Samuel Fantle Biography


	This biography appears on pages 953-954 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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				SAMUEL FANTLE. 

	Business enterprise in Sioux Falls finds an exponent in Samuel 
Fantle, a merchant who is a partner in the firm of Fantle Brothers and 
who, conducting his interests according to the most modern and 
progressive ideas of commercialism, is meeting with success. He was 
born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, January 12, 1865, his parents being 
Charles and Regina (Gregor) Fantle. He acquired his education in the 
public schools of his native city, passing through consecutive grades 
until he was graduated from the high school, and was thus well equipped 
for the responsibilities and duties which have come in later life. He 
received his business training in his father's store and under his 
father's direction at Ann Arbor, remaining with the house after the 
removal of the business to St. Paul, Minnesota. In fact he continued to 
assist his father until the latter's retirement, after which the 
business was continued by the sons. 

	In 1900 Samuel Fantle came to Sioux Falls, where he joined his 
brother in the conduct and management of a store which the latter had 
founded in 1895. The partnership resulted in the utilization of the 
present firm name of Fantle Brothers. The business, begun in 1895, was 
comparatively a modest one but has been steadily developed until it is 
probably the largest enterprise of its kind in the state. It has been 
necessary to constantly increase the stock in order to meet the growing 
demands of the trade and the establishment shows all that is most 
attractive in goods of domestic and foreign manufacture. The store is 
splendidly appointed and attractive and pleasing in its arrangement, 
and the firm holds to the highest standards in the personnel of the 
house and in the treatment accorded patrons, courtesy and consideration 
being demanded of the salespeople at all times, while thoroughly 
reliable business methods constitute the underlying principle of the 
house. In addition to his large mercantile interests Samuel Fantle is 
identified largely with the city's financial activities as a 
stockholder and director in several local banks and he has large 
investments in land in Colorado and elsewhere. 

	On the 8th of July, 1912, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. 
Fantle and Miss Helen Cohen, a native of Selma, Alabama, and they have 
one son, Samuel, Jr. Their city residence, recently completed, is one 
of the finest in the state. It is beautifully and tastefully furnished, 
comfort being its primary feature with elegance simply as an accessory. 
Here the true spirit of hospitality reigns supreme and their home is 
the center of many a brilliant society function. 

	In politics Mr. Fantle maintains an independent course, voting 
for men and measures rather than party. In Masonry he has attained high 
rank, having taken the thirty-second degree of the Consistory. He also 
has membership with the Elks and with the Dacotah and Minnehaha County 
Country Clubs. He is also a member of the Commercial Club and is in 
thorough sympathy with all its projects for the upbuilding of the city, 
the extension of its commercial relations and the upholding of its 
civic standards. Mr. Fantle is a devotee of outdoor sports and enjoys 
all phases of life in the country or the woods He is justly accounted 
one of the most energetic business men of Sioux Falls and his success 
is attributable in no small degree to the fact that he always continued 
in the line in which he embarked as a young tradesman, never 
dissipating his energies over a diversified field. He has ever followed 
constructive measures and to build up rather than to destroy has been 
his broad policy. In the management of his affairs his has not been the 
command of the tyrant to go but the call of the leader to come, and his 
business at all times balances up with the principles of truth and 
honor.