Alexander A. Shoemaker Biography


	This biography appears on pages 798-800 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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	ALEXANDER A. SHOEMAKER was born in Keokuk, Iowa, on the 18th of 
June, 1849, being a son of Jesse and Henrietta (Hurley) Shoemaker, who 
removed to that state in 1842, becoming pioneers of Keokuk county, 
their nearest neighbors at the time being ten miles distant. In 1849, 
the ever memorable year of the great exodus of gold seekers to 
California, the father of the subject started with his family to cross 
the plains to the new Eldorado. The Indians were on the warpath and 
this fact, together with the condition of the mother of the subject, 
which was such that she was not able to continue the journey, caused 
them to stop at Council Bluffs and to return to their homestead. The 
maternal grandfather of the subject continued onward with the wagon 
train, however, and they finally reached California in safety, having 
had several skirmishes with the Indians while en route. Mr. Hurley 
remained in California about three years and was very successful in his 
mining operations. In 1857 Jesse Shoemaker removed with his family and 
located within a short distance of the present city of Omaha. There he 
remained until 1865, when he moved up the Platte river to Fort Kearney, 
where he started a ranch and road house, the same becoming a stopping 
place and outfitting point for parties en route to Montana and other 
parts of the west. The emigrants were compelled to wait at this point 
until they had recruited a sufficient number to form a train and thus 
secure more effective protection from the Indians and border outlaws. 
Mr. Shoemaker there continued to reside until 1877, and he and his wife 
passed the closing years of their lives in Pennington county, South 
Dakota. 

	The subject of this sketch was reared on the frontier of 
civilization and accompanied his parents on their various removals. The 
conditions were such that his early educational advantages were very 
meager, but he has ably overcome this handicap by the lessons of 
experience and by personal application. Prior to 1877 he had many 
freighting trips, with ox teams, from Texas to Montana, Colorado and 
other points, and in that year he came to the Black Hills of Dakota, 
making the trip by the Kearney route and through the Sioux Indian 
reservation. In the party were twenty-five men, and their equipment 
comprised fifteen wagons in the train. They were stopped by the Indians 
a number of times but escaped serious difficulty, the wife of the 
subject being the only woman in the company. They reached Hayward, 
Pennington county, on the 4th of July, 1877, where they participated in 
the rousing celebration in honor of the day in the ragged little mining 
town. There the company divided, and Mr. Shoemaker and his wife 
proceeded to Rapid City, to which point and Deadwood he engaged in 
freighting from Fort Pierre during the summer, and from Sydney, 
Nebraska, in the winter, making the venture a success financially. The 
Indians attempted on several occasions to stampede his stock, but were 
not successful in their-efforts. At one time he and his partner, James 
Arbuckle, held off the hostile Indians for four hours, on Rapid creek, 
the same party of savages having killed an emigrant family at Bear 
Butte about two days prior to this. In 1880 Mr. Shoemaker removed to a 
ranch on Rapid creek, eight miles below Rapid City, and was there 
engaged in farming and stock raising until 1884. He then removed to 
Hermosa, Custer county, and there established himself in the livery 
business, while he also dealt in and raised horses, having a number of 
horses on the ranch, which he still retained in his possession. He was 
very successful in his efforts and continued in business at Hermosa 
until 1893, when he took up his residence on a ranch ninety miles 
distant from Fort Pierre, on the Bad river. There he gave his attention 
to the raising of horses and cattle, having an excellent supply of 
water and a good range, and he remained there until 1902, when he 
purchased a ranch, almost adjoining his former property, and has since 
made his home on the same, having a well improved place of three 
hundred and twenty acres and raising cattle and horses on an extensive 
scale. He has an average of about a thousand head of Hereford cattle on 
his range each season, while he is one of the leading horse raisers of 
this section, having some thoroughbred stock and raising standard-bred 
trotting horses and light driving horses, for which he finds a ready 
demand at excellent prices. In politics Mr. Shoemaker is a staunch 
Democrat, and while residing in Custer county he served as deputy 
sheriff, in which connection he met with a number of hazardous 
experiences. In 1889-90, during the outbreak of the Sioux at the time 
when Sitting Bull and Big Foot were killed, he served as a government 
scout, and also as lieutenant under Colonel Day, and when the Wounded 
Knee massacre took place he was engaged in scouting duty. Eighteen out 
of the company volunteered to go to the Bad Lands and discover how many 
Indians were in the camp, this being some three days prior to the 
battle. Mr. Shoemaker served as commander of this brave little band, 
under the title of lieutenant, and after they had approached to within 
ten miles of the camp the Indians discovered them and made an attempt 
to surround them, but the company managed to escape, falling back to 
the Cheyenne river, where the remainder of their company came to their 
support. They entrenched themselves in a log corral and gave battle to 
their wily foes, twenty-two Indians being killed, but none of the 
company being badly injured. They afterward had several other spirited 
encounters with the savages. In 1900 the subject was elected a member 
of the board of county commissioners, serving one term, and he has also 
been a member of the school board of his district. Fraternally, he is a 
Master Mason.  

	On the 18th of June, 1874, Mr. Shoemaker was united in marriage 
to Miss Anna Lawson, who was born and reared in Iowa, and of their 
children we enter the following brief record: F. A. is a successful 
young stock grower, his place being near the home ranch; H. W. is 
likewise engaged in the stock business on the Bad river; Jessie is the 
wife of H. J. Baird, of Wallace, North Dakota; and Kate and Leo remain 
at the parental home.