Patrick Cunningham Biography


	This biography appears on page 1869 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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	PATRICK CUNNINGHAM is a native of Canada, his birth having 
occurred in the province of Ontario, and to the public school system of 
his native country he is indebted for the educational privileges he 
enjoyed. He left school at an early age and began to earn his own 
living by working in the lumber woods. He soon realized that there is 
no royal road to wealth and that no excellence can be accomplished 
without labor, so he set himself resolutely to the task of building up 
his fortune through energy and unfaltering perseverance. In the fall of 
1869 he came to South Dakota with his brother William and together they 
cut down trees which they floated down the river to Yankton, where they 
were converted in the sawmill into marketable lumber. Mr. Cunningham 
also assisted in making governmental surveys. The state was then upon 
the wild western frontier and pioneer conditions existed on every hand. 
With the progress that has since been made he has been actively 
identified, taking a deep and helpful interest in everything pertaining 
to the public good and to the general improvement of his adopted state.

	Mr. Cunningham was united in marriage to Miss Slowey, and they 
became the parents of two children. Mr. Cunningham owns two hundred and 
eighty acres of excellent land. He is now extensively engaged in 
raising and shipping stock, which he sends to the Chicago markets, 
there, finding a ready sale. In his political views he is a stalwart 
Democrat and he and his family are devoted communicants of the Roman 
Catholic church.