Joseph O. Brosseau 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 523-524

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

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JOSEPH O. BROSSEAU is one of the important factors in the business 
circles of Frankfort, South Dakota, and his life is an exemplification 
of the term "the dignity of labor." The possibilities that America 
offers to her citizens he has utilized, and by his untiring industry 
and perseverance he has steadily worked his way upward, leaving the 
ranks of the many to stand among the successful few. He now conducts in 
Frankfort a store which would be a credit to a city of much larger 
size, dealing in hardware and agricultural implements. 

Mr. Brosseau was born in St. George province, Canada, December 28, 
1848, and in 1851 was taken by his parents to Kankakee county, 
Illinois, where the father, who was a farmer by occupation, died a year 
later. Our subject remained upon the home place until sixteen years of 
age, when he entered Notre Dame Academy at South Bend, Indiana, which 
he attended for one year, the following two years being spent at 
Bourbonnais Grove College, Kankakee county, Illinois. He then went to 
Manteno, the same county, to superintend his brother's farm and cattle 
business, and at the age of twenty-one rented a farm which he operated 
on his own account until 1873, when he embarked in the grocery business 
in the city of Kankakee. A year later, with his two brothers, he opened 
a general store in Manteno, Illinois, but the year 1875 was spent in 
farming in Kansas, after which he returned to Kankakee. and conducted a 
hotel there for two years. He then went to Cloud county, Kansas, where 
he remained until the fall of 1882, and-from there came to Hastings, 
South Dakota. Near the present site of Frankfort, Spink county, he took 
up a tree claim and pre-emption on section 20, township 117, range 61, 
or Prairie Center township. This land, which is located on Timber 
creek, he successfully operated until 1890, but in 1885 he lost five 
hundred acres of wheat by hail, the total loss amounting to five 
thousand dollars. In 1890 he removed to Frankfort, where two years 
later he began dealing in farm machinery. In July, 1897, he added shelf 
and heavy hardware to his stock, and the same year was also appointed 
postmaster of the town, which office he has since successfully filled. 
As an upright and honorable businessman, he has gained the confidence 
of his fellow townsmen and secured a liberal share of the public 
patronage. He has always been an ardent supporter of the Republican 
party and its principles, and is in favor of equal suffrage and 
temperance. Religiously he is a member of the Catholic church. 

On the 18th of February, 1867, Mr. Brosseau was united in marriage with 
Miss Adelaide Martin, of Kankakee county, Illinois, and to them have 
been born ten children, as follows: A. J., a traveling salesman for the 
Moline Plow Works; Clara, who owns and conducts a store in Marshall, 
Minnesota; Oscar, who is in a restaurant in St. Paul, Minnesota; Emma, 
who is in partnership with her sister in Marshall, Minnesota; Jasper, 
who aids his father in business; and Eugene, Louise, Marie, Lena and 
Charles, who are all attending school.