Albertis E. Parmenter Biography This biography appears on pages 510-513 in "History of Dakota Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://usgwarchives.org/sd/sdfiles.htm ALBERTIS E. PARMENTER Albertis E. Parmenter, commonly known as "Bert " is now engaged in the abstract business in Scotland, South Dakota. He was a pioneer miller of Hutchinson county and was connected with that business until 1900. He was born in Erie county, New York, April 28, 1851, a son of Stillman and Catherine (Van Camp) Parmenter, likewise natives of the Empire` state. The father was descended from one of the old Dutch families that early settled in the Mohawk valley. Bert Parmenter remained at home until he reached the age of eighteen years and then went to Springville, on Cattaraugus creek, which forms the southern boundary of his native county, and for five years applied himself to learning the miller's trade. At the end of that time he left New York and came west. He arrived in Dakota in 1874, reaching Yankton on Saturday, June 13th of that year. He anticipated the development of the great northwest into one of the most important grain-producing regions of the world and was looking for a suitable site for a grist mill. The week following his arrival in Yankton he traveled up the Jim river and selected a site in the southern part of Hutchinson county, where he built a dam and erected the first mill between Yankton and the mountains. It was a small affair having only two run of burrs, but it was sufficient for the time. It was completed in the fall of 1875 and was used to grind the crop of that year. It subsequently became too small and a new structure was erected in 1885 that was much larger. The roller process was adopted and the capacity increased to one hundred and twenty-five barrels per day. The business was later incorporated as the Maxwell & Parmenter Millings Company, Mr. Permenter's partner being his brother-in-law. In 1893 Mr. Parmenter bought out Mr. Maxwell and conducted the business as the A. E Parmenter Mill until he sold it to the Mennonites on the 1st of April, 1900. In 1883 Mr. Parmenter moved into Scotland and has since resided in the same house. On the 12th of January, 1901, he entered upon his duties as registrar of deeds for Bon Homme county and at the same time took up the abstract business, in which he has continued to the present time. He has an excellent set of abstract books and prepares most of the abstracts made in the county. Mr. Parmenter was married in Yankton, on the 2d of September, 18.79, to Miss Annie C. Maxwell who came to this state with her parents from Dubuque, Iowa. Her father, John Maxwell was a native of Montreal, Canada, while her mother, who bore the maiden name of Susan C. Languedoc, was a native of Quebec. The three surviving children of Mr. and Mrs. Parmenter are: John C., who married Miss Frances Walker and is manager of the Farmer's Elevator and agent for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway at Blaha, this state; Eugenia, the wife of J. L. Meighen, judge of the county court of Bon Homme county; and Donald C., who was graduated from the Scotland high school with the class of 1915. Mr. Parmenter achieved success as a miller but he had to endure many of the hardships of pioneer life. The spring floods of 1881, coming at the close of the "winter of the deep snow." were unusually high and did much damage to the mill. The floating fee formed a gorge below Yankton and the high waters overflowed for many miles up stream. Jim river received its share and the waters backed up so that for twenty-foul hours the em rent ran up stream from the top of the eight foot dam. Later when the deep drifts of the Jim River valley melted in a warm spring sun a flood swept down upon the mill and carried away the flume, the wheelhouse and the wheel, depositing them six miles down stream. Anticipating the rising waters, Mr. Parmenter had removed all flour and wheat from the mill to a safe place and thus minimized his loss. In the fall of 1878 a prairie fire swept through the valley and burned stacks of wheat and hay in the mill yard and the mill itself was saved only by great effort. Mr. Parmenter's first experience with a real South Dakota blizzard was on January 12, 1888, one of the memorable days in the history of the state. His brother-in-law, who had been longer on the plains, had often spoken of them but Mr. Parmenter rather fancied that they were but myths. This morning his brother-in- law remarked as the two walked down to the office that it was typical blizzard weather, although it was a warm sunny day. They had been in the office but a few minutes when their vision was limited to the glass of the windows and their hands were invisible at arm's length. The blizzard was on in earnest and it was with great difficulty that they were able to grope their way back to the house at nightfall. Mr. Parmenter is a democrat in politics and has taken an active part in public affairs. Fraternally he belongs to the blue lodge and chapter of the Masonic order at Scotland. He has witnessed the great development of the state from the time that it was an unbroken prairie to the present when it is a highly developed agricultural region dotted with thriving villages, towns and cities. His reminiscences cover nearly the entire period of the existence of the state and territory and his accounts of the early days are of great value in enabling the younger generation to realize to some extent the lives which their fathers dived in South Dakota in its pioneer epoch. Not only has he been an interested observer of the growth and development of the state but he has aided materially therein.