James R. Warden Biography


	This biography appears on pages 167-168 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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				JAMES R. WARDEN. 

	James R. Warden is a retired farmer living in Redfield, where he 
engages in the practice of veterinary surgery. Thirty-six years have 
come and gone since he arrived in this state a young man of twenty-four 
years. His birth occurred in Dodge county, Wisconsin, on the 20th of 
March, 1855, his parents being William and Olive (Allen) Warden. The 
father came to this state as a pioneer settler and was extensively 
engaged in farming in Spink county and also in dealing in horses, 
making a specialty of Percherons and having on hand at times as many as 
forty head of registered stock. He did much to improve the grade of 
horses raised in this section of the state and his efforts were an 
element in progressive farming which brought about results highly 
beneficial to the county. He died on the 11th of November, 1908, having 
survived his wife, whose demise occurred July 30, 1900. Both were laid 
to rest in Green Lawn cemetery of Redfield. They were highly esteemed 
citizens, their many good traits of heart and mind winning for them the 
confidence and goodwill of those who knew them. 

	James R. Warden is indebted to the public-school system of 
Wisconsin for the educational privileges which he enjoyed. He continued 
to attend school until seventeen years of age and then concentrated his 
efforts upon farm work, with which he had previously become familiar by 
assisting his father in the fields at the old homestead. In 1879 he 
determined to try his fortune elsewhere and made his way to South 
Dakota, casting in his lot with the early residents of Spink county. 
His father had just arrived in Spink county and he settled on adjoining 
land seven miles east of Redfield. He began farming, which he carried 
on continuously and successfully for a quarter of a century, bringing 
his fields to a high state of cultivation and adding to his farm many 
modern and attractive improvements, which indicated his progressive 
spirit and his practical] methods. Year by year he tilled the soil, 
raising good crops, and at length, with a handsome competence secured 
as a reward of his labors, he put aside the work of the farm and took 
up his abode in Redfield, where he now makes his home. 

	On the 12th of January, 1881, in Neosho, Wisconsin, Mr. Warden 
was united in marriage to Miss Annie Katherine Wiser, a daughter of 
Mathias and Margaret (Gray) Wiser. Her father died October 15, 1885, 
and her mother, long surviving him, passed away September 1, 1907, 
while on a visit to South Dakota. In 1880, before her marriage, Mrs. 
Warden came to South Dakota and located and proved up a homestead. Mr. 
and Mrs. Warden have become parents of two children, Pearl I. and 
Jessie W., both at home. The Latter has completed a course at Redfield 
College. 

	In his political views Mr. Warden is an earnest democrat, 
believing in the principles of that party. He is a thirty-second degree 
Mason, a Shriner, an Odd Fellow, an Elk and a United Workman, and to 
the teachings of these organizations is loyal, being in full accord 
with their basic purposes, which recognize the brotherhood of mankind 
and the individual's obligations to his fellows. Mr. Warden has never 
felt that he made a mistake in changing his place of residence from 
Wisconsin to South Dakota, for here he found the opportunities which he 
sought, and in their improvement has gradually worked his way upward. 
He lived in the territory ten years before the admission of the state 
into the Union, and at all times he has been a public-spirited citizen, 
active and helpful in his relations to measures which he deems of 
greatest worth in promoting the public welfare.