August King Biography


	This biography appears on pages 783-784 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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	AUGUST KING, who is one of the well known and highly honored 
citizens of Brookings county, has the distinction of being its 
representative in the state legislature and has shown himself to be one 
of the loyal and public-spirited citizens of the great commonwealth in 
whose service his efforts are thus enlisted. Mr. King is a native of 
the German empire, having been born in the province of Saxony, on the 
15th of December, 1863. He is a son of Henry and Ernestine King, the 
former of whom passed his entire life in the German fatherland, where 
his widow still maintains her home. Of the six children born of this 
union five are yet living, the subject of this sketch having been the 
eldest. Mollie is the wife of William Rolberg and they reside in 
Germany; Henry is a successful baker in Germany, as is also his brother 
Edmund; Hattie still resides in the fatherland; and Minnie is deceased. 
From this brief record it will be seen that our subject is the only 
representative of the immediate family in the United States.  

	August King was reared to the age of sixteen years in his native 
country, in the meanwhile receiving the advantages afforded in its 
excellent schools. In 1880, in company with his cousin, Carl Miland, he 
bade adieu to home and fatherland and set forth to seek his fortunes in 
America proceeding to Minnesota, where he joined relatives. Soon after 
his arrival Mr. King began work on the farm of his cousin, being thus 
engaged for a period of five months, and he continued to work by the 
month until the spring of 1886, having been frugal and industrious and 
having succeeded in saving about three hundred dollars from his wages. 
In the spring of the year mentioned he left Minnesota and came to South 
Dakota, locating in Brookings county, where he secured employment on 
the farm of Samuel McBride, with whom he remained about twenty months, 
after which he was for three years employed by Edward Spurling. On 
Christmas day of the year 1890 Mr. King was united in marriage to Miss 
Pauline Schulz, a daughter of Christopher and Anna Schulz, both of whom 
were born in Germany, as was also Mrs. King, who came to America as a 
young woman, here joining her brothers, who had emigrated here some 
time previously. Mr. King had carefully conserved his resources and at 
the time of his marriage his accumulations represented about one 
thousand dollars. In the spring of 1891 he purchased one hundred, and 
sixty acres of unimproved land, in Brookings county, for a 
consideration of twelve hundred dollars, and within the same year he 
erected a house on the farm and there took up his residence. He 
reclaimed the land and brought it under effective cultivation, the 
while making permanent improvements of a substantial order. In 1899 Mr. 
King purchased a tract of one hundred and twenty acres adjoining his 
homestead on the east, so that he now has a fine farm of two hundred 
and eighty acres, all in one body. The prosperity which has attended 
his indefatigable efforts is indicated in the appearance of his place, 
which is improved with a good house and barn and other necessary 
buildings, a windmill and other modern facilities, while the land is 
well fenced and shows the careful attention given by the enterprising 
and progressive proprietor, who is recognized as one of the 
representative farmers and stock growers of the county. His land is now 
valued at fifty dollars an acre and constitutes one of the attractive 
and valuable farms of the section. Mr. King has devoted considerable 
attention to the growing of corn from the time of inaugurating his 
farming enterprise and has been successful in securing good yields, 
while he also raises wheat and oats and a general line of high grade 
live stock, being also one of the stockholders in the farmers' grain 
elevator in the village of White.  

	In politics Mr. King accords a staunch support to the Republican 
party, in whose cause he has taken an active interest from the time of 
attaining the right of franchise in his adopted country. The confidence 
and esteem in which he is held in his home county has been signalized 
in divers ways. For the past four years he has been incumbent of the 
office of treasurer of his school district; he has served as delegate 
to the county and state conventions of his party, and in the autumn of 
1902 he was elected to represent his county in the lower house of the 
state legislature, where he has proved himself a valuable member of the 
legislative body, being signally faithful to the interests of his 
constituents and of the state at large and doing all in his power to 
further good government and insure the progress and prosperity of the 
great state in which he has gained so marked personal success. In the 
house he was assigned to the committees on corporations, banks and 
banking, and emigration, and in each of these connections his work has 
been of no perfunctory order. Fraternally Mr. King has been identified 
with the Independent Order of Odd fellows since 1890, being now 
affiliated with White Lodge, No. 135, at White, while he is also a 
member of White Lodge, No. 67, Ancient Order of United Workmen, in the 
same village. He was reared in the faith of the Lutheran church, but he 
and his wife are now regular attendants of the Methodist Episcopal 
church, in whose work they maintain an active and helpful interest. 
When Mr. King arrived in New York city his capitalistic resources were 
summed up in the amount of five dollars, and the position of 
independence which he today holds represents the result of his own 
efforts, while he has so guided his course as to retain unbounded 
respect and esteem on the part of all with whom he has come in contact. 
He has contributed his quota to the development and material progress 
of South Dakota and is well entitled to representation in this history. 
In conclusion we would state that the marriage of the subject has been 
blessed with six children, namely: Alma, Edward, Esther, Frederick, and 
Minnie and Anna, twins, and an infant daughter.