Joseph M. Petrik Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1216-1217 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	JOSEPH M. PETRIK, one of the successful and popular business men 
and influential citizens of Tabor, Bon Homme county, was born in 
Spillville, Winneshiek county, Iowa, on the 16th of August, 1869, being 
a son of Mathias and Mary Petrik, both of whom were born and reared in 
Bohemia, Austria, where their marriage was solemnized. They emigrated 
thence to America and became numbered among the early settlers in 
Winneshiek county, Iowa, where the father took up a homestead claim of 
government land and set himself to the task of reclaiming the same to 
cultivation, meeting with the struggles and hardships which attended the 
lot of the average pioneer on the broad prairies of this now favored and 
opulent commonwealth. The subject of this sketch was a child of about 
two vears at the time of his parents' removal to this state, and he was 
reared to the age of ten years on the home farm, attending the primitive 
district school as opportunity afforded. At the early age mentioned he 
went to the city of Chicago, where he completed his educational work in 
the public schools, being compelled to depend upon his own resources in 
prosecuting his studies, as the financial circumstances of his parents 
were such that they could lend him but slight aid. He there continued to 
attend school until he had attained the age of sixteen years, his labors 
in the connection having perforce been such as to make him the more 
appreciative of the advantages which he thus gained, and he then 
returned to South Dakota, and secured a position as clerk in a general 
store at Armour, Douglas county, being gradually entrusted with better 
and more important positions until 1894, when he went to Yankton 
Reservation, Charles Mix county, and took up a homestead claim of one 
hundred and sixty acres, where he remained for three years, during which 
time he was engaged in preparing the land for farming. A failure of 
crops on account of a drought caused him to haul all water used by his 
family and with which to water his stock, for a distance of six miles, 
the water being procured from a private well situated on a creek bottom. 
About this time a neighbor, Frank Seip, and wife were murdered and 
robbed by one Charlie Basl and this naturally made Mrs. Petrik nervous 
and dissatisfied with that locality, so it was decided to dispose of all 
personal property and allow the tree claim to revert to the government, 
and in 1897 the subject came to Bon Homme county South Dakota, opening a 
store in the village of Tabor, where he has since been successfully 
engaged in this line of enterprise save for an interim of one year. 
during which he conducted n store at Scotland. He is now senior member 
of the firm of Petrik & Honner, general merchants, and the firm has 
built up a prosperous business, while both of the interested principals 
stand high in the confidence and esteem of the community. In politics 
Mr. Petrik gives a staunch support to the Democratic party and has ever 
shown a proper interest in public affairs, particularly of a local 
nature, while in 1900 he was candidate of his party for the office of 
county sheriff, being defeated with the balance of the ticket. He and 
his wife are communicants of the Catholic church, and fraternally he is 
identified with the Knights of St. George and with the local lodge of 
the Western Bohemian Catholic Union. 

	On the 12th of October, 1892, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. 
Petrik to Miss Mary A. Novotny, who was born in Bon Homme county, this 
state, on the 28th of November, 1876, being a daughter of Joseph and 
Rosa Novotny, who were early settlers in this section of the state. Of 
this union have been born five children, namely: George, Louise, Joseph, 
Edward and Albina, all of whom still remain beneath the home roof.