Elijah Saunders Buzzell Biography


	This biography appears on pages 50-51 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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			ELIJAH SAUNDERS BUZZELL.  

	Elijah Saunders Buzzell, a retired agriculturist now living in 
Sioux Falls, has been a resident of South Dakota for more than four 
decades and was long and actively identified with farming interests, 
owning and operating a quarter section of land in Red Rock township 
Minnehaha county. His birth occurred in Parsonsfield, Maine, on the 
28th of June, 1828, his parents being William and Olive Buzzell, both 
of whom passed away in Maine. The father was a painter by trade.  

	Elijah S. Buzzell acquired his education in the public schools of 
Maine and after putting aside his textbooks learned the trades of a 
painter and paper-hanger, in which he was successfully engaged for more 
than fifty years. In 1862 he enlisted for service in the Civil war as a 
member of Company K, Twenty-seventh Regiment of Maine Volunteers' doing 
duty on the hospital staff for nine months near Washington, D. C. Ten 
years later, in 1872, he came to South Dakota, preempting one hundred 
and sixty acres of land in Red Rock township, Minnehaha county. He 
experienced the many hardships of life in a pioneer region and lost all 
during the grasshopper plague in 1874. He persevered, however, and his 
efforts were eventually rewarded by the possession of a valuable and 
productive farming property which brought him a gratifying annual 
income. This farm is still in possession of the family and was his home 
until 1913, when he removed to Sioux Falls. His is the only family of 
original pioneers who still own land preempted in the locality, all the 
others having sold their property and moved elsewhere.  

	In 1852 Mr. Buzzell was united in marriage to Miss Olive June 
Peary, a sister of Lieutenant Peary, who was the father of the man who 
discovered the North Pole. By this union were born the following 
children: Frank W.; Royal P.; George, deceased; Sarah E., the wife of 
W. B. Riley, of Valley Springs; Nellie A., deceased; Charles and 
Hortense E., both on the home farm; Mabel G., who has passed away; and 
John C., also on the home farm. The wife and mother, who was a 
consistent member of the Free Baptist church, died in 1902.  

	On the 6th of September, 1913, at Sioux Falls, Mr. Buzzell was 
married in the First Methodist Episcopal church by Rev. J. W. Potter to 
Mrs. Charlotte E. Booth, the widow of Charles Vasser Booth and a 
daughter of Ezra P. and Louisa C. (Clough) Kinney. She is a native of 
New York state and since coming to South Dakota in 1873 has been a 
resident of Sioux Falls, being one of the pioneer women of this 
section. She was first married October 21, 1875, becoming the wife of 
Charles V. Booth, who came to this locality in 1871. He was a carpenter 
and  pioneer undertaker of Sioux Falls and was injured in an automobile 
accident, dying about two  weeks later, on the 13th of April, 1911. 
Mrs. Buzzell is now the only original member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church still living in Sioux Falls and for many years was quite active 
in its work. Mr. Booth was also an ardent member of that denomination 
and class leader for a number of years. Mr. and Mrs. Buzzell now make 
their home at No. 1513 South Duluth street, Sioux Falls, and have a 
host of friends there.  

	In politics Mr. Buzzell has always supported the men and measures 
of the republican party. His religious faith is indicated by his 
membership in the Free Baptist church and he also belongs to the 
Knights of Pythias fraternity and Joe Hooker Post, No 10, G. A. R., of 
Sioux Falls. He has now passed the eighty-seventh milestone on life's 
journey but is still active in mind and body and conversant with the 
questions and issues of the day, interesting himself in the work of 
progress, improvement and upbuilding. The salient qualities of his life 
have ever commended him to the confidence, goodwill and friendship of 
those with whom he has come in contact.