Samuel H. Elrod
b. 1 May 1856, Coatesville, Hendricks County, Indiana, to Jesse F. and Lydia (Pursell) Elrod
d. 13 July 1935, Clark, Clark County, South Dakota

m. 10 November 1884, Hendricks County, Indiana
Mary Ellen Masten
b. March 1863, Indiana, to Mathias and Eliza Jane (Fitts) Masten
d. after 1930

Children with Mary Ellen Masten:
• Barbara (1892-aft. 1920)
• Arthur Mellette (1896-1966) married Viola [–?–]

Samuel’s father’s family was from Stokes County, North Carolina. They settled in Clay Township, Hendricks County, Indiana.

Samuel left Indiana for the Dakota Territory in 1882, shortly after graduating from DePauw University in Greencastle, Putnam County, Indiana. He came back in 1884 to marry a fellow Clay Township resident and to receive another degree, after which they returned to the Dakotas. He was a lawyer; a delegate at South Dakota’s first constitutional convention; state’s attorney for Clark County, South Dakota, for ten years; county postmaster; county probate judge; and the fifth governor of South Dakota (1905-1907).

Submitted by:
Meredith Thompson
Avon IN
E-mail: mere@augustmoondesign.com