John S. Mueller Biography


	This biography appears on pages 881-882 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 S. MUELLER, one of the prominent and essentially 
representative young business men of Parkston, Hutchinson county, was 
born in the southern part of Russia, on the 24th of March, 1870, being 
a son of Johann and Wilhelmina (Hess) Mueller, who emigrated from the 
fatherland to America in May, 1881, landing in New York city and thence 
coming to what is now the state of South Dakota, where the father 
entered homestead and preemption claims nine miles southeast of 
Parkston, becoming one of the pioneers of the county and here 
continuing to reside until his death, on the 1st of September, 1898, at 
which time he was sixty-six years of age. He was a Republican in 
politics, a member of the Lutheran church and a man of inflexible 
integrity in all the relations of life. His widow has now attained the 
age of seventy years and still resides on the homestead farm, while she 
likewise is a devoted member of the Lutheran church.  

	The subject of this review was about eleven years of age at the 
time of his parents' emigration to America, his early educational 
instruction having thus been secured in the fatherland, while after 
locating in South Dakota he was enabled to attend the public schools 
and also the academy at Scotland. In 1890 he secured employment as 
salesman for a dealer in agricultural implements, in Scotland, being 
thus employed during one summer, while during the following winter he 
was engaged in teaching, as was he also for two winters succeeding, 
while during the intervening summers he found employment as assessor 
and also in various mercantile establishments, in a clerical capacity. 
In January, 1893, he was appointed deputy county treasurer of 
Hutchinson county, continuing to retain this preferment about four 
years. In the autumn of 1896 he was elected auditor of the county, and 
this incumbency he retained two terms, giving a most able and 
satisfactory administration, while during his last year of service he 
was also engaged in the real-estate and loan business. In March, 1901, 
at the expiration of his second teen, Mr. Mueller came to Parkston and 
purchased stock in the Hutchinson County Bank, of which he was made 
assistant cashier, the agreement made in the connection being that he 
might withdraw at any time within the year should he so desire. He was 
unable to secure as much stock in the institution as he wished and also 
found the sedentary occupation somewhat irksome, and thus, at the end 
of six months, he resigned his executive position and purchased the 
interest of Christian Rempfer in the implement business of the firm of 
Rempfer & Doering, the enterprise being then extended in scope, and 
carried forward under the title of the Parkston Land and Implement 
Company. On the 11th of April, 1903, the company was incorporated under 
the laws of the state, with Mr. Mueller as secretary and treasurer, and 
ere this work is issued from the press the company will have completed 
their modern brick block, in which they will carry a full line of 
hardware, in connection with their land and implement business. Mr. 
Mueller is also a stockholder in the South Dakota Grain Company, one of 
the leading concerns of the sort in this section of the state, and he 
is known as a man of progressive ideas, high administrative and 
executive ability and sterling integrity of purpose. He is a stalwart 
advocate of the principles of the Republican party, and both he and his 
wife are prominent and valued members of the Lutheran church, he being 
an elder in the local organization and treasurer of the three 
congregations constituting this parish.  

	On the 22d of January, 1892, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. 
Mueller to Miss Elizabeth C. Gall, of Menno, this state, and they are 
the parents of six children, Edmund J., Leontina C., Amalia A., 
Reinhart R. G., Berthold E. L. and Laura L. L.