H. Copley 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 440-441

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

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H. COPLEY. The farming interests of McCook county have a worthy 
exponent in the person of the gentleman above named, who operates a 
farm in section 25, Montrose township. The entire tract of one hundred 
and sixty acres is improved and tillable, and altogether makes up an 
estate whereon a remunerative business may well be done by a man who 
devotes himself closely and intelligently to his work. His entire life 
has been devoted almost exclusively to the calling of a farmer, and he 
has acquired a valuable knowledge of his occupation. 

Mr. Copley was born on the shores of Lake Erie, in the state of Ohio, 
the sixth child in the order of birth of a family of nine. While he was 
yet very young, his father, who was a carpenter and millright by trade, 
moved with his family to Centerville, Ohio, and made that their home 
until our subject reached the age of seven years. They then moved to 
Wisconsin where the family lived on a farm and the father plied his 
trade for nine years. Early in the Civil war, the father and two of the 
older sons enlisted, and the father and one of the sons died of disease 
during their service. Our subject, his mother and two of his sisters 
then moved to Minnesota, in 1865, and located on a homestead. Here they 
lived until the death of the mother in the year 1884. The following 
year, as his sisters were both married, Mr. Copley moved to South 
Dakota and purchased the southwest quarter of section 25, Montrose 
township, McCook county. He at once began the work of improving his new 
farm, and with the exception of a few additions, all the buildings that 
now stand on the place were erected directly after his settlement 
there. He has devoted his attention to general farming and has one 
hundred and forty acres of his quarter-section under cultivation 
besides tilling some rented land each year. Politically our subject 
uses his elective franchises in the support of the Republican party, 
and on that ticket has been elected to several of the township offices. 
He favors the policies of prohibition and equal suffrage. He is a 
consistent member of the Baptist church and his life has been a credit 
alike to the church with which he is affiliated and the community in 
which he lives. 

In 1875, Mr. Copley was united in marriage to Miss Elvira Underwood, a 
native of Canada, and their home has been blessed by the advent of a 
family of nine children, upon whom they have seen fit to bestow the 
following names: John, Essie, Grace, Hugh, Frank, Arthur, Willie, Don 
and Florentine