Abram L. Read Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1270-1271 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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	ABRAM L. READ is a native of Fairfield, Iowa, where he was born on 
July 18, 1860, and is the son of William M. and Matilda (Bottom) Read, 
the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of England. His 
father was a miller and followed his craft at Fairfield, where the son 
grew to manhood and received his education. At the age of thirteen he 
began to assist his father in the mill during the vacations between the 
school terms, and when he reached the age of twenty turned his attention 
to farming, remaining there aiding in the work on the farm three years. 
In the spring of 1883 he came west to Colorado where he worked in the 
mining mills for one year, then passed a year in traveling over various 
western states. In 1885 he made a journey with teams to the Black Hills, 
stopping at a number of places on the way and arriving at Lead in May, 
1886. He soon after entered the employ of the Homestake Mining Company, 
in its mill at Terryville, where he learned the work of amalgamating and 
remained until the mill closed in 1893, being at the time chief 
amalgamator. He pursued a year's course in the School of Mines at Rapid 
City, and in 1894 came to Lead and secured a position as chief 
amalgamator in the Golden Star, a two-hundred-stamp mill and one of the 
two largest mills of the kind in this part of the country. He saved his 
money and invested it in mining property and claims, of which he now 
owns a considerable and valuable body. He also bought real estate at 
Lead, where, in addition to his beautiful residence, he has other 
valuable property. On May 3, 1900, he was married at Lead, to Miss Emma 
Robbins, a native of New York. Mrs. Read was formerly a teacher in the 
public schools of Lead for a number of years. They have one son, Robert 
R. Mr. Read is an earnest and devoted member of the Masonic lodge at 
Lead, and he and his wife are prominent and active in the social life of 
the town where they have a host of friends who find their home a center 
of refined and considerate hospitality and social enjoyment. As chief 
amalgamator for the Golden Star Mining Company, Mr. Read has a position 
of importance and responsibility, and it is but just to say of him that 
he meets its exacting requirements in a masterful manner and in a way 
that has secured for him the utmost confidence and regard of his 
employers.