William Francis Teeman Bushnell Biography


	This biography appears on pages 591-594 in "History of Dakota Territory" 
	by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				WILLIAM FRANCIS TEEMAN BUSHNELL. 

	That which we hoard and cherish above all else are the priceless 
gems of memory. The remembrance of a noble life with its high purposes, 
its honorable activity, its noble deeds, its kindliness and its love is 
the most precious and sacred thing in the world. The record of William 
Francis Teeman Bushnell was so regarded by all who knew him. His home 
was in Aberdeen, South Dakota, but he was a man of the nation in that 
he reached out through his chosen life work and his sympathy to all 
mankind. In art circles through his music, in business through his 
activity in journalism, in public affairs through his endorsement of 
and cooperation with all movements for civic betterment he was a 
prominent figure and though his life record was brought to a close ere 
it had spanned forty-three years, it remains today as a source of 
encouragement and inspiration to all who knew him. Born in Peru, 
Illinois, December 3, 1857, he was the ninth in order of birth in a 
family of ten children. The father, William Francis Bushnell, was a 
government contractor, who became one of the pioneer residents of 
Illinois. Removing with his family to Evanston, that state, in the 
early '70s, he executed government contracts for the building of 
lighthouses and life-saving stations on the Great Lakes. 

	The home training of William F. T. Bushnell constituted a wise 
preparation for the duties, responsibilities and obligations of later 
life. He was yet a boy when something of the real value of money came 
to him through his experience as an employee in a printing office in 
Mendota, Illinois. He also early came to realize the worth of education 
and eagerly availed himself of the opportunity of spending two years as 
a student in Northwestern University during the residence of the family 
at Evanston. He was only about sixteen or seventeen years of age when 
he took charge of workmen in his father's employ, devoting three years 
to that service. 

	Ambitious to engage in business on his own account, he turned to 
the art of music as an avenue toward that end. Nature endowed him with 
musical talent which he had cultivated by improving every opportunity. 
After leaving his father's employ he began teaching music, composing 
and publishing his compositions and giving concerts through Illinois 
and Iowa and later in Dakota. He was always a factor in promoting 
musical taste and love of the art in every section which he visited, 
yet he did not make this his life work, for on going to Huron, South 
Dakota, in 1883, he again became connected with the trade which he had 
learned in boyhood--that of printing. The Dakota Farmer, published at 
Huron, was a struggling journal and during his second year spent at 
Huron he associated himself with Augustin Davis in the purchase and 
conduct of the paper. In 1885 he purchased his partner's interest and 
remained thereafter sole proprietor until the organization of the W. F. 
T. Bushnell Publishing Company. 

	While residing in Huron Mr. Bushnell was married on the 2d of 
June, 1886, to Miss Blanche Van Pelt, a daughter of George T. Van Pelt 
of Indiana, and they became the parents of two sons and a daughter; 
Paul N., Frederick W. and Helen, the sons being now active in the 
management of their own business interests. 

	Following his marriage Mr. Bushnell continued to reside in Huron 
until 1893, when he came to Aberdeen and thereafter continued the 
publication of the Dakota Farmer in the latter city. His efficient 
management was at once manifest. He made his paper the leading farm 
journal of the Dakotas and his plant one of the best publishing 
properties in the west. About 1899 Mr. Bushnell was joined in a 
partnership by N. E. Carnine of Brookings, South Dakota, and they 
purchased and removed into a new block with a new plant and were 
settled in their commodious quarters when Mr. Bushnell's life of 
untiring energy was brought to its close. Concerning his business 
career his intimate friend and associate in journalism, Hon. M. F. 
Greeley of Gary, South Dakota, wrote: 

