James H. Bridgeman 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 894-895

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

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JAMES H. BRIDGEMAN, a prominent business man of Chamberlain, Brule 
county, South Dakota, may be classed among the pioneers of that section 
of the state. He is a man of good business capacity, honorable and 
upright in all his dealings, and enjoys the respect and confidence of 
the community to a marked degree. 

Mr. Bridgeman was born of English parents, Lieutenant James and Ann 
(Hoskins) Bridgeman. His father was a lieutenant commander in the 
English navy, and was engaged in the Crimean war. Upon being sent to 
that quarter of the globe, he determined to send his family to America, 
and during that voyage our subject was born on the ocean September 19, 
1840. The family located in New York city, and the father having been 
retired on half-pay shortly afterward, joined them there. They then 
went to Chicago and from there to Wisconsin, where our subject learned 
the harness and saddle making, and opened a place of business in which 
he prospered. 

Upon the breaking out of the Civil war Mr. Bridgeman enlisted as a 
three-months man in Company G, First Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, 
being the first man in the state of Wisconsin to enlist, and becoming 
lieutenant of his company. His term of enlistment expired before the 
battle of Bull Run had taken place, but while that engagement was in 
progress his regiment volunteered anew for service. Subsequently Mr. 
Bridgeman became gun sergeant in the Seventh Wisconsin Battery and we 
find them first doing duty at Island No. 10, in the rear of Vicksburg, 
and at Parker's Cross Roads, where they met with heavy losses. About 
forty skirmishes with Forrest's men are recorded, and at Memphis the 
entire battery was captured by that daring leader on his memorable 
raid, and our subject was sent to a temporary prison at Senatobia, 
seventy-nine miles from Memphis, the march, or rather the retreat, with 
the prisoners being made in one day. He was afterward transferred to 
the permanent prison at Cahaba, Alabama. After nine months here he was 
exchanged, and after a leave of absence rejoined his battery at 
Memphis, and was there mustered out in the autumn of 1865, after about 
four and a half years of service. 

In 1866 he located at Little Rock, Arkansas, and engaged in the lumber 
business, and became the owner of two sawmills. It was during the 
reconstruction period, and our subject participated in the Brooks and 
Baxter war for supremacy in the state. He assisted in organizing 
forces, and finally succeeded in disarming Baxter's militia, our 
subject being one of the two men who showed Baxter the doors of the 
court house. However, he had also succeeded in drawing upon himself too 
much notoriety, and in 1876 he went to Colorado, where he became editor 
of the "Pueblo Republican," a semi-weekly newspaper. His first visit to 
Dakota was in 1878, and two years later he located in Lincoln county, 
and established a lumber business at what is now the city of Hudson. In 
1884 he removed to Chamberlain, and since that time has been engaged in 
the real-estate business there. 

Our subject was married to Miss Fannie S. Cady, in 1866, and to this 
union have been born three children, named as follows: Elizabeth, now 
Mrs. H. W. LeBlond; Nellie, now Mrs. C. A. Lockwood; and Winnifred, or 
"Winnebago," as she is called by the Indians. She was the first white 
child born on the Crow creek Winnebago reservation. 

Mr. Bridgemnan is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and is commander 
of McKenzie Post, No. 34, G. A. R. Politically he is a Republican, an 
anti-suffragist and favors high license. He has prospered in his 
business, and is known throughout the entire county as a thorough-going 
business man, a genial companion and a sympathetic friend.