Louis Chladek Biography


	This biography appears on pages 792-794 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. I (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

	This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit 
	organizations for their private use. 

	Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval 
	system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other 
	means requires the written approval of the file's author.

	This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here 
	Inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door 
	is at

	http://www.usgwarchives.net/sd/sdfiles.htm


	LOUIS CHLADEK is a native of Bohemia, Germany, where he was born 
on the 22d of February, 1852, a son of Joseph and Anna Chladek. He 
secured his early educational discipline in the schools of his native 
place and remained at the parental home until he had attained the age 
of fourteen years, when he set forth to face the stern battles of life 
on his own responsibility. He emigrated to the United States, whither 
he came as a stranger in a strange land, while he was the further 
handicapped from the fact that he was unfamiliar with the language of 
the country but his determination, energy and self reliance stood him 
well in hand, as the story of his future career well indicates. After 
his arrival in the United States he proceeded to the city of Chicago, 
where he joined his older brother, Frank, who had come to the new world 
some time previously. He arrived in the western metropolis with but 
fifteen dollars in cash, and he soon secured employment in a furniture 
factory, where he learned the trade of cabinet making, to which he 
continued to devote his attention about five years, continuing his 
residence in Chicago until the 1st of May, 1869, when he started for 
the west. He finally arrived in Niobrara, Nebraska, where he remained 
about two months, leaving that point on the 3d of July and continuing 
his westward journey to the territory of Dakota, having crossed the 
river and made his advent in Yankton on the evening of July 4th. There 
he was employed in a furniture store about a fortnight, at the 
expiration of which he proceeded to a point ten miles west of Yankton 
and there took preemption claim for himself and also one for his 
brother Frank. In preparation for establishing himself as a western 
farmer in the new country he purchased a team of oxen, for one hundred 
and seventy-five dollars; a wagon, for one hundred and ten dollars; a 
breaking plow, for thirty-five dollars; and a cow, for sixty-five 
dollars. It may be noted in the connection that his cow proved somewhat 
wayward and independent, since the second day after she came into his 
possession she took the liberty of starting forth on a predatory 
excursion of her own, and Mr. Chladek was compelled to make a journey 
to a point sixteen miles distant before he could recover his property. 
On his ranch he built a small shanty of cottonwood lumber, and also a 
small enclosure in which to keep his live stock. He then set himself to 
the task of breaking his land and making ready for future cultivation, 
and it is needless to say that these initial experiences were novel 
ones to him, since he had never before seen a breaking plow. or milked 
a cow. He broke about five acres on his claim and the same amount for 
his brother, and in September he began securing his crop of hay, 
utilizing a scythe to cut the same, this likewise being an implement 
which he had never before handled, and from the long grass he built the 
winter shelter for his cattle. With financial assistance from his 
brother he weathered the winter storms without great discomfort, and in 
the spring he constructed a harrow and seeded the ten acres with wheat. 
The season proved a dry one and the crop proved a failure. In the 
autumn Mr. Chladek returned to Chicago, where he passed the winter, 
returning to his claim in the spring. The summer of 1871 brought 
disaster to the crops, owing to a visitation from the grasshoppers, and 
our subject thus passed the ensuing winter in Chicago, where he worked 
at his trade, as he had done the winter before, utilizing the money 
thus earned in carrying him through the summers on his farm. The 
grasshoppers again devastated the country in the summer of 1873, and 
though the outlook was none too encouraging Mr. Chladek was not 
disheartened, and he passed the winter of that year in Dakota, and he 
had duly profited by his experiences and gained valuable knowledge in 
regard to the best methods to be employed in connection with the 
improvement and cultivation of his land. The following summer he 
harvested a good crop, and from that time forward his efforts were 
attended with definite success. In 1879 Mr. Chladek was employed by the 
firm of Bramble & Miner in setting up harvesters through this section 
of South Dakota, and in the following year he entered into partnership 
with his brother Frank, who had taken up his residence here, and 
engaged in the sale of farming implements and machinery, with 
headquarters in the city of Yankton. Two years later, after the 
railroad had been completed through the town of Scotland, Bon Homme 
county, they removed their business headquarters to that point and 
there they built up a large and prosperous enterprise. Four years later 
they established a branch house in Tyndall, the county seat of the same 
county, and the partnership thereafter continued until 1900, when it 
was dissolved by mutual consent, the brother of our subject finding it 
expedient to give his undivided attention to his large real-estate 
interests in Yankton county. Our subject then removed the Scotland 
stock to Tyndall, where he continued the enterprise successfully until 
1902, when he disposed of the same and has since lived retired, though 
his real-estate and capitalistic interests are such as to afford him 
ample scope for his energies. He is the owner of three thousand acres 
of land in Bon Homme county, three hundred and twenty acres in Atchison 
county, three hundred and twenty in Campbell county, four hundred and 
eighty in McPherson county, and three hundred and twenty in Nebraska, 
and thus it may be seen that he is one of the extensive landholders of 
the state, having attained a high degree of success through his own 
efforts, while he has so ordered his life as to commend himself to the 
unqualified confidence and regard of all who know him, being one of the 
honored pioneers of the territory and state. His land in South Dakota 
is as fine agricultural land as to be found in the confines of the 
state, and the major portion of the same is under a high state of 
cultivation and well improved. He still retains his home in Tyndall, 
where, in 1897, he erected one of the most attractive residences in the 
town, and he has on the premises a private artesian well, which proves 
a most valuable accessory. In his beautiful home he may look back upon 
the labors and difficulties of the pioneer days and congratulate 
himself upon the steadfastness of purpose which caused him to remain in 
this section and to profit in the development of a great commonwealth, 
of which he may be consistently termed one of the founders and 
builders. He is signally loyal to the state in which he has so long 
made his home and is public-spirited and zealous in promoting its 
welfare. In politics he renders allegiance to the Democratic party, and 
while he has never been ambitious for public office he was the nominee 
of his party for state treasurer in 1902, meeting defeat with the 
remainder of the ticket. He is one of the influential citizens of the 
state and is quoted as one of the most substantial capitalists of the 
section in which he maintains his home. Mr. Chladek is an appreciative 
member of the time-honored Masonic fraternity and is one of its 
prominent figures in South Dakota He is affiliated with Bon Homme 
Lodge, 101, Free and Accepted Masons, and the various other bodies of 
the York Rite, while he has also taken the Scottish Rite degrees, being 
identified with Yankton Consistory, No. 1, while he is also a member of 
the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, at Sioux 
Falls. He is one of the trustees of the Yankton Masonic temple, and was 
one of the leading spirits in the promotion of its erection, having 
been a member of the building committee, in which connection his name 
appears with others on the corner-stone of the fine structure.  

	In 1882 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Chladek to Miss Louisa 
Vyborny, of Bon Homme county, and of their four children we incorporate 
the following data: Emma is a student in Rockford College, at Rockford. 
Illinois; Louis is attending a business college in Sioux Falls; and 
Bessie and an infant remain at the parental home. The family is held in 
the highest esteem in Tyndall and the attractive home is a center of 
unalloyed hospitality and good cheer.