C. J. Maynard 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 710-713

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

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HON. C. J. MAYNARD. There are in every community men of great force of 
character and exceptional ability, who by reason of their capacity for 
leadership become recognized as foremost citizens, and bear a most 
important part in the development and progress of the locality with 
which they are connected. Such a man is Mr. Maynard, who is now editor 
of the "Kimball Index," of Kimball, South Dakota. 

He was born at Sheldon, New York, in 1835, and was educated at the 
Arcade Seminary. Coming west in 1854, he first located in Portland, 
Illinois, but soon after ward moved to Waterloo, Iowa, where he cast 
his first presidential vote for J. C. Fremont. While at that place he 
engaged in the mercantile and contracting business. In 1862, he 
enlisted as first lieutenant in the Thirty first Iowa Volunteer 
Infantry, and was soon promoted to the rank of captain. He participated 
in the engagement at Haines Bluff, and was with his regiment in the 
rear of Vicksburg, at the surrender of Arkansas Post, and in several 
skirmishes. 

In 1882 Mr. Maynard came to Kimball, South Dakota, where he took up a 
homestead and at once turned his attention to the development and 
improvement of his farm. As a public-spirited and enterprising citizen 
he assisted in organizing the first county agricultural society, of 
which he was president, for two years, and while in that office the 
association, through his able management, held two successful county 
fairs. He was a member of the constitutional convention which met at 
Sioux Falls in 1885, and served on the legislative and other 
committees, and was also a member of the first assembly of the 
legislature of South Dakota, and was a member of important committees 
in-that body. In 1894 he purchased the "Kimball Index," which paper was 
established as a Republican journal in 1882 by D. C. Cook, and has 
since been edited in turn by W. L. Thendyke, L. D. Wait, I. A. Weeks 
and W. T. Dailes. It has been aggressive in politics, in accordance 
with the views of its different editors. Feeling that the Republican 
party had left its moorings of 1856 and gone into the camp of the 
plutocrats, turning its back on the great toiling masses, Mr. Maynard 
left that organization in 1 896, and is now a bimetallist and an 
independent voter. He takes quite an active and prominent part in 
public affairs, is public spirited in an eminent degree and on the 
field of battle and in times of peace has ever proved a most loyal and 
devoted citizen. 

Mr. Maynard was married at Waterloo, Iowa, March 3, 1861, to Miss 
Cordelia Balcom, of Strykersville, New York, and there was born unto 
them one son, who died at the age of twenty years, and a daughter, Emma 
L., a publisher of music, who is unmarried and lives in Buffalo, New 
York. A portrait of Mr. Maynard is presented on another page of this 
volume.