George N. Breed Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1437-1439 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.


	GEORGE N. BREED, one of the editors and publishers of the 
Brookings Register, was born in Little Grant, Grant county, Wisconsin, 
on the 16th of October, 1857, being a son of Samuel S. and Maria J. 
(Thurston) Breed, the former of whom was born in the state of New York 
and the latter in Pennsylvania. The Breed family is of staunch English 
lineage and the name is one which has been identified with the annals of 
American history from the early colonial epoch, while it should be noted 
in the connection that the paternal great-grandfather of the subject of 
this sketch was the owner of Breed's hill, on which was fought the 
battle of Bunker Hill, the latter name having been applied at a later 
period. Samuel S. Breed was reared and educated in the Old Empire state, 
where he continued to be identified with agricultural pursuits until 
late in the 'forties, when he removed with his family to Jo Daviess 
county, Illinois, having in the meanwhile been married to Miss Thurston, 
who came of English and German descent. To the pioneer state of Illinois 
he was also accompanied by his father. and brothers, and all began 
improving farms in the county mentioned, being numbered among its 
earliest settlers. There the father of the subject remained until the 
early 'fifties, when he removed to Grant county, Wisconsin, where he 
continued to devote his attention to agriculture until his death, which 
occurred in 1866, while his wife long survived him, her death occurring 
in the year 1900, at the age of seventy-nine years. Mr. Breed was a man 
of sterling character and ever held the confidence and esteem of his 
fellow men. He served as county commissioner of Grant county about eight 
years and was also chairman of the board of education of his district 
during that time. Of his seven children four died in early childhood. 
Byron W., who served with honor and loyalty as a soldier in the Union 
army in the war of the Rebellion, is now a successful farmer and stock 
grower of Moody county, South Dakota. Sarah J., who became the wife of 
William M. Leighton, of Denver, Colorado, is dead. George N., the 
subject of this sketch, is the youngest of the three children who lived 
to attain years of maturity. William M. Leighton, Jr., son of the 
subject's sister, has been reared in the home of Mr. Breed, while he 
also received the care and guidance of his maternal grandmother until 
the time of her demise. 

	George N. Breed attended the district school in the vicinity of 
the homestead farm in Grant county, Wisconsin, until the death of his 
father, and he then accompanied his mother on her removal to 
Bloomington, Wisconsin, where he continued to attend the public schools 
until he was fifteen years of age. He then entered the office of the 
Lancaster Advocate, at Lancaster, Wisconsin, where he gained his initial 
experience in the "art preservative of all arts." The paper mentioned 
was an advocate of the cause of Horace Greeley at the time he was 
running for the presidency, and when defeat ensued the paper ceased 
publication, and thus Mr. Breed removed to Plattville, Wisconsin, to 
finish his trade, where he remained until 1877, becoming a skilled 
compositor and familiarizing himself with the various details of the 
newspaper and printing business. Thereafter he was employed in offices 
at Galesburg, Illinois, and River Falls and Broadhead, Wisconsin, from 
which latter point he came to Brookings, South Dakota, in October, 1880, 
becoming one of the pioneers of the town, which had at the time a 
population of not more than two hundred persons. Here he began the 
publication of the Brookings Sentinel, disposing of the plant and 
business in 1883 and thereafter working at his trade until the spring of 
1890, when he became telegraph editor of the News, at Aberdeen, this 
state. In June, 1890, he became associated with Paul Dutcher and 
returned to Brookings where they began publishing the Brookings Register 
and in 1891 purchased the plant and business of the Brookings Sentinel, 
which they forthwith merged into the Brookings Register, to whose 
publication they have since given their attention, having made it one of 
the best papers of the sort in the state. It is a six-column quarto and 
is issued on Thursday of each week, while its standard is a high one, 
both in point of editorial makeup and letter press. The office is well 
equipped and the Register has been made a success under the control of 
the gentlemen mentioned, the firm name being Dutcher & Breed. Mr. Breed, 
in point of consecutive service, is one of the oldest newspaper men in 
the state, while he has witnessed the growth and substantial advancement 
of Brookings and the county from the time of inception. He has been 
specially insistent in making the paper an exponent of local interests 
and of the cause of the Republican party, of whose principles he has 
ever been a staunch advocate, though he has neither held nor sought 
political office. He has been very prominent in advocating the ownership 
of public utilities in his home city, and he takes marked satisfaction 
in reverting to the fact that he was one of the first to urge that 
Brookings, as a municipality, should own its own electric-light, 
telephone and water-works systems, and the plan as adopted has proved 
the wisdom of his admonition, for the two plants are paying the expense 
of operation and are giving to the citizens a most effective and 
economical service. He is a zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church, and was the second superintendent of the first Sunday school 
ever organized in Brookings, this being at a time when there was but the 
one church organization in the town. He is a charter member of Brookings 
Lodge, No. 40, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he is noble 
grand at the time of this writing, while he is also identified with the 
local organizations of the Modern Woodmen of America and the Ancient 
Order of United Workmen, in the latter of which he was formerly 
incumbent of the office of financier. He has been a member of the 
Brookings Cornet Band for the past twenty years, still continuing to 
give his services in the connection in order that the organization may 
be kept intact and in good order. 

	On the 15th of November, 1882, Mr. Breed was united in marriage to 
Miss Eva J. Thomas, who was born in Hazel Green, Grant county, 
Wisconsin, being a daughter of Thomas and Caroline Thomas, both of whom 
were born in England, whence they came to Wisconsin in an early day. Of 
the three children born to Mr. and Mrs. Breed one died in infancy, while 
the two surviving are Ray, who was born on the 6th of September, 1883, 
and Lillian, who was born on the 14th of May, 1890, and who is now 
attending the public schools of Brookings, having distinctive talent as 
an elocutionary reader, while her brother has shown marked ability in 
drawing and other art work.