Gustave Rieder Biography


	This biography appears on pages 776-777 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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	GUSTAVE RIEDER is one of those: enterprising and industrious 
citizens of Gregory county who have won distinctive success in 
connection with the development of its agricultural resources, and he 
is entitled to mention in this work. Mr. Rieder is a native of the 
province of Baden, Germany, where he was born on the 3d of June, 1846, 
being a son of Leopold and Mary Rieder, to whom were born three 
children, the subject of this sketch being the eldest and the only 
representative of the immediate family in the United States. The other 
children are August and Fidella. The father was a butcher by trade and 
vocation and both he and his wife have been deceased for a number of 
years, having been people of sterling character.  

	Gustave Rieder secured his educational training in the excellent 
national schools of his native land, where he was reared to the age of 
nineteen years, when he valiantly set forth to seek his fortunes in 
America, whither he came in 1865, as a stranger in a strange land. 
After his arrival he passed a few months in the cities of New York and 
Philadelphia, where he was identified with the butchering business, 
having learned the trade in the Fatherland. That his loyalty to the 
institutions of his adopted country soon became a prominent 
characteristic is evidenced by the fact that in 1865 he enlisted in the 
United States army, as a member of Company C, Fifth Artillery, with 
which he was stationed at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, about three years, 
receiving his honorable discharge in February, 1869. Soon afterward he 
re-enlisted, becoming a member of the Sixth Cavalry, which was assigned 
to duty in Texas. He was thus stationed for one year at Fort 
Richardson, that state, and his command was then sent to Kansas to 
assist General Custer in his operations against the hostile Indians. 
Mr. Rieder did much scouting duty in this connection and later was in 
active service against the Indians in various portions of the west and 
northwest, serving under General Miles and making an enviable record 
for bravery and fidelity to duty, having taken part in many spirited 
skirmishes and battles. Finally his command was sent to relieve the 
Fifth Cavalry in Arizona, and thereafter he served until the expiration 
of his second term, on the 20th of July, 1875, when he received his 
honorable discharge. His military ardor was not yet satisfied, however, 
and he soon afterward enlisted as a member of the First United States 
Infantry, with which he was stationed at Fort Randall, in what is now 
Gregory county, South Dakota. He was with his command in the Black 
Hills for one year and then returned to Fort Randall, in which vicinity 
he has made his home since 1875, having received his final discharge 
from the service in 1878. Upon the opening of the reservation, in 1897, 
Mr. Rieder took up a quarter section of land, having previously lived 
on the reservation through the special permission of the secretary of 
war, and for some time he here operated a dairy farm, from which he 
supplied Fort Randall. He has made good improvements on his farm and 
now has forty acres under effective cultivation, devoted principally to 
the raising of corn, while he has also been very successful in the 
raising of live stock of high grade, being one of the energetic and 
progressive farmers of this section. In politics Mr. Rieder is a 
staunch Republican, and he served two years as justice of the peace and 
four years as county assessor. His religious faith is that of the 
Catholic church, and fraternally he is identified with the lodge of the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Fort Randall and also with the Army 
and Navy Union. He takes much interest in local affairs and has served 
as a school officer in addition to the positions previously mentioned. 
He is held in high esteem as one of the sterling pioneers of the state 
and as one who deserves well of the nation in whose service he made so 
excellent a record.  

	In 1876 Mr. Rieder was united in marriage to Miss Susan Carroll, 
daughter of John Carroll, at that time a resident of Fort Randall, and 
of this union have been born six children, namely: Mary and Nellie 
(twins), Gustave C., Lizzie, Lucy, and Susan.