Home of John Belding

Deputy US Marshal

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1898

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Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 24, 2021

1. Home of John Belding Marker

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River.

Hills,

Corridor,

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Plains.

America,

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World,

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Land

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Excerpt:  On February 19 1917, John P. Belding passed away and was laid to rest in Mt. Moriah Cemetery in Deadwood.
Belding arrived in Deadwood (1875) and took on numerous civic duties, including county sheriff, Deadwood alderman, and fire chief. In 1898, Belding was appointed deputy US marshal, serving for eight years.
—from “Deadwood's Mount Moriah Cemetery” by Michael

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 19, 2023

2. Home of John Belding

The marker is mounted on the wrought iron fence, on the left side of the staircase.

Runge

(Mount Moriah Cemetery, Deadwood, Lawrence County, South Dakota, USA)  Excerpt:  JOHN P. BELDING, deputy United States marshal, with headquarters in the city of Deadwood, was born in Madison county, New York, on the 12th of July, 1837. As a young man Edson Belding removed from Connecticut to the state of New York, where he engaged in farming, and he continued his residence in the old Empire state until 1857, when, as a young man of twenty years, he decided to anticipate the advice of Horace Greeley and "go west and grow up with the country."

He made his way to Missouri and was there engaged in railroad construction until the outbreak of the war of the Rebellion, having made his headquarters for the greater portion of the time in the city of St. Louis. In June 1861, he tendered his services in the defense of the Union, enlisting in the Ninth Missouri Volunteer Cavalry, with which he continued in service until 1864, when he received his honorable discharge, with the rank of captain. His regiment was principally on detached duty and engaged in scouting service, in which line it made a most excellent record.

Mr. Belding then made his way up the Snake river to Shoshone Falls, Idaho, in which locality he engaged in mining in the placer diggings for three years, being moderately successful. He next engaged in prospecting in the vicinity of Salt Lake, and in the spring of 1876 struck out for the Black Hills, coming to Cheyenne, Wyoming, and thence with team to Custer, in which camp he arrived on the 18th of February of that year. There he met with negative success and he accordingly moved over into Deadwood gulch, where he met two old Montana friends, Webb and McClellan, with whom he located some water ditches on Whitewood and Whitetail creeks, and after they had completed one ditch they sold out at a good profit to the Homestake Mining Company. Mr. Belding then made a trip to the east and upon his return, in 1879, again located in Deadwood. In the following year he was elected sheriff of Lawrence county, serving two years. In 1897 he was appointed to his present office as deputy United States marshal, of which he has since been incumbent having made an excellent record in a most difficult district, as two Indian reservations are within the jurisdiction and involve much work on the part of the deputy marshal, who is compelled to make frequent visits to the same in addition to his other labors. He is a member of the National Mining Men's Association and the Business Men's Club of Deadwood, while fraternally he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
—Contributor: Heather Hall, from “History of South Dakota” by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904), pp 1293-1294.