Ellsworth Washburn 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 512, 513

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

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ELLSWORTH WASHBURN. Among the younger residents of Spink county, who 
are making a success of their vocation, none should be accorded a 
higher rank than the subject of this review. He has chosen the vocation 
of an agriculturist, and his fine estate in Jefferson township is one 
of the best to be found in that portion of the state. His home is 
located on the southwest quarter of section 15, where he enjoys the 
comforts of a rural home.  

Our subject is a native of Winona county, Minnesota, and was born May 
1, 1865. He was the youngest in a family of five children born to 
William H. and Amanda Washburn. The mother is at present a resident of 
Ashton, South Dakota. The family made a home in Jackson county, 
Wisconsin, when our subject was but two years of age, and there resided 
until 1880, when they removed to Dakota. They shipped their effects to 
Watertown, and drove from there to the new home, on the land which the 
father had selected the year previous. The farm was on the banks of the 
river, and there the family lived for two years. They preempted in 
1882, and established on the homestead where our subject now resides. 
The first spring they planted four acres to wheat, which yielded over 
one hundred bushels, furnishing seed for the following season. They 
were well provided for during the winter of 1880-81, with fuel at hand, 
and though they run very close for meat and flour, they had a small 
supply remaining when the winter broke. They soon had a wheat farm of 
about three hundred acres and were considered the most extensive 
farmers in the valley during the early days. Our subject now possesses 
three hundred and twenty acres of land, controls five quarter-sections, 
and has about six hundred and fifty acres under plow. Water is obtained 
at a depth of twenty-eight feet on the home farm, and a windmill power 
supplies it to the stock.  

Our subject was married in 1897 to Miss Nellie Nelson, a native of 
Wisconsin. Mrs. Washburn is a daughter of Nels and Martha (Olson) 
Nelson, and with her parents located in Dakota in 1881, and settled on 
a farm in Tetonka township. Both Mr. and Mrs. Washburn are members of 
the Eastern Star and Rebekah lodges, and our subject is a member of the 
Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. From his 
first vote he has been a Populist, and stands firmly for the principles 
of the party. He advocates equal suffrage, and is keenly alive to 
matters of moment, giving his support to every measure for the 
development of the better interests of his community. Portraits of Mr. 
and Mrs. Washburn are shown on another page of this volume.