BEMIS, Prescott W. 1847-1935

BEMIS, BECKWITH

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 1/20/2022 at 19:03:32

Morrison's Oldest Resident Is Dead

Morrison, Ia.--P. W. Bemis, Morrison's oldest resident, died Wednesday in his eighty-eighth year. He was born in Massachusetts June 7, 1847. He settled in South Dakota in early life and a town there was named for him. Burial will be at that town.

He came here 14 years ago and was married here to Mrs. Anna Beckwith.

Survivors include a son and a daughter of his first marriage; John Emmens Bemis, Des Moines, and Mrs. Lois Robinson, West Virginia.

Services here were conducted Thursday afternoon and they body will be taken Friday to Bemis.

--The Courier (Waterloo, Iowa), 21 March 1935, pg 5

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Builder Of Town In South Dakota Dead At Morrison

P. W. Bemis Founded Town Of That Name In South Dakota; Owned Large Land Interests

P. W. Bemis, who was founder and builder of the town by that name in South Dakota, died Wednesday afternoon at his home in Morrison following an illness of only a few weeks. He was 88 years old.

For many years Mr. Bemis was one of the outstanding figures in South Dakota. As a boy he resided in Chicago. While in his early twenties he contracted tuberculosis and the doctors told him the only cure for him would be to go as far west as he could get. He took the doctor's advice and came west as far as the railroad would carry him. When he got to the end of the railroad he got himself a horse and kept on riding west. He put up at a ranch house during the winter and by spring his health had come back and he decided to stay in South Dakota. He acquired a homestead and he followed that with the purchase of much more land. He got into farming on such a large scale that he decided to put up a grain elevator of his own.

Lays Out Town
He arranged with a railroad company to build a line through his land holdings and he proceeded to lay out a town and he called it after himself. He built an elevator, a store, a hotel, and a bank, and the town grew into a thrifty place and its founder became rich in the sale of town lots and in large tracts of land that he got for almost nothing, and sold at a substantial advance.

His prosperity lasted until the bottom dropped out of South Dakota real estate and banks cracked in every town. He had little left at the time of his death of the big fortune that he accumulated during his active life in the west.

Married Three Times
Mr. Bemis was three times married. He is survived by his wife, one son who lives in Des Moines, and a daughter who resides in Virginia.

--unreadable-- S.D., for burial.

--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 21 March 1935, pg 1