John S. Sheridan 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 1042-1043

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

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JOHN S. SHERIDAN. True worth always commands esteem. The man who has 
the interests of his community at heart and is identified with the 
public enterprises, without exception, is the man whose life history 
brightens the pages of the history of his state. He wields an influence 
which widens as the years roll by, and in the future his labors are 
recounted together with the important events of that locality. The 
subject of this review has given to the enterprises and social 
movements his most ardent support, and has become well-known as a 
worthy citizen and influential man. 

He is an agriculturist by occupation and has one of the pleasant farms 
of Columbia township, Brown county, where he is surrounded by 
substantial improvements, and enjoys the quiet of country life. His 
residence located on section 9, is a handsome structure, finely 
finished, and original in design and trimmings. He is a man of 
excellent tastes and every detail marks the model farm. 

Our subject was born in Hancock county, Illinois, December 19, 1852, 
and was the younger of two sons born to John and Jane (Middleton) 
Sheridan. His father was born in Ireland, and died when our subject was 
but two months old. Until he attained his majority, John S. Sheridan 
assisted his mother, and worked on the farm, and afterward taught 
school for four years and attended Ft. Madison Academy, and spent one 
term in Notre Dame, Indiana. He read law in Keokuk for two years and 
was admitted to the bar in 1881. He went to Dakota the following year 
and as there was little business in his profession he engaged in the 
lumber business, establishing the firm of Jacobs & Sheridan. This 
partnership lasted four years, and our subject purchased land and began 
farming. He now owns seven hundred and twenty acres of Brown county 
lands and crops from three to four hundred acres. His farm is in 
Columbia township, township 125, range 62, and he has spared no pains 
to make it one of the best farms in the vicinity. He has made a success 
of his vocation as a farmer, and is thoroughly versed in every line of 
the work. 

Mr. Sheridan was married in 1883 to Miss Eunice Golden, who was born in 
Hancock county, Illinois, our subject's native place. Four children 
have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Sheridan, as follows: Genevieve 
R., Kathleen, John Leo and Golden. Mr. Sheridan is a communicant of the 
Catholic church, and is a member of the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen. In political sentiment he is a Populist and advocates equal 
suffrage. He was a Farmers' Alliance man and attended the convention at 
Huron in 1890, and became an active supporter of the Populist party and 
identified with its earliest movements. He is a man of broad ideas, 
progressive and enterprising, and stands for reform principles. He was 
elected county commissioner for district No. 1 in 1898.