Richard W. Mathieson Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1401-1402 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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	RICHARD W. MATHIESON, one of the prominent and honored citizens of 
Fort Pierre, Stanley county, was born in Colesburg, Delaware county, 
Iowa, on the 5th of August, 1849, and is a son of Robert and Ann (Wood) 
Mathieson, the former of whom was born in Scotland, where records extant 
trace the lineage back through thirty-four generations, while the latter 
was born in England. The father of the subject was killed in the Indian 
massacre at Spirit Lake, Iowa, in 1857, his devoted wife surviving him 
by several years. The subject came with other members of the family, 
inch1ding his widowed mother, to the territory of Dakota in the spring 
of 1862, settling first in Bon Homme county and removing thence, in the 
fall of the same year, to Yankton, which was the family home for several 
years, Mr. Mathieson having completed his early educational training in 
the public schools of that city. In 1863 he entered upon an 
apprenticeship at the printer's trade in the office of the Union and 
Dakotan, a paper published in Yankton, and on the 28th of February of 
the following year he enlisted in Company B, First Dakota Cavalry, of 
which William Tripp was captain, and in the same year accompanied his 
regiment on the expedition to the Yellowstone river, under General 
Sully. In 1865 he took part in the expedition to Devil's Lake, and w as 
mustered out of the service in November of that year, at Sioux City. 
Thereafter he was for some time employed at his trade, and also 
identified with early surveying work in the territory. Thereafter he 
conducted a wood yard and farmed and freighted four miles below Yankton 
for about five years. In the spring of 1871 he went to Colorado, where 
he was engaged in prospecting and mining during the major portion of the 
next eighteen months. In 1873 he made a trip up the Missouri river with 
a mule-team and assisted in the erection of Fort Lincoln, and in 1874 
had charge of the cutler's teams in General Custer's expedition to the 
Black Hills. There he panned out about fifty cents, in gold dust, which 
he brought back with him, the amount being sufficient to prove to others 
that gold was to be found in that section. In September, 1874, he was 
associated with another man in the building of a skiff, in which they 
came down the Missouri river from Bismarck to Yankton. In March, 1875, 
Mr. Mathieson went to the Black Hills with a stock of merchandise, and 
disposed of the same, returning to Yankton in the fall. He then 
purchased teams and engaged in freighting to the Black Hills, making the 
enterprise a most profitable one and continuing the same until 1882, 
when he disposed of his outfit and purchased a stock of general 
merchandise in Fort Pierre, in company with his brother, George D., 
while they also purchased a bunch of cattle and engaged in the raising 
of stock. After two years the partnership was dissolved, the subject 
taking the cattle while the brother retained the store as his share. In 
1887 our subject removed his cattle to the range on the Cheyenne river, 
and when the reservation of that name was opened up he took up his 
residence in Fort Pierre, where he has since maintained his home, while 
simultaneously he removed his cattle to a ranch at the Bad river, at the 
mouth of the Grindstone river, where he has since continued to be 
engaged in stock growing on an extensive scale. Mr. Mathieson has ever 
taken a deep interest in the civic and material development and progress 
of the state of which he is a sterling pioneer. He served one term as a 
member of the board of commissioners of Stanley county and one term as 
mayor of the city of Fort Pierre. Fraternally he is affiliated with the 
following named bodies: Hiram Lodge, No. 123, Ancient Free and Accepted 
Masons, at Fort Pierre; Pierre Chapter, No. 22, Royal Arch Masons, in 
the capital city of the state; De Molay Commandery, No. 3, Knights 
Templar, in Yankton; and Lodge No. 75, Ancient Order of United Workmen, 
at Fort Pierre. 

	On the 28th of August, 1884, Mr. Mathieson was united in marriage 
to Miss Clara B. Pratt, who was the adopted daughter of David Pratt. She 
was born in Anoka, Minnesota, on the 14th of March, 1862, and is a 
daughter of Jonathan L. and Emily Nash, who died when she was a child. 
Of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson we enter the names, with 
respective dates of birth: Maud E., July 28, 1886; Kenneth W., June 19, 
1890; Donald E., December 19, 1897.