Beadle, Wiliam Henry Harrison

Beadle, Wiliam Henry Harrison

(1838–1915) educator; born in Parke County, Ind. He studied civil engineering at the University of Michigan and rose to the rank of brevet brigadier general during the Civil War. He went to the Dakota Territory in 1869. As surveyor general for that area, he put all his efforts toward the judicious and cautious use of the public school lands. He wrote the education article in the South Dakota state constitution and was president of the Madison State Normal School (1889–1906). South Dakota placed his statue in the U.S. Capitol.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.