Biography of Matthew Walklin

	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 416-417

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


MATTHEW WALKLIN is one of Hamlin county's most prominent and progressive 
agriculturists and a leading citizen of Castlewood township, where he 
resides on section 10. Mr. Walklin was born February 4, 1832, in 
England. His father, William Walklin, also an Englishman; died in his 
native country when our subject was a child, and his mother, whose 
maiden name was Mary Fisher, was born in England and died there in 1855. 
Matthew, who was the fourth in a family of five sons, remained in 
England until 1852, and in the spring of that year came to this country, 
settling in Waukesha county, Wisconsin In 1859 he went to Sauk county, 
in the same state, where he purchased a farm and lived until the spring 
of 1879. He then removed to Hamlin county, South Dakota, and homesteaded 
a claim on section 10, Castlewood township, where he now resides. This 
claim has since grown into a splendid farm of eight hundred acres, 
finely improved and supplied with every variety of machine and appliance 
which modern farming suggests. The land is very largely under 
cultivation, and its location on the banks of the Sioux river insures an 
abundance of water at all times, and also enhances the natural 
attractiveness of the place, which is, without doubt, one of the finest 
farms in Hamlin county, if not in the entire state. Mr. Walklin had 
little or nothing when he came to Dakota, and his present position and 
comparative affluence are the result solely of his own efforts, combined 
with pluck, energy and great executive ability. Mr. Walklin is 
independent in politics, and, though not an active partisan, has always 
manifested a great interest in local public affairs. He is a member of 
the Episcopal church. Our subject is a veteran of the late war, having 
enlisted February 4, 1865, at Madison, Wisconsin, in Company E, Forty-
ninth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. His company went to Rollo, Missouri, 
and did duty in various parts of the state until discharged at Benton 
Barracks, St. Louis, on the 8th of November, 1865.

	Mr. Walklin was married to Miss Mary Patterson, August 23, 1869, 
in Sauk county, Wisconsin. Mrs. Walklin was born July 27, 1843, in 
Mukwanago, Wisconsin, and is a daughter of John and Sarah Patterson. Her 
father, a farmer by occupation, was born in Ireland, December 25, 1818, 
and is now living in Sauk county, Wisconsin; her mother was born in New 
York, October 17, 1818, and died in Sauk county on the 5th of March, 
1891. Mr. and Mrs. Walklin are the parents of nine children, of whom we 
have the following record: Annie, now Mrs. Cole, and a resident of Hayti 
township, Hamlin county; William; John, married and living in Castlewood 
township, Hamlin county; and Mary, now Mrs. Bartholomew, residing in 
Klemme, Iowa; Matthew, Libbie, Frank, Edwin and Sarah, at home. The 
first seven were born in Sauk county, Wisconsin, and the others in 
Hamlin county.