Rev. Charles Auer Biography


	This biography appears on page 982 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				REV. CHARLES AUER. 

	Father Charles Auer is well known as the beloved pastor of the 
Catholic church of SS. Peter and Paul at Dimock, which in 1885 was 
known as Rome, then Starr and since 1912 as Dimock. His birth occurred 
in Germany on the 11th of January, 1867, his parents being George and 
Josepha Auer. In the acquirement of an education he attended the 
parochial schools of Hamilton, Ohio, and his theological training was 
received in St. Meinard Seminary of St. Meinard, Indiana. He was 
ordained to the priesthood in 1892 and was assigned to his first 
mission in the counties traversed by and adjacent to the Cumberland and 
Tennessee rivers in southwestern Kentucky with headquarters at Paducah, 
Kentucky. In 1906 he came to South Dakota and was assigned to the 
mission at Farmer, where he remained in charge for about eight years. 
In 1913 he was appointed pastor of the church of SS. Peter and Paul at 
Dimock, his immediate predecessor, Rev. J. L. Wulf, passing away on the 
6th of September of that year. The latter had charge of the parish from 
1894 to 1896 as a young man, was subsequently transferred to Milbank 
but eventually returned to Dimock and spent the last five years of his 
life as pastor of the church of SS. Peter and Paul. He erected the 
beautiful brick church at a cost of thirty-five thousand dollars and 
had begun the building of the new brick schoolhouse at an estimated 
cost of sixteen thousand dollars, but the latter structure was 
completed by Rev. Auer and represents an expenditure of thirty thousand 
dollars. The school course covers eight grades and the students are 
taught by six Sisters of St. Francis of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Rev. Auer 
is identified with the Knights of Columbus, belonging to Paducah (Ky.) 
Council, No. 1055. He enjoys the cooperation of his parishioners in 
unusual degree and his consecrated labors have been an appreciable 
factor in the growth and spread of Catholicity here.