Lyman T. Boucher Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1745-1746 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	LYMAN T. BOUCHER, of Eureka, at the present time state's attorney 
of McPherson county, was born in Washington county, Illinois, on the 
27th of February, 1858, and is a son of John V. and Polly (Roundtree) 
Boucher, the former of whom was born in Kentucky and the latter in 
Illinois. John Boucher, the grandfather of the subject, was likewise a 
native of Kentucky, where the family was established in the early 
pioneer epoch. John V. Boucher was a pioneer of Illinois, where he was 
engaged in agricultural pursuits at the outbreak of the war of the 
Rebellion. He tendered his services in defense of the Union, becoming a 
member of the Tenth Missouri Volunteer Infantry, a considerable quota of 
which was furnished by Illinois, and he served from the opening of the 
war until the year of its close, having died in January, 1865, while 
enroute to his home, his death being the result of disease contracted 
during the Wilderness campaign. His wife survived him a year. Of their 
six children four are living, the subject of this review having been the 
sixth in order of birth. 

	Lyman T. Boucher passed his boyhood days in his native county, 
where he secured his early educational training in the public schools, 
after which he was a student in McKendree College, at Lebanon, that 
state. He then took up the study of law and in 1879 was matriculated in 
the Chicago College of Law, where he was graduated in June, 1880, with 
the degree of Bachelor of Laws, being duly admitted to the bar of his 
native state. He located in Bellville, Illinois, where he was engaged in 
the practice of his profession until the spring of 1883, when he decided 
to cast in his lot with the pioneers of the future commonwealth of South 
Dakota. He forthwith opened an office in Leola, and later at Eureka, 
being one of the early settlers of the town, and here he has labored 
earnestly and successfully in his profession, attaining prestige as an 
able and discriminating attorney and counsellor and having the respect 
and confidence of the people of the community, while he has at all times 
been at the forefront in urging forward all measures ending to advance 
thc general welfare and social and material progress of his county and 
state. He was a member of the state constitutional convention of 1889, 
and served as prosecuting attorney of McPherson county prior to the 
admission of the state to the Union, while he has since been incumbent 
of the office of state's attorney for several terms, his last election 
having occurred in 1902, while his term will expire in January, 1905. On 
June 2, 1904, Mr. Boucher was nominated by the Republican party of the 
sixth judicial circuit of South Dakota for the office of circuit judge, 
and as all the counties of the sixth circuit are Republican, his 
election next November is assured. He was a member of the state board of 
regents of education from 1893 to 1896, inclusive, and is one of the 
three members of the state board of commissioners to the Louisiana 
Purchase Exposition, which opened in the city of St. Louis in May of the 
present year, 1904. In politics he is a staunch advocate of the 
principles of the Republican party and has been active as a worker in 
the party cause. 

	On the 26th of December, 1888, Mr. Boucher was united in marriage 
to Miss Helen Melvill, of Galena, Illinois, and they have four children, 
namely: Melvill, John M., Lyman T., Jr.. and Hiram A.