Edwin R. Coniff 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 454-455

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

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EDWIN R. CONNIFF is a representative of that class of farmers in South 
Dakota who confine their labors to a comparatively small piece of 
ground, devoting themselves to careful farming, raising stock mostly 
for dairy purposes and also to raising hogs. They are the farmers who 
in time will change the face of the prairie country and leave 
comfortable homes and unencumbered property to their children. Their 
work is always "up," and as they do not stake all on one crop, they, as 
a class, do not experience total losses and discouragement during years 
of hardship. 

Our subject was the fifth child in the order of birth of a family of 
nine children born to the union of Colonel Thomas H. and Sarah 
(McSpaden) Conniff. The father was born in Dublin, Ireland, in the year 
1816, received a good education in Dublin and was admitted to the bar. 
As a young man, he came to America and was here married. His wife, the 
mother of our subject, now lives in Sioux City, Iowa, and is now 
seventy-six years of age. In this country the father devoted his life 
both to farming and to the practice of law. He served in the Minnesota 
legislature, and during the Civil war attained the rank of colonel. He 
died in Dakota in the year 1882. 

Edwin R. Conniff, the subject of our sketch, was born in Green Bay, 
Wisconsin, November 2, 1855, and subsequent to a fourteen-years' 
residence in Sioux City, Iowa, he came to Dakota in company with three 
of his brothers, all of them filing on land in Bridgewater township, 
McCook county, the property on which our subject filed his claim being 
the northeast quarter of section 33. In 1886 he began farming, at that 
time making his home with his brothers. He afterward attempted to enter 
the mercantile business in Bridgewater, but this venture resulted in 
the loss of about two thousand dollars, including his homestead. He 
then procured an adjoining quarter-section and has since made that his 
home and base of operations. He then began farming after the method 
described in the first paragraph of this article, and his efforts have 
been crowned with success in that he has won for himself, his companion 
and little ones a cozy home, is making a comfortable living, and is 
incidentally laying aside something for a rainy day. During the past 
year his crops netted him a neat sum above all expense. 

Politically Mr. Conniff is a Republican and a supporter of the policies 
of high license and equal suffrage. In matters of local politics our 
subject has always endeavored to bear his share of the burden in 
various ways and, although he has never been an office seeker, he is 
now performing the duties of chairman of the school board. Religiously 
he is affiliated with the Presbyterian church. 

In 1885 our subject was united in marriage to Miss Mary McClure, a 
native of the state of Kansas, and two children, William and Florence 
Mae, have come to bless their home.