Oscar E. Cassem 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 780-781

	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


OSCAR E. CASSEM, one of Hanson county's most substantial citizens, 
possesses two sections of land bordering on the James river. This farm 
of one thousand three hundred and sixty acres is admirably adapted to 
the raising of cattle, and in this industry our subject has been quite 
extensively engaged for several years, and makes annual shipments, 
amounting some years to five hundred head of fattened cattle. It would 
be hard to find in South Dakota, or other states, a farm better adapted 
to this line of work, or a location whose natural advantages have been 
so well utilized. The foothills, or bluffs, while furnishing a grazing 
ground, also afford shelter from the storms. Water is abundant, 
furnished both by wells and the river, and the advantages of shade are 
offered during the hot weather, and the grass of the valleys provide 
fodder during the winter months. The improvements of this farm are also 
worthy of mention. A comfortable house is well furnished with all of 
the comforts and many luxuries of life. The barn, one of the finest in 
James valley, is 52 x 72 feet in dimensions, while the stone basement 
is especially arranged for the convenience of cattle raising and has 
room for fifty cattle and as many calves. The feed bins are above with 
chutes leading down. A windmill with an attachment for grinding the 
feed and also supplying the water, completes the arrangement. 

Mr. Cassem, the subject of our sketch, is a native of Kendall county, 
Illinois, born March 18, 1857. His father, Nels O. Cassem, of Norwegian 
descent, is now living in Illinois, where he is a wealthy land owner. 
The mother, Margaret (Fritz) Cassem, was of English descent, and died 
in the year 1871. When our subject was fifteen years of age he left the 
farm to accept a position in a general dry goods store, and in 1875 he 
entered the Northwestern College at Naperville, Ill. When in his 
eighteenth year, and while yet in college, he borrowed money from his 
father and purchased a half interest in a drug store. After completing 
his commercial course, Mr. Cassem took four years of the five years' 
scientific course, and then left school to attend to his business 
interests, which he had extended by purchasing the entire drug business 
in which he had been a partner, and also obtained an interest in a 
wholesale drug business in Chicago. In the spring of 1882, after having 
engaged in business ventures with indifferent success, he came to 
Dakota and opened a general merchandise business in Plankinton, and in 
1883 he turned his attention to farming. Since the year 1896 our 
subject has gradually developed his farm into a stock farm, as it now 
appears, and his sound financial standing he considers the result of 
his Dakota investments. Politically our subject is a Republican and 
voices high license and equal suffrage. 

In 1885 Mr. Cassem was united in marriage to Miss Dora Krom, second 
child in order of birth of Solomon and Theressa (McSwain) Krom, the 
former German and the latter Scotch. 

Miss Dora was born October 23, 1867, and resided in Mitchell, South 
Dakota, from the year 1879 until her marriage. Our subject and Mrs. 
Cassem are the parents of a family of three children, whose names and 
the dates of their births are as follows: Randall N., born September 3, 
1886; Loren C., July 17, 1891, and Thelma, October 13, 1897.