Chhristian Hartmann Biography This biography appears on pages 1337-1338 in "History of South Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (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. CHRISTIAN HARTMANN is to be considered in every sense a pioneer of South Dakota and of Bon Homme county, where he is the owner of a fine landed estate and where he is held in high estimation by all who know him. He has been the architect of his own fortune, having come to America as a young man and without financial reinforcement, and having gained prosperity and independence through energy, perseverance and honest and earnest endeavor. Christian Hartmann is a native of Oadalum, province of Hanover, Germany, where he was born on the 12th of November, 1840, being a son of Conrad and Lena (Langkap) Hartmann, who passed their entire lives in the fatherland, the former having been a wagonmaker by vocation. They became the parents of four children, of whom the subject is the youngest. Johnna is the wife of Christopher Lattamann, of Oadalum; Ludwig is a resident of Biarbaum Mill; and Henry died when twenty years of age. The subject was reared in his native land and received his educational training in its excellent schools. After leaving school he gave his attention to sugar manufacturing until 1869, when he severed the home ties and set forth to seek his fortunes in America, landing in New York and thence making his way westward to St. Louis, Missoui, where be remained ten days, after which he embarked on a Missouri river steamboat and started forth in search of a location. He came up the river to Niobrara, Nebraska, across the river from South Dakota, and in that locality he took up a squatter's claim of one hundred and sixty acres, in what is now Knox county, Nebraska, the nearest neighbor being twenty- five miles distant, while game of all sorts was abundant and the Indians much in evidence. Two years after he had taken his claim the same reverted to the government, which demanded the land for military reservation purposes. In 1873 Mr. Hartmann took up an Indian pre-emption claim in township 92, Bon Homme county, South Dakota, and later secured a homestead claim adjoining and this property is an integral part of his present estate. For several years after coming to this section Mr. Hartmann was employed by the government as engineer in a sawmill, receiving seventy-five dollars a month in recompense for his services and utilizing this income in the development and improvement of his ranch. In 1877 he went to the Indian territory, where he continued in government employ for the ensuing five years, at the expiration of which, in 1882, he came with his wife to the farm in this county and settled down to agricultural pursuits and to the raising of live stock, with which lines of enterprise he has ever since been identified. He is now the owner of twelve hundred and eighty acres of valuable land, and the place has the best of improvements, the original and diminutive log house having given place to a commodious frame residence, which he erected in 1885 the same having been the second frame dwelling built in this section of the county, while he has since remodeled and otherwise improved the building. His entire ranch is well fenced and three hundred and twenty acres are under cultivation, the balance being utilized for grazing purposes and for the raising of hay, etc. He has a large and substantial barn and other good farm buildings, has set out a grove of trees, now well matured, and the place is one of the attractive ones of the county and bespeaks thrift and prosperity. Mr. Hartmann gives special attention to the raising of cattle and horses of excellent grade, as well as hogs and sheep, having an average herd of one hundred head of cattle, and having shipped three car loads of cattle and hogs in 1903. The home is one in which are found evidences of refined taste, books, works of art, a piano, etc., adding to its attractions, while its hospitality is genial and kindly, the latch-string ever hanging out. In politics Mr. Hartmann is a staunch Republican, but has never sought or desired official preferment, though he shows a helpful interest in local affairs of a public nature. He is a member of the Lutheran church, in whose faith he was reared, and his wife is a member of the Congregational church. At Perkins, South Dakota, on the 3d of July, 1881, Mr. Hartmann was united in marriage to Miss Lizzie Knight, who was born and reared in Duquoin, Illinois, and who was a resident of Cleardale, Kansas, at the time of her marriage, being a daughter of Albert Knight, a pioneer of Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Hartmann have eight children, all of whom still remain in the home circle, though the sons and two daughters are at this time students in the State Normal School at Springfield, this county. The names of the children are here entered in order of birth: Leona, William, Mary, Ellen, Carl, Albert (died when six months old), Lassara and Grace.