• Home Page
  
• Biographies
  
• Obituaries
  
• Marriages
  
• Queries
  
• Newspaper Clippings
  
• Photos
  
• Maps
  
• Local Contacts
  
• Online Resources
  

W. W. ADAMS, listed in the census of 1860 as residing in Bon Homme or Charles Mix County, was a native of Maine, age 32, single man, a laborer. He was commissioned by Gov. Jayne in 1862 as a Lieutenant to recruit for Capt Fuller's cavalry company which was to be a part of the Militia brigade of Dakota. He raised a detachment, but Fuller failed to fill his company and his recruits were merged with Company B, Dakota Cavalry, Capt. Wm. Tripp, and mustered into the service of the United States at Sioux City in April, 1863. Adams was an enterprising man, but he does not appear in the subsequent history of Dakota. He is entitled to a pension from the United States under the Act of March 4th, 1917.

COLIN CAMPBELL, age 50, occupation, interpreter, probably at the Agency of the Yanktons. He was born in Canada and had been in the employ of the American Fur Company as an interpreter sometime prior to 1860 and had resided at Fort Pierre. He was listed in the census of 1860 as a resident of the Yankton Agency, together with his wife, Asatonka, age 35, who was born in Dakota. His name is associated with the earliest history of Charles Mix county, subsequent to its organization as a county, as a man of influence among the white as well as Indians. Note 62, p. 115, vol. IX," South Dakota Historical Collections," in which at least four men of this name are identified in the Northwest.

SATANKA WITCO, (in English language, Mad Bull*), age 45, born in Dakota, is one of the few Indians listed in the 1860 census. This Indian was a chief of a band of the Yankton Indians, an industrious, intelligent man and a property owner. He possessed 800 acres of land and $1,500 in cash and other property. His wife's name was Okeo, age 35; and daughters, Manaduta-we, age 18; Jashena, age 16; Cheta, age 13; and Oshee, age 10, all born in Dakota.

*Tatanka Witko are the Dakota words for "Mad Bull" (or "Foolish Bull"). Tatanka means buffalo bull. There is no such word as satanka.

BENJAMIN F. ESTIS, age 25, laborer, born in New York, with his wife, Madaline, age 20, and son Henry, age 4, both born in Dakota, were listed in the census of 1860 under the caption of the Yankton Agency. The first we learn of him later was his enlistment in Co. A, Dakota Cavalry, in 1861, in which organization he served as a Sergeant during his four years of service; he was highly regarded as a soldier and won the esteem and confidence of the officers and men. Upon his discharge in 1865 he took up land in Charles Mix county and made his home there for many years, cultivating his farm serving as sheriff and in other official capacities. He accumulated a competency by his thrift and industry, winning the esteem of his contemporaries.

WIILLIAM HENRY WOODRUFF, age 23, born in Indiana, was a claim holder in east Vermilion and was listed at Bon Homme in the census of 1860. He was a single man, and enlisted in Co. A, Dakota Cavalry in 1862. He was a patriotic Union man, and completed his military service with credit in 1865. He then returned to Clay County and opened his farm, which he cultivated with success for a number of years. It is not probable that he remained a single man, but we find no record of his marriage.

HERMAN STAGER, age 28, laborer, born in New York, was listed in the 1860 census as a resident of Bon Homme. He was a single man, of whom nothing more is known. Bon Homme county, having the Yankton Indian Reservation for its western neighbor, gained very few settlers during and for a number of years following the war; and it was believed at the time that the whole territory lost more in rural population than it gained.

THOMAS J. TATE, age 23, laborer, born in Pennsylvania, was listed at Bon Homme in the census of 1860. He was a member of the Shober Minnesota colony that occupied Bon Homme In 1858 and were temporarily removed, being on Indian land, by U.S. troops. Mr. Tate assisted in building the first log school house at Bon Homme, the first erected in Dakota. He became a member of Co. A, Dakota Cavalry, in 1861 and served with honor throughout the war. He was a cheerful, light hearted man, of excellent character. Sometime after the war he established a system of supplying Yankton people with pure Missouri River water, employing large tanks on wheels, with which he was able to meet the growing demand. He made money for a time, but competition crept in and Mr. Tate sold out. Some years later he took up his residence in the State Soldier's Home at Hot Springs, in Custer County, and finally died there in his 71st year. He remained a bachelor to the end. His death occurred in 1910.

LEWIS GATES, age 25, laborer, born In New York, was at Bon Homme in 1860. He was a single man and had resided in Woodbine, near Sioux City, before removing to Dakota. He enlisted in Co. B, Dakota Cavalry, served creditably during his term, and was discharged in 1865. He then returned to Iowa and died at Woodbine about 1910.

BENJAMIN HART, age 25, laborer, born in Missouri, was listed at Yankton Agency in the census of 1860. He was a new comer from a southern State and possibly had came north and west to avoid getting into the war on the "secesh" side, he being frankly for the Union "one and inseparable." He enlisted in Company A, Dakota Cavalry, in 1861, at Yankton, understanding that the company would probably remain in Dakota to protect the settlements from the hostile Indians. After the war, in which he had acquitted himself satisfactorily, he remained in Yankton and the outside settlements, assisting in organizing expeditions for the Black Hills, - the occupation of a large number of frontiersmen in that period. Mr. Hart was well educated. He went to the Black Hills in 1875-6; but we have no further record of his career.

REUBEN WALLACE, age 47, born in Vermont in 1813, one of the oldest among the Dakota pioneers of that day, was listed in the census of 1860 at Bon Homme. He was a single man and gave his occupation as a trader. He came to Bon Homme witli the first Shober colony in 1858. He was elected, with Geo. M. Pinney, a member of the first Dakota Legislature at the first election in 1861, to represent that Legislative District in the House of Representatives. One Legislative session was held in Yankton, beginning in March, 1862. He was a member of Fuller's Militia company of cavalry in September, 1862. He was one of the original Bon Homme Townsite Company. He does not appear in the records there after the Black Hills were opened in 1876.

NATHAN McDANIELS, age 50, a farmer, born in Ohio in 1810, with a fortune of $1,500, was listed with his family at Bon Homme in the census of 1860. He came to Bon Homme with the Shober Colony in 1858. His wife's name was Hannah, age 34, and they had seven children, namely: Daniel, age 17 (wife and Daniel born in Ohio); Anne, age 13; Mary, age 10; and George, 8, all born in Michigan; Joseph, age 6, and Rose, age 3, born in Minnesota. Mr. McDaniels took up land in the Choteau Creek valley and opened a fine farm in the course of a few years. He served in the Dakota Militia during the Indian troubles of 1862 as 2nd Lieutenant in Capt. Gifford's Company B. He finally removed to Meade County where he died. His widow and Daniel, George, and Joseph, his sons, were residents of Meade County when last reported.