Theodore J. Lower 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 515-516

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

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THEODORE J. LOWER, general farmer residing in the southwest quarter of 
section 4 in Jefferson township, is one of the pioneer settlers of that 
region, and the readers of this volume are treated to a review of a 
life well spent and the experiences of one of the first to become 
identified with the wild lands of South Dakota. A copy of a portion of 
our subject's diary under date of April 15, 1879, will be interesting 
to the early settlers as well as the present generation. He says, 
"Arrived in camp about one o'clock -followed up the river about a mile. 
It is the most crooked stream I ever saw. I saw two flocks of ducks. 
Met a man with team and wagon and talked about the country -was told 
the Indians had been burning the timber. He showed us where a couple of 
men were living. Their home looked like a straw stack; it was built of 
brush, hay and dirt laid upon poles and crotches. Went over and talked 
with the men awhile, and then we all went over to Dirt Lodges. On the 
way passed a place where some Indians had been buried or rather left to 
decay. They had been placed upon a scaffold made of poles, but the 
scaffolding was tumbled down and bones and poles and coffee grains lay 
scattered around. Went to the lodges, which was nothing more than earth 
thrown up in a circle where a camp had been. There was one circle which 
was made of stones, weighing all the way from one to thirty pounds. In 
all there was probably five hundred stones. 

An opening or doorway had been left in the circle and in the centre of 
the circle was an oval shaped stone about the size of a man's head. 
This stone was very smooth and was colored red with a face painted on 
the side. This was known as council stone. About ten or fifteen rods 
from this was a mound on which a post had at one time been planted. 
This mound was known as Old Lookout and from here I could see for a 
great distance in every direction. The lodges are on a very charming 
site near the James river and on the east bank. The river runs below 
and the valley stretches away to right and left, while east is the 
beautiful rolling prairie." Such is the description of the land at the 
time our subject established his home there and he has seen the country 
develop into one of the most thrifty agricultural regions of the 
northwest.  

Theodore Lower is a native of Monroe county, Wisconsin, and was born 
July 20, 1857. He was the third child of a family of four, three of 
whom are now living, born to Jefferson and Harriet J. (Demon) Lower, 
both deceased. Our subject grew up in mill work, working as setter in a 
sawmill in which his father was foreman. He and his father went to 
Watertown in the spring of 1879, arriving near Bowman's camp April 15. 
They left the camp the 26th of the same month, and took land, the 
father on section 8, and our subject on section 5. They sent to 
Watertown for a ham, sack of flour, ax, spade and a few tin dishes, 
built a dugout and lived there until August 29, when a larger dugout, 
with a sod wall above ground, was constructed on the father's land, and 
was used as a habitation until 1882, afterward as a blacksmith shop, 
and withstood wind and flood for twenty years, having fallen into decay 
during the past year. The father placed a dam across the Jim river in 
1880, and a mill was erected the following fall, known as Clyde Mills, 
which opened in 1882, and run until 1887. A post office was established 
there, and Clyde Mills was a lively little business place for years. 
Our subject was appointed postmaster in the winter of 1879, and was the 
first to fill that office. He is the possessor of a fine farm of two 
hundred and sixty acres, and rents one quarter, and has three hundred 
acres under plow. He is extensively engaged in hog raising, the Poland 
China strain being his choice. His farm is well kept, is well-improved, 
and our subject has every reason to feel proud of his estate and the 
result of his efforts.  

Mr. Lower was married, in 1885, to Miss Minnie Denton, who, with her 
parents came to what is now Clifton township, in 1881. Four children 
have blessed the home of Mr. and Mrs. Lower, as follows: Edna, Edgar, 
Luella and Harriet. Mr. Lower is a socialist, believing in the 
government control of all institutions and professions, and advocates 
equal suffrage. He is strong in his own convictions, and is a deep 
thinker, and thoroughly alive to the topics under general discussion. 
He takes an active interest in educational affairs, and is chairman of 
the school board, and as chairman of the township board is actively 
engaged in bettering the community in which he makes his home. He holds 
membership in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Ancient 
Order of United Workmen. Both he and Mrs. Lower are members of the 
Rebekah lodge, and are well known and highly esteemed.