Oren Strevel, born October 9, 1858, near Port Huron, Michigan, became a successful farmer and stock raiser in Faulk County, South Dakota. After moving to the area in 1883, he established a homestead and expanded his operations to include a 320-acre ranch and 1,500 acres of leased grazing land. Strevel specialized in high-grade Durham cattle and operated a profitable dairy business. A dedicated community member and staunch Democrat, he also served in the First South Dakota Cavalry during the Spanish-American War. Strevel’s contributions reflect his pioneering spirit and commitment to agricultural progress in the region.
Oren Strevel, one of the successful and highly esteemed farmers and stock raisers of Faulk County, is a native of the Wolverine state, having been born near the city of Port Huron, Michigan, on the 9th of October, 1858, and being a son of Wesley and Sarah A. Strevel, the former of whom was born in the province of Ontario, Canada, of German lineage, and the latter in the state of Maine. The father of the subject removed with his parents to Michigan in his youth and the family became numbered among the pioneers of St. Clair County, where he and his wife still maintain their home and where he was long engaged in agricultural pursuits. Of the eleven children in the family, eight are living at the present time.
Oren Strevel was reared on the homestead farm near Port Huron and received his educational training in the public schools. He thereafter continued to be associated in the management of the home farm until 1883, when he set forth to cast in his lot with the people of South Dakota. He at once located in Faulk County, which was organized in that year, taking up a homestead claim six and one-half miles southeast of Faulkton, the present county seat, and at once initiating the work of reclaiming and otherwise improving his property, to which he has since added until he has a valuable ranch of three hundred and twenty acres, in addition to which he controls about fifteen hundred acres of leased land, which he uses principally for grazing purposes. He gives his attention to diversified agriculture and to the raising of high-grade stock, especially the Durham type of cattle, while he has still further shown his energy and progressive ideas by engaging in the dairying business, conducting operations on a small scale and having made the venture a most profitable one. His ranch has substantial buildings, and the place is one of the many fine ones which have been developed in this section of the state within the past twenty years. Mr. Strevel is a man of sterling characteristics and commands unqualified esteem in the community. His political proclivities are indicated in the staunch support which he accords to the Democratic party, and he ever manifests a deep interest in all that concerns the progress and material prosperity of his county and state.
At the time of the Spanish-American War, our subject showed the intrinsic loyalty and patriotism of his nature by enlisting, in May 1898, as a member of Troop E, First South Dakota Cavalry, under Captain Binder, and proceeded with his command to Chickamauga, Georgia, where the regiment remained in reserve, awaiting a call to active service. The signal victory gained by the American forces in Cuba, however, rendered it unnecessary to call his regiment to the scene of action, and Mr. Strevel was mustered out, with the remainder of his regiment, in October 1898, receiving his honorable discharge at Chickamauga and then returning to his home.
Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.