Fredrick Giesen 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 369-370

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

	This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit 
	organizations for their private use. 

	Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval 
	system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other 
	means requires the written approval of the file's author.

	This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside
	a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at

	http://usgwarchives.org/sd/sdfiles.htm


FREDRICK GIESEN is one of the most successful general farmers in 
Davison county. His principal crop is wheat, and his farm has known but 
one failure since he filed his homestead claim during the early history 
of that section of the state. Mr. Giesen is also extensively engaged in 
stock raising, and he markets each year a large herd of cattle and 
swine. 

The subject of our sketch first opened his eyes to the light of day in 
mid-ocean, January 8, 1854, and the first eleven days of his life were 
spent on board of a vessel. The family into whose care he had been 
given were en route from Germany to New York, and they settled first at 
Factoryville, New York, and there they spent three years. From there 
they went to Crossplains, Wisconsin, where the father secured 
employment in a saw mill, and nine days later he was killed by a boiler 
explosion. In 1862 the mother was married to Peter Kessnich, and our 
subject made his home with his stepfather, in Sauk county, Wisconsin, 
until he attained the age of twenty years. In the spring of 1880 he 
migrated to Dakota, and filed a homestead claim to the farm on which 
his residence is now situated, and to which he has since added by 
purchase until he now has a fine, well cultivated farm of four hundred 
acres. The place is furnished with a fine line of improvements, 
including such farm buildings as go to make up a first-class estate, 
and he is just completing a fine country mansion which is a credit to 
the county and will doubtless be the finest in that section of the 
state. It is a two-story brick-veneer dwelling, 26 x 32 feet, with an 
addition 16 x 20 feet, and it is supplied with a cistern and all modern 
conveniences. Too much cannot be said of the executive ability of Mr. 
Giesen as exhibited in the management of his own private business and 
also in matters pertaining to the public. He is a potent factor in the 
prosperity enjoyed by Davison county, and has been of great assistance 
in developing and extending its agriculture. His is the record of an 
upright life, and he is an influence for good in the community, with 
whose highest interests his name is associated. He is a man of wealth 
and popularity and his public spirit has never been called in question. 
In politics he has always used his elective franchises in the support 
of the candidates of the Democratic party, and heartily endorses the 
policies of high license and anti-suffrage. In religious matters he is 
also actively interested and is a member in good standing of the German 
Catholic church. 

In 1883, Mr. Giesen was united in marriage to Miss Katie Bauer, 
daughter of Theodore and Anna M. Bauer. the date of her birth being 
February 26, 1863. To this union have been born nine children, six sons 
and three daughters, whose names in the order of their birth are as 
follows: Josephine (deceased), Theodore, Louisa (deceased), Henry, 
Frank, William, Anthony, Charles and Katie.