Albert Steele Biography

	This biography appears on pages 984-985 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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ALBERT STEELE, who holds the responsible and exacting position of 
day foreman of the great stamp mills of the Homestake Mining Company at 
Lead, is of Scottish extraction in the paternal line, though the name in 
the form of Stahl, has been identified with the annals of Norway since 
the fourteenth century, when the original representatives in the far 
Norseland immigrated thither from Scotland. The subject was horn in 
Trondhjem, Norway, on the 6th of April, 1838, being a son of Roald and 
Kjersten Olsen. After coming to the United States the subject reverted 
to the English spelling of the name and the one which was undoubtedly 
the original orthography in Scotland. His father passed his entire life 
in Norway, engaged in agricultural pursuits, and our subject was thus 
reared as a farmer lad. At the age of fifteen years he accompanied a. 
Lutheran clergyman to the northern part of Norway, where he passed four 
years, and he then penetrated still farther north, making three trips to 
Spitsbergen with Captain Carlson, whose stanch little vessel went forth 
for the hunting of walruses seals and polar bears. Later Mr. Steele made 
a trip in a brig to Hammerfest, the most northerly civilized town in the 
world, and thence returned with a load of fish to Gothenburg, Sweden, 
where the vessel was laden with lumber and proceeded to Hull, England, 
where our subject left the ship and went on a Russian brig, bound for 
Riga, Russia, and loaded with flaxseed for the market at Belfast, 
Ireland. The vessel was wrecked on the west coast of Scotland, and the 
members of the crew were picked up and brought into Glasgow, whence Mr. 
Steele shipped on the American vessel "Cornelia," of Portland, Maine, 
the same being bound for Brazil. When three weeks out from Glasgow the 
vessel was wrecked and went to the bottom of the sea, the crew and 
passengers taking to the boats and being picked up within twenty-four 
hours by a Welsh brig, and they were landed on Silly Island, whence Mr. 
Steele embarked on a steamboat for Penzance, Cornwall, England, thence 
to Red Ruth and finally to Falmouth, where he and his companions 
appealed to the American consul, who sent them on to Liverpool, via 
Dublin, where they were looked after by. the same consul. There the 
subject sailed finally on a ship named "Henry Brigham," bound for San 
Francisco, and the voyage was an exceedingly rough one, necessitating 
the throwing overboard of one hundred tons of the cargo, while the 
vessel was greatly disabled, but finally dropped anchor in San Francisco 
in September, 1861. The vessel was here seized by the government, as it 
was owned in the south, then in rebellion against the Union. After being 
identified with the coasting trade for one year Mr. Steele went on the 
stampede of gold-seekers to Alaska, but he immediately returned. to San 
Francisco, where he remained until 1864, when he came to Idaho, where he 
was engaged in quartz mining for the ensuing three years. He then 
returned to California where he followed the same vocation until 1878, 
when he set forth for the Black Hills, arriving in February. On the 2d 
of the following month he entered the employ of the Homestake Mining 
Company as a miner, and was soon afterward made foreman of the Highland 
mine, retaining this position two years, at the expiration of which the 
company gave further evidence of appreciation of his ability and 
fidelity by promoting him to the present office as foreman of the stamp 
mills, the capacity of the mills having been increased from three 
hundred and sixty to six hundred and forty stamps since he assumed his 
position as foreman. He has a pleasant home in Lead and is held in high 
esteem in the community. In politics Mr. Steele gives his support to the 
Republican party, and fraternally he is identified with the lodge, 
chapter and commandery of the Masonic order, and also with the auxiliary 
organization, the Order of the Eastern Star.  

In January, 1880, Mr. Steele was united in marriage to Miss 
Theresa Hienish, who was born in Germany, and who died in 1881, leaving 
one child, Theresa Marie, who is now a stenographer in the state 
auditor's office, at Lincoln, Nebraska. In February, 1884, Mr. Steele 
wedded Miss Mary Ann Leonard, who was born and reared in Pennsylvania, 
and they became the parents of six children, namely: Ellen, Caroline, 
Albert J., Agnes Catherine, John Leonard and Mary Cecelia. While out 
hunting September 5, 1903, Albert J. was accidentally shot by one of his 
companions and died a few hours later. He was a bright boy sixteen years 
old.