John D. Herman, M. D. Biography


	This biography appears on pages 768-769 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. I (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	JOHN D. HERMAN, M. D. - Spink county is favored in having 
numbered among its coterie of able physicians and surgeons the subject 
of this sketch, who is successfully established in the practice of his 
noble profession in Conde, one of the thriving and attractive villages 
of this section of the state.  

	Dr. Herman was born in Freeborn county, Minnesota, on the 27th of 
February, 1859, and is a son of Philip Herman, who was born in Germany, 
whence he emigrated to America when a young man, first locating in the 
province of Ontario, Canada, where he remained until 1857, when he 
removed to Minnesota, becoming one of the pioneers of Freeborn county, 
where he took up government land and improved a valuable farm, upon 
which he still maintains his home, being one of the honored and 
substantial citizens of the locality. His wife, whose maiden name was 
Augusta Otwine, was born in Germany and is still living, as are also 
nine of their children. The Doctor was reared to the sturdy discipline 
of the pioneer farm and after completing the curriculum of the public 
schools he began the work of preparing himself for the profession in 
which he has attained so marked prestige. He took up the study of 
medicine under a private preceptor and had been actively engaged in 
professional work in his home county prior to his graduation. He was 
matriculated in the Ohio Medical College, in Cincinnati, in 1882, and 
there completed the prescribed course, being graduated as a member of 
the class of 1886 and receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine from 
this old and prominent institution. He had attended this college prior 
to his removal to South Dakota, in 1883, and later returned to his alma 
mater to complete his technical studies. In the spring of 1883 he came 
to Spink county and located in the village of Rose, where he remained 
until the autumn of 1885 when he returned to the Ohio Medical College 
and finished his course, as noted. In the spring of 1886 he returned to 
Rose, where he remained until the following autumn, when the village of 
Conde was platted and its settlement instituted, and he forthwith took 
up his residence here, being the pioneer physician of the town, where 
he also opened the first drug store, and here he has since continued in 
the active practice of his profession and also to conduct his drug 
business, while he has the uniform confidence and high regard of the 
people of the community, in which he has ministered most successfully 
to those in affliction, while he is known as one of the loyal and 
public-spirited citizens of the town and county. He is medical examiner 
for the leading life-insurance companies represented here, and is a 
representative of. Spink county on the state board of health. He served 
six years as county coroner and has held other local offices of trust. 
In 1900 Dr. Herman completed a post-graduate course in the College of 
Physicians and Surgeons in the city of Chicago, while in 1898 he took a 
special optical course in Philadelphia, so that he is well equipped for 
the treatment of the diseases of the eye and for correcting the errors 
of refraction by means of proper lenses. He is a staunch Republican in 
politics and is identified with the Masonic fraternity, the Modern 
Woodmen of America, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Degree 
of Honor of the last named. He is also a member of the South Dakota 
Medical Society. The Doctor has a well improved and valuable farm of 
eleven hundred acres, adjoining the town site of Conde, and practically 
the entire tract is under effective cultivation.  

	In August, 1888, Dr. Herman was married to Miss Anna Cowan, who 
was born and reared in Illinois, and they have four children, Ruth, 
Lester. Pearl and Neil.