Paul D. McClelland Biography


	This biography appears on pages 403-404 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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				PAUL D. McCLELLAND. 

	Paul D. McClelland is proprietor of a large and well appointed 
mercantile establishment at Hermosa, where he carries a stock valued at 
from seven to ten thousand dollars. He also has other business 
interests and the careful and intelligent direction of his affairs is 
bringing to him substantial return. He was born in Portage county, 
Ohio, January 10, 1871, a son of John C. and Sarah A. (White) 
McClelland, both of whom were natives of Ohio. The father was born in 
1829 and for a number of years engaged in merchandising in Ohio but in 
1876 removed to Iowa, settling upon a farm in Page county. In April, 
1884, he arrived in South Dakota and located twelve miles east of 
Hermosa on a homestead claim, there residing until 1892, when he 
removed to a small farm near Custer. He is now living retired at 
Southwick, Idaho, making his home with a son. His wife, who was born in 
1836, passed away in 1913. 

	Paul D. McClelland is the youngest of a family of four children. 
He attended school in Page county, Iowa, and was a pupil in the academy 
at College Springs, that state. He likewise attended school in South 
Dakota and pursued a private course under his older brother, a college 
graduate and teacher, who has been engaged in educational work for many 
years. At the age of nineteen Paul McClelland was employed as a cowboy 
in Custer county. He rode the range between the ages of fifteen and 
twenty and on attaining his majority was appointed deputy register of 
deeds at Custer, which position he filled for two years. He was 
afterward deputy sheriff of the county for four years and following his 
marriage, which was celebrated in 1896, he conducted a meat market in 
Custer City for eighteen months. He next went to New Mexico in the fall 
of 1897 and during the succeeding winter was employed in the machine 
shops of the Santa Fe Railroad Company, occupying that position until 
April, 1898. He was at Raton, New Mexico, and upon his return to Custer 
joined the military company of which he was first lieutenant and with 
which he went to Sioux Falls, being there mustered into the United 
States service. The troops proceeded to San Francisco, California, and 
on the 29th of July, 1898, sailed for the Philippine Islands. Mr. 
McClelland was appointed quartermaster and served also as commissary 
officer and ordnance officer on the United States transport St. Paul, 
which after a stop of four days at Honolulu reached Manila on the 31st 
of August. Mr. McClelland was on duty for eighteen months and sustained 
a gunshot wound in the left arm at the battle of Marilao. He was in 
command of his company from October, 1898, until mustered out in 
October, 1899, having been advanced to the rank of captain at Manila. 

	Captain McClelland was mustered out at San Francisco and returned 
to Custer, where he engaged in merchandising in connection with his 
brother-in-law, J. M. Donaldson, from November until April. He then 
purchased the business, which he conducted alone for a time. Later he 
sold an interest to Mr. Waugh and the business was conducted under the 
firm name of McClelland & Waugh for about eighteen months, but Mr. 
McClelland sold out in April, 1902. He then purchased five hundred and 
twenty-two head of steers in connection with George Raver and was 
engaged in the livestock business until January, 1903. He then located 
in Hermosa and organized the Paul McClelland Corporation for the 
conduct of a general mercantile business. He became secretary and 
treasurer and so continued until 1907, when he became sole owner. He 
has a well appointed store, carrying an attractive line of goods valued 
at from seven to ten thousand dollars. He is also half owner with Mr. 
Raver in a bunch of Holstein cattle and shipped from new York sixty-
five head of full blooded stock. He also operates a dairy farm eight 
miles east of Hermosa and is the owner of farm lands, business property 
and residence property in Hermosa. His investments have been most 
judiciously made and his sound judgment and unfaltering enterprise are 
factors in his continued and growing success. 

	On the 1st of May, 1896, Mr. McClelland was united in marriage to 
Miss Grace E. Beardshear, a native of Nebraska and a daughter of George 
E. Beardshear. Her father was engaged in the operation of a sawmill and 
also of an electric light plant at Sturgis and was among the pioneer 
settlers in the Hills, where he died in the fall of 1900. His widow 
survives and makes her home in Sturgis. Mrs. McClelland died ten months 
after their marriage on the 18th of March, 1897. Mr. McClelland was 
again married on the 3d of July, 1901, his second union being with Mrs. 
Anita M. (Pettijohn) Willard, a daughter of William C. and Marie 
(Nunez) Pettijohn, the former a native of Missouri. By her first 
marriage Mrs. McClelland had three children: Walter, who is engaged in 
the live-stock business in Harding county, South Dakota; Birdie, who is 
a music teacher and is secretary and treasurer of the McClelland 
Company; and Pearl, who also assists in conducting the business of the 
company. By the second marriage there are two children, Vera and Verna, 
twins, who were born April 12, 1902, and are attending school. 

	In his political views Mr. McClelland has always been a stalwart 
republican, and in addition to the offices already mentioned that he 
has filled, he has served as United States commissioner for two years 
and on the town board for two years, acting as clerk and later as 
chairman. He has been deputy sheriff altogether for about twenty years 
and is occupying that position at the present time. Fraternally he is 
well known as a member of the Masonic lodge at Hermosa, of which he is 
treasurer, of the Odd Fellows lodge, of which he is a past grand, and 
of the Knights of Pythias. He has long been an interested witness of 
events which have shaped the history of his section of the state and 
has borne an active and helpful part in the work of public progress. 
During the Indian outbreak in 1890 and 1891, when the Indians began 
stealing horses, Mr. McClelland, under orders of Governor Mellette, 
organized a volunteer cavalry troop, of which he acted as lieutenant 
and which recovered several hundred head of horses from the Indians. 
They had a fight at the Jack Daly ranch, twenty-five miles from 
Hermosa, on which occasion five Indians were killed. With all the story 
and experiences of pioneer life Mr. McClelland is familiar and the part 
which he has played in developing the county numbers him among its 
substantial and worthy citizens.