The following was written by Millie Scaman Loucks, daughter of Albert & Sarah Scaman.
I think my parents were outstanding in many ways. My father was gentle & kind, a total abstainer from liquor, smoking or chewing, also from coffee & a very little tea. I never heard him use a swear word or a bad word of any kind. It was he who got up early each morning to start the fire & get the kettle on & get the boys up for the chores. If anyone was ill it was father who doctored us. He had a large book-Dr. Chasies remedies-we survived by that book. Albert & Sarah came to the US in what was then Dakota Territory in 1881 in the spring. They were caught in a snow storm on their way there & had to spend several days in a depot in some small town in Minn.
I remember father telling how they ran out of food & he walked down the railroad track to the next town to get food for the family. They landed at Flandreau, what is now S. Dakota. A nephew of my fathers was a doctor there at that time & that same year they moved on a farm between Elkton & Aurora in what is now Brooking County, SD. I think their first home was made of sod. Father walked 5 miles down the railroad track to work in a flour mill in Aurora & carried home groceries on his back until he could get his home started. His first team was oxen to break the land. Seven of his children had diphtheria at the same time. Dr Scaman was called and told them that they would lose half of their children but with the Lord's help they saved every one of them. The family grew & father felt crowded so he sold his land in Parnell Township & moved further north & bought land near White, SD between White & Hendricks. Here we had lots of pasture and a 3 story house of stone. We were not allowed to quarrel. No one ever thought of talking back to our father & I don't remember of his ever using a whip or anything like that on one of us. He would say,"tut,tut,tut children." Father bought & sold cattle for a number of years. He was very successful at that. He also owned his own threshing rigs & each fall would do his own & his neighbor's threshing. He had his own crew with his boys. Father was everywhere. He was first up in the mornings, about 4 o'clock. He & Darcy were warming up the engines. In his obituary it was stated that Divide Co. had lost one of its oldest and best loved residents. There were 29 grandchildren, and 40 great grandchildren making a total of 79 direct descendants at the time of his death. Albert was a very active man for his advanced years. The names of their children are: Darcy, Sylvester, William, Albert, Easton, Maude, Alberta, Ethel Alice, Sarah, Lula, Millie, Harrison, John, Nettie. (bio added by aritha buss)