S. P. Waxdahl Biography


	This biography appears on page 754 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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	S. P. WAXDAHL was born in Norway, in 1847, being a son of Peter 
and Bertina (Siverson) Waxdahl, both of whom passed their entire lives 
in Norway, where the father devoted his active life to agricultural 
pursuits. This worthy couple became the parents of seven children, of 
whom six are living, while the subject is the only representative of 
the family in South Dakota. S. P. Waxdahl was reared and educated in 
his native land and there continued to be identified with the tilling 
of the soil until he had attained the age of twenty years. He sailed 
from Norway on the Mediterranean and Black seas from 1866 to 1869. In 
1869 he severed the home ties and set forth to seek his fortune in 
America, his financial resources being very limited, while he had no 
influential friends in the country to which he thus came as a veritable 
stranger in a strange land. He made his first permanent location in the 
state of Wisconsin, and his early labors were in connection with 
farming and work as a sailor on Lake Michigan. In 1875 be went to 
California and for the following three years was employed on various 
vessels plying out of the port of San Francisco. He then returned to 
Wisconsin, where he remained for a short time, and then came, in 1877, 
to what is now the state of South Dakota and took up a tract of wild 
prairie land in Moody county, the place being located eight miles from 
the thriving little city of Flandreau, of which scarcely the nucleus 
was to be seen at the time when he came here. He still retains his 
original homestead, which he secured from the government, and the same 
bears little resemblance to the virgin prairie represented at the time 
when he secured possession of the property. Mr. Waxdahl has put forth 
the most strenuous effort in the improvement and cultivation of his 
farm and the same is now one of the attractive and valuable places of 
this favored section of the state. He devotes his attention to 
diversified farming and stock raising and is recognized as one of the 
upright and industrious citizens of the county, where he has the confidence 
and regard of all who know him. In politics he is a staunch supporter of 
the Republican party, and though he has  never sought public office he 
has shown a deep interest in the welfare of his chosen state and has 
lent a helpful influence in worthy enterprises for the good of the 
community. He is now serving his second term as school director of his 
district. He and his wife are worthy and consistent members of the 
Lutheran church.  

	On the 31st of January, 1880, Mr. Waxdahl married Miss Regina 
Anderson, of this county, and they have six children, namely: Regina, 
Bertina, Albert, Edward P., Ingvald and Sophia.