Jacob Gundert Biography


	This biography appears on pages 648-649 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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				JACOB GUNDERT. 

	Among those who claim Russia as the land of their nativity and 
who have become substantial and valued citizens of South Dakota is 
numbered Jacob Gundert. Born near Odessa, Russia, on the 18th of 
January, 1853, he is a son of Andrew and Kathrina (Frazer) Gundert, who 
were also natives of Russia, in which country they spent their entire 
lives. 

	There Jacob Gundert was reared and educated. He came to America 
in 1873, when a young man of twenty years, and made his way to Yankton, 
South Dakota, where he was employed in a lumberyard, being identified 
with the business for several years He next removed to Hutchinson 
county, South Dakota, and established a lumberyard in the town of 
Menno. He devoted seven years to business there, at the end of which 
time he sold his lumberyard and purchased a farm of eleven hundred and 
twenty acres in Hutchinson county, on which he lived for seven years, 
making excellent improvements upon the place. He erected fine buildings 
and set out an orchard of five acres, while his fields were brought to 
a high state of cultivation. On selling that place he removed to Menno 
and embarked in the implement business, in which he continued for two 
years. He then disposed of all of his holdings in Hutchinson county and 
removed to Hosmer, Edmunds county, where he again established a 
lumberyard and organized a bank known as the Hosmer State Bank, of 
which he was the president for four years. Again he changed the scene 
of his activities by selling his business at that place in 1907 and 
removed to Bowdle He incorporated the first state bank of the town with 
John C. Gross as a partner and was a director of the bank for a year, 
after which he sold out to Gross Brothers and established and 
incorporated a bank at Tolstoy, South Dakota, known as the Farmers 
State Bank, of which he is now the president. He is also engaged in the 
real-estate business, being at the head of a land company known as the 
Gundert & Son Land Company, which now has between three and four 
thousand acres of land. The business interests of Mr. Gundert have 
constantly increased in volume and importance and he now has extensive 
connections which make him a prominent factor in the development and 
material upbuilding of his part of the state. 

	In 1875 Mr. Gundert was united in marriage to Miss Katherine 
Yongman, a native of Russia, who came to America in the same year as 
her future husband. Her parents, William and Margaretta Yongman, 
crossed the Atlantic in 1873 and established their home at Yankton, 
South Dakota, where their remaining days were passed. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Gundert have been born ten children, of whom eight are yet living: 
William, a merchant of Tolstoy; John, who is engaged in the banking 
business at Tolstoy; Walter, who is the proprietor of a market at Rock 
Valley, Iowa; Helmuth, who is in the bank at Tolstoy; Paulina, the wife 
of Emil Schnaidt; Lydia, who married John Gross; Carrie, the wife of 
Christ Gross; and Martha, at home. 

	In his political views Mr. Gundert is a republican and has 
supported the candidates of the party since becoming a naturalized 
American citizen but has neither held nor desired office. He and his 
wife are members of the Reformed church and are highly esteemed in the 
community where they live. Mr. Gundert had but twenty-five cents 
remaining when he came to America and all that he now possesses has 
been made in South Dakota. It is no wonder that he is an enthusiastic 
advocate of the state and its opportunities and the state is proud to 
claim him as one of its citizens, for his efforts have been of material 
worth to the communities in which he has lived. His life record is 
commendable and furnishes an example well worthy of emulation.