J. O. Melham Biography


	This biography appears on pages 664-665 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. I (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	J. O. MELHAM is a native of the state of Minnesota, having been 
born on a farm in Fillmore county, on the 20th of April, 1866, and 
being a son of Ole O. and Ann Melham, both of whom were born and reared 
in Norway, where their marriage was solemnized. There the father of the 
subject was engaged in teaching until 186I, when he emigrated thence 
with his family to America, remaining for a brief interval in 
Wisconsin, and thence moving to Fillmore county, Minnesota, where he 
purchased land and turned his attention to farming, having been 
numbered among the pioneers of that section. He there continued to 
reside until 1877, when he returned to Wisconsin and purchased a farm 
in Buffalo county, being there actively and successfully engaged in 
agricultural pursuits until 1881, when he disposed of his place and 
came with his family to what is now the state of South Dakota, locating 
in Deuel county, where he purchased a claim of one hundred and sixty 
acres of land, in Brandt township, where he improved a good farm, being 
one of the early settlers in the locality and becoming one of the 
prominent and highly honored citizens of the county. He died on his 
homestead on the 19th of September, 1887, at the age of fifty-six 
years, while his wife still resides on the farm with two of her 
children. They became the parents of six children, all of whom are 
living in this state, namely: Julia, unmarried; Emma, who is the wife 
of O. C. Halverson, of Brandt; Ole, who is operating the home farm; J. 
O., who is the immediate subject of this review; Andrew, who is 
associated with J. O., and Anna, who is a clerk in Watertown. The 
father was a Republican in politics, and his religious faith was that 
of the Lutheran church, of which his wife also is likewise a devoted 
member.  

	J. O. Melham passed the first decade of his life on the farm on 
which he was born, and his rudimentary educational training was thus 
secured in the district schools of Fillmore county, Minnesota, while 
later he continued his studies in the public schools of Wisconsin and 
South Dakota. After leaving school he continued to assist in the work 
of the home farm in Deuel county, South Dakota, until he had attained 
to his legal majority, when he initiated his independent career, 
securing employment in an agricultural-implement store at Clear Lake, 
where he remained four years, during which period he engaged in buying 
grain during the autumn seasons. Thereafter he was for one year 
employed as bookkeeper in the Bank of Toronto, Deuel county, and at the 
expiration of this period he resigned his position, in 1892, and 
engaged in the lumber and hardware business in Brandt, that county, 
associating himself with Ole Halverson, under the firm name of 
Halverson & Melham. The partnership was dissolved in 1895, since which 
time Mr. Melham has continued to be identified with the lumber 
business, which is now carried on upon an extensive scale, being 
associated in the enterprise with his brother Andrew, under the title 
of the Melham Brothers Lumber Company, which is incorporated under the 
laws of the state, and of which he is president and treasurer, the 
company having well equipped yards in each of the following named towns 
in the state: Albee, Brandt, Bryant, Volga and Hazel, all in South 
Dakota, with about fifty-six thousand dollars invested. The annual 
sales amount to about one hundred thousand dollars. The subject is the 
owner of two valuable farms in Deuel county, is president of the State 
Bank of Brandt, and also of the First State Bank of Hazel, Hamlin 
county, while he is a stockholder in the First National Bank of Volga, 
Brookings county. In addition to his varied landed and capitalistic 
interests in this state he is also the owner of nine hundred and sixty 
acres of land in British Columbia. Mr. Melham continued to reside in 
the village of Brandt until 1903, when he removed to Watertown, where 
he now maintains his home and business headquarters. In politics he 
gives a staunch allegiance to the Republican party, but is essentially 
and primarily a business man and has never had any desire for the 
honors or emoluments of public office. He and his wife are consistent 
and active members of the Lutheran church.  

	On the 1st of June, 1896, at the home of the bride. in Deuel 
county, Mr. Melham was united in marriage to Miss Julia H. Tolrud, a 
daughter of T. O. Tolrud, a wealthy and influential farmer of that 
county, to which he came from Fillmore county, Minnesota, in the early 
'eighties, Mrs. Melham having been born in the county last mentioned, 
and having been reared and educated in South Dakota, and being a lady 
of gracious presence and distinctive refinement. Mr. and Mrs. Melham 
have four children, namely: William Oscar, Mark E., Arnold Gerhard and 
Thomas Walter.