Oshea A. Fowler Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1233-1234 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.


	OSHEA A. FOWLER, judge of the police court in the city of Sioux 
Falls and recognized as a representative member of the bar of the state, 
is a native of the old Green Mountain state, having been born in the 
vicinity of the town of Pownal, Housic county, Vermont, on the 25th of 
April, 1851, and though a pioneer of a great state he is yet in the very 
prime of vigorous manhood. When he was but three years of age his 
parents emigrated from Vermont to Illinois, becoming pioneers of that 
state, where they continued to reside until 1865, when they removed to 
Rochester, Minnesota, passing the remainder of their lives in that 
state, the father having devoted the greater portion of his active life 
to agricultural pursuits. Judge Fowler secured his elementary 
educational training in the district schools of Illinois. He was about 
fourteen years of age at the time of the family removal to Minnesota, 
and he continued his studies in the public schools of Rochester, that 
state, being graduated in the high school in 1869. He then set forth to 
seek his fortunes in the west, arriving in Sioux Falls, Dakota, on the 
22d of December, 1870. Here he worked at whatever employment he could 
secure, incidentally putting his scholastic attainments to practical 
test, having successfully taught school in the old barracks of the 
government military post in 1871 and having been for some time 
successfully engaged in the pedagogic work in Minnehaha county. In the 
centennial year, 1876, he went to Sibley, Iowa, where he was for one 
year employed as clerk in a hotel, later traveling about in the 
interests of a nursery company until 1880, when he returned to Dakota 
and located in what is now the city of Aberdeen. He erected the first 
building in the town and opened the same as a hotel, the caravansary 
being known as the Alpha House. The following spring Judge Fowler 
disposed of this property and business and became associated with John 
Hazzard in the erection of a more pretentious hotel, known as the 
Hazzard House. He disposed of his interest in the property in the 
ensuing autumn, and his eldest son was the first child born in the town, 
the date of his nativity having been September 3, 1881. After retiring 
from the hotel business the subject took up the study of law, under the 
preceptorship of M. J. Gordon, a pioneer attorney of Aberdeen, 
continuing to devote his attention to such specific reading for two 
years, at the expiration of which he established himself in the practice 
of his profession at Frederick, Brown county, also conducting a land and 
loan business. In this town he also founded the Frederick Herald, the 
first newspaper in the town, but he soon disposed of the same. He was 
admitted to the bar in 1884 and in 1886 returned to Sioux Falls, where 
he engaged in the general practice of his profession and also acted as 
attorney for the Insurance Company of Dakota, retaining this incumbency, 
with the exception of a brief interval, until the company retired from 
business. Thereafter he continued to devote his attention to the 
practice of law until he was called to assume his present office, having 
gained marked prestige in his profession and had to do with much 
important litigation. In 1896 he was elected police judge of Sioux 
Falls, and by successive re-elections has ever since remained in tenure 
of the office, having gained a high reputation for the expeditious 
handling of business and for just and impartial rulings. In politics 
Judge Fowler is a stalwart advocate of the principles and policies of 
the Republican party, in whose interests he has been an active and 
zealous worker. Reverting to his labors as a pedagogue, it may be stated 
that the Judge taught the first district school established in 
Minnehaha. county, while he has ever continued to take a lively interest 
in educational affairs. Fraternally he is identified with the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows. 

	On the 26th of April, 1880, Judge Fowler was united in marriage to 
Miss Emma M. Smith,, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and they are the parents 
of three children, James 0., Lewis M and Fannie P.