Hans L. Otterby Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1157-1158 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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				HANS. L. OTTERBY. 

	Hans L. Otterby, the period of whose residence in South Dakota 
covers about four decades, is the owner of one of the highly improved 
farms of Minnehaha county, comprising three hundred and twenty acres, 
and makes his home on section 2, Lyons township. His birth occurred in 
Norway on the 17th of May, 1852, his parents being Lars and Aaste 
(Ustrud) Otterby, who spent their entire lives in the land of the 
midnight sun. In 1873, when a young man of twenty-one years, he crossed 
the Atlantic to the United States and located in Dane county, 
Wisconsin. Two years later, in 1875, he came to Minnehaha county, South 
Dakota, and preempted one hundred and sixty acres on section 3, Lyons 
township, lying just across the road from his present home, which he 
homesteaded after proving up on his preemption. He still owns the three 
hundred and twenty acres and in 1905 erected a commodious farm 
residence. His barns and outbuildings are also modern and his place is 
one of the attractive and well improved properties of the county. As 
the years have passed he has won prosperity in his farming operations, 
the well tilled fields annually yielding golden harvests in return for 
the care and labor bestowed upon them. 

	In 1888 Mr. Otterby was joined in wedlock to Miss Mary Fersdal, a 
daughter of Henrik Fersdal and a sister of Thomas Fersdal, a sketch of 
whom appears on another page of this work. Our subject and his wife 
have three children: Henry L., Alfred C. and Joseph M., all at home. 

	Mr. Otterby is a republican in politics and known as a stanch 
champion of the cause of education, having for the past twelve years 
ably served as treasurer of the school board. His religious faith is 
indicated by his membership in the Lutheran synod, to which his wife 
and children also belong. Seeking the advantage of the new world as a 
young man, Mr. Otterby eagerly availed himself of the opportunities 
which presented themselves and, wisely directing his energies, has won 
prosperity and high regard in the country of his adoption.