Biography of John Wittmayer

	From: History of Dakota Territory  by George W. Kingsbury (1915), vol. IV, p. 208 - 212, 
	includes picture of Hon. John W. Wittmayer

	Transcribed by Joy Fisher, jfisher@sdgenweb.com

	Note: The text below is copied as it appears in the book. "Klickstahl" is Glueckstal;
	"Kleinneidorf" is Klein Neudorf.

Hon. John Wittmayer

	Hon. John W. Wittmayer, of Scotland, South Dakota, is manifesting excellent executive 
ability and the power of coordinating adverse elements in his work as superintendent of the 
Goodridge, Call Lumber Company, who have nine lumberyards in the southeastern section of the 
state. He has rendered South Dakota able service as state representative, serving in the lower 
house of the legislature at an early day in the history of the state. He is a representative 
of one of the German families that in the early '70s left the Russian domains and came to the 
United States to enrich American citizenship with their sturdy qualities.

	His father, Johann Wittmayer, was born in the village of Klickstahl, Russia, and was a 
son of George Wittmayer, who secured a farm there upon his removal from Wittenberg, Germany. 
The czarina, known as Catherine the Great, had invited Germans to settle in her domains, 
granting them religious liberty and the right to use their own language, and accordingly 
early in the nineteenth century many thrifty German families emigrated to Russia. Johann 
Wittmayer served as a district judge in Russia and through official channels was early 
apprised of the intention of the czar to restrict the rights of the German citizens that 
had been expressly guaranteed them by Catherine the Great. He realized that the situation 
would be unbearable when the purposes of the czar were carried out and was therefore among 
the first to determine upon a removal to a freer country. He was one of a committee of seven 
sent out by the German colony to find a suitable location for a settlement. The committee 
traveled over Germany, England and Turkey without finding a place that met all the requirements 
and returned to Russia for further consultation with those whom they represented. While at 
Odessa Mr. Wittmayer accidentally met a Mr. Bett of Iowa, who was there on a pleasure trip and 
who told him of the wonderful opportunities of free land, free speech, free religious 
privileges and free schools to be had for the taking in the Dakotas. The committee was so 
impressed with the opportunities offered by the new land that they reported favorably upon 
the Dakotas, disposed of their property and came here with one of the first colonies of 
German-Russians, as they are known in South Dakota, to emigrate to the new west. The colony 
left Hamburg on an old sailing vessel known as the Noah, which had been converted into a 
steamship, and by the use of both steam and sail arrived in New York on the 20th of 
October, 1873, just fifteen days after embarking. From New York they came directly to 
Yankton, reaching their destination in four or five days. That city was then the end of the 
railroad and the edge of the wilderness and they were immediately confronted with pioneer 
conditions of life. Mr. Wittmayer was in comparatively good circumstances and as soon as 
possible purchased two yoke of oxen and two cows, to which equipment was soon added a team 
of ponies. The family settled upon a claim nine miles south of Scotland and for the first 
season lived in a one-room shanty built of rough logs and with a shed roof. As it was summer 
the cook stove was set up in the yard and a stone oven such as was used for baking in Europe 
was erected nearby. The roof leaked so badly that there was but one dry corner in the room and 
the bed of the mother was placed there as she had left Russia with a severe case of rheumatism. 
It rained nearly every night throughout the entire summer but as the days were sunny and warm 
the bedding dried quickly when spread out upon the prairie grass. During the summer of 1874 
they erected a sodhouse, which was a great improvement upon their first dwelling. The roof 
was constructed of large poles and these were covered by small willow branches, which in turn 
were covered by prairie hay. The sod was placed upon the hay and was plastered over with a 
heavy mortar of clay and this was washed with a thinner mixture, the roof when completed being 
proof against the heaviest rains. The inside of the house was shaved smooth with a spade and 
the whitewashed, which gave the rooms a very pleasing and homelike appearance. The winter was 
passed very comfortably in this house and it remained the family residence for a number of 
years. The mother of our subject was in her maindenhood (sic) Katherine Retzer, and was also 
of German parentage although a native of Russia. She passed away in 1887 and the father 
continued upon the home farm until 1891, when he retired from agricultural pursuits and made 
his home with his son, John W., until his demise, which occurred January 10, 1912, when he was 
eighty-seven years of age. In their family were six children, four sons and two daughters, of 
whom four survive, namely: Simon, a resident of Fertonia, North Dakota; John W., of this review; 
Christina, the wife of Christian Mehren, of Scotland; and Rosina, who married Jacob Vielhauer, 
a farmer living four miles west of Tyndall.

