Jonas H. Lien Biography This biography appears on pages 1822-1823 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. JONAS H. LIEN was born in Faribault county, Minnesota, on the 12th of December, 1874, being a son of Hans and Gertrude (Burreson) Lien, of whom more specific mention is made in the sketch of the life of his brother, Burre H. Lien, on another page of this work. When he was but ten years of age his father died. He attended the public schools and continued his studies in the State Agricultural College of South-Dakota, at Brookings, where he fitted himself for the university work. In 1894 he was matriculated in the Nebraska State University, at Lincoln, where he remained until 1896, when he withdrew to take part in the presidential campaign of that year. Of his work in the connection another sketch has spoken as follows: "He was employed: by the state central committee of the Populist party in South Dakota, and during the campaign spoke in almost every county in the state east of the Missouri river, being at once recognized as a strong political speaker. Such was his success in this campaign that he soon became known as the 'Boy Orator of the Sioux."' At the next session of the legislature he was elected chief clerk of the assembly, and thereafter for a short time was the city editor of the Sioux Falls Daily Press. In the spring of 1897 he resumed his studies in the Nebraska University, where he was graduated in the spring of 1898. Again, for a short time, he was a member of the editorial corps of the Daily Press, but when the war with Spain broke out he enlisted in Company I, First Regiment of South Dakota Volunteer Infantry, being mustered into service on the 4h of May, 1898, as first lieutenant and adjutant. His purpose had been to become a private and earn promotion if possible. His friends persuaded him to accept the commission, and he entered upon the discharge of his duties with the energy and ability which always characterized him. In the Philippines he was in the hottest of every fight, from Block House No. 4, where the first battle occurred between the Americans and Filipinos on February 4 and 5, 1899, to Marilao, where he was killed on the 27th of March of that year." Well may it be said that "death lay upon him like the untimely frost upon the fairest flower of all the field," and yet in the true perspective of his life we can not call its end inconsistent, and the memory of all he was brings its measure of compensation and reconciliation to those who knew and loved him. The colonel of his regiment spoke feelingly of the youthful martyr as follows: "He was the bravest man I ever knew, and one of the best officers." He had been promoted to the rank of captain, but had not received his commission as such at the time when he met his death. No one of his age was better or more favorably known throughout the state, and his untimely death was most sincerely deplored by all who knew him, his friends being in number as his acquaintances.