Maj. J. H. Shurtleff Biography


	This biography appears on pages 590-593 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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				MAJOR J. H. SHURTLEFF. 

	The ranks of the Civil war veterans are fast being decimated. 
Year by year many respond to the last roll call and it is fitting that 
while some still survive they should be honored for the service which 
they rendered the country during the darkest hour in all its history. 
Major J. H. Shurtleff is among those who for three years or more did 
active duty on southern battlefields and in times of peace he has been 
equally loyal to his country. He is numbered among the respected and 
valued citizens of Parker and since 1870 has been a resident of South 
Dakota. This has covered the period of the state,s greatest growth and 
progress, and in the work of general improvement he has borne his full 
share as the years have gone by, his interests extending to many fields 
but Iying always along lines of progress and advancement. 

	Major Shurtleff was born in Buffalo, New York, January 6, 1835, 
and is a son of Chester B. and Miranda (Adams) Shurtleff, natives of 
Vermont, where their marriage occurred. They afterward removed to 
Aurora, Erie county, New York, and later established themselves 
successively in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. They removed to 
Vermillion, South Dakota, in 1866 and there resided for many years. The 
mother passed away at the age of seventy-five, and the father died at 
Ponca, Nebraska, ten years later, when he was eighty five years of age. 
He had been a dyer and clothier by trade and followed these occupations 
during his residence in the east, turning his attention to farming in 
the later years of his life. He was a well educated man and for a 
period in his youth engaged in school teaching. He and his wife became 
the parents of eight children, two sons and six daughters, all of whom 
with one exception came to Dakota. Two sons and two daughters are yet 
living. Henry B. Shurtleff has been a resident of Vermillion since 
1867, and ran a stage line out of that point for eighteen years. 

	Major J. H. Shurtleff removed to Mendota, Illinois, in 1854, and 
there engaged in engineering work until the outbreak of the Civil war. 
He was at that time one of the surveyors of the Pere Marquette 
Railroad, which was laid out through a dense wilderness. He resigned 
his position in October, 1861, and enlisted in Company A, Fifty seventh 
Illinois Volunteer infantry, from which he was transferred in March, 
1863, to an Alabama regiment of cavalry. He went to the front as a 
private and wished to remain one, but he was promoted to the rank of 
major against his will and given charge of important army engineering 
work. He was a natural mathematician and an experienced engineer, these 
qualifications enabling him to perform important service during the 
war, for he possessed the ability to map a country thoroughly by 
measuring distances by counting his horse's steps. His results obtained 
in this way were more accurate than those of many other engineers and 
the method possessed the advantage of being rapid and feasible in time 
of war. Major Shurtleff took part in many important engagements of the 
war and as the colonel's aid at the battle of Corinth was under 
dangerous fire for many hours. On the 25th of July, 1865, he resigned 
from the service with the rank of major and with an exceptionally 
creditable military record returned to Illinois. 

	The Major was among the early settlers in South Dakota, taking up 
his residence in Vermillion in 1870. In the following year he filed on 
a homestead six miles southeast of Parker and he remained upon that 
property until 1879, when he located nearer Parker. continuing, 
however, his identification with farming interests until 1893, when he 
removed to town and retired from active work. His efforts extended also 
to other fields, for from 1874 to 1878 he ran a daily stage line from 
Yankton to Sioux Falls in partnership with Charles Demming, and he 
aided in the organization of the State Grange, of which he has been 
steward and master. At one time he served as president of the County 
Fair Association, and his influence has at all times been used in 
support of measures and projects which have for their object the 
permanent good of the community. Major Shurtleff's long period of 
activity has been rewarded by a fair measure of success and he has now 
valuable property interests in Parker, owning ten residences which he 
and his wife have built. 

	In Mendota, Illinois, in 1866, Major Shurtleff married Miss Mary 
Jane Wirick, who was born in Hancock county, that state, in 1844, a 
daughter of William Wirick. Major and Mrs. Shurtleff have become the 
parents of three children: Arthur, who was for fourteen years a 
professor in the Dakota Wesleyan University at Mitchell and is now 
engaged in business as an expert accountant; Julia I., the wife of E. 
M. Purkiss, who is a member of the theatrical profession; and Rev. S. 
H., pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church at Tyndall, South Dakota. 
Mrs. Shurtleff is a woman of refinement and culture and is widely and 
favorably known in social circles. 

	During the entire period of his active life Major Shurtleff has 
taken an intelligent interest in politics and his activities along this 
line have influenced in a great measure the political history of South 
Dakota. He voted the republican ticket upon the organization of the 
party and later assisted in the establishment of the independent party 
in Dakota, of which the present populist party is an outgrowth. As a 
member of the platform committee he helped to nominate Weaver at Omaha, 
July 4, 1892, and was a member of the same committee at St. Louis, 
February 22, 1892. He was a stanch supporter of William Jennings Bryan; 
during the latter's three campaigns for the presidency and when he 
voted for Woodrow Wilson, cast his first ballot for a man elected to 
the office of president. Mr. Wilson's platform was essentially the same 
as the one for which Major Shurtleff has been contending during all the 
years of his political activity. He has been honored with positions of 
public trust and responsibility and has filled them with credit and 
ability. In 1872 he was elected one of the first county commissioners 
and served for four years as a member of the board of aldermen of 
Parker. He was superintendent of the building of the new city hall, an 
edifice which is in every way a credit to him. Major Shurtleff has now 
passed the eightieth milestone on life's journey, but in spirit and 
interests seems yet in his prime. No one can carry. investigation far 
into the history of the pioneer settlement of South Dakota or its later 
development without learning of the active and honorable part which he 
has taken in the work of upbuilding, for he has lived within the 
borders of the state for forty-five years and has aided in its 
advancement along many lines. He is a dignified, courteous gentleman, 
of kindly spirit and strongly marked principles, who by his integrity, 
ability and honorable standards has left an impress for good upon the 
community.