Stephen R. Blackmer Biography


	This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
 	compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography,
	including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and 
	representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & 
	Co., Chicago, 1899. Pages 607-608

	Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. 

	This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit 
	organizations for their private use. 

	Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval 
	system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other 
	means requires the written approval of the file's author.

	This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside
	a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at

	http://usgwarchives.org/sd/sdfiles.htm


STEPHEN R. BLACKMER, one of the leading farmers of Faulk county, has a 
pleasant home in township 119, range 67. He is an old soldier and his 
army record is interesting to veterans of the war and the public alike. 
He has made a success of his vocation and is among the early settlers 
of Dakota, who aided in making the state what it is to-day, an 
agricultural district of note. 

Our subject was born near Schenectady, New York, in 1 844. His father, 
Rollen Blackmer, was of English descent, and was reared in the Black 
River country of New York, and was a shoemaker by trade. Our subject's 
mother was of German and English descent, her father, Nicholas 
Schermerhorn, hailing from the German empire. He was a shoemaker by 
trade, the same as the grandfather Blackmer. The father of our subject. 
died in 1848, as the result of overwork in the shoeshop and the mother 
married John Dagget in 1850, and her death occurred in 1883. 

Our subject was the third in a family of five children, and was raised 
by Lewis J. Fish, on a farm in Saratoga county, New York. He resided 
with Mr. Fish from 1850 until 1862, when, on August 11, he enlisted in 
Company C, One Hundred and Fifteenth New York Volunteer Infantry. The 
regiment was sent to Harper's Ferry, where the first engagement took 
place, September 15, when our subject and thousands of his comrades 
were taken prisoner by Stonewall Jackson. They were paroled at once and 
sent to Chicago, where our subject remained six weeks, and then went to 
Washington, and after a two weeks stay was sent to Hilton Head, South 
Carolina. Here he was exchanged, and was then sent with his regiment to 
Florida, and was engaged in the battle at Tallahassee, when four 
hundred were lost from the regiment. From there they went to 
Jacksonville, Florida, and in March, 1863, went again to Hilton Head. 
The next engagement was at Fort Fisher, and Fort Donelson, and then 
followed Drury's Bluff. He was wounded at the last named battle May 14, 
1864, and was sent to the hospital at Point Lookout, Maryland, where he 
remained until August, 1864. A cyclone or waterspout destroyed the 
barracks of the hospital, three wards 22 x 80 feet falling, and many 
patients losing their lives. Our subject was sent to Washington until 
convalescent, and then joined the Tenth Veteran Reserve Corps, and 
remained until July 1, 1865, when he was discharged. 

He returned home and remained one summer, and December 25, 1865, went 
to Wisconsin and settled in Watertown, where his father's relatives 
resided. He learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed in 
Wisconsin five years, and spent one year in New York, then in Michigan 
one year, and from thence went to Colorado. After fourteen months he 
went to Nebraska, and for a year ran a wagon shop at Juniata. He went 
to Dakota in 1882 and settled in Huron, working on the railroad at his 
trade for five years. From 1887 to 1889 he contracted in the city of 
Huron, and then went to Faulk county, and settled on land his wife had 
homesteaded in 1883. He erected a comfortable dwelling and 
outbuildings, and met with success as an agriculturist, engaging in 
grain and stock raising. He added to his acreage in 1898 by purchasing 
the southeast quarter of section 31, township 120, range 67, and is now 
the possessor of three hundred and twenty acres, well improved and 
fenced. For the first ten years in Dakota he hauled water a mile and a 
half to his farm, but a well from a depth of one hundred and fifty-two 
feet now furnishes an abundance of water, and is fitted with a good 
windmill. The farm bears evidence of good management, and is among the 
best in the vicinity. 

Our subject was married in 1886 to Miss Lizzie Mackentire, a native of 
Somerset county, Pennsylvania, and of German Yankee parentage. Mrs. 
Blackmer's father, John Mackentire, was a freighter by occupation. Two 
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Blackmer, named as follows: 
Lucile, aged twelve years; and Luetta, aged five years. Mr. Blackmer is 
a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and has taken the degrees 
of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a Republican, and a 
strong advocate of prohibition. He is a gentleman who keeps abreast of 
the times, and is strong in his convictions for right. He is a 
respected member of his community, and well merits his success.