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Title: Usher L. Burdick
Dates: 1858-1937
Collection Number: 00049
Quantity: 60 items
Abstract: Photographs of west side of Main St. in Mandan; Charles Eastman; Dr. William Porter; Dr. Henry R. Porter; Major James McLaughlin; Sioux children at St. Michael’s Mission in 1937, Theodore Roosevelt National Park in 1924; Bert Groom, U. L. Burdick and Brady Morrow with Percheron horses that Burdick raised; man with two horses standing in front of barn at Wild Rose Stock farm in Munich (ND) in 1953; short horn heifer raised by Usher L. Burdick; U.L. Burdick's 1919 cattle herd; Star Eyes and White Lily at St. Michael Mission in 1937; and train wreck at Brockton (MT) in 1917.
Provenance: The Usher Lloyd Burdick Papers (MSS 10070) were donated to the State Historical Society of North Dakota by Usher L. Burdick. The date of donation is unknown. The photographs in this collection were separated from MSS 10070.
Property Rights: The State Historical Society of North Dakota owns the property rights to this collection.
Copyrights: Copyrights to materials in this collection remain with the donor, publisher, author, or author's heirs. Researchers should consult the 1976 Copyright Act, Public Law 94-553, Title 17, U.S. Code and an archivist at this repository if clarification of copyright requirements is needed.
Access: This collection is open under the rules and regulations of the State Historical Society of North Dakota.
Citation: Researchers are requested to cite the collection title, collection number, and the State Historical Society of North Dakota in all footnote and bibliographic references.
Related Collections:
MSS 10070 Usher Lloyd Burdick Papers
MSS 10874 Usher L. and Emma Burdick
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Usher Lloyd Burdick was born February 21, 1879, at Owatonna, Steele County, Minnesota, to Ozias Perry Warren Burdick and Lucy Farnum. Usher’s father Ozias was born near Montpelier, Vermont, in 1831; a millwright, he moved to Wisconsin and then to Plainview, Minnesota, in 1862. The following year, he enlisted in First Minnesota Artillery and fought in the siege of Vicksburg and in the Shenandoah campaign in 1865. He returned home to Owatonna, then homesteaded in Graham's Island, near Devils Lake, Dakota Territory in 1882. Usher’s mother, Lucy Farnum, was born in St. Lawrence County, New York, and moved to Sparta, Wisconsin as a child with her parents. It was there that she married Ozias Burdick. The couple had six children, Usher was the youngest.
Usher L. Burdick attended Graham's Island (Dakota Territory/North Dakota) public schools, and earned a Bachelor of Philosophy (Ph.B.) from Mayville State Teachers' College in 1900. Burdick was deputy superintendent of schools of Benson County, North Dakota, from 1900-1902, and earned a Bachelor of Law from the University of Minnesota in 1904, teaching school in a business college while attending the university. He also played football for the University of Minnesota. Burdick was admitted to the bar in 1904 and commenced practice in Munich, North Dakota.
Burdick married Emma Rasmussen Robertson of Northwood, Iowa, September 5, 1901. Usher and Emma attended Mayville State at the same time, received their Ph.B. degrees together, and she earned a B.A. at University of Minnesota. Usher and Emma had three children: Quentin Northrop Burdick, Eugene Allan Burdick, and Eileen Rosemary (Mrs. Bob Levering, Ohio). They also had two grandchildren: Roberta and Usher Levering. They divorced in 1921. In 1927, Burdick married Helen Clark, they later divorced. Subsequently, Burdick married Edna Leavitt Bryant in 1955; she died as a result of an accident while horseback riding. Finally, he married Jean R. Rogers in 1958. She died in 1961, one year after Usher.
Throughout his lifetime, Usher L. Burdick engaged in many types of work, including the following positions: raising sheep (1888); teaching rural school and working as deputy county superintendent of schools (Benson County) (1901); practicing law in Hampden and Munich, and banking in Munich (1904); cattle ranching (1905); serving as North Dakota legislator for Cavalier County (1907-1911); speaker of the North Dakota House of Representative (1909-1911); cattle ranching in Williston (1909-1910); North Dakota lieutenant-governor (1910-1912); Williams County States Attorney (1913-1914); candidate for Governor of North Dakota (unsuccessful) (1914-1916); organizing the North Dakota Farm Bureau, and serving as President (1920); practicing law with John Burke in Fargo (1920-1928); the North Dakota Farmers Holiday Association (1932-1937), serving as President from 1933-1934; serving in the United States House of Representatives (1935-1945 and 1949-1959). He lived in Owatonna, Minnesota; Graham's Island, Dakota Territory/North Dakota; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Benson County, North Dakota; Munich, North Dakota; Williston, North Dakota; Fargo, North Dakota; and Washington, D.C.
Special interests of Burdick included raising livestock, writing, editing, the West, and Native Americans. Since he grew up near Devils Lake Indian Reservation, Usher learned to speak Sioux fluently. His personal library collection contained 12,000 books on the West.
Organization memberships and offices held by Usher L. Burdick included the Masons (32nd degree), Elks, Republican Party, Langer League Republican (1930s), Farm Bureau president, and a United States Grain Growers director, among other affiliations. Usher Burdick donated many of his files to the University of North Dakota, which included matters relating to U.S. Congress, personal correspondence, county and state affairs, college days, and the original manuscripts of his books. Books written by Burdick include Last Battle of the Sioux Nation (1929), Tales from Buffalo Land, Last Days of Sitting Bull, Rems of Graham's Island, Life of George Sperry Loftus, Life and Exploits of James Goodall, Life on the Red River of the North, and Tragedy in Great Sioux Camp. In 1920, he was the editor of the Western Livestock Journal. The Usher L. Burdick Memorial Hospital at Fort Yates was named for him.
