Rev. Joseph B. Varnum Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1798-1799 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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	REV. JOSEPH B. VARNUM was born in the village of Berlin, province 
of Ontario, Canada, on the 19th of May, 1830, his parents at the time 
being citizens of the United States, and he passed his youthful years in 
the state of Michigan, completing his education in Albion College, at 
Albion, that state, the same being one of the leading institutions of 
the Methodist Episcopal church in the western division of our country. 
He became a member of this church in 1849, prosecuted a thorough 
theological course and was ordained to the ministry in 1854. He 
continued in the work of his noble calling until the outbreak of the war 
of the Rebellion, when he signalized his patriotism by tendering his 
services in the defense of the Union, enlisting as a private in a 
regiment of Michigan volunteers and continuing in service until the 
close of the war, having been wounded in the engagement at Petersburg, 
Virginia, while his record was that of a faithful and loyal soldier. 
After the war he resumed his ministerial labors, in which he continued 
until his removal to what is now the state of South Dakota, while during 
the greater portion of the time he held pastoral charges in Michigan. 
His life was gentle, and kindly: he was tolerant in his judgment, 
understanding the wellsprings of human thought and action, and his was 
the faith which makes faithful and which is ever a source of inspiration 
to others. The following paragraph, quoted from a previously published 
article, is well worthy of reproduction in this connection:

	"While in South Dakota Mr. Varnum sustained a superannuated 
relation with the church, but his influence and pious example had much 
to do with building up and strengthening the cause. His character was 
marked by a staunch integrity of purpose, strong will, optimistic hope, 
intense patriotism and unswerving devotion to his God."

	In 1884 Mr. Varnum came with his family to South Dakota and took 
up government land in the immediate proximity of the present village of 
Gale, Campbell county, where he eventually developed a fine farm, being 
the owner of three hundred and twenty acres at the time of his death. He 
was a man of influence in the community and his aid was ever given in 
support of all measures for the advancement of the general weal, his 
influence being felt in the civic, moral, educational and political 
affairs of his section. In politics he gave an unqualified allegiance to 
the Republican party, and he has the distinction of representing 
Campbell county in the first state legislature, in 1889. His death 
occurred on the 26th of May, 1896, and he "rests from his labors," while 
his name is venerated by all who knew him.

	On the 8th of November, 1856, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. 
Varnum to Miss Maroa E. Vibbert, who was born in Chittenango, Madison 
county, New York, on the 3d of March, 1835, and she survives him, as do 
their three children, namely: Olin B., Wewoka, Indiana, engaged in the 
general mercantile business; Lelia, teacher in the Herreid school; 
Wilbur E., general manager of the Herreid Milling Company, Herreid. 
Nettie died at Gale, South Dakota, May 18, 1899. 

	Hon. Wilbur F. Varnum, the third child of the honored subject of 
this memoir, was born in Rochester, Oakland county, Michigan, on the 
27th of May, 1868, and he received his early educational discipline in 
the public schools of his native state, being sixteen years of age at 
the time of the family removal to South Dakota, where he was reared to 
manhood on the old homestead farm, to whose development and improvement 
he contributed his quota, proving a capable coadjutor to his father. On 
the 20th of July, 1895, he engaged in the general merchandise business 
at Gale, in the meanwhile continuing to superintend the home farm of 
eight hundred acres, where he carried on general farming and stock 
growing up to the time of his removal to Herreid. He built up a very 
prosperous business in Gale and there continued operations until 1900, 
when he disposed of his business there and removed to the newly founded 
town of Herreid, where he became one of the organizers and principal 
stockholders of the Herreid Milling Company, of which he has since been 
general manager. The company has a fine mill, equipped with the latest 
improved machinery and having a capacity for the output of one hundred 
barrels of flour a day. The enterprise has been most successful and is 
one of the leading business industries of this section of the state, 
while the facilities afforded are greatly appreciated throughout the 
wide territory tributary to the thriving village in which the mill is 
located. Mr. Varnum is a stalwart advocate of the principles and 
policies of the Republican party, and in 1896 he was elected to 
represent Campbell county in the state legislature, making an excellent 
record and being chosen as his own successor in 1898, while in 1900 
still higher honors were accorded him, in his election to the state 
senate, as representative of the thirty-seventh senatorial district, 
comprising the counties of Campbell and McPherson. He and his wife are 
prominent and zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and 
fraternally he is identified with the Ancient Order of United Workmen.

	On the 21st of October, 1895, Mr. Varnum was united in marriage to 
Miss Eliza Pollock, who was born in Kansas, and who is a daughter of 
Robert Y. Pollock, one of the prominent and influential pioneers of 
Campbell county, South Dakota, where the town of Pollock was named in 
his honor. Mr. and Mrs. Varnum have three children, Joseph Emerson, 
Robert Dewey and Evelyn.