Edward H. Couse

December 22, 1916. Edward H. Couse.

Edward H. Couse was born in Otsego county, New York, April 1, 1830. He was the eldest son of Henry H. and Clarissa Couse and was one of a family of eight children, of whom only one brother, Carlton D. Couse of Tripoli, Iowa, survives him. He moved to Illinois with his parents in 1844 and from there to Minnesota in 1853. Two years later a girl whom he had met there drew him back to Illinois, and he was married to Lydia Eaton, May 3, 1855, and took her back to a little cabin he had built for her in Minnesota. There they lived happily until the Civil War broke. on the 29th of September 1862, he was appointed first lieutenant and adjutant in the 9th regiment of Minnesota volunteer infantry under Col. Alex Wilkin. He saw considerable active service and was in the famous battle of Nashville. There he received a slight leg wound but recovered fully and was honorably discharged at the close of the war, at Ft. Snelling, Minn., on August 24, 1865. He also took part in the battles of Guntown, Tuepalo, Spanish Fort and Blakely.

Up to this time there had been no children to bless his married life, so in 1867 he and his wife adopted Letta Mary Davies, then only five years of age. They reared her as their own daughter and cared for her until her marriage.

In the fall of 1879 he came to Volga, S.D. At that time the railroad did not run as far as De Smet. he often told of how homesick he was the first winter in South Dakota. in the spring he took up a government homestead in Kingsbury county. Later he purchased a half interest in a hardware business in De Smet and soon after bought out his partner and conducted the business alone. He gave up the homestead and built a little home in De Smet, where he lived until the end of his life.

At about the age of 69 years he retired from active business and devoted the balance of his life to the study of science and philosophy, and to active charities and good causes. It was he who was instrumental in organizing a branch of the Lincoln Farm Association, whose purpose is to make the farm upon which Abraham Lincoln was born into a park, preserving the log house in which he was born; to erect a memorial hall and monument to perpetuate the memory of the great president. His reverence for Mr. Lincoln was unbounded. He has subscribed for many worthy causes and has helped needy persons in and around De Smet. Hundreds of persons bless his memory.

He died December 18, 1916, at the age of 86 years, 8 months and 18 days.

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