James O. Conrick Biography


	This biography appears on pages 619-620 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. I (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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        JAMES O. CONRICK is a successful farmer and reputable citizen 
of Brule county, South Dakota, and an ex-soldier in the great war which 
tested the stability of America's free institutions and proved that a 
government of the people, by the people and for the people should not 
perish from the face of the earth. James O. Conrick is a native of 
Montgomery county, New York, and the son of E. P. and Harriet (Petit) 
Conrick, both parents born in the state of Connecticut. In early life 
E. P. Conrick was a teacher, but later became a contractor, and as such 
helped to construct the first railroad in the United States, also 
finished a considerable part of the old Erie canal in New York, besides 
doing much other work of a public character. He migrated to Wisconsin 
in an early day, took an active interest in the material development of 
that state, also became a leading Republican politician, and served at 
different times in the upper and lower houses of the general assembly. 
He was a man of prominence and influence, widely known and highly 
esteemed, and he lived to a ripe old age, dying in 1897 in his ninety-
first year. E. P. and Harriet Conrick reared a family of three 
children, namely, Mary, James O. and Frank, the subject of this sketch 
being the sole survivor.  

        James O. Conrick was born September 8, 1838, and spent his 
early life in New York and Wisconsin, receiving a limited education in 
such schools as the latter afforded during the pioneer period. When a 
young man, in company with a number of spirits as brave and daring as 
himself he made an overland trip to California in search of gold, being 
six months enroute, but after spending four years in the mines, and 
realizing some remuneration for his labors and struggles, he returned 
home and resumed the peaceful pursuit of agriculture. In 1860 he again 
went west, making his way as far as Pike's Peak, and shortly after his 
return, the following year, enlisted in Company A, Tenth Wisconsin 
Infantry, which was soon sent to the front, to experience all the 
realities and horrors of war. Mr. Conrick shared with his comrades all 
their varied vicissitudes and hardships and took part in a number of 
campaigns and battles, in one of which he was captured and sent to 
Libby Prison. After four months in that noted bastile, he was exchanged 
and, rejoining his command in 1863, served until the close of the war, 
participating in the battles of Stone River, Spring Hill, Murfreesboro, 
Chickamauga and many other engagements and skirmishes, in all of which 
he sustained the reputation of a brave, gallant and fearless defender 
of the flag.  

        At the expiration of his period of enlistment Mr. Conrick 
returned to Wisconsin, later to Dubuque, Iowa, where he continued to 
reside until 1885, when he moved his family to Brule county, South 
Dakota, and took up a homestead near the town of Chamberlain, on which 
he still lives and which, under his wisely directed labors, has been 
converted into one of the best farms and most attractive homes in that 
part of the state. While devoting the greater portion of his time to 
agricultural pursuits, he also pays considerable attention to live 
stock, making a specialty of graded cattle and Poland-China hogs, large 
numbers of which he sells every year at good prices. Mr. Conrick is an 
enterprising man and, for one of his age, is still active, physically 
and mentally. He manifests a lively interest in the welfare of the 
community, uses his influence to promote its material prosperity and 
moral advancement, and is accounted one of the wide-awake, energetic 
and progressive citizens of the county in which he lives. In politics 
he is a Republican and few in the community are as active as he in 
public affairs. Fraternally he is a Mason, belonging to Lodge No. 125, 
at Dubuque, Iowa, into which he was initiated a number of years ago.  

        In the year 1868 Mr. Conrick and Miss Nancy M. Larnard, of New 
York, were united in marriage, which resulted in the birth of four 
children, namely: George E., chief clerk at Lower Brule Indian agency, 
South Dakota; John P., a lawyer practicing his profession at Sault Ste 
Marie, Michigan; Frank M., civil engineer and contractor for the 
Northern Pacific Railroad, and Clair H., a student of Vermilion 
College, South Dakota. Mr. Conrick is a friend of higher education and 
has given his children the best advantages in this direction obtainable 
and all but the youngest are now filling responsible stations in life 
and making records which are alike creditable to themselves and to 
their parents. The family is an old and honorable American family, 
having come as Pilgrims to the New England states in the seventeenth 
century and many of its members having held high offices of trust in 
our country, and those now living bid fair to sustain the reputation 
which the worthy name has always borne.