C. H. Detterich Biography


	This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
 	compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography,
	including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and 
	representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & 
	Co., Chicago, 1899. Pages 589-590

	Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. 

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C. H. DETTERICH, the well known proprietor of the largest store in 
Turton, South Dakota, and a representative citizen of that place, has 
through his own exertions attained an honorable position and marked 
prestige among the leading business men of Spink county, and with 
signal consistency it may be said that he is the architect of his own 
fortunes and one whose success amply justifies the application of the 
somewhat hackneyed but most expressive title, "a self-made man." 

Mr. Detterich was born in Manitowoc county, Wisconsin, in 1854, and is 
a son of Charles and Lucy A. (Piper) Detterich. The father was born in 
Pennsylvania of German descent, his mother being a native of Germany, 
while the mother of our subject was born in Rutland, Vermont, of French 
and Welsh extraction, though her ancestors were early settlers in 
America. The father engaged in farming in Pennsylvania until 1846, when 
he went to Wisconsin, becoming one of the pioneers of Manitowoc county. 
It was there that he married the mother of our subject. She died in 
Michigan, in 1856, after which he married again and kept his family 
together. His death occurred in Wisconsin, in 1877. 

The subject of this sketch was reared upon the home farm in his native 
state and was given the advantage of a country school education, 
pursuing his studies in a little log school house. On leaving the 
parental roof at the age of twenty-one, he went to Rock county, 
Wisconsin, where he worked as a farm hand for seven years. On the 28th 
of February, 1882, he became a resident of Spink county, South Dakota, 
locating on the northeast quarter of section 28, township 118, range 
60, where he filed a homestead and built a claim shanty. The three 
hundred and seventy-five dollars he brought with him was soon expended 
for oxen, farm implements and supplies, which had to be hauled from 
Ashton, a distance of twenty-five miles. His nearest neighbor at that 
time lived eight miles away. 

Mr. Detterich lived alone until 1885, when he was united in marriage 
with Miss Ellen E. Randall, who was born near Utica, New York, and went 
to Wisconsin when a little girl with her father, who was a farmer by 
occupation. For about sixteen years she successfully engaged in 
dressmaking. During the summer of 1885, Mr. Detterich built a good 
house and barn upon his place, and made many other improvements, but 
that year the hail destroyed his crops, and in 1886 he lost two-thirds 
of his crops by drought. In spite of these failures, he made a success 
of farming. In 1887 he had the largest crops he ever raised, the wheat 
averaging seventeen and one-half bushels per acre, corn, thirty; flax, 
twenty; barley, thirty; and oats, twenty-eight; but it took nearly all 
the profits of this year to redeem the losses of the two years 
previous. He became the owner of one-half section of land, and 
successfully engaged in general farming and the raising of cattle and 
hogs. 

In the spring of 1888, Mr. Detterich was appointed postmaster of Turton 
under President Cleveland, and held that office until June 2, 1896. 
When he entered upon the duties of the office, he started a store in 
what is now his residence, carrying at first only a small stock of 
candies and confectioneries, but he gradually increased the same as his 
trade demanded until he now has the largest general store in the town, 
his stock being valued at six thousand dollars. He is a wide-awake, 
energetic business man, and the success that he has achieved is 
certainly justly merited. As a Republican he takes an active part in 
politics, attending both county and state conventions, and he most 
efficiently served as school clerk for the past three years. 
Fraternally, he affiliates with the Modern Woodmen of America and the 
Ancient Order of United Workmen, and as a public-spirited and 
progressive citizen' he gives a liberal support to all enterprises 
calculated to advance the moral, social or material welfare of his town 
and county.