his rudimentary education in the common schools of the locality. Later he was able to avail himself of the ad- vantages afforded in the academy at Blairstown, that state, where he acquired an excellent prac- tical education, coming forth well equipped for the active duties of life, while, like all persons of alert mentality and receptive powers, he has found each year of his life cumulative in edu- cational discipline gained under the direction of that wise headmaster, experience. He con- tinued to be identified with agricultural pursuits until 1879, when, at the age of twenty years, he engaged in the furniture business in Audubon, Iowa, continuing this enterprise two years, at the expiration of which he disposed of his interests and came with his father, in July, 1881, to what is now Hand county, South Dakota, for the pur-

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pose of selecting a favorable location for a colony which had been organized in Audubon, Iowa. They made choice of the present site of the vil- lage of Miller, with its environs, and here, Sep- tember 9, 1881, thirty-six claims were taken up by the members of the colony. At that time the prairie swept far and wide with no sign of im- provement or civilization in this district, and the little colony formed the nucleus of a nowi pros- perous and attractive farming section and of the fine little city of Miller, which dates its in- ception back to the year 1881. From a copy of the Miller Daily Press, published on the 19th of October, 1882, we find it interesting to make the following quotation: "How different does everything look in Hand county today from what it did one year ago. Then all was a blank for a distance of over one hundred miles; not a single farm house could be seen in the county and all was quiet as death. In one short year people from Iowa, Illinois and other eastern states have come to this county and have made for themselves beautiful homes. To the eastern farmer this will seem almost impossible, yet such is the case. Farm houses worth from twelve to fifteen hundred dollars can be seen in almost every direction ; a small grove is started on nearly every farm, while in our towns, or rather cities- for they, three in number, are almost that-as large and commodious buildings may be seen as would grace the streets of our eastern cities." If such improvement was made in one year, none can wonder at the almost marvelous changes which may be made in the succeeding two dec- ades, and no section of the state is more favored than is this. It may be said in this connection that the paper mentioned above was published by the subject and his brother, William H., the latter of whom died February 10, 1892. The subject was intimately associated with his father and brother in the establishing and conducting of many of the enterprises which have proved so potent in conserving the advancement and up- building of the town of Miller. He was as- sociated with his brother William in publishing and editing the Hand County Press, the first paper in the county, its initial issue having

greeted the people on the 2d of January, 1882, while during the county-seat contest, which re- sulted in victory for Miller, they published a daily edition, from a copy of which the fore- going extract was made. For the past four years Mr. Miller has been associated with Judge George C. Briggs in the real-estate business, under the firm name of Briggs & Miller, and they have built up a large and flourishing enter- prise, while through the same much has' been ac- complished for the advancement of the general welfare and progress.

In politics Mr. Miller gives his allegiance to the Republican party, and while he has never sought political preferment he has been called upon to serve in various township and village offices, and having been incumbent of the office of justice of the peace for six years. He has been identified with nearly every enterprise and undertaking which has had for its object the promotion of the best interests of the town and county, and is known and honored as one of the reliable and progressive business men and loyal citizens of this section of the commonwealth. He and his wife are prominent and zealous mem- bers of the Presbyterian church, and fraternally he is identified with the Modern Woodmen of America and Modern Brotherhood of America.

On the 28th of December, 1882, was solem- nized the marriage of Mr. Miller to Miss Anna E. Humphrey, who was born August 4, 1858, and reared in Benton county, Iowa, being a daughter of Joseph and Margaret Humphrey, the former of whom was born January 19, 1816, and the latter born May 30, 1818, being now deceased. To the subject and his wife have been born two children, both of whom remain at the pleasant parental home, in Miller, namely : Bessie E. and Earl H.

