Silas S. Yeager 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 464

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

	This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit 
	organizations for their private use. 

	Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval 
	system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other 
	means requires the written approval of the file's author.

	This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside
	a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at

	http://usgwarchives.org/sd/sdfiles.htm

SILAS S. YEAGER is treasurer of Day county, and is one of its well-known and 
most highly esteemed citizens.  He resides at the county seat, Webster.  Mr. 
Yeager was born in Iowa, December 25, 1857, and is a son of Leonard and Anna 
(Cunnington) Yeager.  Leonard Yeager, a native of Pennsylvania, spent the early 
years of his life in Upper Canada.  He soon afterward learned the carpenter's 
trade, at which he worked for many years.  In 1856 he took up his residence in 
Iowa, where he remained until the fall of 1879. He then removed to Hubbard 
county, Minnesota, where he now makes his home, living in retirement.  He 
married our subject's mother in Hamilton, Ontario, in the fall of 1855.  Mrs. 
Yeager died in Hubbard, Minnesota, on the 22d of December, 1896. Silas received 
his education in the schools of Iowa, and afterward worked as a farm laborer, 
devoting his entire income until his twenty-fifth year to the support of the 
family.  In June, 1880, he removed with his parents to Hubbard county, 
Minnesota, securing employment as a farm hand there. On May 5, 1882, he settled 
in Day county, South Dakota, and shortly afterward filed on a tree claim and 
homestead in Valley township.  He has since added to his holdings, and is now 
the owner of seven hundred and twenty acres of fine farming land. In May, 1893, 
Mr. Yeager engaged in the coal and lumber business at Bristol, in addition to 
farming.  He sold the lumber-yard yard on the 2d of March, 1894, but continued 
the coal business until December 6, i8~, when he also disposed of that.  He 
lived in Bristol from the 1st of October, 1893, until the time he sold out, and 
then removed to Webster to enter upon the duties of the office of county 
treasurer.  Mr. Yeager is a Populist in politics, and has been an enthusiastic 
adherent of the principles of that party since its organization, in which he 
assisted.  Aside from the office which he now occupies, he has held many public 
positions in Day county.  From 1892 to 1895 he was one of the county 
commissioners. He has also served as school and township treasurer, member of 
the school board, and so on.  He is a member of the I. 0. p. F. and the M. W. A.
On the 20th of November, 1883, Mr. Yeager and Miss Rachel Buttler were married.  
Mrs. Yeager is a native of Newton county, Indiana, and a daughter of Harrison 
and Syntha Buttler.  She went west with her parents to Douglas county, 
Minnesota, when a child, and from the latter state removed to South Dakota in 
1882, settling in Day county.  Mr. and Mrs. Yeager are the parents of four 
children: Floyd C.; Cora, deceased; Lilia, who died when an infant; and Glenn, 
whose death occurred on the 17th of September, 1897.  Mr. Yeager has been one of 
the most progressive agriculturists in Day county.  He was a poor young man a 
few years ago when he came to Dakota, but through his industry, pluck and able 
management, he has gradually risen in the scale of fortune until he is now one 
of the well-to-do men of that section.  His career is a lesson which may well be 
taken to heart by those who complain of the hard lot which "fate" has destined 
for them. Mr. Yeager had the same obstacles to overcome as most men, and a great 
many more, as the Dakota pioneers will testify to a man Instead of groaning 
about it, however, he went to work, and to-day he has in full the reward of his 
exertions-a position in life, a competence for his declining years, and the 
popularity which comes of honest success.  The Dakota of to-day would be still a 
wilderness had it not been for such men as these.