Otto C. Winter Biography


	This biography appears on pages 652-653 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


				OTTO C. WINTER.  

	Otto C. Winter is president of the G. W. Murner Abstract Company, 
Incorporated, and as such is well known in business circles, for the 
undertaking is an important one in this section of the state. He is a 
representative of the band of Russians who have been active in 
colonizing Hutchinson county and have contributed so largely to its 
upbuilding and improvement he was born in South Russia, on the 10th of 
August, 1862, a son of Carl August and Rebecca Winter, who were of 
German lineage. The family came to the United States in 1873, settling 
near Menno, where the father homesteaded on section 17, township 97, 
range 57. Following his arrival in this state Carl A. Winter devoted 
his life to farming in Hutchinson county, and with the work of early 
development and improvement was closely associated. He left the impress 
of his individuality upon many public interests which have had a 
bearing upon the welfare and development of his section of the state. 
He was the second county treasurer of Hutchinson county, filling the 
office at a time when it paid a salary of forty dollars per year. He 
continued to serve for ten years, making a most creditable record in 
that position. He was also elected a member of the constitutional 
convention which was held in Sioux Falls and thus he aided in framing 
the organic law of the state. He died in the year 1899, having long 
survived his wife, who passed away in Russia. 

	Otto C. Winter was educated in the German schools of Russia and 
also in the local district school following the arrival of the family 
in the new world. He was a lad of but eleven years when he crossed the 
Atlantic to the United States with his father, with whom he remained 
upon the farm for a number of years, sharing in the hardships and 
privations incident to pioneer life. He afterward went to the Pacific 
coast, where he took up some land and thereon remained for two years. 
He then returned to the old homestead, where he remained for ten years, 
and upon the death of his father assumed control of the farm, which he 
carefully, systematically and persistently cultivated, his labors being 
attended with a fair measure of success. He brought his fields to a 
high state of cultivation and added many modern equipments and 
accessories to the farm. In 1900, however, he put aside the work of the 
fields and went to Menno, where he engaged in grain buying for eight 
years. 

	It was about that time that Mr. Winter was elected register of 
deeds, in which capacity he served for four years. During that period 
he became connected with the G. W. Murner Abstract Company of Olivet 
and since retiring from office he has given his entire time and 
attention to that business and to the supervision of his landed 
holdings, which embrace about seven hundred and thirty acres. 

	Mr. Winter was united in marriage to Miss Christiana Hertz, a 
daughter of Philip Hertz, and she passed away on the 9th of May, 1898, 
leaving three children, Bertha, Herbert and Annetta. Mr. Winter is a 
member of the Evangelical church and his influence is always a factor 
for good government, for material progress and for moral advancement. 
In politics he is an earnest republican, believing firmly in the 
principles of the party, and he has served as a delegate to county 
conventions. He represents one of the old and well known pioneer 
families of Hutchinson county and has himself resided within its 
borders for about forty two years, save for the brief period which he 
spent upon the coast. He can, therefore, relate many interesting 
incidents of the early days and the changes which have occurred and in 
the work of progress he has ever borne his part.