Biography of Daniel K. Matthews

	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 283.

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



HON. DANIEL K. MATTHEWS, ex-state senator, and one of the most 
prominent farmers of Moody county, resides on section 31, Grovena 
township, not a great distance from the town of Egan. Mr. Matthews has, 
ever since 1878, when he took up his residence there, been a leader in 
Moody county affairs, and one of the most popular and influential 
citizens in Grovena township. He was born September 8, 1853, in Dane 
county, Wisconsin, and is a son of Rev. C. W. and Hannah (Knight) 
Matthews, both natives of Vermont who came west in the early times, 
settling in Wisconsin. Rev. C. W. Matthews was a Congregational 
minister, and preached nearly all of his life. He was a graduate of 
Dartmouth college, and a finely educated man. He lived in Wisconsin 
until 1874, when he removed to Minnesota, engaging in farming in 
addition to his ministerial pursuits. He later secured a charge at 
Edgerton, where he remained for several years. While a resident of 
Luverne, Minnesota, he occupied the pulpit occasionally. A few y ears 
later he came to South Dakota, where he resided several years and then 
removed to the state of Washington, where he died in July, 1 895. Our 
subject's mother died when he was one year old, leaving, beside 
himself, a daughter, Edith R.  Rev. Mr. Matthews some time after 
married Miss Susan Knight, who bore him five children, three dying in 
infancy. Irving W. and Clara H. grew to manhood and womanhood, the 
latter being now deceased. The Matthews family is an old colonial one, 
while the Knights settled in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1636. Daniel 
spent his youthful days for the most part in Wisconsin, where he 
received a good common-school education, suplemented by an attendance 
of five terms at the Normal school, in Oshkosh. He then began teaching 
school, which he continued for nearly five years in Wisconsin, 
Minnesota and Dakota. At the age of twenty-three he came to Sioux 
Falls, South Dakota, with a prospecting party, and was so taken with 
the country that he resolved to see more of it. Accordingly, the 
following year he made a trip to Moody county, decided favorably upon 
the location, and before the summer of 1879 was well under way had 
settled permanently in Grovena township. He built himself a small 
cottage with lumber he had hauled in a wagon from Luverne, Minnesota, a 
number of miles away. Flandreau in those days was but a trading post. 
Mr. Matthews gradually improved his land, and finally succeeded in 
making a very productive farm out of the erstwhile raw prairie. Some
years afterward he removed to his present location. He now owns four 
hundred acres of land, nearly all under cultivation. He has a fine 
residence, and everything about his large farm is modern and up to the 
times, for Mr. Matthews is a broadminded, progressive man, and one who 
never fails to keep abreast of the procession in all respects. In 1889 
he was elected upon the Populist 'ticket as state senator from the 
Fifteenth district, which includes Moody county. He was a member of the 
"steering" committee of the senate, which directed the movements of the 
Populists upon the floor, and was also selected to act on several of 
the most important of the regular committees. He was very active during 
his term as a senator, and made a most aggressive fight for the 
people's interests. Among the bills he introduced were: One designed to 
prohibit usury; a bill to regulate the actions of township officers 
throughout the state; and a memorial to congress to foreclose the Union 
Pacific railroad mortgage. Mr. Matthews has always taken part in 
Populist conventions and councils, and in addition is a warm advocate 
of temperance. He has been on the county committee for years, and has 
held many county and township offices. Mr. Matthews is a member of the 
Masonic fraternity, Egan lodge, No. 100, and has attained to the blue 
lodge degrees. He has never married.