Faulk County, SD Biographies.....Pickler, Alice M. A. 1848 - living in 1909 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/sd/sdfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 8, 2005, 11:15 pm Author: C. H. Ellis ALICE M. A. PICKLER is the daughter of Joseph and Eliza Alt. She was born in Johnson county, Iowa, near Iowa City, in 1848. She comes of a family very old in America. A paternal ancestor, Michel Drew by name, left the service of the king a few years prior to the outbreak of the Revolution, came to America, and enlisted and served in the Continental army. An ancestor on her mother's side, Frederick Kepford, was with Washington at Valley Forge. A family tradition has it that upon one occasion, as he slept one winter night at his accustomed place under a baggage wagon, his cue froze fast to the ground. The names of these ancestors still survive among the Christian names of the family. Mrs. Pickler's father was born near Harper's Ferry, Virginia, and when a few weeks old was taken by his family to Springfield, Ohio, where he lived until 1840. He then came to Johnson county, Iowa, and resided on land which he obtained from the government, until his death, in January, 1904, a period of sixty-four years. Her mother, Eliza Kepford, removed with her people from Pennsylvania to the same county in the 'forties, where she married Mr. Alt and where they had their home together for fifty-six years. She died February 5, 1904, one week after the death of her husband. They were the last of the early Iowa pioneers in that vicinity. Mrs. Pickler lived with her parents upon the farm, attending the district school and engaging in the duties devolving upon a girl living in the country at that time. She attended the Iowa State University for a period of six years, commencing when at the age of fourteen. She was one of the early students of that institution and is a member of the Elder Daughters of the University. She taught school a portion of the time during her attendance at the university, a part of the time in the model school of that institution. While attending the university she became acquainted with her future husband, J. A. Pickler, who was attending at the same time. They were married November 16, 1870. She accompanied her husband during his law course at Ann Arbor, Michigan; afterwards they resided at Kirksville, Missouri, two years and at Muscatine, Iowa, seven years, from whence they came as pioneers to Faulk county, Dakota Territory. She was accompanied to Dakota by her two younger sisters, Kate E. and Nellie Alt, the wives respectfully of W. G. Faulkner, ex-county auditor, and D. H. Latham who has been state's attorney for Faulk county. Mrs. Pickler's parents were quiet, but aggressive and positive, people, who loved good principles as their own lives, and in this atmosphere their oldest daughter, Alice, grew to womanhood. The church and the temperance reform found in her parents warm friends. During the great Civil war eight of their immediate relatives had a part, serving with fidelity and distinction. Mr. Alt was a Whig and cast his vote for John C. Fremont for President. So intense was their loyalty that it was deeply impressed on the minds of the children who were old enough to understand the editorials in the New York Tribune, which was the standard paper in the family. The enthusiasm that sent hospital supplies to the army at the front was shared by the children and young people. When the war ended a number of the younger soldiers attended school at the Iowa State University, among them Major J. A. Pickler, then twenty-two years old. A four years acquaintance in this pleasant college ended in the marriage of Alice M. Alt to him. Up to the time of their removal to Dakota, Mrs. Pickler's field of work was most and first of all, her family of three children, the Methodist church and a membership in the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. When she, with others in that great territory of Dakota, began to make homes and "plant the roots of states,” a desire for the same happy environments in the new state that had been left in the old, led her into more active work along broader lines. Her husband was a member of the territorial legislature of 1885, which gave her a wide acquaintance with many of the best and most active men and women of the two Dakotas. This friendship she cherishes at the present time. Her sphere of opportunity was still more-widened upon the accession of statehood and during the eight years following she became acquainted with a number of representatives of the western states, who made their home for a time at the national capital. Mrs. Pickler has been a member ef the executive board of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union in her state for many years. Also was honored as the unanimous choice for president of the State Relief Corps. She was also national chaplain of that body in 1900. She was one of the first trustees of the Methodist Episcopal church, at Faulkton. She has been a grand officer of the Order of the Eastern Star. In all of these organizations she is an earnest member, but to her family she is most devoted. The children, Lula A., wife of W. J. Frad, late editor of the Mitchell (South Dakota) Gazette and now dry goods merchant at Faulkton; Madge E., who has become the wife of N. E. Hoy, editor of the Grand Valley Herald and real estate dealer at Meadow, Perkins county, South Dakota; Alfred A. editor of the Aberdeen (South Dakota) Daily American, and Dale A., now a student at Simmon's College, Boston, Mass., have all done honor to themselves and parents in their college work, and the positions they occupy. In their pioneer home a large lamp always hung in the window to guide the lost traveler on the great prairies to a place of shelter. The home has grown to one of ample size, of the colonial type. The light still shines and friend or caller there finds the same open-handed hospitality which helped in the 'eighties to weave the ties that bind in unbroken friendship those pioneers who have made the history of the state of South Dakota. Additional Comments: From: HISTORY OF FAULK COUNTY SOUTH DAKOTA CAPTAIN C. H. ELLIS TOGETHER WITH BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PIONEERS AND PROMINENT CITIZENS ILLUSTRATED 19O9 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/sd/faulk/bios/gbs3pickler.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/sdfiles/ File size: 6.6 Kb