James O. Dean 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 460-461

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

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JAMES O. DEAN, an ex-soldier and pioneer settler of Burdette township, 
Hand county, where he is successfully engaged in farming and stock 
raising, and the general merchandise business, has been a prominent 
member of his community from its first days. When he located in Hand 
county the mail was kept in a dry-goods box for a post office, and was 
later kept in a trunk in a dug-out in the bank of the creek, and high 
water many times floated the trunk of mail around the prairie. 

Our subject was born on board a boat on the Ohio river, August 14, 
1846. His parents, Thomas and Mary (Lewis) Dean, were residents of 
Ohio. The mother was a native of Indiana, and she died in Sheridan, 
Missouri, in 1870. The father was a native of Ohio, and followed the 
occupation of farming in his native state until 1850, when he went to 
California. He died on his way home, in 1853, and was buried in the 
American graveyard, on the Isthmus of Darien. They were the parents of 
two sons and three daughters. The grandfather of our subject, Thomas 
Dean, was one of the pioneer settlers of Ohio. 

James Dean was reared and educated in Jefferson county, Ohio, and 
assisted on the farm until the breaking out of the Civil war, when he 
enlisted in Company C, Fifth Ohio Cavalry, in August, 1862. His company 
was in the guerrilla service in Eastern Tennessee, Kentucky and 
Southwest Virginia. He was mustered out in February, 1865, and returned 
to Ohio. The same year he went to Mercer county, Illinois, where he 
engaged in farming for a year, after which he removed to Chariton 
county, Missouri, and broke land and improved three farms. He returned 
to Mercer county, Illinois, in 1873, where he remained until he wept to 
Dakota in 1882, at which time he entered a claim in Burdette township, 
four and a half miles south of his present location. He platted the 
town of Burdette, and has been engaged in business in the town from 
that time. He has a well-improved farm in Burdette township, and 
cultivates three hundred acres. 

Our subject was married in Mercer county, Illinois, in 1871, to Miss 
Elida J. Goddard, a native of Indiana, and daughter of John and Mercy 
(Carson) Goddard, natives respectively of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. 
Mr. and Mrs. Dean have been the parents of six children, named as 
follows: Robert R., Myrtle G., Cassie O., James R., Charles R. and 
Ruth. Mr. Dean is a member of the G. A. R. and the Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows. He is a Populist and is a prominent worker for reform 
principles. He has been called upon to fill various township offices of 
trust, and has a creditable record.