S. P. Jewett 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 429-430

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

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S. P. JEWETT is the owner of one of the estates of Plano township, 
Hanson county, and is well and widely known as one of the solid and 
influential men of the township. He was born in Illinois, March 16, 
1843. His father was born in Vermont and was a shoemaker by occupation. 
He was of a roving disposition and was never long in one place. The 
mother was also an American and eight children were born to her, the 
subject of our sketch being the sixth in the order of birth. 

S. P. Jewett, the subject of our sketch, lived in Illinois, the place 
of his birth, with his parents until he reached the age of six years, 
and then the whole family went east to Bennington, Vermont. While here 
he became charmed with the mountains and found his greatest delight in 
roving among them and climbing the highest peaks. He was often 
accompanied by one of his brothers, and upon one of these occasions 
they were lost and stayed out upon the mountains all night. -From 
Bennington, the family again moved west and settled in Kalamazoo 
county, Michigan. Mr. Jewett attended the seminary at this place until 
the breaking out of the Civil war. He enlisted, in 1861, in Company F, 
Eighth Michigan Infantry. They were rendezvoused at Grand Rapids, and 
were sent to Annapolis and then to Hilton Head, South Carolina, with 
Sherman's fleet. While there they did garrison duty, principally, but 
got into the battle of James Island, where they were repulsed with a 
loss of three hundred and twelve. During the next year they joined the 
Army of the Potomac and participated in the battles at Fredericksburg, 
South Mountain, Wilderness and in the campaign around Richmond to 
Petersburg. Just before the assault on Petersburg, the Pioneer Corps 
was organized. This corps consisted of sixty-seven men, and their duty 
was to go ahead of the army with their axes and clear the way of 
obstructions. With axes as their only arms, they took their position 
the night before the assault and early next morning moved forward and 
accomplished their purpose, but with the loss of forty of their sixty-
seven men. Mr. Jewett then joined his regiment, and they followed Lee 
to his surrender at Appomattox. The regiment was next ordered for 
garrison and patrol duty at Washington, and after four months of this 
service they were sent to Detroit and mustered out. 

After the close of hostilities, Mr. Jewett plied the carpenter's trade 
for a number of years, and did not begin his residence in Dakota until 
1881. He took one claim from the government and bought a tree claim, 
and since that time, has devoted his attention to the cultivation and 
improvement of these claims. He has an artesian well that is one 
hundred and sixty-six feet deep, but it does not furnish enough water 
for irrigation purposes. It is his purpose, however, to make the well 
deeper, hoping in that way to get a well that will furnish all the 
water he will need for any purpose. In connection with the duties that 
pertain to the care of the farm, our subject has always found time to 
devote to the interest of the community in which he lives, and for the 
past twelve years he has performed the duties of the office of township 
clerk. He is identified with the Populist party, and although he 
formerly opposed equal suffrage, he is now one of its stanch 
supporters. He is also an ardent prohibitionist. Mr. Jewett has had his 
share of the hardships caused by the storms and blizzards of Dakota. 
During the winter of 1888, he was out in the blizzard that swept over 
Dakota at that time, for five hours. Five different times he started to 
go from his home to the schoolhouse where his children were, and the 
last time, becoming lost from his residence, he wandered aimlessly 
about for some time and was finally attracted to the schoolhouse by the 
sound of the bell which the scholars and teacher were ringing to rescue 
any who might be lost in the storm near the school. 

In 1870, Mr. Jewett was united in marriage to Miss Frances E. Drake. 
Her parents were New Englanders, and her ancestors, as far back as 
anything is known of them, were American born. Mrs. Jewett's father 
claimed to be a descendant of Sir Francis Drake. Mr. and Mrs. Jewett 
are the parents of a family of three children, Ray, Lee and Ethel. Ray, 
who is now twenty-seven years of age, is making his home in Battle 
Creek, Michigan, and is clerking in an office. Lee is twenty-one years 
of age and is making his home with his father and assisting him on the 
farm; and Ethel is attending the high school at Mitchell, South Dakota.