Boetious H. Sullivan Biography


	This biography appears on page 1605 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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	BOETIOUS H. SULLIVAN, one of the influential citizens of 
Plankinton, Aurora county, maintaining his residence in the attractive 
village of Plankinton, was born in Harvard, McHenry county, Illinois, on 
the 23d of August, 1859, and is a son of Eugene and Mary (Sullivan) 
Sullivan, to whom were born nine children. The parents were born in 
County Kerry, Ireland, whence the father emigrated to the United States 
when sixteen years of age, settling in Illinois, where he became a 
successful merchant, there continuing in business until his death, at 
the age of forty-six years. He was city collector for several years and 
was a man who commanded unqualified esteem in his home community. His 
wife came to America as a girl of fourteen years, and joined her 
brother, who had previously taken up his abode in Illinois. She died in 
1893, at the age of fifty-two years. 

	The subject of this review received an academic education in 
Belvidere, Illinois, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and in the spring of 1880 
he came to the territory of Dakota, remaining for a few months in Huron 
and passing the winter of 1880-81 in Sioux Falls, while in the following 
spring he took up his residence in Plankinton, where he has since 
maintained his home. Prior to coming to the west he had read law under 
the preceptorship of Judge Charles E. Fuller, of Belvidere, Illinois, 
and in the spring of 1881, at Canton, he was admitted to the bar of the 
territory of Dakota. He established himself in the practice of his 
profession in Plankinton, and in the intervening years has become one of 
the successful and prominent attorneys of the state, while he has also 
conducted a large business in the handling of real estate. In 1881 he 
was appointed clerk of the courts of Aurora county, holding the office 
for six years, and in 1886 he was elected to represent his district in 
the territorial legislature, while in 1888 he was a delegate to the 
Republican national convention, in Chicago, which nominated Harrison for 
the presidency. In the following year he was appointed surveyor general 
of the territory of Dakota, to succeed General Maris Taylor, and upon 
the division of the territory and the admission of South Dakota to the 
Union he was reappointed as surveyor general of the new state, serving 
in this capacity for a total of five years. He is the owner of about 
four thousand acres of valuable land in Aurora county, and is 
prominently identified with agricultural pursuits and stock growing, 
while his residence in Plankinton is one of the handsomest of the many 
attractive homes in the town. He is a stalwart advocate of the 
principles of the Republican party and both he and his wife are 
communicants of the Catholic church. Mr. Sullivan is a member of Aurora 
Lodge, No. 32, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; Sioux Falls Lodge, No. 
262, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; Plankinton Camp, No. 5558, 
Modern Woodmen of America; and Plankinton Lodge, No. 77, Ancient Order 
of United Workmen. 

	On the 30th of November, 1882, Mr. Sullivan was united in marriage 
to Miss Mary H. Comerford, of Chamberlain, this state, she being a 
native of Morris, Illinois, and they have one daughter, Clare.