Charles Boyd Foncannon Biography This biography appears on page 1210 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. CHARLES BOYD FONCANON, who is engaged in the real-estate and loan business in Eureka, and who is a member of the board of commissioners of McPherson county, was born in Millard, Missouri, on the 22d of April, 1869, being a son of Michael B. and Julia S. (Beatty) Foncanon, both of whom were born in Fairfield county, Ohio. the former tracing his lineage to the sturdy Holland Dutch stock which settled in the state of New York in the colonial epoch of our national history, while the maternal ancestry is of Scotch-Irish extraction, the original progenitors in America having come hither in the middle of the eighteenth century and having served with the Pennsylvania troops in the war of the Revolution. The parents of the subject removed to Missouri prior to the war of the Rebellion, having been a resident of the state during the days when it was the center of the border warfare, while the father served as a valiant soldier in defense of the Union, having been a member of the Seventh Missouri Volunteer Cavalry during the war. Charles B. Foncanon received his early education in the public schools of his native place, later attended the North Missouri State Normal School, at Kirksville, in which. he was graduated as a member of the class of 1890, and thereafter he took a special course in the Missouri State University. After leaving college he was for two years superintendent of the public schools at La Plata, Missouri, and in 1894 he came to Eureka, South Dakota, where he was for four years principal of the schools, and in 1898 he was elected superintendent of schools for McPherson county, retaining this incumbency four years, at the expiration of which he established himself in his present line of enterprise, noted in the initial paragraph, being one of the successful real-estate dealers of this section of the state and also making a specialty of financial loans on real-estate security of approved order. Mr. Foncanon is a staunch advocate of the principles of the Republican party, and in the fall of 1902 he was elected county commissioner from the fifth district of McPherson county, in which capacity he is now serving He is identified with the National Guard of the state, being adjutant of the First Battalion of the First Regiment, with the rank of first lieutenant. Fraternally he is identified with Eureka Lodge, No. 58, Knights of Pythias; Acacia Lodge, No. 108, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Batchelder Lodge of Perfection, No. 6; South Dakota Consistory, No. 4, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, at Aberdeen, and El Riad Temple of the Mystic Shrine, at Sioux Falls. On the 18th of June, 1900, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Foncanon to Miss Ottilia M. Hinz, who was born in Manchester, Wisconsin, November 12, 1879 being a daughter of Louis and Minerva Hinz. Mr. and Mrs. Foncanon have a winsome little daughter, Vivian Maurine, born May 4, 1901.