JAMES T. JACOBSON was born in Nor- way, on the 25th of September, 1854. being a son of Ole T. and Gurena Jacobson, who were born and reared in Norway, the father being a farmer by vocation. They emigrated to

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America in 1895 and passed the closing years of their lives in the state of Illinois. The sub- ject secured his early educational training in his native land and was a lad of about eleven years at the time of his arrival in the United States, in 1865. He remained in LaSalle county, Illinois, about two months and then removed to Living- ston county, that state, where he continued to be identified with agricultural pursuits until 1882, when he came to South Dakota and settled in Aurora county, where he took up homestead, tree and pre-emption claims, in Palatine town- ship, eventually perfecting his title to the tract of four hundred and eighty acres which he had thus secured from the government. He is now the owner of twelve hundred and eighty acres of land in the county and has been signally pros- pered in his temporal affairs, having been an as- siduous worker and having gained success through his earnest and well directed endeavor. About four hundred acres of his land are under cultivation, and all of his estate is well fenced, the remainder being used for range purposes in connection with his live-stock enterprise. He raises shorthorn and Hereford cattle and an ex- cellent grade of swine, of which latter he ships about a carload each year, while his average herd of cattle numbers about one hundred head. Mr. Jacobson has made excellent improvements on his place, including a good residence and other substantial buildings properly adapted to the uses to which they are applied, while he has about twenty acres of cottonwood and ash trees, which were planted by himself and which are now well matured, adding materially to the at- tractions of his fine ranch. He is a man of marked public spirit and has ever shown a deep interest in all that concerns the welfare of the community. He is a stanch Republican in his political proclivities, and has served as a mem- ber of the township board, while he has also held office in his school district, being an earnest supporter of the cause of education and having given his children the best possible advantages in the line. He and his wife are consistent mem- bers of the Lutheran church, and are folk who have the high regard of all who know them.

while he is recognized as one of the substantial farmers and business men of the county.

On the 14th of January, 1885, Mr. Jacobson was united in marriage to Miss Isabelle Johnson, who was born in Livingston county, Illinois, being a daughter of John and Caroline (Mitchell) Johnson, who were born and reared in Norway, whence they came to America and settled in Illinois in an early day. He and his wife became the parents of seven children, of whom five are living. Mr. and Mrs. Jacobson have five children, all of whom still remain be- neath the parental roof, their names, in order of birth, being as follows: Grace O., Clara J., Jes- sie E., Martha T. and James E.

JOHN PUSEY, one of the leading members of the bar of Hand county, and who has been called upon to serve in various offices of public trust, including that of county judge, while he was also a member of the state legislature for two terms and postmaster at Miller for four years, is a native of Champaign county, Illinois, having been born on the parental farmstead on the 5th of May, 1860, and being a son of Wil- liam R. and Margaret (White) Pusey, of whose eight children he was the fourth in order of birth, while of the number five are living at the present time. Mr. Pusey was reared to the life of the farm and his early educational training was secured in the district schools, after which he continued his studies in the high school in the city of Champaign. In the meantime he had taken up the study of law, in that city, having as preceptors the firm of Lothrop & Pusey, the junior member of the firm being his brother, who was one of the representative members of the bar of that county. After attending high school at Champaign he attended college at Westfield, Illinois. While pursuing his collegiate course he also devoted his attention to teaching in the public schools at such intervals as seemed ex- pedient, and after leaving college he resumed the reading of law under his former perceptors. In June, 1882, Mr. Pusey came to South Dakota and located in the village of Miller, as one of

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the first practitioners of law in Hand county, the village of Miller, now the county seat, having been founded only the year previous. He was admitted to the bar of the territory of Dakota shortly after locating here, and has ever since been engaged in the practice of his profession, save for the intervals during which his time and attention have been demanded in connection with official duties. Mr. Pusey founded the first Democratic newspaper on the line of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad between Huron and Pierre, in what is now South Dakota. This paper was known as the Miller Gazette and had its inception in 1883. He continued as editor and publisher of the Gazette until 1884, making the same a power in connection with political affairs in this section of the state, and in the year noted he disposed of the property, the pub- lication of the paper being continued at the present time.