	John W. Wittmayer was born in the village of Kleinneidorf, Russia, January 27, 1861, and 
was a lad of twelve years when his family came to America. He remembers well the strange new 
sights of the voyage and the later journey by land to the Dakotas. He was given good educational 
advantages, attending the country schools of the neighborhood in the acquirement of his 
elementary education, and during the winter of 1873-1874 he went to school in Yankton. In 1877, 
when sixteen years of age, he secured a position with the firm of Gardner Brothers, implement 
dealers of Yankton, and remained there for four years. He was married in 1881 and located on a 
farm some nine miles west of Scotland. His father had filed upon this place but relinquished it 
so that his son might prove up upon it, which he did, receiving after residence thereon the 
required length of time a patent of title from the government. In 1883 Mr. Wittmayer of this 
review abandoned farming and secured a position with a hardware and implement firm in Scotland, 
remaining with them until 1885. In that year, he accepted a position with the Oshkosh Lumber 
Company and continued with their successors, R. McMillan and Morgan Brothers, until he resigned, 
January 12, 1891, to take his seat as representative from his district in the second general 
assembly of the state. After the close of the legislative session Mr. Wittmayer opened a 
general store at Tripp, this state, but conducted it for only a short time, selling out in 
1893. He then became traveling salesman for the Deering Harvester Company, which position he 
filled for two years, retaining his residence in Tripp during that time. In 1895 he removed to 
Scotland and for one winter attended the Scotland Academy, but the following spring he again, 
went on the road, representing Warder, Bushnell & Glessner in the sale of Champion harvesting 
machinery. He remained with that firm throughout the year 1898 and in the following year 
engaged in the real estate business with C. C. King. In 1900, however, the two established a 
general store, incorporating as the Wittmayer Mercantile Company and continuing in business for 
eighteen months. At the end of that time Mr. Wittmayer retired from the store with a wealth of 
experience but with no tangible assets. His old firm of  Warder, Bushnell & Glessner had an 
opening for him and he entered their employ again, continuing with them during remainder of 
1902 and all of the following year. Since 1904 he as been engaged in the lumber business, being 
now interested in and superintendent for the Goodridge, Call Lumber Company, who operate nine 
yards, situated at Scotland, Tripp, Freeman, Lesterville, Volin, Irene, Viborg, Hurley and 
Canistota. He keeps close touch with the local managers of all the yards and the affairs of 
the company are in excellent condition as he is a business man of more than usual ability. He 
is also an extensive landowner having about nine hundred acres in North Dakota as well as a 
forty-acre orchard in the Sacramento valley of California.

	In Scotland, on the 27th of September, 1881, Mr. Wittmayer was united in marriage to Miss 
Elizabeth Derheim. Her parents, Ludvig and Justina (Fischer) Derheim, were also natives of 
Russia and of German descent. They came to America in 1887 and settled on a farm twelve miles 
west of Scotland, South Dakota. To Mr. And Mrs. Wittmayer have been born six children, two sons 
and four daughters, as follows: Rosina C.; Christian F., who is married and has charge of the 
lumberyard at Tripp; Gustav Emil, who died in 1890, at the age of two years; Catherine J., a 
graduate of the Yankton schools; Bertha M., who died in 1894, at the age of three years; and 
Johanna B., who graduated from the Scotland high school in 1915.

	The family are members of the Lutheran church and are loyal to the teachings of their 
ancestral faith. In politics Mr. Wittmayer is a democrat and he has been called upon to fill 
various local offices, such as member of the school board and city council, and has also been 
elected to the state legislature. He experienced many of the hardships of early days, having 
been to both fire and blizzard. At the time of the January blizzard of 1888 he was employed at 
the lumber office and knowing the serious nature of the storm, he went to the schoolhouse for 
his daughter soon after the storm began and did not cease work until he had taken every child 
to safety. The snow fell so rapidly and was so dense that is was only by feeling his way along 
fences that he could reach the house. Two great prairie fires swept down upon the settlement 
while he was still upon the farm. The one of September, 1878, came from the south and so 
menaced his buildings and grain that it was necessary to fight it desperately. In the struggle 
to save his property he forgot his own safety and his clothing caught fire and his face was 
severely burned before the flames could be extinguished. The following year fire started in 
the reservation in Charles Mix county and for a day or two burned north but was then driven by 
a shifting wind to the southeast and consumed several barns and dwellings as well as 
considerable grain and hay belonging to the Wittmayer family. Only those who actually lived 
upon the open prairie in those early days can have an adequate conception of the swiftness 
and terror of the prairie fire, which so often laid waste great sections of country and took a 
heavy toll of life. Mr. Wittmayer has lived a life of usefulness and his reward is the honor 
and esteem in which he is held by all who know him. He is not only a good citizen but is also 
a successful business man and an administrator of ability.