Elisha Gurdon Ledyard Biography


	This biography appears on pages 990, 991 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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				ELISHA GURDON LEDYARD. 

	For forty-five years Elisha Gurdon Ledyard has been a resident of 
Sioux Falls, being today one of its oldest and most honored pioneers. 
He was born at Markesan, Wisconsin, January, 31, 1849, and accompanied 
his parents on their removal to Sparta, Wisconsin, when four years of 
age. There he acquired a common school education and on the 8th of 
October, 1870, when a young man of twenty-one years, he arrived in 
Sioux Falls, where he has since resided. During the early period of the 
city's development he was engaged in merchandising and he also served 
as city auditor for two terms after which he resigned. His political 
allegiance has always been given to the republican party and his strong 
endorsement of its principles has been one of the elements in its 
success ill this part of the state. 

	In 1881 Mr. Ledyard was married to Miss Ida M. Hoyt, a daughter 
of M. U. Hoyt, of Yankton, the Hoyt family being very early settlers of 
Dakota territory. Mr. and Mrs. Ledyard have become the parents of seven 
children: Inez, a teacher of languages at Poplar Bluffs, Missouri; 
Gurdon H., a resident of Sioux Falls; Lewis W., who is manager of the 
Teck-Hughes gold mine at Kirkland Lake, Ontario, Canada; Harold G., an 
attorney of Sioux Falls; Elisha Walter, deputy city auditor and clerk 
of the municipal court; Ruth, who is attending Oberlin College at 
Oberlin, Ohio; and Edith, a high-school pupil in Sioux Falls. The 
family has always maintained a prominent position in social and 
business circles of Sioux Falls. 

	Mr. Ledyard has long been an interested witness of the work of 
development and improvement here, his memory forming a connecting link 
between the primitive past and the progressive present. He is today one 
of the oldest citizens in years of continuous connection with Sioux 
Falls and the part which he has played in forming its history is no 
unimportant one.