Biography of Dudley David Sage

	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 273.

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


HON. DUDLEY DAVID SAGE, state senator from the twentieth district, is 
one of the most prominent and influential farmers of Brookings county. 
He is a progressive, liberal minded man, of much executive force, and 
during his career in Brookings county has aided materially in its large 
and steady growth. Mr. Sage resides on section 21, Trenton township, 
near Aurora. He was born in Allegany county, New York, February 12, 
1854, and is the son of David B. and Helen M. (Farrell) Sage. David B. 
Sage was a native of Allegany county also. He removed to Dodge county, 
Wisconsin, near Beaver Dam, and there tilled a farm for about eight 
years. He then went to Olmstead county, Minnesota, and in 1877 came to 
South Dakota. He died in Brookings county in November, 1879, as the 
result of injuries received in a runaway accident. Mr. Sage was a 
Republican, but took no active part in public affairs. His father, 
David Sage, was a soldier in the United States army, and held several 
different commissions. He served in the war of 1812. The Sage family 
traces its ancestry back many generations, when David Sage came to the 
United States from Wales. He was among the first Massachusetts 
colonists. Mrs. Sage, the mother of our subject, died in 1897, in her 
sixty-ninth year.

	Dudley David Sage attended the common schools of Minnesota and 
also spent one year at the Chatfield academy, Chatfield, Minnesota. 
After his eighteenth year he worked on various farms in the 
neighborhood in order to help maintain the family, and in 1875 began 
for himself in Mower county, Minnesota, where he secured a tract of 
land. In 1877 Mr. Sage came to Brookings county, taking his household 
goods and all of his effects in a covered wagon, and driving the entire 
distance, for in those days railroads were a luxury in the west, and 
not a necessity. Soon after his arrival he staked out a claim on 
section 21, Trenton township. The land, of course, was perfectly wild 
and many difficulties were encountered in its cultivation. Mr. Sage 
persevered, however, and by working early and late, and giving close 
attention to business, has succeeded in establishing one of the 
prettiest and most fertile farms in the county. He now has 160 acres 
all under the plow. Mr. Sage has always been a Republican, and always 
taken an interest in political matters, having served the public in 
many capacities. He was first elected town clerk, and afterward held 
many other local offices. He nearly always represents his district in 
the county convention, and in 1896 was chosen as a delegate to the 
state convention. In the same year also Mr. Sage was elected state 
senator for the twentieth district, and is now serving his first term 
at the capitol. Mr. Sage is a member of the A. O. U. W., and a master 
workman in Aurora lodge, No. 87.

	On the ninth of October, 1881, Mr. Sage and Miss Effie Trescott 
were married. Mrs. Sage was born at Newton Falls, Trumbull county, 
Ohio, and came with her parents to Minnesota in 1859. Mr. Trescott, her 
father, enlisted in the United States army, and served through the 
early part of the (Civil war and in the northwest. He was killed in the 
terrible Indian massacre at New Ulm, Minnesota, in 1862. Mr. and Mrs. 
Sage are parents of seven children, Norman David, Diana Maude, Charles 
Weldon, Clarence Trescott, Howard Irving, Ella Marie, and Effie Louisa.