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Erastus Timothy Cressey

COL. E. T. CRESSEY
PIONEER NEWSPAPER MAN AND LECTURER
Passed to the Great Beyond This Morning After a Strenuous Fight
A Soldier of the Civil War and Pioneer Dakotan Has Left the Field

Col E. T. Cressey, passed away peacefully at his home 912 West Eighteenth street at 9 o’clock this (Friday) morning.
Erastus Timothy Cressey was born in Columbus, Ohio, Feb. 14, 1838, of New England parentage; his father, Rev. T. R. Cressey and three of his brothers being Baptist ministers. His early years were spent in Columbus and Cincinnati, O., and Indianapolis, Ind. In May, 1852 the family removed to St. Paul, Minn. In September of that year, the 14-year-old boy began work as an apprentice in the office of the St. Anthony Express. From the days of this experience he was always deeply interested in public affairs and later in life was himself editor and publisher of newspapers in Wyoming, Nebraska, Mitchellville, Ia., and Huron, S. D.
In June 1861 he decided to enlist in the Union army; he was mustered in at Fort Snelling as a private in Co. H., 20th Minnesota regiment and served till the close of the war.
In Oct. 1866, he went to Des Moines, Ia., and entered the printing office of Mills and Co., one of the members of which firm was F. M. Mills, now of the Sioux Falls Traction company. Here his older children were born. After twelve years in Des Moines and four years in the nearby town of Mitchellville, the family came to Huron in 1882 and ten years later to Sioux Falls.
On two different occasions Mrs. Cressey held government positions at Washington, the second of which was assistant librarian of the United States senate from 1889 to 1893. At this time he unearthed full records of early sessions from 1800 to 1812 which had hitherto been considered destroyed by the British at the burning of the capitol in 1812.
Mr. Cressey during the 80 degree c was one of the first regents of the State University.
In 1892 while Mr. Cressey was still in the employ of the government the family came to Sioux Falls for better educational facilities. In the change of administration in 1893 his duties as assistant librarian of the senate ceased and he at once prepared to become a stereopticon lecturer which occupation he followed for the next 20 years. His most famous lecture was on the “Battle of Chickamauga” and this he gave 1,000 times in South Dakota and surrounding states. In every lecture, Mr. Cressey made it a point to instill patriotism and uphold right living and civic honor.
At the age of 75 he returned from the lecture field and for the past four years he has lived quietly at home in full enjoyment of his family life surrounded by his children and grandchildren.
On Thanksgiving day in 1868 he was married to Julia P. Brooks in Roxbury, Mass., who with six children and seven grandchildren, all well known in this city, survive him. The children are Kendall B., John K., Mrs. G. W. Mingus, Mrs. Harry Stowe, Miss Martha T., all of Sioux Falls and Miss Mary, a missionary in Ningpo, China.
He also leaves one sister, Miss Josephine L. Cressey of Des Moines, Ia., and five younger brothers, Rev. F. B. of Cambridge, Mass., Dr. E. K., of New York city, F. J. and W. G., of Los Angeles, Cal., and C. H., of St. Louis.
Funeral services will be held Sunday afternoon at 3 o’clock at the family residence, 912 West Eighteenth street.

Obituary published in The Argus-Leader (Sioux Falls, SD), on Friday, February 2, 1917, pg. 5.

Julia Pettee Brooks Cressey

AGED PIONEER WOMAN PASSES
Mrs. E. T. Cressey Dies at Family Residence Yesterday — Funeral Thursday

After a brief illness of pneumonia, Mrs. E. T. Cressey, a pioneer of Sioux Falls, died yesterday afternoon at the family residence, 812 West Eighteenth street, at the age of 82 years.
Mrs. Cressey’s maiden name was Julia P. Brooks, she being a daughter of Kendall and Mary Brooks, of Boston, Mass. She was born on October 17, 1838. Following her marriage to Mr. Cressey, she moved to Des Moines, Ia., where they engaged in the newspaper business. Later the family came to Huron and in 1892 came to Sioux Falls to reside.
Mrs. Cressey, during her life has taken an active part in local and state work for the Baptist church, holding an office for many years in the missionary society. She was a woman of strong personality and her Christian influence was far reaching.
In her home she was the ideal mother, friend and counselor at all times, the beauty of whose life, her forgiving, sacrificial spirit will remain a blessed heritage to those who survive her, namely Miss Mary Cressey, principal of the Woman’s Bible school, Ningpo, China, Kendall B. and John K. Cressey, Mrs. C. S. Laughlin of Huron, Mrs. G. W. Mingus and Mrs. Helen C. Stowe of Sioux Falls, also a brother, B. H. Brooks of Kansas City, a sister, Fannie N. Brooks of Boston and nine grandchildren.
A short funeral service will be held at the residence on Thursday morning at 10 o’clock and the body laid to rest in Woodlawn beside her husband, the late Col. E. T. Cressey who died in 1917.

Obituary published in The Argus-Leader (Sioux Falls, SD), on Wednesday, October 27, 1920, pg. 15.