Union County, SD Biographies.....Wynn, William J. February 26, 1845 - 
************************************************
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 http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 February 14, 2022, 6:34 pm

Source: MEMORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF Turner, Lincoln, Union and Clay Counties, South Dakota. (1897)
Author: Geo. Ogle & Co.

WILLIAM J. WYNN, a thrifty and enterprising agriculturist who has a nice farm of 200
acres located in section 27, Civil Bend township, came to Union county in 1864, and
is therefore one of the early settlers. He is a native of Tazewell county, W. Va.,
born February 26, 1845, and is a son of Harmon and Hannah (Thompson) Wynn, both of
whom were born in West Virginia and married there.

Harmon Wynn was a mill-wright by occupation, which trade he followed in West
Virginia until he started west with his family to locate in Iowa. He, however,
passed to his reward beyond the grave on the journey, and his sorrowing wife and
family were left to continue to their destination alone. The mother and children
made their first settlement in Winneshiek county, Iowa, on a farm which they
conducted and resided on for two years. At the expiration of that time they went to
Dane county, Wis., where Mrs. Wynn continued to reside till 1864, when she came to
Union county, to live with her son, the subject of this sketch. She died at his
residence in 1894, aged eighty-five years. To Mr. and Mrs. Wynn were born ten
children, and three sons and three daughters of that family still survive, viz.:
Alexander, William J. and Thomas J. and Mrs. Mary Beavers, Mrs. Ellenor H. Daily and
Mrs. Laura I. Strobel. One son, Andrew by name, was a soldier in the Civil war, a
member of the Eleventh Wisconsin regiment, infantry, and died from the effects of
exposure and privation which so many brave men were called upon to face during that
period of strife.

William J. Wynn started with his parents when they left West Virginia for Iowa, and
subsequently accompanied his mother to Wisconsin, in which states he acquired the
rudiments of education in the common schools of the districts. When he arrived in
South Dakota it appeared to him one vast expanse of wilderness; there were but few
settlers, and roads had not been established. He built a log house and covered it
with dirt, in which he resided with his mother for four years, subsequently
constructing his present place of abode, in which he has lived since. He started in
life empty-handed, but was not a stranger to hard work, and, although he worked out
for three years after coming to Union county, he industriously applied himself to
the development of his property later on, and now has, as stated above, a farm of
some 200 acres, 100 of which are under cultivation. He does general farming
exclusively. He has been a member of the school board for twenty-five years and
treasurer for sixteen years continuously. Politically, he has been a Democrat, but
at present is independent.

Mr. Wynn and Miss Sarah Edwards, a native of Harrison county, Mo., were united in
marriage in 1871, and they are the parents of eight children, six living, viz.:
Laura, Thomas A., Mary, Cleve, Willie A., and Myrtle. Mrs. Wynn was born May 19,
1851, and is a daughter of Elisha and Mary Edwards, who came to Union county in 1862
and settled at Sioux Point. They were the parents of twelve children, five of whom
are living. Both Mr. and Mrs. Edwards are now deceased.


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/sd/union/bios/wynn412gbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/sdfiles/

File size: 3.7 Kb