James Ennis 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 665-666

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

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JAMES ENNIS settled in Greenland township, McCook county, among the 
earliest settlers of the county, and followed agricultural pursuits 
continuously since. He was born in northern Ireland in April, 1846, the 
next to the youngest of a very large family. The father was a Scotch 
farmer, and died when our subject was but five years of age, and the 
mother was born on the Isle of Man, near the coast of Ireland. 

In the same year that his father died our subject was brought to 
America by some of his relatives, landing in Philadelphia. He was soon 
put to work on a farm and had little time for school, although he 
managed to put in three winter terms at a country school. At the age of 
eight years, having previously moved to Wisconsin, he was put among 
strangers and had to earn his living by working on a farm by the month. 
This he followed until 1861, when he enlisted in Company A, Fourth 
Wisconsin Infantry, which became a part of the Nineteenth Army Corps. 
Mr. Ennis was under General Butler at the capture of New Orleans and in 
the fight at Port Hudson, at Baton Rouge; in the Red River expedition 
under General Banks; participated in the engagements around Vicksburg; 
at the capture of Mobile; and after the surrender of Lee, was sent into 
Texas under Sheridan and got as far as New Mexico. At Port Hudson, Mr. 
Ennis received a gunshot wound in his right arm, and after the regiment 
was changed from infantry to cavalry, his horse fell during a charge, 
throwing him in such a way as to injure his back, and he has never 
fully recovered from this injury. He is frequently laid up on account 
of it for months at a time, and at no time since has he been able to do 
heavy work. In the fall of 1865 he was sent to New Orleans and was 
honorably discharged, at that time holding a second sergeant's 
commission. 

After the close of hostilities, Mr. Ennis returned to his home in 
Wisconsin, and began work as a farm laborer, and followed that line of 
work and renting farm land until the year 1879. At this time he started 
with his family and his entire property, which consisted of a team and 
wagon and two cows, on the overland route to Dakota, and when he 
arrived at his destination and erected his sod house and straw barn he 
had but fifty cents to keep his family until he could raise a crop or 
otherwise raise money for the necessaries of life. During the first 
fall in the west Mr. Ennis worked with a threshing machine, but was 
never able to collect his wages, which amounted to one hundred and ten 
dollars, and the following winter, the winter of 1880-81, was a very 
hard one for our subject and his family. It was almost impossible to 
get flour unless one was able to pay the cash, and, although he offered 
his team and wagon for provisions, he was refused and was finally 
forced to resort to a more effectual mode of securing provisions to 
keep his family from starvation. Mr. Ennis filed a homestead claim to 
the southwest quarter of section 35, Greenland township, and a tree 
claim to eighty acres in the same township, and once getting fairly 
established in the agricultural business, his farms have yielded him a 
comfortable living. He has about one hundred and thirty-five acres 
under cultivation and devotes the most of his time to the raising of 
small grain, hogs and cattle, and finds the latter the most profitable 
of his farm products. 

In politics our subject invariably uses his elective franchise in the 
support of the candidate best qualified for the office he seeks 
regardless of party lines. Religiously he was reared a Presbyterian, 
but his wife prefers the Adventist church. 

Mrs. Ennis bore the maiden name of Miss Carrie Hulgerson. She was born 
in Wisconsin, but of Norwegian parents, and was united in marriage to 
the subject of our sketch in 1870. To this union have been born nine 
children, all of whom are living.