George Brodrick 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 838-841 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 GEORGE BRODRICK, whose portrait appears on another page, is the proprietor of one of the most noticeable homesteads in Letcher township, Sanborn county, it being pleasantly located on section 13. His comfortable residence is flanked by a good barn and the various other outbuildings required by the progressive agriculturist, and everything about the place betokens prosperity and thrift. As a tiller of the soil he is thorough and skillful, and as a business man is upright and honorable. Mr. Brodrick was born November 8, 1 826, in Yorkshire, England, in which country his parents spent their entire lives as farming people. At the age of fourteen he was bound out as an apprentice to learn the carpenter's and joiner's trade, which he had completely mastered at the age of twenty one. He then married Miss Eden Thompson, an English girl, who was reared with our subject, and they have become the parents of eight children, two of whom are living, Lillie and George W., the last named being married and is a farmer in the neighborhood of his father's home. In 1848 Mr. Brodrick and his family sailed for the new world and first took up their residence in Hazel Green, Wisconsin, where he established a wagon shop and worked at his trade until 1854, when he bought a wild prairie farm and turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, being thus employed until 1866. This farm consisted of only eighty acres, all of which was cultivated, and he raised small grain and all kinds of small fruit. During the latter part of the Civil war he was appointed provost marshal, which office he held until hostilities ceased. After leaving the farm in 1866; Mr. Brodrick worked as a contractor and builder until coming to Sanborn county, South Dakota, in 1882, when he located on the northwest quarter of section 13, Letcher township. A cabin, 18 x 16 feet, had already been built upon the place and there he lived alone for one year while he commenced to break his land. At that time only four shanties were in sight from his place and the country round about was almost an unbroken wilderness. Besides the two quarter- sections of land which he entered from the government he now owns other farms in the neighborhood and carries on agricultural pursuits quite extensively as well as successfully. Of the three hundred and twenty acre tract where he lives he has fifty acres under cultivation and around his pleasant home he has five acres of forest trees. He also raises plenty of small fruit, and, though engaged in diversified farming, he makes a specialty of the raising of cattle and hogs. He has a good well of soft water with a windmill attached. Since casting his first presidential vote for General Taylor, Mr. Brodrick has been a stalwart Democrat, and his fellow citizens, recognizing his worth and ability, have elected him to several official positions of honor and trust. He has held numerous township offices, was the first county treasurer of Sanborn county, and in 1886 was elected county commissioner. Socially he is a member of the Masonic lodge of Woonsocket.