Josiah B. Swain 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 620-621

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

	This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit 
	organizations for their private use. 

	Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval 
	system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other 
	means requires the written approval of the file's author.

	This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside
	a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at

	http://usgwarchives.org/sd/sdfiles.htm


JOSIAH B. SWAIN, general farmer, residing on the southeast quarter of 
section 18, Jefferson township, is one of the pioneer settlers of that 
locality, who has surmounted the struggles of the early days, despite 
the :fact that others gave up after repeated trials, and now finds 
himself one of the well-to-do agriculturists of Spink county. 

Our subject was born in Craftsbury, Vermont, August 28, 1850, and is 
the son of George W. and Hannah (Chase) Swain. His father is now a 
resident of Spink county. At the age of three years our subject removed 
to Sun Prairie, Dane county, Wisconsin, where the father engaged in 
farming, and where our subject spent ten years of his life. The family 
removed to Chaseburg, and the father ran a saw-mill, our subject 
working at the mill, teaming, etc. At the age of twenty-six years he 
went to Redwood Falls, Minnesota, near where he engaged in farming, 
remaining there until locating in Dakota. In the fall of 1878, through 
a horse dealer, he heard of the James River Valley, and the following 
spring he turned his farm over to his parents, and with a span of 
mules, two cows, a breaking plow, and about thirty-five dollars in 
money, he started, in company with John Lilly. overland for Dakota. A 
six days' drive brought them to Bowman's Camp, about ten miles farther 
down the river than his present location. Our subject camped for about 
two weeks, looking for a location, and traversing about fifty miles 
along the river. He finally selected his present farm and squatted, 
living in a dugout until 1879. He did some breaking of land and then 
went to Tracey and drove the engineers on the preliminary survey to 
Huron. He returned to the farm which he had preempted, hauled lumber 
from Watertown, and built a board shanty twelve by sixteen feet in 
size. Mr. Lilly remained with our subject until 1882, and they lived 
together, hunting and trapping antelope, beaver, etc. They ground corn 
in a coffee mill, and it was one of the standing jokes of the 
neighborhood, when attending a gathering, to produce an ear of corn at 
an opportune moment and pass it around for lunch. In those early years 
seed needed but to be thrown on the ground to take root and produce an 
abundant crop. In the fall of .882, from ten acres of land, our subject 
gathered three hundred and thirty-three bushels of wheat, and other 
crops were proportionate. It is not surprising in view of these facts, 
that the farmers of the state contracted debts for machinery and even 
unnecessaries on the strength of their crops, nor is it surprising that 
this excess brought its day of reckoning. The land was new, successive 
cropping drained it, the droughts came, and many farmers gave up in 
despair and left the country. Our subject experienced the greatest 
difficulty in making expenses until 1892, since which time by careful 
management he has been gradually improving in circumstances, and now 
has a good income. He is the possessor of a fine property on the river 
bank, a good growth of ash and elm trees beautify the place, and the 
entire farm has the appearance of comfort and thrift. Our subject 
sustained some damage in the flood of 1897. The water rose gradually in 
the river, attracting little attention, and until it had risen above 
the high-water mark and was nearing the house, no uneasiness was 
occasioned. The cellar was soon flooded and the family removed to the 
second story, but soon found it necessary to remove to an old house 
back from the river. Boats were rowed up to the front door, and 
pictures taken show barely the tops of the trees, the entire two 
hundred acres being submerged. But this has greatly benefited the soil, 
and the land now is as rich as in the early days of Mr. Swain's first 
coming here. 

Our subject was married in 1883 to Miss Mary A. Latimer. Mrs. Swain 
located in Dakota with her sister, and filed on government land, Mr. 
and Mrs. Swain are the parents, of three children, George W., Alfred F. 
and Matthew, deceased. Both our subject and wife are members of the 
Rebekah lodge, and Mr. Swain is a member of the Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows. In political faith he is a Republican, is a prominent 
citizen, and well-known for his honesty and business methods.