"Last Friday morning the death angel visited a Vermillion home and removed from that home a kind husband and loving father, and removed from Vermillion circles a true neighbor and loyal friend.

James Hyde was one of the pioneers of this county. He came to South Dakota at the close of the Civil War, and since his coming here he has been prominently and actively identified with all the interests that went to make up the material growth of this county. He was widely and favorably known, and all who had the good fortune to make his acquaintance came to know him as their friend. To his family he was the embodiment of all that is implied in a kind and loving husband and father, and his death falls heavily upon the bereaved ones. But his earthly sufferings are over and he has gone to a brighter and better land.

James Hyde was born on April 14, 1842, at Mapleton, Penn. When he was a lad of eight years of age his parents moved to Iowa, where he lived until he was twenty years old. On May 23, 1862, he enlisted in Co. B, Second Battalion, Sixteenth U. S. Infantry, and saw a large amount of service during the war up to the time he was mustered out and received an honorable discharge at Lookout Mountain, May 24, 1865. Out of the three years he was in the service, he spent fourteen months in Southern prisons. He was confined in Libby prison for three months, and for eleven months he endured as best he could the horrors of Andersonville. When the war was over he came west and settled in South Dakota. In 1868 he was married to Miss Helen Miner, daughter of Captain Nelson Miner, who, with seven children, still survive him.

Mr. Hyde was prominent in society circles. He held a membership in Miner Post, No. 8, G. A. R., and in Dakota Pine Camp, No. 450, M. W. A. He was also prominent in Masonic circles, being a member of the R. A. M. and A. F. & A. M. in this city, and also of Vermillion Commandery No. 16, Knights Templar."

He represented Clay County in the Territorial Legislature of 1872. We are indebted to his daughter, Mrs. Rosa E. Beebe, of Vermillion, S. D., for the kindly interest she has taken in furnishing material for the above mention.