Frank E. Aiken 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, 1899. Pages 463-464

	Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. 

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FRANK E. AIKEN. The James River Valley, in Jefferson township, Spink 
county, is one of the most fertile and beautiful places in South 
Dakota. It is characterized by a luxuriant growth of vegetation, both 
native to the soil and grown by the hands of men. On each bank of the 
river is a fine growth of young timber, and the eye is charmed by 
nature's evident intent to relieve the monotony of the surrounding 
prairie. The farms are of the finest type, and the settlers are 
characterized by thrift and generosity. To one of the substantial and 
prominent agriculturists of this locality, the subject of this review, 
is due the credit of much of the advancement of the better interests of 
the county, where his home is located on section 7, in Jefferson 
township. His farm, comprising two hundred and ninety acres, is perhaps 
in the most perfect state of cultivation and improvement of any of the 
valley farms. Painstaking care is apparent in the housing of implements 
and the erection of buildings, and so perfectly has our subject 
adjusted himself to his surroundings that it would be but natural for 
the stranger to suppose he had been reared on a farm, but instead he 
devoted his earlier years to a trade. 

Mr. Aiken was born in Dane county, Wisconsin, March 11, 1858. His 
parents, Nathaniel and Unice (Dunton) Aiken, raised a family of eight 
children, our subject being the seventh in the order of their births. 
He learned the miller's trade, which he followed until 1881, when he 
went to Dakota, in October of that year, to speculate in lands. In 1882 
he became a resident of Spink county, since which time he has been 
closely identified with its interests and progress. He is greatly 
impressed with the feasibility of corn growing, and for five years he 
has had excellent success, cropping his land to wheat and corn 
alternately. He is interested in stock and raises small Yorkshire hogs, 
draft horses, a few head of cattle, and chickens. His gardening 
industry, for which he has a splendid location, is on an extensive 
scale, and he has met with success in every venture to which he has 
turned his attention. 

Mr. Aiken has an excellent helpmate in the person of Mrs. Aiken, to 
whom he was married in 1881. Mrs. Aiken's maiden name was Miss Cora 
Swain, and she has ever been a cheerful housewife, ready to supplement 
his efforts by word or labor. Going with her husband to the new home, 
the struggles which they were compelled to overcome seemed less with 
her to counsel and encourage, and they are now among the substantial 
property owners of the county, and enjoy the esteem of a large 
acquaintance.