James M. O'Brien 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 956, 957

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

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JAMES M. O'BRIEN, proprietor of the Hitchcock livery and feed stables, 
is known throughout Beadle county for his genuine worth, integrity and 
genial nature. Mr. O'Brien is a native of Walworth county, Wisconsin, 
where he was born February 25, 1849, a son of Peter and Johannah 
(O'Regan) O'Brien. The father was born in Canada, where he lived until 
coming to the United States when a lad, and later went to Wisconsin, in 
1842. The mother was a native of Ireland. Both parents are now 
deceased. 

Our subject worked on a farm for his father until about fifteen years 
of age. For three years and over he remained at home after the 
beginning of the Civil war, and the stirring news of battles fought 
thrilled him with patriotic ardor, and at last, when but sixteen years 
of age, he enlisted in Company E, Forty-sixth Wisconsin Infantry, in 
February, 1865, and he was hurried away to the south, feeling that the 
long hoped-for opportunity had come to help in striking a blow for the 
nation's life. But the real fighting was over before they reached the 
seat of war, and instead of triumphant battlefields, his duty lay in a 
more tedious and arduous line. For eight months he was consigned to 
patrol and guard duty near Huntsville, Alabama. 

After receiving his honorable discharge at Nashville, Tennessee, he 
returned to his home in Wisconsin. He married in 1874 and two years 
later, with his young wife, made a home in Jefferson county, Wisconsin. 
He went to Dakota in 1882, locating in Hitchcock, taking land in 
Altoona township, three miles southeast of the village. There he 
resided on his land for two years and then took up his residence in the 
village of Hitchcock. He established his present business, that of 
liveryman and drayman, and also a butcher shop and flour and feed 
store. He now possesses a half-section of excellent land and cultivates 
from one hundred and fifty to two hundred acres each year. 

Mr. O'Brien was married in 1874 to Miss Cora M. Vandenburg, a native of 
Wisconsin. To Mr. and Mrs. O'Brien six children have been born, named 
as follows: Gerite (deceased), Clyde, William, Eva, Rena and Russell 
(deceased). Mr. O'Brien is a member of the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen and of the T. O. Howe Post, Grand Army of the Republic, of 
which he is a present adjutant. In political sentiment he is a 
Republican and anti-suffragist and favors high license of the liquor 
traffic. He has taken a leading part in municipal affairs from the 
start, having served on the city board, and has held the office of 
assessor for several years. In 1896 he was elected county commissioner 
from the second district and has proved himself in every way worthy the 
trust reposed in him by the people. A portrait of Mr. O'Brien appears 
in connection with this sketch.