Henry Fruth Biography


	This biography appears on pages 555-556 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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				HENRY FRUTH. 

	Henry Fruth is the popular and enterprising proprietor of the 
Fruth Hotel in Sturgis and has other business interests and valuable 
property holdings in the town. He is an energetic man, belonging to 
that class of citizens who while advancing individual success also 
contribute largely to the general good and public prosperity. He is a 
native of Saxony, Germany, born July 20, 1861, his parents being Christ 
and Dorothy (Kruger) Fruth, who were likewise natives of the 
fatherland, where the former was a shepherd. They never came to the new 
world and both have passed away. 

	Henry Fruth attended school in Germany to the age of fifteen 
years, when he began working as a farm hand and he was also employed in 
a shoe shop for a number of years. In 1883 he came to the United 
States, thinking to find better business opportunities on this side of 
the Atlantic than he could secure in the old world. At that time he 
could not speak English, which was a handicap to him in his business 
career, but with resolute spirit he set to work to acquire a knowledge 
of the language and of the methods of the people. He made his way 
direct to Deadwood, where ho was first employed in a sawmill for about 
two months. He then removed to Sturgis, where he secured a situation in 
what was known as the Charles Hotel, which then stood upon the present 
site of the Fruth Hotel. He spent a few months there, after which he 
learned the carpenter's trade with William Grams of Sturgis and 
continued in that line of business until 1899. He afterward went to 
Klondike, where he engaged in mining gold until 1902, when he returned 
to Sturgis and purchased an interest in a saloon, engaging in that 
business until February, 1908. He then sold out and purchased the 
Charles Hotel, which at that time contained but eleven rooms. He began 
improving and adding to the hostelry until he now has a large hotel 
containing fifty-two rooms for transients besides his own commodious 
and comfortable quarters. He has made this a most popular hostelry and 
it is liberally patronized. He also owns two other buildings, one 
containing six rooms and the other eight. He also erected what is known 
as the Hotel Barn in 1910 and conducts a livery business in connection 
with the hotel. He likewise operates a bus line and hearse and he is an 
extensive owner of Sturgis property. 

	On the 30th of October, 1894, Mr. Fruth was married to Miss Anna 
Keffeler, who was born in Carroll county, Iowa, a daughter of John P. 
and Catherine (Promensehenkel) Keffeler, both of whom were natives of 
the province of Luxembourg, Germany. The father was a farmer by 
occupation and in early life eame to the new world, living in Iowa for 
a number of years, after which he removed with his family to Minnesota 
and in the year 1878 arrived in South Dakota, settling in Bear Butte 
valley, where he engaged in farming and stock-raising, becoming one of 
the pioneers in the development of that district. Both he and his wife 
there passed away Mrs. Fruth was the fifth in order of birth in a 
family of seven children and was but a little maiden when brought by 
her parents to South Dakota. To Mr. and Mrs. Fruth have been born four 
children: Marie Dorothy Catherine, who is a graduate of the Rapid City 
Business College; Alice Frances Gertrude; Gladys Louise; and Esther 
Agnes. 

	Mr. Fruth belongs to the Lutheran church while Mrs. Fruth and the 
children are members of the Catholic church. In polities he is a 
democrat with independent tendencies and for three terms he served as a 
member of the city council of Sturgis, exercising his official 
prerogatives in support of various plans and measures to improve 
municipal conditions and advance the welfare of the town.