Mr. Pusey has been specially active in con- nection with public affairs and is one of the leaders of the Democratic party in the state, while it was his distinction to hold the position of chairman of the Democratic state central com- mittee in 1900 and 1902. He is a man of positive character and marked executive ability, and in the capacity noted he marshalled his forces with consummate ability and discrimination. In 1892 he was elected to the bench of the county court and served thereon for a term of two years, at the expiration of which, under the administra- tion of President Cleveland, he was appointed postmaster of Miller, serving until 1899, when he was elected to represent his district in the state legislature, serving during the general as- sembly of 1899 and making a most enviable record as a conscientious and able legislator and one signally true to the interests of his constit- uency. In this connection he gained prominence and marked popular commendation by reason of his able and uncompromising efforts in opposi- tion to the bill introduced in the house to create a system of state dispensatories for the sale of intoxicating liquors, such as is in existence in South Carolina at the present time, and it was largely due to him that the bill met a decisive

defeat, thus avoiding to the commonwealth the ignominy of legalized partnership in the liquor traffic: In 1900 Mr. Pusey was elected state's attorney of Hand county, in which office he served one term, since which time he has given his attention to the active work of his profes- sion, retaining a large and representative client- age and having high prestige at the bar of his adopted state. Fraternally, he is identified with the Masonic order, the Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Mod- ern Woodmen of America, in which last men- tioned he was delegate to the head camp in 1894 and state consul for the preceding three years.

ANDREW J. FAULK, third territorial gov- ernor of Dakota, born at Milford, Pike county, Pennsylvania, November 26, 1814, while his father, John Faulk, was absent in the war of 1812, Came to Dakota in 1861 and was appointed gov- ernor by President Johnson in 1866, serving four years. He spent the remainder of his life in Yankton, where he died on September 5,

JAMES E. WELLS, who represents the fourth ward on the board of aldermen of the city of Mitchell, was born in the town of Cam- bria, Columbia county, Wisconsin, on the 23d of May, 1858, being a son of Ora B. and Sarah T. (Campbell) Wells, to whom were born four children, namely: Roderick C., who is a resident of La Crosse, Wisconsin: Charles L., who re- sides in Lincoln county, South Dakota; Sarah A., who is the wife of Isaac R. Bagley, of Can- ton, this state; and James E., who is the im- mediate subject of this sketch. Ora B. Wells was born in Genesee county, New York, and his wife was born in the province of Ontario, Canada, having moved thence to the state of New York when a child and being reared in the home of relatives, her parents having died when she was about one year of age. The father of our subject was reared on a farm, and for a num- ber of years, as a young man, he was employed by a merchant in the capacity of teamster, all

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merchandise at that time having been trans- ported by wagon. In the early 'fifties he came west to Wisconsin, in which state he followed various vocations, having been engaged in the grain business for some time and also having been a contractor and builder, while for several years he was assistant postmaster at Bangor. In 1873 he came as a pioneer to what is now the state of South Dakota, locating seven miles north of Canton, Lincoln county, where he purchased a quarter section of land, thereafter devoting his attention to farming and stock growing until 1886, when he retired, coming to Mitchell, where he and his devoted wife died. He was a stanch advocate of the principles of the Republican party, while his four brothers all gave allegiance to the Democracy.

James E. Wells acquired his early educational discipline in the public schools of Wisconsin, and when but thirteen years of age began to de- pend to a certain extent upon his own re- sources, manifesting that energy and self- reliance which have been dominating character- istics of the man during his entire career. In 1879, after the crops had proved a failure for five successive years, he left the homestead farm in Lincoln county, this state, proceeding to Jack- son, Minnesota, before he succeeded in finding employment. He went to work in a harvest field in that locality. He then secured a position in a lumber yard at Jackson, where he was employed about eight months, then resigning by reason of the fact that business was so slack that he found nothing to do, though his employer wished him to continue in his service. Mr. Wells, however, felt that this was hardly expedient and he thus secured employment in a hardware store in the same town, where he remained until the spring of.1880, when he started to return to his home in South Dakota, the nearest railroad station at the time being at Luverne, Minnesota, twenty- one miles distant, and this portion of his journey he traversed on foot. He assisted his father in putting in the spring crops and also those of a neighbor, aiding in the seeding of all the crops raised on the two farms that year, the resulting harvest giving but thirty-five bushels of oats, by

