John C. Cassutt Biography


	This biography appears on pages 619-620 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 C. CASSUTT. 

	The home farm of John C. Cassutt is a well developed and 
productive tract of land situated on section 27, Badus township, Lake 
county. Mr. Cassutt is a native of Switzerland. He was born December 1, 
1850, of the marriage of Louis and Christina Cassutt, who came with 
their family to the United States in 1859 and established their home in 
Clayton county, Iowa, where the father engaged in farming until his 
death, which occurred in 1887. The home was afterward sold and in 1892 
the mother passed away. 

	John C. Cassutt was but nine years of age when he crossed the 
Atlantic with his parents. After attending the public schools for a 
time he continued to assist his father with the work of the home farm 
and then began farming on his own account in Iowa. He afterward learned 
and followed the blacksmith's trade and in the spring of 1880 he came 
to South Dakota, where he homesteaded a tract of land, paying the usual 
government price and obtaining the title thereto in 1882. He has six 
quarter sections save about forty acres. He was one of the Catholic 
colony that settled in Lake county and he had his blacksmith shop where 
is now seen the burying ground at Lake Badus. He was the blacksmith for 
the entire countryside at that time. He afterward removed to his claim 
and began its development and improvement. There were few families then 
residing in his section of the country and most of them were living 
near Lake Badus. The land was wild and undeveloped, but the settlers 
were a class of sturdy, resolute frontiersmen and their labors soon 
wrought a marked change. Mr. Cassutt has worked persistently and 
earnestly in the development of his farm and now has a valuable 
property. He also owns a quarter section of land in Texas. In the year 
1876 he was a miner in Nevada but in recent years his undivided 
attention has been given to agricultural pursuits with the result that 
he now has a splendidly improved farm. Upon his place he has twenty 
head of cattle and good Percheron horses and he is a stockholder in the 
Farmers Elevator Company of Ramona. 

	On the 15th of May, 1882, Mr. Cassutt was united in marriage to 
Miss Barbara Fitzentin and they have become the parents of the 
following children: Louis, at home; Thomas, who was an engineer on the 
Northwestern Railroad and died at Washington Falls, Texas, when twenty-
seven years of age; Christina, the wife of K. Mosher; Cora and John, at 
home; Matt; who is operating his father,s other farm; and George, 
Frunica and William, all at home. 

	The religious faith of the family is that of the Catholic church 
and Mr. Cassutt is one of the few remaining representatives of the 
Catholic colony that settled near Lake Badus in pioneer times. He has 
held various township offices in the past and has always been 
interested in the substantial growth and improvement of his part of the 
state, taking an active and helpful interest in everything that he has 
believed would further the welfare and progress of his section. In a 
word, he is a public-spirited man and a representative citizen and his 
name is closely interwoven with the pioneer development of his part of 
the state.