William T. Van Osdel, born in 1847 in Madison County, Indiana, moved with his family to Minnesota, where he attended school until joining the Union army at 16. Serving in the South Dakota Volunteers during the Civil War, he was honorably discharged at age 20. Van Osdel then farmed and engaged in freighting before acquiring government land claims. He later became a prominent stock-raiser and landowner in South Dakota, known for his expertise in livestock. In 1871, he married Permelia Morey, with whom he had two daughters, Cora and Lura, who both settled in Yankton County.
William T. Van Osdel is a native of Indiana, his birth having occurred in Madison County on the 1st of March, 1847. His parents, Abraham and Mary (Taylor) Van Osdel, were natives of Kentucky and the father was a skilled physician who practiced medicine successfully in Indiana, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Kansas, his death occurring in the last named state. The subject of this review accompanied his parents on their removal to Faribault, Minnesota, where he attended the public schools until he was sixteen years of age. Although but a boy, he then entered the Union army, becoming a member of Company B, South Dakota Volunteers, under the command of Captain William Tripp, a brother of Bartlett Tripp. For three years he remained in the army, faithful to the old flag and the cause it represented, and was about twenty years of age when honorably discharged. For a number of years thereafter he engaged in farming and later turned his attention to freighting, in which business he continued until the advent of railroads. He accumulated considerable money in that way and when he ceased to follow that pursuit he entered from the government a claim of a quarter section of land and also a timber claim. He then turned his attention to the stock-raising business, in which he has since continued with splendid success. He is regarded as one of the best judges of stock in this state and his knowledge has enabled him to make judicious purchases and profitable sales until he has become a wealthy man. He is now the owner of four hundred acres of land which he farms and the products which he raises he feeds to his stock. His business is carried on extensively and his opinions are regarded as authority in his special line. For the past fifteen or more years Mr. Van Osdel has been largely engaged in buying and shipping live stock. In connection with shipping from this point, he is president of a commission house in Sioux City, Iowa.
In 1871 Mr. Van Osdel was united in marriage to Miss Permelia Morey, of New York, and they have become the parents of two daughters: Cora and Lura, aged respectively twenty-four and twenty-two years. Both attended the public schools and were graduated in the high school of Yankton. Cora is now the wife of B. E. Pickett, a member of the firm of Grant & Pickett, proprietors of the marble works in Yankton. Lura is the wife of Frank Frick, a well-known farmer and stock raiser of this county.
Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.