Charles M. Hess 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 366-369

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

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CHARLES M. HESS, whose portrait appears on another page, is a prominent 
representative of the agricultural interests of Beadle county South 
Dakota, and is numbered among its honored and highly respected 
citizens, as well as one of its most substantial and reliable business 
men. A native of Michigan, he was born in Liberty township, Jackson 
county, July 19 1845, and is the third in order of birth in a family of 
eight children, whose parents are William and Lusseta C. (Brown) Hess. 
The father was born in Steuben county, New York, November 12, 181 6, a 
son of Conrad and Laura (Stoddard) Hess. He is a representative of the 
family of which Hesse Cassel, Germany, belonged, but as one link in the 
evidence was weak, the property reverted to the government. The father 
of our subject was reared to farm life and was a pioneer of Jackson 
county, Michigan, where he located in 1841. Many years later he came to 
Beadle county, South Dakota, and took up a claim, which he has since 
given to the wife of our subject. He and his estimable wife returned to 
Michigan, where they are now spending their declining years in ease and 
retirement from labor, enjoying the fruits of their former toil. 

Being well-to-do, the parents of our subject were able to give their 
children good educational advantages, and Charles M. Hess made the best 
use of the opportunities afforded him, so that at the age of nineteen 
he was well fitted to engage in teaching, a profession which he 
successfully followed during the winter season for seven years, while 
he worked on the farm with his father through the summer months. At the 
age of twenty-seven years, his father gave him two thousand dollars, 
and with this he started out in life for himself. 

On the 1st of January, 1874, Mr. Hess was united in marriage with Miss 
Mary E. Brown, who was born in New York, April 20, 1851. Her parents, 
Edward S. and Clara (Brown) Brown, are still living in Michigan, to 
which state they removed from New York in 1860. The children born to 
our subject and his wife are Nellie B., Vernon C. and Clara M. 

Mr. Hess continued to reside in Jackson county, Michigan, until the 
spring of 1883, when he came to Beadle county, South Dakota, and as a 
pre-emption located on the southeast quarter of section 25, Sand Creek 
township. He fulfilled all the requirements and proved up his land that 
same fall, having plowed one hundred and thirty-five acres. The fall of 
1884, he located as a homestead the northwest quarter of section 31, 
Wessington township, where he now resides. He sold his pre-emption, but 
has since acquired a tree claim, while his wife owns three quarter-
sections in Sand Creek township and all of section 30, Wessington 
township, one claim being the gift of her father-in-law, as previously 
stated. Mr. Hess has also leased and fenced section 36, Hubbard 
township, Hand county, that is used as range for his cattle, and this 
with the lands owned by himself and wife gives him a tract of eighteen 
hundred acres. He is engaged in stock raising and dairying, keeping a 
herd of one hundred and seventy head of cattle, and fifty milch cows. 
He has all the modern appliances for the manufacture of butter, and on 
account of its excellent quality the product of his dairy finds a ready 
sale at the highest market price. On the whole, he has met with 
excellent success as a farmer and stock raiser since coming to this 
state, although he has met with reverses. One year he lost by hail the 
entire crop of wheat on three hundred acres, and in 1897 had first his 
barn and then his house in Sand township destroyed by fire, but this 
loss was partially covered by insurance. 

The Hess family has been prominently identified with the growth and 
development of Beadle county since the earliest days in its history, 
our subject having bestowed the name of Sand Creek on that township. 
His brother, Hugh, cast the first vote in the township after its 
organization, but soon afterward sold his interests here and returned 
to Michigan, where he is now engaged in mercantile business. By 
birthright and by choice, Charles M. Hess is an ardent Republican, and 
he has always taken a commendable interest in public affairs. He was a 
prominent and influential member of the township board of supervisors 
for five years, three years of which time he was chairman, and is now a 
member of the school board. Fraternally he is identified with the 
Ancient Order of United Workmen. His loyalty as a citizen and his 
devotion to the interests of his adopted county have ever been among 
his marked characteristics, and the community is fortunate that numbers 
him among its citizens.