Samuel Grant Dewell Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1732-1733 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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	SAMUEL GRANT DEWELL, editor and publisher of the Free Press, at 
Pierre, was born in Shelby county, Iowa, on the 17th of April, 1864, 
being a son of Samuel and Harriet (Spicer) Dewell, the former of whom 
was a native of Ohio and the latter of the state of New York. In the 
agnatic line the genealogy is traced back to John Dewell, who was one of 
the valiant soldiers of General Lafayette, whom he accompanied from 
France to America at the time of the war of the Revolution. After the 
close of the great conflict which determined American independence he 
located near the city of Annapolis, Maryland, and later his descendants 
settled in the states of New York and Virginia, the branch of which the 
subject is a scion having been that which traces back to the Old 
Dominion. The mother of the subject was descended from Obediah Gore, 
who, with his brother John, was numbered among the Pilgrim fathers of 
New England. Samuel Dewell took up his residence in Shelby county, Iowa, 
in the year 1859, and there passed the residue of his life, engaged in 
surveying, his death occurring in 1889, while his devoted wife was 
summoned into eternal rest in 1897. They became the parents of eight 
children, of whom five are living. 

	Samuel G. Dewell was reared on the homestead farm in Iowa, and 
received his early educational training in the public schools, while at 
the age of twelve years he entered upon an apprenticeship at the 
printer's trade, in the office of the Sun, at Magnolia, Iowa. He 
continued to be identified with newspaper work in Iowa until I883, when, 
at the age of nineteen years, he came to South Dakota, and located in 
Norfolk, Sully county, where he became the publisher and editor of the 
Norfolk Spy, in 1884. In 1887 he became the publisher of the Nonpareil, 
at Blunt, Hughes county, where he remained until 1887, when he came to 
Pierre, where he has ever since maintained his home, having been for a 
time an employe in the office of the Signal, and later the Free Press, 
of which he is now proprietor and publisher, having secured control of 
the property in 1890. This is one of the leading papers of the state and 
exercises much influence in public affairs, its political policy being 
uncompromisingly Republican. The statement just entered indicates, as a 
matter of course, the political predilections of Mr. Dewell, who is one 
of the active and valued workers in the ranks of the "grand old party" 
in the state. On the 2d of March, 1898, he entered upon the discharge of 
his duties as postmaster of Pierre, having received the appointment 
under the administration of the lamented President McKinley, while at 
the expiration of his term, in 1902, he was re-appointed under President 
Roosevelt, so that he is in tenure of the office at the time of this 
writing. 

	Mr. Dewell has been identified with the South Dakota National 
Guard since 1897, having originally been a member of Company A, First 
Infantry, with which he started for the Philippines in 1898, but was 
rejected at the time the regiment was mustered into the United States 
service. He is at the present time quartermaster of the Second Regiment, 
South Dakota National Guard. Fraternally he is affiliated with Pierre 
Lodge, No. 27, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Pierre Chapter, No. 22, 
Royal Arch Masons; Capital City Chapter, No. 39, Order of the Eastern 
Star; and also with several mutual benefit associations. 

	On the 3d of August, 1890, Mr. Dewell was united in marriage to 
Miss Alice Geltz, who was born in Port Hope, Huron county, Michigan, on 
the 14th of March, 1871, being a daughter of John and Julia (Moran) 
Geltz, who are now residents of Pierre. Of the three sons of Mr. and 
Mrs. Dewell we enter the following record: Perley Geltz, who was born 
July 11, 1891, died on the 14th of January, 1903; Paul Samuel was born 
December 14, 1893; and Julian, April 3, 1900.