John Pusey, a prominent lawyer and public servant in Hand County, South Dakota, was born on May 8, 1860, in Champaign County, Illinois. He is the son of William R. and Margaret (White) Pusey. After studying law in Illinois and teaching intermittently, he moved to Miller, South Dakota, in 1882. Pusey was admitted to the Dakota Territory bar and established a law practice. He founded the Miller Gazette in 1883, a Democratic newspaper, and served in various public roles, including county judge, state legislator, and postmaster of Miller. A leader in the Democratic Party, he actively opposed a state dispensary system for liquor sales and held numerous fraternal affiliations.
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 8th of May, 1860, and being a son of William 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 expedient, and after leaving college he resumed the reading of law under his former preceptors. In June 1882, Mr. Pusey came to South Dakota and located in the village of Miller, as one of 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 publication of the paper being continued at the present time.
Mr. Pusey has been especially active in connection 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 committee 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 administration 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 assembly of 1899 and making a most enviable record as a conscientious and able legislator and one signally true to the interests of his constituency. In this connection he gained prominence and marked popular commendation by reason of his able and uncompromising efforts in opposition 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 profession, retaining a large and representative clientage 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 Modern Woodmen of America, in which last mentioned he was delegate to the head camp in 1894 and state consul for the preceding three years.
Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.