Frank W. Meehan Biography This biography appears on pages 677-678 in "History of South Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. I (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. This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/sd/sdfiles.htm FRANK W. MEEHAN is engaged in the abstract business in Milbank, having a complete and valuable set of abstracts of titles for Grant county. He is a native of the Badger state, having been born on the parental homestead in Rock county, Wisconsin, on the 14th of June, 1863, and being a son of Andrew and Mary(Topliff) Meehan, she being deceased and he residing with Frank. Andrew Meehan was. born and reared in Ireland, whence he emigrated to the United States as a young man, and he was engaged in farming in Wisconsin until 1863, when he removed to Steele county, Minnesota, where he continued to be identified with the same great basic industry until recently. He rendered valiant service in defense of the Union during the war of the Rebellion, having been a member of Battery C, in a Minnesota regiment: of heavy artillery. The Topliff family was established in New England in the early colonial days, and Mary's paternal grandfather was a soldier in the Continental army during the war-of the Revolution, and she herself was a native of Massachusetts. Andrew and Mary Meehan became the parents of five sons and one daughter, and the only survivors are the subject and his sister, Jennie Louise, who is the wife of W. B. Adsit, of Owatonna, Minnesota. Frank W. Meehan was reared to maturity on the homestead farm, his early educational advantages being those afforded in the public schools, while in 1880 he entered Pillsbury Academy, in Owatonna, Minnesota, where he continued his studies for a period of four years. After leaving the academy he was engaged in teaching in the public schools of Minnesota about three years, when his health became so impaired as to lead him to seek a change of climate and occupation. Accordingly, in 1889, he came to what is now the state of South Dakota and took up his residence in Grant county, where he secured one hundred and sixty acres of land, in Melrose township. Thereafter he devoted five years to improving his farm during the summer seasons, while during the winters he found ready demand for his services as a teacher in the local schools, being successful and popular as an educator. He is at the present time the owner of three hundred and twenty acres of valuable farming land, eight miles northwest of Milbank, as well as of an attractive modern residence in Milbank. He has been a staunch supporter of the cause of the Republican party from the time of attaining his majority, and early became prominent in connection with local public affairs in Grant county. In 1896 he was elected register of deeds, giving a most satisfactory administration and was chosen his own successor in 1898. He has since been engaged in the abstract business, having personally prepared his abstracts of land titles from the official records. His efforts have resulted in a complete set of abstract books, which are kept in fireproof vaults, specially prepared in a new brick office building erected by Mr. Meehan and designed for this particular use. Mr. Meehan has ever continued to take an active interest in educational matters, as well as in all other affairs touching the local welfare and progress, and he is at the present time a member of the board of education of Milbank. He is a Master Mason and a Modern Woodman. On the 26th of November, 1891, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Meehan to Miss Teresa R. Gibson, who was born in Mower county, Minnesota, being a daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Gibson, both of whom are now deceased, her father having been one of the prominent farmers and honored pioneers of Minnesota.