Fritz Preuss Biography


	This biography appears on pages 278-281 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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				FRITZ PREUSS. 

	Fritz Preuss, who has devoted his attention to agricultural 
pursuits in Minnehaha county for the past three decades, now cultivates 
four hundred and forty acres of rich and productive land on sections 
25, 26 and 36, Mapleton township, and is also engaged in the raising of 
fancy stock. His birth occurred in Germany on the 1st of April, 1868, 
his parents being Henry and Anna (Smith) Preuss, both of whom passed 
away in that country. The father was an agriculturist by occupation and 
followed farming throughout his active business career. 

	Fritz Preuss acquired his education in the common schools of his 
native land and when a youth of sixteen crossed the Atlantic to the 
United States, receiving the passage money from his father, to whom it 
was later repaid. He made his way direct to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, 
and then went into the country, working for his board as a farm hand 
during the first few months and afterward working by the day, while 
subsequently he worked with a threshing crew. During three winter 
seasons he attended school, doing chores to pay for his board. He 
remained in the employ of William Bailey, some four miles west of Sioux 
Falls, for about five years and afterward spent a year with John Olgar. 
At the end of that time he started out as an agriculturist on his own 
account, renting the farm of William Bailey for one year on halves and 
the next year giving one-third of the proceeds as rent. Subsequently he 
rented a farm of several hundred acres in connection with his brother-
in-law, Fritz Carls, for two years, and then rented for eight years the 
same farm alone. He next purchased two hundred and forty acres and has 
added to it by purchase until he now cultivates four hundred and forty 
acres on sections 25, 26 and 36, Mapleton township, and also devotes 
considerable attention to the raising of fancy stock, having seventy 
head of cattle and two hundred pigs. Eleven of his forty-seven sows are 
registered and there are also sixty-five pigs to be registered. He is a 
stockholder in the Farmers Mutual Insurance Company and has long been 
numbered among the substantial and representative citizens of his 
community. Upon his place he has erected commodious and substantial 
buildings. including a good residence, barns, silos and other 
outbuildings. When he purchased his present farm there was standing 
upon it the first frame house erected in that locality. 

	On the 4th of January, 1894, Mr. Preuss was united in marriage to 
Miss Alvina Lembcke, a native of Germany and a daughter of John and 
Mary (Pager> Lembcke. She was fourteen years of age when the family 
emigrated to the United States and settled in Wisconsin. Two years 
later they came to McCook county, South Dakota, where the parents spent 
some years, but both died at the home of a son in Nebraska. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Preuss have been born the following children: Ella, now the wife 
of Bruno Gibhard, of Canova, South Dakota; Meta W.; Ernest; Margaret; 
John, who was accidentally killed; Frederick; Alvina; and Loretta. All 
are natives of this state. 

	Politically Mr. Preuss is a republican, loyally supporting the 
men and measures of that party. He has served as chairman of the 
district school board and also as treasurer, proving a capable 
incumbent in both capacities. His religious faith is indicated by his 
membership in the German Lutheran church, the teachings of which he 
exemplifies in his daily life. Coming to the new world in his youth, he 
eagerly embraced the opportunities afforded in a land unhampered by 
caste or class and has worked his way steadily upward to an enviable 
position among the citizens of his adopted county and state.