Henry Burvee

HENRY J. BURVEE, deceased, of whom a portrait appears [here], was one of the best-known pioneers of Kingsbury county, and, up to the time of his death, October 27, 1894, took a leading part in the affairs of the county which he had helped to organize. Mr. Burvee and several of his companions journeyed from Minnehaha county, South Dakota, in the year 1878, to what is now Spirit Lake township, in Kingsbury county, and, in consequence of their peculiar situation, the weirdness of the scene and the wild desolation before them, they gave the place on the little lake before them this spectral, but withal beautiful, name. Mr. Burvee was born January 21, 1848, in Cortland county, New York. His parents were Eliza and Melissa (Cromwell) Burvee, and he was the older of two children, the younger bearing the name of Wallace. Henry worked upon the paternal homestead until he attained his majority, and then removed to Iowa, securing a farm near Alonga. He remained in the Hawkeye State upwards of four years and then decided to seek a home further to the westward. He accordingly disposed of his Iowa interests, started upon his long journey toward the Dakotas. He arrived in Minnehaha county, Dakota, in the year 1873 and immediately settled upon a government claim. He cultivated this for perhaps five years, and then, for reasons which will be explained further on, he gave it up and resolved to push even further north. A local paragrapher has touched upon the most interesting part of Mr. Burvee’s history so cleverly that the following quotation is given from one of his articles: “Becoming dissatisfied with farm work, Mr. Burvee determined to realize the life he had planned for himself as a boy, which was to raise range stock. This would require unlimited grazing ground, and an abundant supply of water, to gain which would necessitate removal to a less thickly settled region. It was Burvee’s desire also to find timber in order that the stock might be sheltered less expensively, and that he might be abundantly supplied with fuel. In 1878 he started overland with his two brothers-in-law, James and John Foster, traveling northward to the present county of Kingsbury, then unorganized and unmapped north of lakes Thompson and Henry. In June of the same year their camp was pitched on the southern extremity of Lake Thompson. Early one morning, without waiting for breakfast, Mr. Burvee mounted his horse and set out to take a survey of the surrounding country. On the plains of the Dakota, when a bright sun appears after a night of heavy dew there is often produced a mirage most beautiful and striking. Such was the condition on the June morning referred to, and there appeared to this solitary traveler, far toward the north, a beautiful wooded lake. The distance he did not pause to calculate, but, hurrying back to camp, told his companions of what he had seen. All soon joined in the pursuit of the phantom mirrored in the sky, and after a long, weary ride of over eighteen miles, they found it–not, indeed, the misty picture reflected in the clouds, but a real lake, shaped like a horseshoe, with its limpid depths as clear as crystal and its surface glistening like a great, glassy floor. Above all there seemed to pervade a death-like stillness. Seeking for a good view the party mounted an elevation of land near by, upon the top of which they discovered an Indian burying mound. This one grave, keeping its eternal watch over the lonely lake- this quiet resting place whose silence had heretofore been unbroken by civilized man- this mound, surrounded as it was by the far-reaching and unsettled plains- this strange scene appealed strongly to the superstition in the natures of these three travelers, standing alone in this weird, unknown place, and, with thoughts of some warrior, happy in the hunting grounds above, they christened the body of water before them “Spirit Lake.” It has borne that name to this day. Mr. Burvee soon afterward pre-empted a claim, which included the Spirit Lake Grove, and there settled down to live, and carry out the cherished plans of his life. He was one of the three men appointed to organize Kingsbury county, and was one of the first county commissioners, holding office for three years. For a long period thereafter he was a member of the Spirit Lake township board, and did much to aid the growth of the county, not alone by his public acts, but by private and individual efforts whenever the chance would present itself. In political matters he was an unwavering Democrat, and an enthusiastic worker for the principles of his party. Mr. Burvee married Miss Lillie A. Foster on the 12th of July, 1875. Mrs. Burvee is a daughter of Robert and Lillie (Scott) Foster, and was born October 17, 1856, in Canada. There were seven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Burvee, whose names and dates of birth follow: Cora, September 10, 1876; Cassie, February 20, 1878, now deceased; Duane, February 9, 1882; Gracie, March 4, 1884; Jewell, May 30, 1887; Raymond, July 18, 1890; and Henry, March 27, 1895. Mrs. Burvee is now residing with her children upon the farm in section 20, Spirit Lake township. The death of Mr. Burvee was keenly felt by the people of Kingsbury county, to whom he had endeared himself by his many amiable qualities, and by the many services he rendered to the community as a pioneer, a public man and citizen. Mr. Burvee rightly earned a place in the history of South Dakota, and when that wonderful, fascinating work shall be written his struggles, exploits and success will be given their just meed of praise.

— Memorial & Biographical Record, An Illustrated Compendium of Biography (Chicago: George A. Ogle & Co., 1898), 626-630.