Julius Berkley Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1241-1242 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				JULIUS BERKLEY. 

	Julius Berkley, who carries on general farming in Volin, precinct 
of Yankton county, dates his residence in Dakota from the 9th of July, 
1880, and in the intervening period of thirty-five years he has won a 
substantial measure of success and also the goodwill and the high 
regard of many with whom he has been associated. He was born in 
Richland county, Wisconsin, May 28, 1855, but spent the greater part of 
his boyhood and youth in Grant county, that state. His parents were 
John J. and Lena (Larson) Berkley, natives of Norway. On removing to 
the west Mr. Berkley spent two years in southwestern Nebraska, where he 
homesteaded, proved up a claim and then sold. His dwelling was a sod 
house and he went through all of the experiences of pioneer life on the 
frontier. There were antelope in the district at the time and other 
kinds of wild game and wild animals. After coming to South Dakota Mr. 
Berkley lived at Gayville for four years and was employed in the store 
of Bagstad & Company. The family lived in this district at the time of 
the flood when all of the women and children of the household were 
taken to high ground. In addition to clerking in a store Mr. Berkley 
cooked in the hotel for the few men who remained in the village. He 
remained in the store until 1884, when he purchased the Giddings farm 
in Volin precinct, and to the property has added until he is now the 
owner of six hundred and eighty acres of rich and valuable land on 
section 34 of Volin precinct. 

	Mr. Berkley was married in Wisconsin to Miss Nettie Hanson, a 
native of Richland county, Wisconsin, and a daughter of Nels and Carrie 
Hanson, both natives of Norway. Mr. and Mrs. Berkley have become the 
parents of four children: Cora Louisa, now the wife of Frank Van 
Osdell, of Mission Hill; Nina F., who was graduated on the completion 
of the normal course at Yankton College and is now teaching in Seattle, 
Washington; Arthur J., who attended business college at Mankato, 
Minnesota, and now has a position with the Standard Oil Company; and 
Melvin C., who is attending college at Grinnell, Iowa, where he will 
graduate with the class of 1915. 

	Mr. Berkley gives his political endorsement to the republican 
party and he and his family are members of the Congregational church. 
His life has been well spent and his labors have been attended with 
excellent results. His farm is unusually well improved and he has a 
fine old grove protecting all of the buildings from the northern 
storms. All of the buildings upon his place have been erected by him 
and include a large and commodious residence, substantial barns and 
ample sheds for the shelter of the stock. He has sunk artesian wells 
and he has a three acre orchard upon the farm. He has also planted 
twenty acres of alfalfa and he raises good crops of the cereals best 
adapted to conditions here. In the winter of 1913-14 he took a trip 
through British Columbia and then on down through Washington, Oregon, 
California and Mexico, spending ten weeks in delightful travel. It was 
a period of rest and recreation well earned, for his has been a busy 
life in which there have been few idle hours.