Henry S. Hitchcock 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 954-956

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

	This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit 
	organizations for their private use. 

	Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval 
	system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other 
	means requires the written approval of the file's author.

	This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside
	a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at

	http://usgwarchives.org/sd/sdfiles.htm


HENRY S. HITCHCOCK, one of the first to settle in Richland township, is 
now one of the substantial agriculturists of that portion of Edmunds 
county. His success has been due to his own perseverance and good 
management, and his efforts have not been expended for his own good 
alone but for the upbuilding of the better interests of his community. 
He is one of the prominent citizens of that region, and takes an active 
part in matters pertaining to the growth of the thriving district where 
he chooses to make his home. He is an ex-soldier who may well be proud 
of his army record, and no soldier ever served his country with a more 
loyal heart or earnest effort. Mr. Hitchcock has a fine estate, and his 
home farm is the southeast quarter of section 22, in Richland township, 
Edmunds county. Here he is passing his declining years enjoying the 
peace and comforts of a pleasant home. 

Our subject was born in Eaton township, Loraine county, Ohio, January 
17, 1839, and was the eldest in a family of five children, two sons and 
three daughters, born to Mark S. and Polly (Morgan) Hitchcock. The 
paternal grandfather of our subject, Manly Hitchcock, was of English 
descent, and the maternal grandfather, Ira Morgan, was a native of 
Connecticut, and both were by occupation farmers. The parents of our 
subject were married in Loraine county, Ohio, and the father was a 
farmer during the greater part of his life, but engaged in the hardware 
business during the last years of life at Jackson, Michigan. 

Our subject was reared on a farm and had little school advantages, 
those early days affording the country pupil a limited education. Mr. 
Hitchcock engaged in farming in 1869 in Ohio and afterward went with 
his family to Bloomingdale, Michigan, and was a farmer there for 
sixteen years. The farm was well improved, consisted of fifty acres; a 
small stream running through the land afforded good water for stock, 
and an orchard of one hundred and fifty trees with small fruits in 
abundance made a model farm, but sickness visited the family and three 
children and the wife our subject died while there and the health of 
Mr. Hitchcock was failing. He went to Edmunds county, South Dakota, in 
1882 and located on his present farm. 

He erected a ten by twelve shanty and was his own housekeeper for two 
years, at the end of which time the family joined him in the new home. 
He had a small house erected, and a barn and granary and the 
improvements on the property had already begun. When he located in 
Dakota Richland township was the extreme western limit of the surveyed 
land, and all supplies were hauled from Aberdeen, eighteen miles 
distant. Our subject now possesses one hundred and sixty acres of land, 
and cultivates about one hundred and fifty acres. He engages mostly in 
raising small grains, but is interested to some extent in the raising 
of cattle and horses. 

Mr. Hitchcock enlisted in Company H, One Hundred and Third Ohio 
Infantry, July 22, 1862, and spent the winter of 1862 -63 in Frankfort, 
Kentucky, and the following summer went through Tennessee and Kentucky 
after Morgan's men. Many skirmishes and active duty kept them on the 
move through the summer of 1864, and the winter following our subject 
was taken ill with typhoid fever at Louisville, Kentucky. He was 
discharged early in 1865 and went back to old home. 

Our subject was married in 1859 to Sophia Hamlin, a native of Dover, 
Ohio. Three sons and one daughter were born of this union. Mrs. 
Hitchcock died July 2, 1870. Our subject remarried, Miss Annie Graham 
becoming his wife August 20, 1871. Mrs. Hitchcock is a native of Preble 
county, Ohio, and was born in 1847. Her grandfather, James Graham, was 
a native of Virginia. Her father, Joseph Graham, was a harness maker by 
occupation, and the mother died when Mrs. Hitchcock was but twelve 
years of age, after which the family was broken up and she was thrown 
on her own resources for a livelihood. She was reared in Morning Sun, 
Ohio, and there received her education. Two children, a son and a 
daughter, have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Hitchcock, as follows: Fred S. 
and Ella C. Our subject has been called upon to fill various local 
offices, and has given his service freely, and for the good of all. He 
has been a member of the town board two years, of the school board nine 
years, and seven years has acted as assessor. He has been a delegate to 
many county conventions and advocates the principles of the Republican 
party.