Adam Royhe Biography


	This biography appears on page 1854-1855 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

	This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit 
	organizations for their private use. 

	Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval 
	system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other 
	means requires the written approval of the file's author.


	ADAM ROYHE is of foreign birth, being a native of Hesse 
Darmstadt, Germany. He spent his childhood and youth in Hesse 
Darmstadt, and received a good education in the schools of his native 
state. He accompanied his parents to the United States and attended 
school in Wisconsin, where he learned to read and write the English 
language, having previously obtained a sufficient knowledge of the same 
to converse fluently. The following summer he worked on the farm and at 
the age of nineteen left home and began earning his own livelihood, 
spending some time in the lumber regions of Wisconsin. In company with 
a friend he came to South Dakota, walking from Marshall, Minnesota, to 
Kingsbury county, his original destination having been the city of 
Yankton. On the way they stopped in Brookings county, where they were 
informed that better land could be obtained in the county of Kingsbury 
than in the section of country for which they were bound. Accordingly 
Mr. Royhe took up a claim, and after spending the summer on the same 
and reducing about fifteen acres to cultivation, returned to Wisconsin, 
where he remained until the following spring, purchasing the meanwhile 
a team of horses, a wagon and various agricultural implements to be 
used on his western homestead. With the advent of spring he returned to 
his claim and broke a considerable portion of ground, spending the 
succeeding winter in the pioneer section of Wisconsin, and in this way 
he divided the time during the ensuing three years. Mr. Royhe took to 
himself a wife and helpmeet in the person of Miss Minnie Deetman, of 
Columbia county, Wisconsin, and in the spring of the following year 
settled permanently in Kingsbury county, South Dakota, remaining on his 
own claim until 1890, when he took up his residence in Arlington. He 
still owns the above farm, which is in a high state of cultivation, and 
in addition thereto has a half section of fine land, which is also well 
improved and successfully tilled. Mr. Royhe opened a meat market in 
Arlington, which he operated with encouraging success for two years, 
and then began handling grain for the Van Dusen firm, continuing with 
them until erecting an elevator of his own. Since then he has carried 
on an extensive grain business, being one of the largest buyers and 
shippers in the county, and in connection therewith he also deals quite 
extensively in real estate.

	He has been influential in political circles ever since becoming 
a resident of South Dakota, has held a number of township and county 
offices and for a number of years has been a delegate to nearly every 
Republican convention held in his county, district and state. He served 
with marked ability as state senator, during which time he was on some 
of the most important committees of the upper house, including among 
others the committees on banking, insurance, cities and municipal 
corporations and railroads. He is identified with several local 
enterprises, being a director of the First National Bank and a 
stockholder in the same. He stands high in the Masonic order, and is 
also identified with the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and with his 
wife belongs to the Eastern Star lodge. In his religious belief Mr. 
Royhe subscribes to the German Lutheran faith, his wife being a member 
of the Episcopal church. They are the parents of four children.