Thomas Bandy 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, 1898. Pages 438-439

	Scan, OCR and editing by Joy Fisher, jfisher@sdgenweb.com, 1999.

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THOMAS BANDY, one of the prosperous and well-known citizens of 
Brookings county, who has made his home on section 14, Volga township, 
was born near Dayton, Indiana, April 28, 1826.  His father was born in 
Virginia and served in the war of 1812.  He died May 5, 1874.  His 
mother was born in Kentucky, November 11, 1799, and died at Fairfield, 
Iowa, June 2, 1881. Our subject moved with his parents from his native 
state in about 1834, to Kossuth, Iowa, where he passed his boyhood and 
received his education.  He worked on his father's farm until he 
attained his majority and then, in 1850, started for California by the 
"overland route," equipped with covered wagons and ox teams.  The 
little company had four yoke of oxen with which they arrived in 
California without a loss. Mr. Bandy made the most of this distance on 
foot, and with the rest of the company, amused himself with hunting 
buffalo, etc. They saw many Indians while making this journey but were 
not molested, and on the whole, had a very pleasant trip, and the many 
wolves, antelope, elk and the enormous herds of buffalo were objects of 
interest throughout the entire journey.  After arriving in California 
Mr. Bandy was engaged in surface mining at Sacramento and Marysville 
until 1853, when he started for home by the way of the Isthmus of 
Panama, and by ship from there to New Orleans, thence by river steamer 
to Burlington, Iowa, and then home.

Mr. Bandy was married December 7, 1854, to Miss Elizabeth Ware, a 
native of Ohio, born October 5, 1832, the daughter of Mathias and Jane 
Ware.  Mr. Ware died at Kossuth, Iowa, at the age of seventy-seven 
years.  The mother, Mrs. Jane Ware, was born in Pennsylvania, in 1789, 
and died July 24, 1885, at the age of ninety-six years.

Mr. Bandy next moved to Jordan, Minnesota, where he pre-empted a 
quarter section of land on which he carried on a farming business for 
twenty years.  He then sold out and went to Brookings county, South 
Dakota, and, in the spring of 1878, took a homestead and a tree claim 
and returned to Minnesota to get his family.  He also took a drove of 
forty head of cattle, and in connection with his general farming, did 
an extensive business in stock raising. The farm is now in a high state 
of cultivation and is adorned by an elegant farm house, which is well-
furnished and constitutes a commodious and cozy home.

Mr. and Mrs. Bandy are the parents of eleven children, viz.: John 
Stewart, Mathias Ware, Thomas Walter, Martha Lee, Margaret Katie, Henry 
Addison, Samuel Wilber, now deceased, Elijah Grant, Albert Beacher, 
Louisa Jane and George Arthur.  Mr. and Mrs. Bandy and most of the 
children are members of the Presbyterian church.  Politically, the 
father and a decided majority of the sons are stanch supporters of the 
Republican party.  During the snow blockade of the winter of 1880-81 
the family had a good supply of flour in the house, much more fortunate 
than many of the neighbors who were obliged to grind their wheat in 
coffee mills to procure bread.  They also had a good supply of wood on 
hand with which to keep warm, drawn from Oakwood township.