John J. Rees Biography This biography appears on pages 1391-1392 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. JOHN J. REES is a native of Wales, having been born on the 21st of January, 1839, and being a scion of staunch old Welsh stock. His paternal grandfather, George Rees, was a farmer of Pembrockshire, as was also the maternal grandfather, John Johns. The subject was the eldest of the four children born to William and Elizabeth (Johns) Rees, the latter of whom died when he was but nine years of age, while his father later contracted a second marriage. In 1852, when the subject of this sketch was a lad of twelve years, his father came with his family to America and settled near Utica, Oneida county, New York, where he engaged in farming, a vocation which he had followed in his native land. He remained in the old Empire state until 1857, when he removed with his family to Portage county, Ohio, where he passed the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1860, after which the members of the family became scattered, the home being broken up. John J. Rees secured his preliminary educational training in the schools of his native land, and after coming to the United States continued his studies in the common schools as opportunity afforded, while he early began to render his father effective assistance in the work of the farm. He continued to be identified with agricultural pursuits until the outbreak of the war of the Rebellion, when he showed his loyalty to tl1e country of his adoption by tendering his services in defense of the Union. On the 21st of April, 1861, he enlisted as a member of Company F, Seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, this being one of the first regiments recruited and sent into the field from Ohio, in the three months service. After the expiration of his original term Mr. Rees re-enlisted, for three years, and thereafter continued at the front until physical disability compelled his retirement from the service. Upon being mustered in his regiment was sent to Benwood, West Virginia, and the year 1861 was passed in that state. He participated in the battle of Cross Lanes and in December of that year the regiment moved to Romney, West Virginia, where it lay in camp until the following March. In the spring of 1862 the subject took part in the battles of Winchester and Port Republic, and later was in the engagement at Cedar Mountain and in the second battle of Bull Run. Soon afterward he suffered a severe attack of malarial fever, and he never fully recovered from the effects of the disease, his disability finally becoming such that he received his honorable discharge on the 4th of March, 1863. He thereupon returned to his home in Ohio, where Governor David Tod gave him a captain's commission in the Home Guard, in which he served until the close of the war. He purchased a farm of fifty acres in Ohio and gave his attention to its cultivation, in so far as his health would permit. In 1867 he leased a tract of coal land and continued to engage in coal mining and farming for the ensuing thirteen years, meeting with excellent success. In the spring of 1883 Mr. Rees disposed of his property in Ohio and came as a pioneer to what is now the state of South Dakota. Locating in Edmunds county, he entered claim to the southwest quarter of section 15, Powell township. He secured pre-emption and tree claims at this time and later a homestead, the three tracts constituting one body, and by hauling lumber and supplies from Aberdeen, thirty-five miles distant, was able to erect a good house and establish a comfortable home, his provisions in this line being far better than those of the average pioneers of the section and period. At that time no other buildings were to be seen from his home, and to the east of his place there were but a few shanties to indicate the claims of the new settlers. Mr. Rees is now the owner of a finely improved landed estate of four hundred and eighty acres, and also leases additional land, having control of and cultivating all of section 15, Powell township. From the early days Mr. Rees has been a prominent figure in local affairs of a public nature, and he was one of the first to be elected justice of the peace in the county, while in 1898 he was given a distinctive token of popular esteem in being elected to represent his district in the state legislature, while his fidelity and able service in the capacity gained to him unqualified commendation on the part of his constituency. He is a staunch supporter of the Republican party, having voted for Abraham Lincoln and having never since wavered in his fealty to the "grand old party." He has served many times as a member of the Republican central committee of Edmunds county and has rendered effective aid in the various campaigns in the county. In 1863 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Rees to Miss Mary A. Thomas, a daughter of John W. Thomas, of Talmage, Ohio, in which state she was born and reared. Of their children we enter the following brief record: William is engaged in the grain business at Ipswich, the county seat of Edmunds county; Frank is engaged in the general merchandise business in that place; Arthur; George, and Hattie. Ida and Edith remain at the parental home.