Joseph Elsom Biography This biography appears on pages 1768-1769 in "History of South Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (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. JOSEPH ELSOM, one of the representative business men and land owners of Spink county, is a native of England, having been born in Lincohlshire, on the 13th of December, 1840, and being a son of Wilson Elsom, who came with his family to America in 1853, passing the first winter in the province of New Brunswick, Canada, and then locating-in the state of New York, where his death occurred two years later. The subject of this sketch was the second eldest of the eight children and was but thirteen years of age at the time of his father's death, so that he was thus early thrown to a large degree upon his own resources, also contributing to the support of the other members of the family. He had attended the schools of his native county in England, and also continued his studies when opportunity presented after coming to America. He was engaged in various occupations in the state of New York until the outbreak of the war of the Rebellion, when he gave significant evidence of his loyalty to the land of his adoption by enlisting, on the 13th of October, 1861, as a private in Company F, Eighth New York Volunteer Cavalry, which was commanded by Colonel Crooks and assigned to the Army of the Potomac. The subject was with his command when it cut its way out from Harper's Ferry, and thereafter was an active participant in the battles of Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, second battle of Bull Run, Antietam and Beverly Ford, where Colonel B. F. Davis, commander, was killed. Mr. Elsom continued as a member of the Army of the Potomac and in active service for three years and four months, making a record as a faithful and valiant soldier and taking part in forty-nine of the fifty- four engagements in which his regiment was in action. He received his honorable discharge on the 15th of December, 1864. His brother, Thomas, was a member of the same regiment, and was wounded in the engagement at Berksdale Junction, Virginia, in the Wilson raid, his death resulting from his injury some time later while on furlough. After the close of his military career Mr. Elsom returned to the state of New York, where he remained until 1880, when he came to the present state of South Dakota and located on a tract of government land two miles south of Northville, Spink county, where he engaged in farming and also in the buying and shipping of grain, with which lines of industrial enterprise he has ever since been identified. To his original claim he has added until he now has a finely improved farm of eight hundred acres, his youngest son having the general management of the place, while the subject devoted the major portion of his, attention to his grain business, until January 1, 1904. He is one of the progressive and highly honored business men and popular citizens of the county with whose annals his name has been linked for nearly a quarter of a century. He is a stalwart Republican in politics, and has served with ability and discrimination in the various township offices, while fraternally he is affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. In August, 1860, Mr. Elsom was married to Miss Jane Harmer, who was born in Norfolk, England, and of their children we enter the following brief record: Nancy N. is deceased; Emma Jane, deceased; Thomas H. is superintendent of construction for the Inland Telephone and Telegraph Company, with headquarters in the beautiful city of Spokane, Washington; Annie Laurie is the wife of Francis Kingsley, of Mansfield, Brown county, this state; Charles W. is engaged in business in Northville; Evert J. is residing in New York state; Wilson J. has charge of the old homestead, and Eliza J., deceased, and Mary E., twins, the latter the wife of John H. LeMay, editor of the Northville Journal.