Peter Barth Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1214-1215 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	PETER BARTH is a native of Washington county, Wisconsin, where he 
was born on the 6th of September, 1858, being a son of Matthias and Mary 
Barth, the latter of whom died in 1892. The father of the subject 
devoted the major portion of his active life to agricultural pursuits 
and is now living retired, making his home with his daughter, Mary, who 
is the wife of J. Simon, of Grafton, Wisconsin. He was a blacksmith by 
trade and followed this vocation for a number of years, and he has ever 
held the unqualified regard of those with whom he has come in contact in 
the various relations of life. He attained success in temporal affairs 
and is now enjoying the fruits of his many years of earnest toil and 
endeavor, having attained the venerable age of eighty-four years (1904). 
He has been a stanch Republican in politics ever since the 
organization, and has been for many years a zealous member of the 
Lutheran church, of which his wife likewise was a devoted member. They 
became the parents of twelve children, of whom seven are yet living, the 
subject of this review having been the sixth in order of birth. 

	Peter Barth was reared on the homestead farm and from his boyhood 
up rendered his quota of aid in connection with its work, while he 
secured his educational training in the public schools of his native 
county, making the best use of the advantages thus afforded him. At the 
age of seventeen years he initiated his independent career, having been 
for two years employed as spiker on the Milwaukee & Northern Railroad, 
after which he located in Winnebago county, Illinois, where he was 
engaged in farming for the following three years. He then returned to 
Wisconsin and took up his residence in Rock county, where he continued 
to be identified with agricultural pursuits until the spring of 1884, 
when he came to what is now the state of South Dakota and purchased one 
hundred and sixty acres of land in Hancock township, Bon Homme county, 
the same having never been furrowed by the plowshare and being entirely 
without improvements. On the place he erected a small frame house and 
then bent his energies to the reclamation and improvement of his farm, 
which continues to be his abiding place, while the entire tract is under 
effective cultivation and yields excellent returns for the labor 
expended. Mr. Barth also raises excellent grades of live stock, giving 
preference to the Hampshiredown sheep and Durham cattle, while on his 
place are also to be found good horses and swine raised by him. He is 
energetic and progressive, takes an active interest in public affairs of 
a local nature and is honored as a loyal and worthy citizen. In 1895 he 
erected his present commodious and substantial residence, and the other 
permanent improvements on the place are in harmony therewith. In 
politics he is not insistently partisan, but votes according to the 
dictates of his judgment, giving his support to those candidates whom he 
considers most eligible for the respective offices. He is not formally 
identified with any religious organization, but gives a liberal support 
to church work, his wife being a member of the Congregational church. 

	On the 4th of November, 1885, Mr. Barth led to the hymeneal altar 
Miss Frances Snow, who was born in Rock county, Wisconsin, being a 
daughter of Charles D. Snow, who is now one of the prominent and 
successful farmers of Bon Homme county. Mr. and Mrs. Barth have had four 
children, Charles, who died at the age of six months; Grace and 
Clifford, who are attending the district school, and Willard, who is 
three years of age at the time of this writing, in 1904.