John M. Schaefer Biography


	This biography appears on pages 863-864 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 M. SCHAEFER, who is incumbent of the office of treasurer of 
Hutchinson county and is also one of the representative business men of 
the attractive village of Tripp, is a native of southern Russia, where 
he was born on the 12th of April, 1861, being a son of John M. and 
Christiana (Klopfer) Schaefer. The father of the subject was born in 
Germany, about 1814, and when he was about fifteen years of age he 
accompanied his parents on their removal across the border into 
southern Russia, where he was reared to manhood and where he continued 
to be identified with agricultural pursuits until his death, at the age 
of fifty years. In 1886, which year witnessed the founding of the town 
of Tripp, Mr. Schaefer came hither as one of the first permanent 
settlers, and here he opened a general store in partnership with 
Gottlieb Doering, with whom he continued to be thus associated for many 
years, the partnership being dissolved in the spring of 1901, while the 
business of the concern had grown to be one of the most prominent and 
prosperous in the county. In the fall of 1900 Mr. Schaefer was elected 
to the office of county treasurer, and he disposed of his mercantile 
interests the following spring, his partner simultaneously retiring. In 
the spring of 1903 Mr. Schaefer purchased of F. F. Mayer his interest 
in the mercantile business of Mayer & Wildermuth, and the business has 
since been continued under the title of Schaefer & Wildermuth, while 
the well equipped establishment of the firm caters to a large and 
discriminating patronage, its trade extending throughout a wide radius 
of country normally tributary to the thriving town of Tripp. He was 
reelected county treasurer in November, 1902, and his administration of 
the fiscal affairs of the county has brought to him unqualified 
commendation. He is a staunch supporter of the Republican party, and he 
and his wife are valued members of the Lutheran church.  

	On the 13th of September, 1885, Mr. Schaefer married Miss 
Christina Doering, a daughter of Gottlieb Doering, of Hutchinson 
county, and of their ten children six are living, namely: Albert, 
Hulda, Amanda, Gustave, Edwin and Ella, all of whom remain at the 
parental home.