James Alfred Copeland Biography

	This biography appears on pages 721-723 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. I (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.

	This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside
	a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at

	http://www.usgwarchives.net/sd/sdfiles.htm


	JAMES ALFRED COPELAND was born at Fountaindale, Winnebago county, 
Illinois, on the 21st of September, 1852, being a son of Alfred 
Williams Copeland, who was born in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, June 18, 
1809, and who died, in Fountaindale, Illinois, June 23, 1875. He was 
born and reared in Massachusetts, and was at one time foreman in a 
cotton mill at Lowell, that state. He came to Illinois as a pioneer and 
there devoted the remainder of his life to farming. His wife, whose 
maiden name was Hannah Brewster, was born in Pennsylvania and died at 
Byron, Illinois, in I884. She was a descendant of Elder Brewster, of 
Mayflower fame. From an old family Bible still in the possession of our 
subject is taken the following record, starting with his father, Alfred 
W., son of Alfred Copeland, who was born at Bridgewater, Massachusetts, 
October 7, 1782, and who was a drummer in the war of 1812. He married 
Mary Williams, daughter of Nathaniel Williams, a minute-man of the 
Revolutionary war. Alfred was a son of Daniel Copeland, who was born in 
1741 and who married Susannah Ames, daughter of Joseph Ames. The next 
in direct line was Jonathan Copeland, who was born in 1701, and who 
married Betty Snell, daughter of Thomas Snell, Jr. The next in the 
direct ancestral line was William Copeland, born in 1656, at 
Bridgewater, Massachusetts. He married Mary Bass, daughter of John 
Bass, who married Ruth Alden, a daughter of John Alden, the Pilgrim 
whose name is so prominent in New England history and story and of whom 
it is said he was the last male survivor of those who signed the 
compact on board the "Mayflower." The next in line was Laurence 
Copeland, who was born in 1589, probably in England, and who came to 
America about 1620. He married Lydia Townsend in 1651 and he died in 
1699, at the patriarchal age of one hundred and ten years. 

	Judge James A. Copeland, the immediate subject of this sketch, 
received his early educational training in the common schools of his 
native state, and for a time was a student in Wheaton College, at 
Wheaton, Illinois. In 1879 he took up the study of law in the office of 
George W. Fifield, of Fairmont, Nebraska, and in 1883 he entered the 
employ of the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, with which he 
remained until 1890, in the meanwhile continuing to devote as much 
attention as possible to his legal studies, making such advancement 
that he was enabled to secure admission to the bar of South Dakota in 
April of the year last mentioned. After leaving school our subject had 
returned to the homestead farm, and there he remained until 1877, when 
he engaged in the buying and shipping of live stock at Oregon, 
Illinois, being thus engaged about two years, having shipped horses to 
Fairmont, Nebraska, where he remained two years, devoting his attention 
to farming and to the law and loan business. He then removed to Storm 
Lake, Iowa, where he was engaged in the cattle business until December, 
1881, when he came to South Dakota and took up his residence in 
Vermillion, where he has ever since maintained his home. He served as 
clerk of the courts of Clay county from 1891 to 1894, while he also 
held the office of justice of the peace for a period of ten years. In 
1896 he was elected to the office of county judge, serving until 
January 1, 1899, and in 1900 he was again elected to this office for a 
term of two years. Judge Copeland is an uncompromising Republican in 
his political proclivities, and it may consistently be said that he has 
held to the ancestral faith, since he comes of a long line of 
Republican and Whig forbears. Judge Copeland is identified with Incense 
Lodge, No. 2, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Vermillion Chapter, No. 
21, Royal Arch Masons; Juno Chapter, No. 44, Order of the Eastern Star; 
and Dakota Pine Camp, No. 450, Modern Woodmen of America. He is 
secretary of the last mentioned, as is he also of his Masonic lodge and 
chapter. He is a charter member of the Republican Club, No. 103, of 
Vermillion, this being subordinate to the Republican League of South 
Dakota, and he has held various offices in each of the above mentioned 
organizations, being at the present time secretary of the Republican 
Club. In 1870 Judge Copeland became a member of the Presbyterian church 
at Middle Creek, Illinois, and in 1901 he joined the First Baptist 
church of Vermillion. 

	At Rockford, Illinois, on the 30th of December, 1880, Judge 
Copeland was united in marriage to Miss Estella E. Hayes, daughter of 
Alpheus J. Hayes, a pioneer settler of Minnehaha county, South Dakota, 
and for many years a prominent business man of Sioux Falls. Of the 
children of this union we enter the following brief record: Jay Warren, 
who was born October 28, 1881, died November 12th, following; Flora E. 
was born January 11, 1883; Winfield O. was born July 12, 1884; Nettie 
was born August 8, 1887, and died September 20, 1891; Jamie was born 
August 12, 1890, and died September 23, 1891; Laurel was born December 
25, 1891; Doris Louise, August 18, 1897; and Susan A., June 2, 1899.