Theodore J. P. Giedt Biography


	This biography appears on pages 564-565 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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				THEODORE J. P. GIEDT. 

	Theodore J. P. Giedt, a representative of the bar of Eureka and 
states attorney for McPherson county, was born at Danzig, Russia, on 
the 9th of November, 1873, a son of John P. and Elizabeth Giedt. His 
ancestors lived at or near Danzig, Prussia, a century or more ago and 
with a number of others were induced to emigrate and settle in southern 
Russia, receiving some of the free homesteads given away to German 
immigrants with numerous privileges and immunities. In time two 
families, the Giedts and the Pritzkaus, became the leaders among the 
settlers of that locality and have remained so to this day. In May, 
1886, John P. and Elizabeth Giedt became residents of what was then 
Dakota territory, settling in McIntosh county, now in North Dakota. The 
father died in the year 1914, while the mother is living in Bismarck. 

	Theodore J. P. Giedt obtained a common-school education in both 
the English and German languages and completed a course in the Winona 
(Minn.) Business College with the class of 1891. He afterward became a 
law student in the University of South Dakota, which he attended in 
1903 and 1904, and on the 19th of April of the latter year he was 
admitted to practice ill the courts of the state. He had come to South 
Dakota in March, 1889, after which he worked as an apprentice in the 
printing office of Flinn & Lutgen, who were then publishing the Eureka 
Independent. In April of the same year they added a German weekly, Die 
Eureka Post. The following winter M. Lutgen acquired the ownership of 
the whole plant and Mr. Giedt was made its manager, acting in large 
measure as editor of both papers and also doing much of the typesetting 
and mechanical work about the office. In the fall of 1892, in 
connection with M. O. Ronayne, he purchased the two papers and plant 
from M. Lutgen and in the summer of 1894 added another paper, the 
McPherson-County Herald, which was later moved to Leola with Mr. 
Ronayne in charge, The Independent suspended and an English edition of 
the Eureka Post was thereafter issued in its stead. Mr. Giedt was in 
charge of the Eureka papers, but when elected to public office he 
disposed of his newspaper interests and removed to Leola, where he 
remained until the spring of 1903. While at the county seat, in 
partnership with M. Krause, then register of deeds, he organized the 
McPherson County Abstract Company and established a splendid abstract 
business. He also engaged in the mercantile and machinery business 
under the name of the Leola Mercantile Company with M. Krause as 
partner, this association being maintained until the summer of 1905. 
Mr. Giedt also became connected with the real-estate business and is 
still a stockholder in the German Land & Loan Company of Eureka, of 
which he has been secretary since its organization. His resourceful 
business ability is further indicated in the fact that he has extended 
his efforts to still other lines, where his industry and enterprise 
have been an impetus for business growth and success. He was one of the 
incorporators of the Farmers & Mere chants State Bank of Eureka and 
still retains his interest in that growing institution. He was 
prominent in the organization of the Volkszeitung Publishing Company, 
publishers of the Eureka Volkszeitung, and as a member of the board of 
directors and its secretary did much toward building up the paper. 

	Mr. Giedt's military record covers connection with Company A, of 
the South Dakota National Guard, in which he enlisted on the 11th of 
April, 1901. He was immediately appointed sergeant and given charge of 
the Leola contingent of the company. For two years he served as 
battalion quartermaster sergeant and on the 21st of May, 1911, was 
commissioned as an officer with the rank of captain and assigned to the 
general staff under General C. H. Englesby. He was recommissioned May 
21, 1913, under General W. A. Morris and appointed assistant judge 
advocate. Soon afterward Captain James McNeny, who was judge advocate 
general, was promoted to the rank of major of the First Battalion, S. 
D. N. G. and Mr. Giedt assumed full charge of the judge advocate 
general department. 

	In still other fields Mr. Giedt has rendered important public 
service to his community. He was clerk of the courts in 1897 and 1898 
and the following year was elected county auditor, which position he 
filled until 1903. It was then that he entered upon the study of law, 
being admitted to the bar in 1904, and in 1907 he was elected states 
attorney, filling the office until 1910. That year legislative honors 
were conferred upon him in his election as representative in the 
general assembly for a term of two years and he was reelected in 1912. 
He was again elected to the office of states attorney in the fall of 
1914, assuming the duties of this position on the 1st of January, 1915, 
so that he is the present incumbent. In 1902 he was elected to the 
office of county judge but did not qualify for the position. He has 
held the offices of city attorney and city auditor of Eureka a number 
of terms, serving in the former position at the present time. He was 
also for two terms a member of the Eureka board of education and acted 
as its president. 

	On the 25th of January, 1895, in Dolinskoje, Russia, Mr. Giedt 
was united in marriage to Augusta E. Pritzkau and following her demise 
he was married on the 7th of November, 1907, at Aberdeen, South Dakota, 
to Emma N. Radak. The parents of his first wife still reside in Russia, 
where the father is a rich landowner and is engaged in farming on an 
extensive scale, much of his farm work being done with machinery 
manufactured in this country. In order to be better able to get around 
and over his possessions he uses an automobile made in the United 
States. By his first marriage Mr. Giedt has four children, Cecelia, 
Florence, Lydia and Walwin, the youngest being now ten years of age. 

	Mr. and Mrs. Giedt are members of the First Baptist church of 
Aberdeen, South Dakota. He is a republican of the progressive type and 
has taken a prominent part in the political activities of the community 
and of the state during the past twenty years. He was one of the 
earnest working members of the legislature during his connection 
therewith, being considered one of the leaders of the house. With 
several fraternal organizations he is identified He is a member of the 
local Masonic lodge, has attained the thirty-second degree in the 
Scottish Rite and is a Noble of the Mystic Shrine. He is also connected 
with the Knights of Pythias and the Dramatic Order of the knights of 
Khorassan, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Maccabees. He has held 
a number of important offices in these various orders and is now 
secretary in both the Masonic lodge and the Woodmen camp. He belongs to 
the Commercial Club, of which he is the treasurer, and to the Business 
Men's Association. He is secretary of the local branch of the German 
State Alliance, is a member of the Maennerchor and is secretary of the 
Chautauqua association of the city. Something of his standing as a 
citizen is indicated in the fact that he has never been defeated when a 
candidate for any public office. He has been identified with 
practically every public enterprise of the city and county and is 
leaving the impress of his individuality upon the movements which have 
been put forth to promote development and progress. The bare statement 
of the facts of his life indicates his prominence. So varied have been 
his activities, so far-reaching and beneficial their results that 
without invidious distinction he may be termed one of the foremost 
residents of McPherson county.