Louis A. Eads Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1251-1252 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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				LOUIS A. EADS. 

	Among those who came to the Dakotas with little and by years of 
hard work and endurance of privation won a competence in this new 
country is Louis A. Eads, a retired farmer and stock dealer living at 
Tyndall, Bon Homme county. He was born in Livingston county, Missouri, 
October 31, 1853, a son of Milton and Eliza (Clark) Eads, both of whom 
were born in Indiana. The father went to Missouri in 1842 and was there 
married. His entire active life was devoted to agricultural pursuits 
and he won success in his work. 

	Louis A. Eads remained in his native state until he was a young 
man of about twenty four years and then, in 1877, removed to Dakota 
territory, arriving in Yankton on the 28th of April, of that year. Not 
long afterward he went to Green Island, Nebraska, and there secured 
work. That summer he freighted to the Black Hills and in the fall came 
to Bon Homme county, where he secured a timber claim, John Slater, Fred 
Wells and Tom Ferguson and Mr. Eads securing claims on four cornering 
sections at that time. In the spring of 1879 Mr. Eads, in connection 
with John Slater, rented the latter's father's farm near the town of 
Bon Homme, which was then the county seat. Mr. Eads owned a yoke of 
oxen and did the breaking and other heavy work, while Mr. Slater, who 
had a team of horses, cultivated the corn. They worked together to such 
good advantage that the crop was a profitable one the first year, which 
was rather unusual. Mr. Slater, who was unmarried, made his home with 
Mr. and Mrs. Eads. Mr. Eads later filed on a homestead cornering with 
his timber claim. His first residence was a sod house built on the 
latter, but as soon as he was able he erected a frame residence. He 
continued to farm until 1890, when he removed to Tyndall and opened an 
implement house and at the same time bought and shipped stock to the 
eastern markets. In 1901 he leased three thousand acres of Indian land 
eight miles north of Avon and for three years, or until the sale of the 
Indian lands, was a rancher, his family living during that time in 
town. In 1903 he leased Shadeland farms, a large estate east of 
Tyndall, which he devoted to the raising of fine horses and Hereford 
cattle. He was very successful in ranching and his herd of cattle was 
one of the best in the northwest. During this time his wife and three 
younger children lived during the school year in Sioux City in order 
that the children might have the educational advantages offered there. 
Mr. Eads is also an auctioneer of local note and has cried many sales 
in Bon Homme county. He and several of his family filed on land in 
Stanley county and now own eighteen hundred acres of land there. 

	Mr. Eads was married January 1, 1878, at Green Island, Nebraska, 
to Miss Lucy A. Grimes, a native of Daviess county, Missouri. Her 
parents, Gainford and Mary B. (Nevielles) Grimes, removed west from 
Gainesville, Virginia. The father died when Mrs. Eads was a small 
child. Mrs. Grimes was living in Green Island at the time of the great 
flood in March, 1881, when the ice gorge formed and the town was 
inundated. She and others took refuge in a barn on higher ground and in 
the morning all escaped to the hills over a thin crust of ice that had 
formed between the large cakes over night. During that night a nephew 
of Mrs. Eads, Franklin Mix, was born in the barn. To Mr. and Mrs. Eads 
have been born five children, Milton Frederick, Mary Ellen, Bertha May, 
Susan Alois and Caroline Frances. The two eldest attended Dakota 
Wesleyan University at Mitchell and the three younger, Morningside 
College at Sioux City, Iowa. Milton F. married Miss Alberta Griffith 
and they have three children, Leona May, Gerald Milton and Alois 
Frances. Mary Ellen holds a position with the Mitchell National Bank, 
and the other daughters are teachers. 

	Mr. Eads is a republican and for two terms served his county as 
sheriff. Fraternally he belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows 
and the Masons at Tyndall. On one of his return visits to Missouri he 
and a brother drove through in wagons and brought back with them a 
string of horses, which they sold along the way. They also brought a 
large load of hickory nuts and walnuts, which were eagerly purchased in 
some places to eat and in others to plant. Many of the groves in the 
southern part of this state have grown from those nuts. When Tyndall 
was made the county seat Mr. Eads and a brother moved a house, which 
was placed on the corner where the First National Bank is now and which 
was used as a hotel. Mr. Eads also moved the records to the new court 
house in Tyndall four years later. During the blizzard of January 12, 
1888, Mr. Eads, children were at school and his sister Ida was the 
teacher. She and the fifteen or sixteen children started for a 
neighbor's house nearby. They finally reached a stable, where they were 
compelled to remain over night. All reached home in safety. Mr. Eads 
has been a resident of the state for many years and his life has been a 
factor in the development of his section. a fact in which he takes just 
pride.