Otto Zell Biography


	This biography appears on pages 318-319 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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				OTTO ZELL.  

	Otto Zell is the owner of a farm of one hundred and sixty acres 
in Jefferson township, Spink county, and in addition rents and 
cultivates two hundred and forty acres in that township, having thus 
given his attention uninterruptedly to agricultural pursuits in Spink 
county since 1912. The year in which he attained his majority was the 
one which witnessed his arrival in South Dakota. He removed from Dodge 
county, Wisconsin, attracted by the growing opportunities of the 
northwest. His birth occurred in Pommern, Germany, November 24, 1865, 
his parents being John and Wilhelmina Zell, who were also natives of 
Germany, whence they came to the new world with their family in 1869. 
They settled first in Wisconsin, where the father engaged in farming, 
and on coming to South Dakota in 1886 he took up a homestead, which he 
developed and improved through the succeeding years to the time of his 
death, which occurred in 1909, when he had reached the ripe old age of 
seventy-eight years. For a considerable period he had survived his 
wife, who passed away in 1898, the remains of both being interred in a 
cemetery at Warner, South Dakota.  

	Otto Zell began his education in the schools of Dodge county, 
Wisconsin, pursuing his studies to the age of fourteen, at which time 
he started out in life on his own account. His youth was therefore 
largely a period of earnest and unremitting toil. He was employed as a 
farm hand by others until he reached the age of thirty years, and then, 
wishing to have his labors more directly benefit himself, he began 
farming on rented land in Brown county. He carefully saved his earnings 
until his industry and frugal expenditures brought him a sufficient 
capital to enable him to purchase his present property in 1909. He has 
since carried on general farming, and that his methods are practical 
and progressive is indicated by the excellent appearance of his place, 
on which he has made all the modern improvements.  

	On the 28th of June, 1899, at Warner, South Dakota, Mr. Zell was 
united in marriage to Miss Esther B. Roby, a daughter of Milton and 
Julia Roby, who were pioneer farming people of Faulk county. Her father 
died in 1896 and his remains were interred near Myron church, near 
Faulkton, South Dakota. Her mother lives at Warner. Mr. and Mrs. Zell 
have three children, Clifford F., John L. and Hyacinth Irene, all of 
whom are attending school.  

	Mr. Zell votes with the republican party and its platform finds 
in him a stanch endorser. He holds membership in the Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows and in the Rebekahs, to the latter of which Mrs. Zell 
also belongs. He is likewise a member of the Modern Woodmen of America 
and the Ancient Order of United Workmen, but these things are but side 
issues in his life,  the main feature of which is farming. He has 
worked persistently and energetically and as the  architect of his own 
fortunes has builded wisely and well.