George Savilla 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 637-638

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

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GEORGE SAVILLA. The name of this well-known pioneer of Hopper township, 
Aurora county, South Dakota, is familiar to the people of this section 
of the state as that of one of their most valued citizens, resolute, 
energetic and enterprising, and one who has made his mark in building 
up the township, socially and financially. 

Mr. Savilla was born, in 1832, in England, and is fourth in order of 
birth in a family of five children, whose parents were also natives of 
England, where the father worked as a farm laborer throughout life. Our 
subject attended a small country school a short time before reaching 
the age of seven years, but that was the only educational advantage 
afforded him as he was forced to earn his own livelihood by working on 
a farm. He was thus employed in his native land until eighteen, when he 
sailed for America and landed in New York city. He was employed as a 
farm hand in New York state for two years, and for the same length of 
time in Wisconsin. In the fall of 1854 he removed to Minnesota, where 
he continued to engage in agricultural pursuits until after the 
outbreak of the Civil war. Prompted by love for his adopted country, 
Mr. Savilla enlisted in 1862, in Company F, Ninth Minnesota Volunteer 
Infantry, and during the early part of his service remained in that 
state to guard it against the Indians. They garrisoned Fort Ridgley in 
the summer of 1863, and participated in a skirmish with the Indians at 
a place called Bird's Cooley. In 1864 they were ordered to Missouri in 
pursuit of Price, but that rebel general kept out of their way. Going 
to Memphis, they took part in a raid in eastern Tennessee and 
Mississippi, and at Ripley, Tennessee, Mr. Savilla was captured. He was 
sent to Andersonville prison, where the Union soldiers suffered untold 
hardships and where at one time from seventy-five to one hundred died 
in a day. Their rations consisted of baked corn bread served every 
morning and night with no salt or meat. Here our subject and four 
companions tunneled their way out, but were soon recaptured. About the 
time the Union: troops took Atlanta, the prisoners were moved to 
Florence, Florida, where they were given raw corn meal which they had 
to cook for themselves as best they could. In March, 1865, Mr. Savilla 
was exchanged and granted a thirty-day furlough. He proceeded to his 
home by way of Wilmington and Annapolis, and was never called into 
active service again as the war was soon -ended, but he had to keep 
himself in readiness to return to duty until honorably discharged in 
August of that year. On account of physical weakness caused by ill 
treatment in the south, he was unable to perform any work for about a 
year after his return home. 

In 1866 Mr. Savilla was united in marriage with Miss Mina Warden, a 
native of Pennsylvania, and there were born to this union six children, 
viz.: John; Allen; Lulu; Rubert; Carrie; and Arthur. The wife and 
mother died in June, 1888. Mr. Savilla chose for his second wife Mrs. 
Jean Todd, a native of Scotland, who came to America in 1888, bringing 
her only child, Emma, with her -who makes her home with her mother. The 
marriage of our subject and present wife occurred November 13, 1890. By 
this marriage they have one child, George. Our subject and his first 
wife began their domestic life upon rented land, but he finally became 
the owner of eighty acres in Minnesota, twenty of which were set out in 
trees and the remainder was under cultivation. In the spring of 1880 
Mr. Savilla came to Aurora county, South Dakota, and secured the 
northwest quarter of section 34, the northwest quarter of section 3, 
and the northeast quarter of section 4, all in Hopper township. The 
first year he erected a small house, and also sheds roofed with brush 
and hay, but in 1886 and 1888 the latter were replaced by his present 
fine barn and granary. Besides his pasture land he now has one hundred 
and fifty acres under a high state of cultivation, and ten acres 
planted in apple and plum trees, and also currant and gooseberry 
bushes. He has always followed mixed farming, and since coming to this 
state has met with well-deserved success in his undertakings. 

During his residence in Minnesota and South Dakota Mr. Savilla has 
experienced all the hardships of pioneer life. The winter of 1880 was 
the worst that he has encountered, as the snow was six feet on a level. 
Toward spring his provisions ran very low, and he paid one dollar for a 
bushel of wheat, which he ground in a coffee mill. No provisions were 
to be had at either Mitchell or Plankinton, and in March a Mr. Gibbs, 
who is living with our subject, started for Rockport, Hanson county, 
for flour. During the eight days of his absence Mr. Savilla's famished 
children sat on the housetop for hours watching for his return with 
something to eat. This is but one incident of the many hardships that 
the early settlers of a new country are called upon to suffer. 

Since casting his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln, Mr. 
Savilla has been an ardent supporter of the Republican party and its 
principles, and he has served as a delegate to its conventions, but has 
never cared for the honors or emoluments of public office. Socially, he 
is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and religiously both he 
and his wife hold membership in the Congregational church.