Adelbert Harnois 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 904-905

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

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ADELBERT HARNOIS, proprietor of one of the best stock and grain farms 
in Brown county, was a pioneer settler of that region, and was one of 
the first three to locate their farms in the county. He has acquired a 
competence worthy the efforts expended, and his home is one of the 
pleasant spots in Riverside township. 

Mr. Harnois was born in Fond du Lac, Fond du Lac county, Wisconsin, 
September 16, 1855, and was the son of Philip and Elizabeth (Morrison) 
Harnois. His father was of French descent and was born and raised in 
Canada, and was a stock dealer and also engaged in the meat business. 
The mother of our subject was of Scotch descent and was born and raised 
in Canada. The parents came to the United States about 1839, and 
settled in eastern Wisconsin, where our subject was reared, the second 
of a family of six children. He attended the city schools of his native 
place, and at the age of fourteen years went to work in the machine 
shops in Fond du Lac, and learned the mechanic's trade. At the age of 
sixteen he went to Green Bay and followed his trade four years. He went 
to what was then Mills and Beadle counties, South Dakota, in 1878, and 
settled on the land along the Jim River, on section 30, township 124, 
range 61, and erected a log shack 10 x 16 feet. He followed trapping 
three years in company with W. B. York, trapping muskrats, beaver, 
mink, fox and coyote. He started farming in 1881 and the nearest place 
from which to obtain provisions was Kampeska, now Watertown, one 
hundred miles distant from his home. He had a yoke of cattle and a 
plow, and erected a sod barn, and began the cultivation of the land. He 
used an ox team for farming three years, and soon after moved to the 
northwest quarter of section 31, township 124, range 61, and erected a 
house, and a 32 x 60-feet barn, with sixteen-feet posts, one of the 
largest barns in the neighborhood. He now has three hundred and twenty 
acres of land, two hundred and thirty acres of which is under plow and 
the balance devoted to pasture. Jim River flows through the land from 
east to west and he has a well watered farm. He and his brother farm 
together five hundred and forty acres, and have sixteen head of farm 
horses, and previous to 1897 he was quite extensively interested in the 
cattle business. The location of his farm is excellent and a fine grove 
of trees enhances the value and the beauty of the place. He was one of 
the three first settlers in the northern part of South Dakota, and it 
was three years after he landed on the Jim River before the country 
began to be settled. He had at that time twenty dollars, which he 
carried until it was unrecognizable through wear. He has made a decided 
success of the pursuit of agriculture, and his granary has in it at 
present two thousand five hundred bushels of grain, aside from oats, 
barley and other small grains. 

Our subject was married in 1884 to Miss Marie Everest, who was born and 
raised in Michigan. Mrs. Harnois's father, William Everest, was a 
farmer and settled in Dakota in 1882, where he farmed five years, and 
is now a resident of Michigan. Mrs. Harnois was seventeen years of age 
when her parents settled in Dakota, and she is of English descent. Two 
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Harnois, as follows: Birdie, 
born in December, 1885, and Pearl, born January 22, 1887. Mr. Harnois 
is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. In politics he casts his 
vote for good government, independent of party. He is an earnest worker 
and an honored citizen.