John P. Biehn Biography


	This biography appears on pages 939-940 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				JOHN P. BIEHN. 

	John P. Biehn, the vice president of the Gregory National Bank of 
Gregory, was born in Brown county, Ohio, March 14, 1875, and is a son 
of Louis and Eva (Busch) Biehn, who were of German birth. The father 
always followed farming and both he and his wife have now passed away. 
He was a veteran of the Civil war, having served for three years with 
the Eleventh Ohio Cavalry. 

	Reared in his native county, John P. Biehn pursued his education 
in the district schools and afterward assisted his father upon the home 
farm for some time. Later, however, he turned his attention to clerking 
in a country store and subsequently was identified with similar work in 
Cincinnati, Ohio, in Denver, Colorado, and in Bonesteel and Gregory, 
South Dakota, covering altogether about twenty years. He dates his 
arrival in this state from August, 1902, at which time he made his way 
to Bonesteel, where he secured a clerkship in a general store, and 
after clerking for a time at Gregory he secured a claim north of that 
place. About the time he proved up his property he was elected register 
of deeds of Gregory county and at the close of his first term was 
reelected, serving for four years, when he retired from the position as 
he had entered it-with the confidence and goodwill of all concerned. 
Mr. Biehn then became one of the organizers of the Corn Belt Bank & 
Trust Company of Gregory, which opened its doors for business in 1910. 
He became vice president of the institution and an active officer in 
its management and control. In January, 1912, that institution 
consolidated with the Gregory National Bank and of the new organization 
Mr. Biehn remained as vice president and still acts in that capacity. 
The business is steadily increasing, the deposits amounting to three 
hundred thousand dollars, and the bank is recognized as the strongest 
in its section of the state. He thoroughly understands every phase of 
the banking business and most carefully safeguards the interests of 
depositors while promoting the success of the institution. He is also 
president of the Bank of Carlock. He is a landowner of the county and 
was one of the organizers and the first secretary of the Gregory County 
Fair Association, which was formed in 1905. 

	Mr. Biehn is a bachelor politician, devoting considerable 
attention to public affairs, and he figures prominently in fraternal 
and religious circles He belongs to the German Lutheran church, to 
which he is a generous contributor, and he holds membership with the 
Masonic fraternity, in which he has attained the thirty-second degree 
of the Scottish Rite, and has also crossed the sands of the desert with 
the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is likewise an Elk and an Odd 
Fellow and he belongs to the Commercial Club. In politics he has long 
been active and influential. He was for two terms chairman of the 
democratic central committee, was a Wilson elector in 1912 and at the 
present time, 1915, is a member of the state committee from Gregory 
county. He enlisted as a private in the Fourth Kentucky Volunteer 
Infantry for service in the Spanish-American war and was transferred to 
the hospital corps, in which service he made two trips to Puerto Rico. 
He enjoys outdoor life, finding therein his recreation, and it is well 
known that Mr. Biehn is never too busy to be courteous nor too 
courteous to be busy.