Isaac Schmidt Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1338-1339 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.


	ISAAC SCHMIDT, of Perkins, Bon Homme county, was born in 
Heinrischdorf, Russia, on the 13th of August, 1859, and is a son of 
Benjamin and Sarah Schmidt, who were likewise born and reared in that 
same province, where the father was engaged in milling, weaving and 
farming until September, 1874,. In 1786 Catharine II of Russia invited 
the Mennonites in Germany to settle in Russia, granting them religious 
liberty. Many of them accepted the invitation and established their 
homes there. In 1870 strong efforts were made by Russian officials to 
have the edict repealed and thus make all male residents subject to 
military duty. Then Mr. Schmidt decided to emigrate with his family to 
the United States, landing in New York, and immediately afterward coming 
to the territory of Dakota. They remained two weeks in Yankton and then 
Mr. Schmidt entered claim to three hundred and twenty acres of 
government land in what is now township 93, Bon Homme county, and the 
original home of the family was a dugout of the type so common in the 
early pioneer epoch. He developed a good farm and he and his wife still 
reside on the place, being numbered among the sterling pioneers of the 
county and having the high regard of all who know them. He is 
independent in his political proclivities and both he and his wife are 
members of the Mennonite church, exemplifying their faith in their daily 
walk. They had many vicissitudes and privations to encounter in the 
early days of their residence in the territory, and the work of 
developing the farm was accomplished with meager facilities, while Mr. 
Schmidt found employment in various ways in order to earn the money with 
which to provide for his family and carry forward the improvement of his 
place, which is now one of the best in this section. In the family were 
nine children, all of whom are living and well placed in life, the 
subject of this sketch having been the fifth in order of birth. 

	Isaac Schmidt secured his early educational discipline in the 
denominational school of his fatherland, and was a lad of fifteen years 
at the time of the family immigration to America. Owing to the 
conditions of time and place he received but little schooling after 
coming to Dakota, but he has gained a broad fund of knowledge of 
practical order through personal application and through experience in 
connection with the active affairs of life. As a boy he assisted in 
cutting hay on the pioneer farm, utilizing a scythe for this purpose, 
and the first property which he accumulated though his own efforts was a 
cow. At the age of fifteen years he began working on the farm, for a 
stipend of six dollars a month, being thus engaged for three years and 
with his savings he purchased a pair of steers, which he used for a 
team. At the age of twenty years he purchased one hundred and sixty 
acres of wild land in township 93, this county, and this constitutes his 
present finely improved ranch. The land is under a high state of 
cultivation, is well fenced, has an orchard of twelve acres, which 
yields good crops, while in addition to general farming and stock 
raising Mr. Schmidt devotes special attention to gardening, being one of 
the most successful horticulturists in this section. In 1894 he erected 
his present attractive residence, and the other buildings on the place 
are of substantial order, all giving evidence of thrift and prosperity. 
He is independent in his political views and is essentially public-
spirited and progressive, taking an interest in all that conserves the 
general welfare of the county and state in which he has made his home 
from his boyhood days and to whose development he has contributed his 
quota. Both he and his wife are consistent members of the Mennonite 
church, in whose faith they were reared. 

	On the 5th of May, 1878, Mr. Schmidt was united in marriage to 
Miss Aganela Unruh, who was born in Heinrischdorf, Russia, on the 21st 
of January, 1858, being a daughter of Henry Unruh, who died in Russia. 
Mr. and Mrs. Schmidt have six children. Henry, who married Miss Kate 
Boese, and who is a successful farmer and schoolteacher of this county, 
having one son; and Benjamin, Annie, Bertha, Lena and Mary, who remain 
at the parental home. All the children receive good educational 
advantages, and all are proficient in music.