Conrad Eymer Biography


	This biography appears on pages 665-666 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



	CONRAD EYMER. - A resident of South Dakota since 1869 and one of 
the oldest, best known and most highly esteemed citizens of Bon Homme 
county, with the history and development of which his life has been 
very closely identified, it is eminently fitting in this connection 
that due mention be made of the successful farmer and public-spirited 
man of affairs whose name introduces this article. Conrad Eymer is a 
native of Homberg, Hesse Cassel, Germany, where his birth occurred on 
August 3, 1842. His father, Jacob Eymer, also born in Hesse Cassel, was 
a confectioner by trade and followed that line of work all his life, 
having been an expert in the manufacturing of candies, as well as a man 
of intelligence and excellent repute. He lived an industrious and 
useful life and died in the land of his birth in the year 1849. Mrs. 
Eymer, whose maiden name was Hasenfplug, survived her husband many 
years, and was called to the other world in 1893, after reaching a ripe 
old age. To this couple four children were born, the oldest of whom is 
Kate, wife of Timothy Heineman, a contractor and builder of Covington, 
Kentucky; Lizzie, the second daughter, lives in Covington also; Conrad 
is the third in order of birth and the youngest of the family; a 
daughter by the name of Sophia married Luke C. Walker and lives in 
Lower Brule Agency, South Dakota.  

	Conrad Eymer remained in the land of his birth until about eleven 
years of age, when he accompanied his mother to the United States and 
for several weeks thereafter lived in Baltimore, Maryland. Leaving that 
city, he went to Covington, Kentucky, where he resided until 1869 
devoting his attention the meanwhile to mechanical work, making a 
specialty of carpentry, which he learned in early life. In the latter 
year he yielded to a desire of long standing by coming west and in due 
time arrived in what is now Cleveland township, Bon Homme county, South 
Dakota, where he pre-empted and then homesteaded a quarter section of 
land, which he at once proceeded to convert into a home. The land was 
wild and it required a great deal of hard work to reduce it to 
cultivation and make the other necessary improvements, but with an 
energy that knew no lagging and a determination that hesitated at no 
difficulty, he persevered in his efforts until he had one of the best 
developed farms in his section of the country, besides adding to its 
area by subsequent purchases.  

	Mr. Eymer now owns two hundred and forty acres of fine land, all 
of which is tillable, and as a farmer and stock raiser his success has 
been marked and his progress steady and substantial. He markets every 
year a large number of cattle and hogs, which with the products of the 
farm bring him a liberal income and he is today one of the thrifty, 
well-to-do men of his township and county, as well as a leading citizen 
of the community in which he resides. Mr. Eymer is a Republican, but 
not a very active politician and he has never aspired for office nor to 
any kind of public station. He has always been an honest, hard-working, 
law-abiding citizen, content with the quiet life of the farm, but ready 
and willing to lend his influence and support to all enterprises and 
progressive measures for the advancement of the country and the welfare 
of the people. In addition to his long and honorable career in civil 
life, he has a military record also, having served in the late 
Rebellion, as a member of Company B, Fifty-third Kentucky- Mounted 
Infantry, which did valiant service for the Union in some of the noted 
campaigns and a number of the bloody battles of that great struggle. He 
enlisted in 1863 and shared with his comrades all the vicissitudes of 
its varied experience until the close of the war, proving under all 
circumstances a brave soldier, whose loyalty to his adopted country was 
as strong and enduring as if he had been forn and bred on American 
soil.

	Mr. Eymer was married in the year 1867 to Miss Kate Deiss, of 
Wurtemberg, Germany, who accompanied her parents to America when six 
years of age and grew to womanhood in Covington, Kentucky. Eleven 
children have been been of this union, namely: Albert, a farmer living 
at Tyndall, this state; Charles, who lives with his parents, Carrie, 
wife of Charles Bixby, Bon Homme county; William married Anna Paddock 
and resides in Cleveland township where he is engaged in agricultural 
pursuits and stock raising; Kate is the wife of Oscar Snowden and lives 
in Lyman county, South Dakota: Walter is deceased; the younger members 
of the family, whose names are Sophia, Timothy. Arthur, Mabel and 
Pearl, are still inmates of the parental home. Religiously the subject 
and his wife subscribe to the Methodist Episcopal creed and are 
consistent and respected members of the local church with which they 
are identified.