J. H. Bottum 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. Page 525 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 HON. J. H. BOTTUM, a leading lawyer and one of the most prominent and influential citizens of Faulkton, South Dakota, was born in West Bloomfield, New York, September 26, 1853, and is a son of H. C. and Helen M. (Burnham) Bottum, in whose family were six children, of whom our subject is the oldest. The mother was born and remained in Vermont, and was a daughter of Dr. Z. P. Burnham. The Bottum family was founded in this country during colonial days. H. C. Bottum followed the occupation of farming in New York until our subject was about a year old and then removed with his family to Wisconsin, where the son grew to manhood. He completed his literary education at Ripon College, Ripon, Wisconsin, where he was graduated with the degree of B. S., and the following two years he devoted to the study of law. Mr. Bottum was admitted to the bar of Wisconsin in 1880, and the same year located at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where he engaged in practice until coming to Faulk county in 1883. He opened an office at La Foon, a town that existed until the removal of the county seat from there to Faulkton in 1886, and in that year he took up his residence at the latter place. In 1885 he was united in marriage with Miss Sylvia G. Smith, a successful school teacher of this state, who was born in Indiana, but reared in Missouri. Her father, D. S. Smith, a farmer by occupation, came to Dakota in 1882. To our subject and his wife have been born five children, namely: Nellie, Fanny, Dora, Emily and Julia. In political sentiment Mr. Bottum is an ardent Republican, and he has ever taken an active interest in county and state politics. As one of the earliest settlers and prominent citizens, he assisted in organizing Faulk county in 1883, and was the first register of deeds elected. In 1890 he was elected state's attorney on his party ticket and reelected in 1892, serving in all four years in a most creditable and satisfactory manner. He was elected state senator from the thirty-fifth district in 1898 and is the present incumbent in that office. He is one of the foremost lawyers in this part of the state, is thoroughly familiar with authority, and never at a loss for a precedent, and is eminently gifted with the capabilities of mind which are indispensable at the bar. Religiously, he and his wife hold membership in the Congregational church of Faulkton, and socially he is connected with the Masonic order, the Knights of Pythias and the Ancient Order of United Workmen.