There are numerous highlights during Burdick’s career. As Williams County states attorney, Burdick prosecuted the Cleve Culbertson case from 1913-1914, after which Culbertson was lynched. As lieutenant-governor (1911-13), Burdick presided at the John F. Cowan impeachment trial. Cowan was 2nd judicial district judge from 1901-1912. Burdick was also involved in Non-Partisan League, as well as the regular Republican Party, and knew all the political figures of his day. Usher L. Burdick passed away on August 19, 1960, and is buried on his ranch near Williston.
Sources:
"Burdick Donates 20-Year Files," The Rakota (Ray, ND): 1959.
History of North Dakota. Robinson, Elwyn B. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1966.
"Profile of a Politician," Eide, Marlene. Horizons: 37-39.
"North Dakota Oral History Project Interviews," Sprunk, Larry J., ed. North Dakota History, (43:2): 29, 34.
Who's Who for North Dakota, "Usher L. Burdick, Lawyer and Statesman," 27.
Who's Who for North Dakota: A Triennial Biographical Directory, (North Dakota State Historical Society), 1954.
INVENTORY
00049-00001 Freight train wreck at Brockton (Mont.) 2/1917
00049-00002 Star Eyes and White Lily at St. Michael Mission 1937
00049-00003 Pallbearers at Major James McLaughlin's funeral 8/3/1923
00049-00004 Usher L. Burdick's cattle herd 1919
00049-00005 Short horn heifer raised by Usher L. Burdick ca. 1925
00049-00006 Usher Burdick breaking a horse 1911
00049-00007 Percheron mares on the Burdick Wild Rose Farm, Munich (N.D.) ca. 1920
00049-00008 Usher Burdick and others taming a wild horse ca. 1915
00049-00009 Nine Percherons at the Usher Burdick farm ca. 1915
00049-00010 Percheron mares and colts ca. 1915
00049-00011 Usher Burdick with Percherons and colt Circa 1915
00049-00012 Percheron mares at the Williams County Fair 1911
00049-00013 Usher L. Burdick and two unidentified men with Percheron mare and colt ca. 1905
00049-00014 Group of men, women and boys at Theodore Roosevelt National Park 7/1924
00049-00015 Indian children outside at Sisters School near Fort Totten (N.D.) 8/1937
00049-00016 Indian girls at St. Michael Mission, St. Michael (N.D.) 08/1937
00049-00017 Major James McLaughlin with Commissioners at Fort Yates (D.T.) 08/1888
00049-00018 Usher L. Burdick as a college student at Mayville Normal School 1896-1900
00049-00019 Charles Eastman 1906
00049-00020 Looking west on Main Street, Mandan (D.T.) ca. 1880
00049-00021 Pratt Commissioners Rev. W. N. Cleveland, Judge John V. Wright, and Captain R. H. Pratt 1888
00049-00022 Chief Timber Wolf ca. 1880
00049-00023 Goose ca. 1880
00049-00024 White Bull 1931
00049-00025 Old Wolfca. 1880
00049-00026 Unidentified Indian man XX
00049-00027 Directors and employees of Equity Cooperative Exchange XX
00049-00028 Red River ox cart train near Canadian Border 1858
00049-00029 Colonel Plummer XX
00049-00030 Oscar A. Johnson ca. 1915
00049-00031 Frank S. Talcott ca. 1910
00049-00032 Judson LaMoure ca. 1920
00049-00033 Chief Justice Waite and party at Standing Rock Agency (D.T.) ca. 1880
00049-00034 Usher L. Burdick graduation portrait 1900-1904
00049-00035 Indian burial ground 1876-1889
00049-00036 Government survey crew bound for the Yellowstone (D.T.) 1879-1883
00049-00037 Seeding on Grandin Farm, Mayville (D.T.) 1879
00049-00038 Assiniboine Indian lodges 1888
00049-00039 Nine of Custer's Crow Indian scouts ca. 1880
00049-00040 Avery tractors 1913
00049-00041 Avery tractor 1913
00049-00042 Seeding flax with Avery tractor, Fort Peck Indian Reservation near Wolf Point (Mont.) 1927
00049-00043 Avery tractors 1913
00049-00044 Thresher1913
00049-00045 Lars threshing rig 1907
00049-00046 North Dakota State House of Representatives ca. 1909
00049-00047 Bird’s eye view of Bismarck ca. 1909
00049-00048 Theodore Roosevelt home, Oyster Bay (N.Y.) 1903
00049-00049 Blue Thunder outside his tipi ca. 1920
00049-00050 Governor L. B. Hanna, Rev. James Austin, Shoots Holy, General A. C. Fraser, Chief His Road, Usher Burdick, Major A. B. Welch 02/26/1929
00049-00051 White Clover (Crow) ca. 1885
00049-00052 Old Bull ca. 1920
00049-00053 Oscar One Bull ca. 1920
00049-00054 Wild Horse ca. 1885
00049-00055 Lark (Cheyenne) 1880
00049-00056 Mary Crawler ca. 1930
00049-00057 Charles Bottineau XX
00049-00058 Orlin L. and Kitsy (Strong) Burdick circa 1890
00049-00059 James Michaels, Sr. circa 1880
00049-00060 Map of Custer battles and routes in Montana 1876
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