Biography of George Nelson Breed

	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. Page 

	Scan and OCR by Joy Fisher, 1997. This file may be copied for non-profit 
	purposes. All other rights reserved. 

GEORGE NELSON BREED was born near Bloomington, Grant county, Wisconsin, 
October 16, 1857, and traces his ancestry back to Revolutionary times 
when the history of the family was intimately associated with that of 
the greatest struggle in American annals. 

Mr. Breed's parents were Samuel Scott and Marra Jane (Thurston) 
Breed. Samuel Scott Breed was born near Boston, Massachusetts, and a 
direct descendant of the owner of Breed's Hill, famous as the spot 
where the battle of Bunker Hill was waged. Samuel, when a young man, 
was engaged in hauling iron ore from Utica to Buffalo, New York. Early 
in the history of northern Illinois, he, in company with his wife, 
parents, a sister and four brothers, moved to Jo Daviess county, where 
the father located a homestead. But Samuel pushed father into the 
frontier and took up land in Grant county, Wisconsin, about the year 
1850. His industry and genial disposition brought him friends, and for 
several years he held the position of member of the board of county 
supervisors. 

He was a Whig and afterward a Republican. Disability kept him 
from taking an active part in the Rebellion, but he contributed 
liberally of his means to support the northern cause and gloried in 
their victories. He died in 1867. Maria Jane Breed, the mother of our 
subject, was born in Otsego county, New York. She now lives in Moody 
county, South Dakota, and has passed the seventy-eighth milestone of 
her life's journey. There were seven children in the family, but George 
Nelson, the subject of this sketch, and his brother, Byron Wesley, are 
the only ones living. Sarah Jane, who was Mrs. William Leighton, died 
in Colorado in 1873, and the others were but children when death 
claimed them. 

George received a common school-education, and in the fall of 
1873 entered the "Grant County Advocate" office at Lancaster, 
Wisconsin, to learn the printing trade. After serving one year there, 
on account of the paper's suspension, he went to Platteville, 
Wisconsin, and worked on the “Witness" the two years following the last 
year acting as foreman of the office because of his having acquired a 
knowledge-of the business so rapidly. After "serving his time," he 
worked in River Falls and Broadhead, Wisconsin, and in the fall of 1 
880 came to Brookings county to accept a position on the "Brookings 
County Press." During that memorable winter he twice carried paper on 
his back from Aurora, a distance of six miles, through the deep snow, 
with which to print the "Press." In the spring of 1 882 he began the 
publication of the “Brookings County Sentinel." He sold this paper in 
the course of a year and worked in various offices in South Dakota - 
but avows that he was never "out of a job " or had to "tramp" a mile 
during all his experience as a printer. In the spring of 1890 he became 
telegraph editor and foreman of the " Aberdeen Daily News," and on the 
first day of June, the same year, in company with Paul Dutcher, 
launched the " Brookings Register." It started as a weekly, but its 
circulation and reputation increased so rapidly that it was found 
advisable to convert it into a semiweekly. This was done three years 
ago with favorable results and the office is now recognized as one of 
the most successful and best paying newspaper properties in the state.

	In addition to Mr. Breed's editorial ability he is a natural 
mechanic, and he has assisted in adjusting and setting up all the 
machinery in his printing plant, which is run and heated by steam. He 
is also the inventor of what is said to be the only successful 
perforator used on job presses today. It is, therefore, almost needless 
to say that with such ability, good taste and excellent mechanical 
ability as Mr. Breed brings to bear that his work is quite as good as 
any done in the state. Mr. Breed is also an enthusiastic musician, and 
in 1882 he joined the first brass band organized in Brookings county, 
and which afterward became the First Regiment Band of South Dakota. He 
plays the snare drum' and has appeared with the band, which is said to 
be the finest in the state, upon many occasions. The most notable trip 
that this body of musicians ever made was to the World's Fair, at 
Chicago, to be present at the dedication of their state building upon 
the grounds. They received much notice both from the press and public 
of Chicago, and greatly added to the reputation of the band. Mr. Breed 
is a Republican, and also a member of the I. O. 0. F. lodge No. 40, of 
Brookings, and of the A. O. U. W., of which he was local financier for 
two terms.

	November 15, 1882, Mr. Breed and Miss Eva J. Thomas, a native of 
Hazel Green Wisconsin, were married. They are now the parents of two 
children, Raymond B. and Lillian V., one little daughter, Mildred 
Laura, having died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Breed are both members of 
the Methodist church. Mr. Breed was, during the year 1881, 
superintendent of the independent Sunday-school in Brookings, and has 
always been interested in church affairs.