John Baggaley Biography This biography appears on pages 1369-1371 in "History of South Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. JOHN BAGGALEY, of Deadwood, is a native of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, born June 26, 1849, in the town of New Hope where his parents, Francis and Ann (Mulcaster) Baggaley, settled about two years prior to the date of his birth. Francis Baggaley, a native of England, was by occupation a flax dresser, his father having been a manufacturer of pottery on an extensive scale in the county of Yorkshire. The Mulcasters, for severa1 generations were miners, the family still holding large coal interests in various parts of England and Wales. Francis Baggaley moved from Pennsylvania to Connecticut when the subject of this sketch was quite small, thence to Andover, Massachusetts, and still later to New York city, where his death occurred in 1890; his wife dying in January, 1883, in Albany, New York. John Baggaley, as already indicated, was a child when his parents moved to Connecticut and Massachusetts, and his first educational experience was in the schools of Andover, in the latter state, where he acquired a fair knowledge of the branches constituting the prescribed course of study. At the age of fifteen he laid aside his books and entered a newspaper office, to learn the printer's trade, but after serving a short time gave up the business and started out to make his fortune by other means. When about seventeen years of age he left home and went to Missouri, where he worked at different places as a farm hand during the ensuing six years, at the expiration of that time joining his parents at Galesburg, Illinois, to which place they had in the meanwhile removed. From 1872 to 1877 he operated an express business at Galesburg, but in April of the latter year he came to Deadwood, South Dakota, from which place he started out on a prospecting tour. Mr. Baggaley devoted about nine years to prospecting, during which time he traveled over various parts of the territory, acquiring a practical experience in mining and meeting with the vicissitudes which usually attend people engaged in this not always successful search after hidden wealth. In the main, however, he was reasonably fortunate as he succeeded in locating several valuable properties, which ultimately resulted greatly to his advantage, besides organizing and promoting a number of mining enterprises from which he received a liberal income. He became a stockholder of the Iron Hill Mining Company, of which, for the past twelve years, he has been secretary and treasurer. About one hundred and twenty-five men were employed and the property was among the most productive mining properties in the Black Hills country prior to the low price of silver. In 1886 Mr. Baggaley discontinued promoting as a specific work, and since that time has devoted his attention principally to the brokerage and commission business, later adding real estate, in all of which lines he has a large and lucrative patronage. He has a wide correspondence with all sections of the Union, by means of which he has induced men of capital to invest their surplus in the Black Hills and other parts of South Dakota. In connection with his regular business, he has recently been dealing in curios of all kinds, for which there is always a great demand by tourists, his stock of these articles being large, valuable and representing much labor and expense in the collecting. Mr. Baggaley served as treasurer of Deadwood from 1896 to 1898, inclusive, and proved a capable and popular official. As a Republican he is interested in politics, but is more of a business man than a politician, devoting his attention closely to his interests, with the result that he is now the possessor of a fortune of considerable magnitude, which through his energy is being continually augmented. Mr. Baggaley was initiated into the Odd Fellows order at Galesburg, Illinois, in 1876, and has been actively identified with the fraternity ever since, being at this time a leading member of Eureka Lodge at Deadwood. Years ago he united with the Baptist church, and began the earnest Christian life which he has since lived, being one of the pillars of the congregation worshiping in Deadwood. He was the first clerk and treasurer of the church in this city, both of which positions he held for a number of years, and since about 1898 he has been a deacon, besides contributing liberally of his means to the support of the gospel, both at home and in other places. The domestic life of Mr. Baggaley dates from 1870, on August 22d of which year he was united in the bonds of wedlock with Miss Jennie Evans, daughter of Edward and May Evans, of Brookfield, Missouri, where the ceremony was solemnized. The children born of this union, three in number, are May E., who married J. C. Gregory, editor of the Auburn Argus, Auburn, Washington; Maud A., wife of A. H. Stillwell, the subject's business associate, and George F., who is also a partner of his father in the latter's various enterprises. Thus in a somewhat cursory way have been set forth the leading facts and characteristics in the life of an enterprising, broad-minded man, who has indeed been the architect of his own fortune and who, standing four square to every wind that blows, exercises a wholesome influence upon the community of which he has been a respected and honored citizen,