Albert H. Steffens Biography


	This biography appears on page 1224 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.


	ALBERT H. STEFFENS, M. D., D. D. S., of Menno, Hutchinson county, 
is a native of Prussia, where he was born on the 18th of June, 1874, 
being a son of Frederick and Sophia (Foerster) Steffens, of whose ten 
children the seven surviving are as follows: Mary, wife of August 
Gieseke, of Trenton, Illinois; Gustave, likewise a resident of that 
place; Louisa, wife of Eugene Lugenbuhl, of Trenton; Otto, a merchant 
tailor at North Manchester, Indiana; Herman, engaged in the same line of 
enterprise at Trenton, Illinois; Albert H., subject of this review; and 
Rudolph, a stenographer, residing in St. Louis, Missouri. The brother 
August, who died in Camaroon, Africa, in 1893, was a missionary of the 
Baptist church. The parents of the Doctor were both born in Prussia, 
where they continued to reside until 1880, when they came with their 
family to America, locating in Trenton, Illinois, where the father lived 
retired until his death, which occurred in 1897, at the age of seventy-
seven years, his object in leaving his native land having been to enable 
his sons to avoid the compulsory military service in the Prussian army, 
while he also was confident that superior opportunities for individual 
advancement were to be had in the new world. He was twice married, his 
first wife surviving but a few years after their union and having borne 
him two children of whom one is living, William, now a resident of 
Trenton, Illinois. The mother of the subject still resides in that 
place. 

	Dr. Albert Henry Steffens secured his rudimentary education in 
his native land, having been eight years of age at the time of the 
emigration of the family to America. He then continued his studies in 
the public and normal schools of Illinois, in which state he was 
successfully engaged in teaching for a period of four years. In the 
autumn of 1894 he began reading medicine under the preceptorship of Dr. 
T. Gaffner, of Trenton, Illinois, and in the fall of 1896 he was 
matriculated in the Barnes Medical College, in the city of St. Louis, 
where he was graduated in the spring of 1900, with the degree of Doctor 
of Medicine. Shortly afterward he came to Menno, South Dakota, and here 
instituted the active practice of his profession, soon securing a 
representative support as his ability and gracious personality won him 
popular favor. After coming here the Doctor also took up the study of 
dentistry and finally completed a course in the Marion Sims Dental 
College, at St. Louis, where he was graduated in the spring of 1902, 
receiving the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery. He now gives his 
attention to both professions, which so admirably complement each other, 
while he is one of the popular young men of the county and prominent in 
social circles. He is a Republican in politics and his religious faith 
is that of the Baptist church.