Jacob Schaetzel, Jr. Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1147-1148 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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	JACOB SCHAETZEL, JR., one of the best known citizens of Sioux 
Falls, and who has the distinction of having been the first mayor of the 
city after its incorporation as such, is a native of the state of 
Wisconsin, having been born on a farm in Washington county, on the I6th 
of May, 1850, and being a son of Jacob and Katharine (Kissinger) 
Schaetzel, both of whom were born in Darmstadt, Germany, the father 
having been a farmer by vocation and having passed the closing years of 
his life in Freeport, Illinois, where he died in 1899, his devoted wife 
passing away in 1885, while all of their eight children are living at 
the present time. After completing the curriculum of the district 
schools the subject continued his studies in the Lawrence University, at 
Appleton, Wisconsin. At the age of nineteen years he secured employment 
as clerk in a store at Freeport, Illinois, where he remained for a 
period of six years, gaining practical knowledge, which proved of great 
value to him in his later and independent business operations. Mr. 
Schaetzel became one of the pioneers of Minnehaha county, South Dakota, 
where he took. up his residence on the 22d of February, 1876, settling 
in Sioux Falls, which was at the time a straggling little village of 
about two hundred and fifty population. In the intervening years he has 
left an indelible impress upon the civic, industrial and business 
affairs of the city, county and state, while to him has come a due 
measure of success as the result of his well-directed endeavors along 
legitimate lines of enterprise. For the first few years after his 
arrival in the state Mr. Schaetzel gave his attention principally to the 
real-estate and insurance business and to the shipping in of horses, for 
which he found a ready demand as the tide of immigration set in. For two 
years he conducted a livery and sales stable in Sioux Falls, and since 
that time his name has been associated with a large number of important 
and varied business enterprises, while he has accumulated a competence. 
He is the owner of valuable property in the city and county and is a 
stockholder in various industrial and financial concerns, having been at 
one time a stockholder in the German Bank, and a member of its 
directorate. As has been well said of him, "There are no negative 
elements in his makeup; he is energetic and enterprising, and is a good 
citizen." 

	In politics Mr. Schaetzel accords an uncompromising allegiance to 
the Republican party, in whose cause he has been an active worker, being 
one of the wheelhorses of the party in Minnehaha county. In 1881, upon 
the death of Thomas T. Cochran, who has been incumbent of the office, he 
was elected president of the village council of Sioux Falls, and 
forthwith showed his progressive ideas and strong power of initiative by 
vigorously agitating the question of securing to the place a charter as 
a city, its population and commercial prestige at the time entitling its 
incorporation as such. He called a meeting of the citizens for the 
consideration of the matter, and within the autumn of that year definite 
steps were taken toward the accomplishment of the desired end, a city 
charter being drafted and other necessary preliminary work accomplished. 
The president of the village then went to the territorial capital and 
presented the claims of Sioux Falls to the legislature, which duly 
passed the bill authorizing the incorporation as a city. At the first 
general election under the new charter, in 1882, Mr. Schaetzel was 
further honored by his fellow citizens by being elected the first mayor 
of the city, receiving a most gratifying support and continuing in 
tenure of the office for a term of two years, while he gave a most able, 
careful and business-like administration, the burdens imposed upon him 
in the connection being heavy, as his term of office was one marked by 
reorganization and readjustment in municipal affairs, but his vigorous 
policy was such that harmony and wise administration marked the course 
of his official career. He was county commissioner for the fifth 
district during the years 1893-4-5, and was a very active and 
influential member of the board, while his aid and influence have at all 
times been loyally given in support of all measures and undertakings for 
the advancement of the best interests of the city and state. 

	On the 7th of September, 1871, Mr. Schaetzel was united in 
marriage to Miss Catharine Brenner, who was born and reared in 
Washington county, Wisconsin, being a daughter of Peter and Christina 
(Kissinger) Brenner, both of whom died in Polk, Washington county, 
Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Schaetzel have two children, Marie, who is the 
wife of Ernest D. Skillman, of Irene, this state, and William A., who is 
engaged in business at Elk Point. The subject is a member of the Masonic 
fraternity, in which he has passed the degrees of lodge and chapter.