Lawrence H. Willrodt Biography


	This biography appears on page 1183 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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	LAWRENCE H. WILLRODT, one of the most prominent and successful 
farmers and stock growers of Brule county, is a native of the province 
of Schleswig, Germany, where he was born on the 17th of May, 1845. He 
received a good education in his native land, where he prepared himself 
for the pedagogic profession, and after coming to the United States he 
completed a course in a commercial college at Davenport, Iowa. At the 
age of twenty-two years he emigrated to America and took up his 
residence in the city of Davenport, Iowa, where he taught a German-
American school about five years, being very successful in his efforts. 
He then opened a book and stationery store in that city, continuing in 
this line of enterprise nearly a decade, at the expiration of which, in 
1880, he came to what is now Brule county, South Dakota, where he 
entered homestead and timber claims, while later he purchased one and 
one-half sections additional, having at the present time a fine estate 
of twelve hundred and eighty acres, of which about three hundred and 
twenty acres are maintained under a higl1 state of cultivation, while 
the balance is devoted to the raising of hay and to grazing purposes, as 
our subject gives special attention to the raising of high-grade live 
stock. conducting operations on a quite extensive scale. He has shown 
marked taste and discrimination in the improvement of his farm, and has 
one of the finest residences in this section, the house and incidental 
improvements about the same representing an expenditure of about six 
thousand dollars. 

	On the 1st of April, 1871, Mr. Willrodt was united in marriage to 
Miss Mary P. Wagner, who was born and reared in the city of St. Louis, 
Missouri, she being a niece of Hon. John F. Darby, who was a member of 
congress from Missouri for a number of years and one of the most eminent 
members of the bar of St. Louis, while he was also one of the leading 
bankers of Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Willrodt are the parents of three 
children, namely: Clara L., who is the wife of John Q. Anderson, a 
prominent stock raiser of Lyman county, this state; and L. Henry and 
Laura A., who remain at the parental home, the latter being a student in 
the high school at Chamberlain. 

	In his political adherency Mr. Willrodt is staunchly arrayed in 
support of the principles of the Democratic party and he has long been 
known as one of its wheelhorses in this section of the state, attending 
the various conventions as a delegate and being an influential factor in 
the party councils. In 19O1 he was elected a representative of Brule 
county in the state senate, this being the second general assembly of 
the state and one whose work tended to make history rapidly for the new 
commonwealth. He served with ability and his course was such as to gain 
him unqualified endorsement on the part of his constituents. He is 
identified with the Legion of Honor in Iowa, of which he became a member 
in 1879.