machine measure, with a weight of fourteen pounds to the bushel, grasshoppers having de- stroyed the crops. After the planting was com- pleted Mr. Wells went to the village of Canton, where he secured employment in a lumber yard conducted by C. A. Bedford. He resigned about four months later and shortly afterward H. W. Ross, of the Oshkosh Lumber Company, ten- dered him a position in the company's yards at Mitchell, in which city he took up his residence in the fall of 1880. The following summer he was offered a more remunerative position by F. E. Moses, a local lumber dealer, and continued in the employ of this gentleman about four years, when Mr. Moses sold out. The subject then se- cured a position with the J. M. LeVake Lum- ber Company, with which he continued to be thus identified until January, 1889, having been elected to the office of register of deeds of Davison county the preceding fall. He continued incumbent of this office for six successive years, and after the expiration of his second term en- gaged in the abstract, insurance and real-estate business in Mitchell, his previous official work having proved of much value to him in the handling of his new enterprise, in which he has since continued, having built up a large and prosperous business. During the greater portion of this interval he has also been the local agent of the American Express Company, being in- cumbent of the position at the present time. He is a stanch Republican in his political proclivities, and in addition to serving as register of deeds, as noted, he held the office of clerk of the board of education for two years, while he was alderman from the second ward for two terms, and is the present representative of the fourth ward, in which he now resides. He is a prominent frater of the Masonic order, being affiliated with Resur- gam Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons ; Mitchell Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; St. Bern- ard Commandery, No. 16, Knights Templar ; El Riad Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, in Sioux Falls; and Starlight Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star. He is also identified with Mitchell Lodge, No. 69. Ancient Order of United Workmen, and

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with the organization of the Order of Home Guardians at Canton.

In October, 1883, Mr. Wells was united in marriage to Miss Fanny Wedehase, of Lancaster, Wisconsin, and they are the parents of three children, Ora B., Frederick A. and James Earl, the two elder sons being assistants in their father's office.

GEORGE A. SILSBY is a native of the city of Rockford, Illinois, where he was born on the 28th of March, 1847, being a son of Harvey Hammond and Melinda (Stearns) Silsby, both of whom were born in New Hampshire, coming of English lineage, while both family names have been identified with the annals of New England from the early colonial era in our national his- tory, the first of the Silsbys in the new world having come here in 1634. The father of the subject was numbered among the pioneers of Illinois, where he followed the vocation of a merchant and where both he and his wife passed the closing years of their lives, honored by all who knew them.

The subject of this review was reared in his native city, in whose public schools he secured his early educational training, initiating his in- dependent career while still a mere lad, since at the age of fourteen years he entered upon an ap- prenticeship at the machinist's trade, becoming a skilled mechanic and being engaged in the work of his trade at the time of the outbreak of the war of the Rebellion. In 1862 he manifested his loyalty to the Union by enlisting as a private in Company F. Seventy-fourth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, with which he went to the front and served until the expiration of his term, when he re-enlisted, becoming a member of Company K, One Hundred and Thirty-second Illinois Vol- unteer Infantry, in which he was made corporal of his company, and he thereafter continued in active service as such until the close of the war, when he received his honorable discharge, hav- ing taken part in many of the important engage- ments of the great fratricidal conflict and having proved himself a faithful and valiant soldier of

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History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 130

Author: Robinson, Doane, 1856-1946. cn Publication date: 1904 Publisher: [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen Number of Pages: 998

Author: Robinson, Doane, 1856-1946. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 998