George D. Rockwell Biography


	This biography appears on pages 932-934 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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	GEORGE D. ROCKWELL is the owner of fourteen hundred acres of 
valuable land in Moody county, and passes a portion of each year in the 
active supervision of the same while he maintains his home in Rockwell, 
Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, which place was named in his honor, as he was 
one of the founders and builders of the town and is today one of its 
most prominent and influential pioneer citizens. He is a representative 
of staunch old colonial stock, in both the paternal and maternal lines, 
and is himself a native of the old Empire state of the Union, having 
been born in West Milton, Saratoga county, New York, on the 6th of 
December, 1828, and being a son of David J. and Ruth (Keeler) Rockwell, 
both families being of English Puritan descent. The original American 
ancestor in the agnatic line was John Rockwell, who was a resident of 
Stamford, Connecticut. in 1641, and on the maternal side the lineage is 
traced back to Ralph Keeler, whom the records show to have been a 
resident of Hartford Connecticut, in 1639. The father of the subject 
was born in Bethel, Fairfield county, that state, while his wife was a 
native of Saratoga county. New York, and they passed the greater 
portion of their lives in the state of New York, where Mr. Rockwell 
gained success in connection with the great basic industry of 
agriculture. He was a man of broad information and liberal views and 
both he and his wife were zealous and devoted members of the Methodist 
Episcopal church, in whose work they were specially active for many 
years, the father having for a long period been a class leader in the 
church. He was originally a Democrat in politics, later espoused the 
cause of the Whig party, to which he gave allegiance until the 
organization of the Republican party, to whose cause he ever afterward 
gave his support. He died in Akron, New York, in 1874, at the age of 
seventy-one years, and his devoted wife was summoned into eternal rest 
in 1842, at the age of thirty-six years. They became the parents of 
seven children, of whom three are living.  

	The subject of this sketch grew to maturity on the homestead 
farm, and received an academic education in his native state, while as 
a young man he was a successful teacher for several terms, and later 
found his services in requisition as a teacher in Rockwell, Iowa, 
working on the farm during the intervening summer months. He continued 
to reside in the state of New York until 1853, when he came to the west 
and located in Kane county, Illinois, where he became the owner of a 
good farm and wielded no slight influence in public affairs of a local 
nature, having been a member of the board of supervisors of the county 
for two years, prior to and during the war of the Rebellion. He 
identified himself with the Republican party at the time of its 
formation and continued to support the same until within the last 
decade, having been during this interval an advocate of the cause of 
the Prohibition party and having consistently voted its ticket. He 
continued to reside in Illinois until 1864, when he disposed of his 
interests there and removed to Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, being one of 
the early settlers in that section, and having been specially active in 
the work of securing the extension of the Iowa Central Railroad through 
the country, and in the upbuilding of the now thriving and attractive 
village of Rockwell, which was named in his honor and in recognition of 
his services in the connection noted, as well as in other lines of 
public enterprise and progressiveness. He was for many years actively 
identified with farming in Cerro Gordo county, where he still owns 
valuable property in Rockwell. In 1877 Mr. Rockwell met with a 
seemingly slight accident, which finally necessitated the amputation of 
his left arm above the elbow. He received a slight wound from a thorn, 
which penetrated his hand, and the resulting blood-poisoning rendered 
the operation necessary. In 1877 he engaged in the raising of 
thoroughbred shorthorn cattle, to which he devoted his attention for 
twelve years, carrying on an extensive business and meeting with marked 
success in the enterprise. In 1891 Mr. Rockwell made his first 
investment in lands in South Dakota, and he now owns fourteen hundred 
acres in Moody county, as previously stated. In the supervision of his 
interests here he passes about half of his time each year in the 
county, making his headquarters in Flandreau, the county seat. All of 
his land is under cultivation, and yields good returns. He rents about 
one half of the land, while the remainder is cultivated under his 
direction, by hired workmen. In 1903 eight hundred acres of crops on 
his land here were destroyed by hail. In addition to his own 
properties, he also has charge of a ranch of three hundred and thirty 
acres, in this county, which is owned by his son-in-law, William F. 
McClelland. Mr. Rockwell is a man of most correct and abstemious 
habits, and is hale and vigorous in mind and body, though he is now 
nearing the age of four score years He has never used tobacco or 
intoxicating liquors in any form, and is specially active as a 
temperance worker. He and his wife are prominent and valued members of 
the Congregational church at Rockwell, Iowa, and he has been a deacon 
in the same for the past twenty years.  

	On the 31st of August, 1853, in Newstead, Erie county, New York, 
was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Rockwell to Miss Elizabeth P. 
Jackson, who was born and reared in that state, being a daughter of 
William and Mary Ann (Havens) Jackson, the former of whom was a tanner 
and currier by vocation, while he was also a successful farmer, both he 
and his wife passing their lives in New York state. Of the children of 
the subject and his estimable wife we are able to enter the following 
brief information: Mary E. is the wife of John A. Felthouse, who is 
president of the Minnesota Farm Land Company, of St. Paul; Julia R. 
became the wife of Albert A. Moore, who is now a grain dealer at 
Hampton, Iowa, where she died on the 14th of September, 1888; Grace is 
the wife of William F. McClelland, who is a prominent business man of 
Rockwell, Iowa.