George T. Chandler Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1107-1108 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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	GEORGE T. CHANDLER, one of the progressive agriculturists and 
stock growers of Douglas county, was born in Fayette county, Ohio, on 
the 1st of November, 1847, being a son of Howell and Martha (Pace) 
Chandler. Both parents were born in Virginia, being representatives of 
old and prominent families of the Old Dominion state. Representatives in 
both the paternal and maternal lines took part in the war of the 
Revolution, as well as that of 1812, in which latter the paternal 
grandfather of the subject served as quartermaster. Two of the brothers 
of the subject were valiant defenders of the Union in the war of the 
Rebellion. William S. went to the front as a member of the Second 
Massachusetts Cavalry, while H. T. was a member of Company A, Thirty-
fourth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, while five cousins were members of the 
Third Iowa Cavalry during the same great conflict through which the 
Union was preserved. The honored father of Mr. Reed, who was a miller by 
profession, died in 1898, aged eighty years, while the mother died in 
1881, aged sixty-seven years. 

	George T. Chandler was a child of eight years at the time when his 
parents removed from Ohio to Iowa, locating on a farm in Decatur county, 
where he received his educational training in the public schools, 
continuing his studies until he had attained the age of eighteen years, 
after which he devoted his attention to the management of a portion of 
his father's farm until 1880, when he secured a farm of his own in 
Decatur county, Iowa, where he continued to reside until 1882, when he 
came to what is now the state of South Dakota and became one of the 
pioneers of Douglas county. Here he filed claim to a quarter section, 
where he has since made his home, having made excellent improvements, 
erecting good buildings, and he has brought the place under a high state 
of cultivation, his landed estate in the county now comprising one 
hundred and sixty acres, while in addition to securing large yields of 
the cereals and other products commonly raised in this section he 
devotes no 2ittle attention to the breeding and raising of high-grade 
cattle, swine and horses. He is alert and progressive in his business 
methods and has attained marked success, while he holds the confidence 
and esteem of the people of the community in which he has so long made 
his home. In politics he is an uncompromising advocate of the principles 
of the Democratic party, and has been an active worker in its behalf, 
having been a potent factor in securing to the same noteworthy victories 
in Douglas county, though he has never been ambitious for personal 
preferment in a political way. He has served, however, for six years as 
a member of the school board of his district, and is always relied upon 
to lend his aid and influence in support of all measures tending to 
advance the general welfare. He is a member of Armour Lodge, No. 25, 
Knights of Pythias, at Armour, being past chancellor of the same, while 
he has represented his lodge as delegate to the grand lodge of the 
state. He is also identified with the Knights of the Maccabees. 

	On the 25th of October, 1868, Mr. Chandler was united in marriage 
to Miss Mary Ellen Chambers, who was born in Jefferson county, Iowa, on 
the 2d of December, 1847, being a daughter of Daniel and Eliza 
(Breniman) Chambers, her father having been a pioneer farmer of the 
county mentioned. He now resides in Kansas, having attained the 
patriarchal age of eighty-seven years, and having been afflicted with 
blindness for the past fifteen years. His devoted wife was summoned into 
eternal rest in 1894, at the age of seventy-eight years. Mr. and Mrs. 
Chandler are the parents of four children, all of whom remain at the 
parental home, namely: Marion Austin, Thomas M., Howell Francis and Cora 
E.