	"In all his dealings Mr. Bushnell was the soul of honor. For 
nearly seventeen years the writer knew him and his work intimately. We 
recall more than once seeing cheeks returned, sometimes for large 
amounts, and when money was sorely needed, simply because the 
advertisements accompanying them were not what Mr. Bushnell thought 
they ought to be. We remember one instance of this kind in particular, 
for the reason, perhaps, that at the time the very existence of the 
paper seemed hanging in the balance. The season had been one of the 
worst Dakota has known; money had stopped coming in almost wholly, and 
bills were accumulating and the last available dollar was needed in 
more places than one. Among the few letters that morning was one 
containing a cheek for nearly two hundred dollars from a commission 
house of doubtful standing. Without a moment's hesitation, this man of 
iron and honor thrust the cheek back into the letter, hastily wrote a 
line across it, and remailed it to the senders. When we remonstrated 
gently, saying that the firm was admitted to some of the best farm 
papers, the reply came as quickly as the check went: 'Though my paper 
goes down, and I have to work as a farm hand to feed my wife and 
children, not a thing shall go into its columns with my knowledge that 
can by any possibility mislead a single reader.'" 

	As stated, Mr. Bushnell made the Dakota Farmer one of the most 
successful farm journals of the country. He also organized the Dakota 
Cereal Company and remained at its head until his demise. 

	The measure of his influence it is almost impossible to 
determine, for his activities were exerted along many lines, being at 
all times actuated by the spirit of progress and permeated by the 
spirit of broad humanitarianism and of Christianity. He never deviated 
from the highest principles of honor in his business affairs and he 
eagerly embraced the opportunities that would enable him to help his 
fellowmen. He was greatly interested in methods for developing the 
agricultural possibilities of the state; was secretary of the State 
Agricultural Association, of the Sheep Breeders' Association, of the 
first board of agriculture of Dakota territory and also of the state 
board of agriculture. When the question of Dakota's admission to the 
union as a state was foremost, he practically turned over his business 
interests to others and entered strenuously into the effort, not only 
to secure Dakota's admission, but to secure its admission under 
prohibition laws--a result that was accomplished. He was a believer in 
republican principles but never allowed partisanship to interfere with 
the right. Fraternally he was connected with the Masons and with the 
Odd Fellows. For many years he was a most active, earnest worker in 
behalf of the Methodist church, but his religion transcended 
denominational lines, reaching above into the higher realms of pure and 
undefiled Christianity. He organized and was superintendent of the 
First Union Sunday school at Huron and when the Methodist Sunday school 
was organized he became its superintendent and so continued throughout 
the period of his residence in Huron. He did not believe Christianity 
was a thing apart from daily life. He felt it had to do with every duty 
and with every relation and in religious work his interest and energy 
were conspicuously displayed. Death came to him at Colorado Springs, 
whither he had gone to attend the National Convention of Farmers, and 
there he passed away August 25, 1900. The summons was sudden but he was 
fully prepared, for his life record contained no neglected 
opportunities.

	In speaking of his death his pastor said: "As a man, I have lost 
a true hearted friend. As a citizen, I have lost a fellow citizen of 
especial merit. As a Christian, I have lost one of the most congenial 
co-workers with whom it has been my privilege to associate. Looking at 
his life as a man of business, we certainly can see an example at once 
wholesome and helpful to his fellows in the field. It is not simply the 
feet that he was successful as a man of business, but it is the method 
by which he became successful that challenges our scrutiny. Living as 
he did, in the early days of our state's development, amid the rush for 
riches by questionable processes, his heart, at least, was not overcome 
by the desire to build a fortune in hot haste. With but a meager outfit 
and with unpromising prospects, he entered on his work as journalist, 
and was content to struggle on with but slowly accumulating capital. 
When hampered by delays and halted by reverses, he did not weaken in 
his aims and efforts, but, untiring and undaunted, was quite willing to 
toil on to distant victory. The policy of such a course has received 
unqualified endorsement from the splendid business he succeeded in 
upbuilding, and which will stand, we trust, to teach the lesson that 
pains and patience are still rewarded in the business world. 

