Alvin Conrad Schoeneman Biography


	This biography appears on pages 933-934 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) 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.

	This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside
	a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at

	http://usgwarchives.org/sd/sdfiles.htm


				ALVIN CONRAD SCHOENEMAN. 

	During practically his entire active life Alvin Conrad Schoeneman 
has been identified with the lumber and coal business and has now 
important connections along this line as secretary of Schoeneman 
Brothers Company. He has charge of the company's branch at Sioux [Falls 
and has accomplished a great deal of important work in this responsible 
position. He was born on a farm in Pottawattamie county, Iowa, March 
18, 1876, and is a son of William David and Theresa (Friday) 
Schoeneman, natives of Germany. After their marriage the parents came 
to America and settled in Wisconsin, where they remained about nine 
years, but later removed to Pottawattamie county, Iowa, and there the 
father's death occurred in 1897, when he was sixty-five years of age. 
He was a veteran of the Civil war and served as a private in the Forty-
ninth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. His wife has also passed away, her 
death having occurred in 1910. 

	Alvin C. Schoeneman acquired his early education in the public 
schools of Pottawattamie county, and later studied law for one year at 
the Iowa State University. Following this he joined his father and 
brothers in the lumber and coal business, which they had established in 
1893, the company being at the time Alvin C. Schoeneman became 
connected with it the owner of five plants. Two years later he went to 
Scranton, Iowa, where they had purchased a plant, and he remained for 
two years as general manager there. At the end of that time the 
interests at Scranton were sold and the company moved their 
headquarters to Hawarden, Iowa, where they are still located. Alvin C. 
Schoeneman remained at Hawarden until 1909, when he came to Sioux 
Falls, where a branch had been established three years before and where 
he has since resided. The Schoeneman Brothers Company is one of the 
strongest in its line in the entire northwest and has twelve retail 
yards in South Dakota and Iowa, operating plants at Ireton, Inwood, 
Hawarden, Sioux Center, Doon, Alvord, Spencer and Cherokee, Iowa, and 
at Sioux Falls, Hudson, Fairview and Parker, South Dakota. F. B. 
Schoeneman is president of the company, A. C. Schoeneman, secretary, 
and J. H. C. Schoeneman, treasurer. All are experienced men in the 
lumber and fuel business, and each is active in the development of the 
company's fast growing interests. The Schoeneman Brothers Company 
erected in 1911 new yards at Sioux Falls, having outgrown the 
facilities of their old plant. A very effective and somewhat novel idea 
is embodied in the arrangement of their offices, which are housed in a 
residence building constructed entirely of Schoeneman Brothers, own 
lumber. The visitor meets with a surprise when he steps into the 
building and finds himself in a business office instead of a drawing 
room. The new yards of the company in Sioux Falls have excellent 
terminal facilities, the railroad yards adjoining the lumberyards. The 
office staff is courteous, obliging and well trained for dealing with 
the patrons of the company. 

	On the 11th of June, 1908, at Hawarden, Iowa, Mr. Schoeneman was 
united in marriage to Miss Bessie Etheld Maxwell, and they have become 
the parents of two children, Evelyn and Herbert Maxwell. 

	Mr. Schoeneman is a member of the Presbyterian church, belongs to 
the Country and Dacotah Clubs and is connected fraternally with the 
Knights of Pythias and the Elks. During the period of his residence in 
Sioux Falls he has made an extensive circle of friends, and he holds 
the esteem and confidence of all who have been in any way associated 
with him.