Biography of Col. Eugene Huntington

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. Page 304.

Scan and OCR by Joy Fisher, 1997. This file may be copied for non-profit

purposes. All other rights reserved.

COL. EUGENE HUNTINGTON, a full-page portrait of whom will be found on another page of this book, is one of Day County’s pioneers, and a leading citizen of that part of the state. Col. Huntington was born in Norwich, Connecticut, April 18, 1844. His father, Horatio Huntington, was a native of Connecticut, having been born there in 1816. He went west to Iowa in 1855, and after some years removed to Annandale, Minnesota, where he engaged in the lumber business until his death, which occurred in 1891. He married our subject's mother in Norwich, Connecticut. Her maiden name was Julia Horton, and she was born in 1822, in New York. Of a family of eight children, five sons and three daughters, four of the sons and three of the daughters survive, our subject being the second in order of birth. He was educated in the common schools of Iowa, and in 1861, though but little more than seventeen years old, enlisted in Company H, Fourth Iowa Cavalry.

After his term of service had expired he enlisted at Vicksburg. Mississippi, in 1863. Among the important battles in which he took part were those of Vicksburg, including the resulting campaign, and the siege of Atlanta, besides many fierce engagements and skirmishes of lesser importance. His service in all covered a period of about four years. In 1865 he was discharged at Atlanta and immediately returned to Iowa, where he obtained employment from the Union Pacific Railway Company. He worked for the road during the following two years, and then went to the Illinois Central. After one year there he joined the International & Great Northern forces. With them he remained until 1872, when he returned to Iowa and entered the Iowa Pacific service. Not long afterward he engaged in the lumber business at Osage, Iowa, continuing it for six years. In the spring of 1878 he went to Flandreau, Dakota, and established a real estate office. He made that village his home until 1883, when he went to Webster and resumed the business, adding money lending and law practice, He had studied law in Iowa, and was admitted to the bar in March, 1883, by Judge Kidder. Since that time he has been in continuous practice, and has had most flattering success at the bar. Colonel Huntington, in addition to his other interests, operates a farm of four hundred acres, all under cultivation. In politics he is a Republican, and during 1884-85 was a member of the territorial legislature. He was also adjutant general of the state of South Dakota, holding that office three years, from 1889 to 1892. He has been president of the village board of Webster for a number of terms, and has held many local offices. He is a thirty-third degree, Mason and a member of the G. A. R.

In 1868 Colonel Huntington and Miss Artemisia Button, a native of New York, were married. Colonel and Mrs. Huntington are the parents of four children: Marcia B. Richard T. Grace and Gertrude.