South Dakota Genealogy - South Dakota Genealogy

The Sisseton Agency

History of Marshall County Dakota title page

Chief Renville was born on the east side of Big Stone Lake in Minnesota, sixty-one years ago (1824). He is six feet tall, with regular features, showing traces of Caucasian blood. He is a descendant of a French trader by that name, and is an intelligent, shrewd man. He, like a few more of his tribe, still clings to polygamy, having three wives. He is the father of twenty children of whom fifteen are living; During the late Minnesota massacre he with quite a number of friendly Indians of his tribe did much to save white people and hunt hostile … Read more

Military Reservation of Marshall County

The military reservation lies in the eastern part of Marshall County and contains about 128 square miles or 82,000 acres of land. Fully one-third of this area is splendid farming land, while the other two-thirds are good grazing and farming lands. There are numerous lakes, of which Skunk, Four and Nine Mile Lakes, are the largest. There is still considerable timber in the vicinity of the lakes and in the gulches. All the heavy timber has been used at the fort during the last twenty years. The scenery is grand and picturesque in many localities, especially in the vicinity of … Read more

Pioneer Homes in Marshall County

The establishment of a home by pioneers in this country is an entirely different affair compared with the pioneer settlement of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois. Here the immigrant ships his stock and household goods to the nearest railway station, where he desires to locate. If the land is not surveyed he becomes a “squatter” and files when the land comes in market. If already surveyed he makes his filing or settles and then files. Settlers generally build according to their means. Houses built of sod are comfortable and cheaply built, but require so much labor that but few are built … Read more

How The Pioneers Adapt Themselves to Changes in Profession

Blunt, D. T., Correspondence to Chicago Inter-Ocean. The District Attorney of Potter County runs a milk wagon during vacation. A physician formerly of Union City, Kentucky, spent his first few months here as a day laborer while he had two diplomas hanging up in his room. A man who had a jewelry store in Leadville, Colorado, came to Blunt, and finding two jewelers here bought out a meat market and ran it for nearly a year successfully. A graduate of a Pennsylvania college who had read law two years got his first start in Wessington sawing wood at a hotel. … Read more

Organization of Marshall County

Marshall County was originally a part of Day County. In March, 1885, the legislature passed a bill to divide Day County and create Marshall County north of the township line of 124, and to be divided by a vote of the people, May 2d, 1885. Division was carried by a large majority, although there was bitter opposition in the southern part f what is now Marshall County. The bill provided that Marshal county shall assume the Day county indebtedness in proportion to the assessed valuation of the new county in 1884, which was one-third, and in the final adjustment of … Read more

Natural History of Marshall County

The western half of the county lies in the Jim River Valley and is comparatively level, while the eastern half lies on a plateau and includes a part of the Coteau Hills, which are rather broken and stony and extend from southwest to northeast, making an angle of 90 degrees in Pleasant Valley. Windy Peaks in Victor Township are said to be 2,026 feet above sea level. Although the hills are stony and broken in localities, there are many excellent pieces of farming lands and meadows and numerous coulees or gulches containing timber and springs. The buffalo, once so numerous, … Read more

Government of Marshall County

The executive branch of our government consists of a governor, secretary and marshal, all appointed by the president, for four years; the auditor, treasurer and superintendent of public instruction are appointed for two years by the governor and council. The legislature consists of a council of twenty-four members and a house of forty-eight representatives. The district system of schools prevailed until 1883, when the township system was introduced. A county superintendent governs the school affairs of each county and issues four grades of certificates; 1st good for two years, 2nd eighteen months, 3d one year, and the probation certificate good … Read more

Early History of Marshall County

Dakota Territory contained an area of 150,932 square miles, and was considerable larger than the six New England States, with the great Empire State, New York included. The great Missouri River, with its windings included, ran one thousand miles diagonally across the territory and navigable the entire distance. There were numerous lakes scattered throughout the territory, of which Devils Lake in the Turtle Mountain region is the largest. East of the Missouri River the country is a beautiful undulating prairie with the exception of the Coteau Hills. This magnificent agricultural region may properly be divided into two sections: the James … Read more

South Dakota Newspapers and Obituaries

South Dakota Historical Newspapers Online South Dakota Newspapers Online Beresford Beresford Republic 1898-2014 Beresford Weekly News 1908-1909 Republic Beresford 1898 Beresford News 1899-1926 Beresford Union County Republic 1898 Union County Republic 1897 Vermillion Semi-Weekly Register 1875-1876 The Clay County Register 1872-1875 The Dakota Republican 1862-1924 The Dakota Republican and Vermillion Standard 1882-1884 The Summer Session News 1923 The Vermillion Standard 1876-1881 The Vermillionaire 1928-1929 The Volante 1896-1924 The Wagner Post 1925-1926 Vermillion Plain Talk 1893-1924 Wakonda Monitor 1891-1924 South Dakota Obituaries Haaken County Roberts, Editha Iowa Ferguson Roberts, Joseph Hughes County Roberts, Lilburn Brashears Meade County Ormsby, Nancy Custer Miner … Read more

South Dakota Biographies

Marthy Jane Cannary Biographies from the Memorial and Biographical Record These biographies are from “Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography, including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and representative citizens of South Dakota…” W. G. Ackerman Ell Nathan Aldrich Irwin D. Aldrich M. D. Alexander Andrew A. Anderson G. W. Anderson Oliver E. Anderson William Anderson James Oliver Andrews James J. Aplin Giles A. Baker Thomas Bandy Julian Bennett Dr. William S. Bentley Dr. S. N. Blair Joseph F. Bockler H. A. Booth George C. Bradley Christopher Brakke George Nelson Breed … Read more

Martha Jane Cannary

My maiden name was Marthy Cannary. I was born in Princeton, Missouri, May 1st, 1852. Father and mother were natives of Ohio. I had two brothers and three sisters, I being the oldest of the children. As a child I always had a fondness for adventure and out-door exercise and especial fondness for horses which I began to ride at an early age and continued to do so until I became an expert rider being able to ride the most vicious and stubborn of horses, in fact the greater portion of my life in early times was spent in this … Read more