	"Another noticeable feature of Mr. Bushnell's life was the 
unusual interest that he took in the advancement of public morals. 
While at Huron and during the memorable struggle for prohibition in our 
constitution, he became secretary of the State Prohibition League, and, 
as such, he shouldered heroically the bulk of the burden of finding the 
means and the men for conducting the campaign. This interest in public 
morals was no fitful outburst of superficial enthusiasm, but was 
grounded deep in a heart that loved the right and loathed the wrong; 
hence, when movements were inaugurated from time to time, for the moral 
betterment of society, his heart and hands were ever ready to render 
aid. Surely, surely as he reviews these movements in the light of 
Heaven's morals, he will have no occasion whatever to regret his 
interest in the cause of civic righteousness. 

	"Along another and a higher plane, however, was the noblest 
effort of his life directed blest from birth with Christian parents, he 
early followed in their footsteps, uniting with the Methodist church to 
which they belonged, and in this church relationship he continued 
throughout life. It seemed settled from the start that he was to be an 
active Christian. For about twelve years he served as superintendent of 
the Sabbath school and at different times has done most acceptable work 
as leader of chorus choirs. In this latter capacity he was serving when 
first I knew him. My first sight of him, as I remember, was in 
connection with the union revival meetings of 1894. On coming to this 
city in that year I found the Grain Palace filled nightly with 
interested audiences; on the platform a large chorus choir had been 
gathered, and before them stood as leader, with consecrated talent, 
this beloved brother who will lead us in our songs no more. Later in 
that year, when the 'Union Revival Band' visited Bath, I remember 
seeing our brother riding thither upon his wheel to assist us in that 
work." 

	His pastor, continuing, said: "His interest in Christian work, 
however, was not limited to movements in his city or his country; but 
his heart went out as well to movements for the redemption of the 
world. In this connection I trust it will not be considered an 
intrusion into private matters if I state what is not generally known, 
namely, that for some time our brother has been supporting a school in 
China and that recently, in view of an increasing income, he expressed 
the purpose to undertake the support of two schools among China's dying 
millions." 

	Dr. J. Frank Stout, presiding elder of the Winona district of 
Minnesota, said of Mr. Bushnell: "I have known him since his boyhood 
and have loved him. He was every inch a man, and held his place among 
men in such a stalwart way that he was honored wherever he was known. 
There is no place where the real man is revealed as in his home and 
among his brothers and sisters. Around the hearthstone no masks are 
worn and pretenses are impossible. It is in such relations I have known 
him best, and because of this feet I can testify to the inborn and 
ingrown loyalty of his manhood. That which was most connspicuous in him 
was the consistency of his affection for those he loved. It was a love 
which proclaimed itself in helpful deeds untarnished by selfish 
complainings. He was affectionate, without being demonstrative; 
generous without ostentation; helpful without any evidence of a 
patronizing spirit; stalwart in his convictions; and in all his 
relations, above all, Christian. 

	"His home was his delight; his wife was the joy of his heart; his 
children were the objects of his tenderest affection and painstaking 
care, and his friends were loyally enshrined in his heart which was 
large enough for all." 

	The president of the Aberdeen Choral Union, S. W. Narregang, 
writing of Mr. Bushnell, said: "He was a man that could adapt himself 
to all conditions and circumstances. He was capable and useful in every 
walk of life, and successful in all he undertook. There are but few men 
that can succeed at even one line of work--while with him he was not 
only successful from a business standpoint, but he was blessed with a 
nature so genial, so broad, so sympathetic, that his very presence gave 
courage, strength and happiness wherever he went. He was a man of broad 
views, keen perceptions and generous impulses. He loved his friends, 
and no sacrifice was too great when their welfare was jeopardized. It 
was my good fortune to be intimately acquainted with Mr. Bushnell for 
over ten years; he was ever a trusted friend, a genial companion and a 
brilliant entertainer." 

	Still another wrote of him as, "So bright, so cheery, so tactful, 
so patient and so full of wise and successful expedient. Full of work, 
growing out of his editorial relations and his high conceptions of the 
duties of citizenship, which caused him to be a warm advocate of the 
cause of prohibition, he still found time for the faithful discharge of 
his duties to God and the church."