William T. Van Osdel Biography


	This biography appears on pages 906-907 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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	WILLIAM T. VAN OSDEL is a native of Indiana, his birth having 
occurred in Madison county on the 1st of March, 1847. His parents, 
Abraham and Mary (Taylor) Van Osdel, were natives of Kentucky and the 
father was a skilled physician who practiced medicine successfully in 
Indiana, Minnesota, South Dakota and Kansas, his death occurring in the 
last named state. The subject of this review accompanied his parents on 
their removal to Faribault, Minnesota, where he attended the public 
schools until he was sixteen years of age. Although but a boy, he then 
entered the Union army, becoming a member of Company B, South Dakota 
Volunteers, under command of Captain William Tripp, a brother of 
Bartlett Tripp. For three years he remained in the army, faithful to 
the old flag and the cause it represented, and was about twenty years 
of age when honorably discharged. For a number of years thereafter he 
engaged in farming and later turned his attention to freighting, in 
which business he continued until the advent of railroads. He 
accumulated considerable money in that way and when he ceased to follow 
that pursuit he entered from the government a claim of a quarter 
section of land and also a timber claim. He then turned his attention 
to the stock-raising business, in which he has since continued with 
splendid success. He is regarded as one of the best judges of stock in 
this state and his knowledge has enabled him to make judicious 
purchases and profitable sales until he has become a wealthy man. He is 
now the owner of four hundred acres of land which he farms and the 
products which he raises he feeds to his stock. His business is carried 
on extensively and his opinions are regarded as authority in his 
special line. For the past fifteen or more years Mr. Van Osdel has been 
largely engaged in buying and shipping live stock. In connection with 
shipping from this point, he is president of a commission house in 
Sioux City, Iowa.  

	In 1871 Mr. Van Osdel was united in marriage to Miss Permelia 
Morey, of New York, and they have become the parents of two daughters: 
Cora and Lura, aged respectively twenty-four and twenty-two years. Both 
attend the public schools and were graduated in the high school of 
Yankton. Cora is now the wife of B. E. Pickett, a member of the firm of 
Grant & Pickett, proprietors of the marble works in Yankton. Lura is 
the wife of Frank Frick, a well-known farmer and stock raiser of this 
county.