Roger M. Farrell Biography


	This biography appears on pages 689-690 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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				ROGER M. FARRELL. 

	Roger M. Farrell, a real-estate dealer of Avon, was born in 
Chicago, January 29, 1873, a son of Roger and Margaret (Mahan) Farrell. 
The father was a powder boy in the navy at the age of nine years and by 
merit won promotion to positions of greater responsibility until he was 
made an ensign, and served in that capacity on Farragut's flagship on 
the expedition up the Mississippi river during the Civil war. Our 
subject has in his possession a sword and belt presented his father by 
Admiral Farragut and also a flag that floated from the mast of one of 
the flotilla. Mr. Farrell was captured and was confined for a 
considerable period in Andersonville prison, although it was believed 
that he was exchanged before the close of the war. At the time of his 
release he was quite ill, owing to the poor food and foul water. One of 
his guards was a cousin, but he expected and received no favors. Upon 
returning from the war he was married in New York and then established 
himself in the awning business in Chicago, where his four children were 
born. His place of business was burned in 1871 and he then removed to 
Du Page county, Illinois, where he also had the misfortune to be burned 
out again in 1873. He next removed to Grand Ridge, La Salle county, 
that state, where he located on a farm. The death of Mrs. Farrell 
occurred there in November, 1879. Subsequently Mr. Farrell removed with 
his children to South Dakota and the family took up their residence on 
a homestead and timber claim four and one-half miles northwest of Avon. 
In 1895 he made an extended visit in North Platte, Nebraska, in 
Missouri and in Illinois, and then took up his home in a colony of old 
soldiers in southern Georgia. This was about 1897 or 1898, and he 
resided there until his death, which occurred in 1901. His body was 
brought back to South Dakota and interred at Tyndall. To him and his 
wife were born four children: Lydia; Roger M.; William, deceased; and 
Ellen, deceased. Lydia married William Lowthian, who lives at Milbank, 
South Dakota. 

	Roger M. Farrell was seven years of age when the family removed 
to Dakota territory, at which time Yankton was the terminus of the 
railroad and the bed of the river was closer to the city than it is at 
present. He remained under the parental roof until he was seventeen 
years of age and then became a farm laborer. After his marriage he 
began farming 011 his own account and was engaged in agricultural 
pursuits until 1901, when he removed to Avon and entered the employ of 
H. D. Giedd, the owner of an elevator. He spent seven years in that 
connection but in 1908 opened a real-estate and insurance office and 
has since devoted his time and attention to those lines of business. He 
deals extensively in lands in Nebraska and the two Dakotas but the 
greater part of his business is naturally transacted in this state. He 
also represents a number of well known and reliable insurance companies 
and v,-rites a large number of policies annually. 

	Mr. Farrell was married in the vicinity of Avon, March 24, 1897, 
to Miss Alda Hayworth, a native of Gayville, South Dakota. Her father, 
Freeman Hayworth, deceased, was one of the pioneers of this state, 
removing with his family to Fort Benton at an early day. He afterward 
returned to Minnesota, but subsequently the family home was established 
at Gayville, this state. Mr. and Mrs. Farrell have five children, Leo 
L., Viola M., Virgil R., Ellen E. and Thelma. 

	Mr. Farrell is a progressive in politics and fraternally is a 
member of the Masonic order, in which he has attained the thirty-second 
degree, belonging to the consistory at Yankton. He is also a member of 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Avon and of the Yankton Lodge 
of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He remembers pioneer 
conditions vividly and his education was obtained largely in a sod 
schoolhouse. In his early manhood he taught school for several years in 
the Vodnanny district, west of Scotland, and even then pioneer 
conditions prevailed to a large extent. For a few years after their 
arrival in the territory the family lived in a sod house and at times 
burned hay and corn for fuel. Prairie fires were frequent and the 
entire family often spent long hours in fighting the flames. During the 
winter blizzards cut off communication with other families to a large 
extent and Mr. Farrell remembers well the blizzard that occurred in 
January, 1888. He was attending school and the storm was so furious 
that he with most of the other children remained in the schoolhouse 
until daylight, eating for supper the remains of their lunches. Those 
days of hardship and trial have passed, but Mr. Farrell finds 
satisfaction in the thought that he had a share in laying the 
foundation for that prosperity which South Dakota enjoys today.