Hans A. Ustrud Biography


	This biography appears on pages 695-696 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 A. USTRUD. 

	The northwest owes its development largely to the Scandinavian 
population which has settled in this district, bringing with them as a 
heritage from old world ancestry the qualities of determination, 
perseverance and ambition. Of this class Hans A. Ustrud is a 
representative, for while born upon a farm in Minnehaha county on the 
4th of November, 1871, his parents, Halvor O. and Julia (Kaasa) Ustrud, 
were natives of Norway. The father, born in 1841, came to America with 
his wife in 1866 and after two years removed to Minnehaha county, 
Dakota territory, in 1868. He has been a lifelong farmer and still 
occupies the old homestead farm in that county. His wife died in the 
year 1910. They were the parents of nine children, of whom three passed 
away in infancy, while three sons and three daughters survive. 

	Hans A. Ustrud was the third in order of birth. He is indebted to 
the district schools of the county and to the public schools of Sioux 
Falls for his preliminary educational opportunities, and in 1895 he was 
graduated from the Lutheran Normal School of Sioux Falls. He afterward 
went to Wisconsin and engaged in teaching in Dane county, that state, 
for three years. He then returned to Sioux Falls and taught in the 
schools of the county until 1901, when he was elected county 
superintendent of schools. So acceptable and capable was his service 
during his first term that he was reelected for a second term and 
filled the position for four years. Still higher educational honors 
awaited him, for he was then elected state superintendent of schools 
and served for two terms, or four years. Under his guidance the school 
system of South Dakota was carefully organized, the work systematized 
and developed and much of his own enthusiastic zeal was infused into 
the educational department of the state, thus greatly augmenting its 
efficiency and increasing the value of its work. 

	Mr. Ustrud is interested in the Cataract Book & Stationery 
Company, owning the most complete store of the kind in South Dakota. He 
has charge of the wholesale school department in connection with a 
printing plant which occupies the entire second floor. The school 
department is one of the most complete in the northwest. It issues five 
thousand catalogs which are distributed throughout the state and which 
indicates how extensive is the line of school books and school 
equipment handled. This department also acts as agents for the Smith 
system of heating and ventilation which is not only installed in 
schools but also in churches and other public buildings where perfect 
ventilation is necessary for the health of the student and the public. 
Mr. Ustrud has under his direction twenty-two agents having as their 
work the extending of the trade of this department. Other departments 
of the business include the sale of all that can be found in a modern 
book store, together with office supplies, filing cabinets, loose leaf 
ledgers and binders, together with a large trunk department and a 
factory in which are manufactured all kinds of trunks, suit cases, hand 
bags, traveling bags, sample cases, etc. Another department sells and 
repairs all makes of typewriters and each branch of the business is 
proving profitable. 

	On the 3d of September, 1908, at Gayville, South Dakota, Mr. 
Ustrud was united in marriage to Miss Lulu Dahl. They attend and hold 
membership in the Lutheran church and he gives his political 
endorsement to the republican party. His military experience covers two 
years service as a member of Company B, South Dakota State Guards. Mr. 
Ustrud has been active in republican circles and for two years has been 
chairman of the republican central committee of Minnehaha county, 
laboring earnestly to secure the success of his party and the adoption 
of its principles. His life has been one of activity crowned with 
success and has also been one of far-reaching benefit and helpfulness 
to those with whom he has come in contact. He has always held to high 
ideals and his worth is widely recognized in commercial, political and 
educational circles.