James W. Mattes Biography


	This biography appears on pages 109-110 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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				JAMES W. MATTES. 

	James W. Mattes is the proprietor of the Delmonico Cafe at 
Redfield and has continued in this business since the 1st of January, 
1910. He was born in Huron, South Dakota, on the 1st of July, 1884, and 
is a son of Christopher and Mary Jane (Wood) Mattes, who are now 
residents of Redfield. The former came to South Dakota in 1879 as a 
section hand and assisted in building the Chicago & Northwestern 
Railroad. He continued in the service of the company and gradually 
worked his way upward until he is one of the oldest engineers on the 
road, having been in the employ of that company for about thirty-eight 
years. Both he and his wife are now fifty-five years of age and they 
are numbered among the well known and highly esteemed citizens of 
Redfield. The father holds the record of not having missed a pay check 
in thirty-seven years. To him and his wife have been born eight 
children, as follows: James W., of this review; Frank H., at home; 
Christopher A., Jr., registry clerk in the post office at Helena, 
Arkansas; Ben E. and Ralph, both of whom are in the service of their 
brother James; Earl, who died in infancy; and another son and daughter 
who also passed away in infancy. 

	James W. Mattes pursued his education in the Redfield high school 
and the college of that place, continuing his studies to the age of 
twenty years, when he accepted a position as telegraph operator on the 
Northwestern Railroad, being employed in that way for about five years. 
He afterward worked for the Northern Pacific Railroad Company at 
Dickinson, North Dakota, for five months and subsequently spent a year 
in the employ of the Wood Commission Company at St. Paul. He next 
bought a popcorn stand at Redfield which he managed for a year, at the 
end of which time he became proprietor of the Delmonico Cafe of 
Redfield and now has the largest business of the kind in the town. 

	Mr. Mattes is independent in politics. Fraternally, however, he 
is well known as a Mason and a Red Man. He resides with his parents at 
No. 107 South Bryant street, where the family have a good home. His 
youth was largely a period of earnest and unremitting toil and in the 
habits of industry and determination which he then formed he laid the 
foundation for his present success.