Louis Grebe 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. Page 568

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

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LOUIS GREBE. Among some of the most enterprising citizens of Aurora 
county are those who were born on the other side of the Atlantic, and 
who have brought to this fertile and productive country the thrift and 
economy of the old world. Among these there is no figure that stands 
out more prominently in the history of the county than Louis Grebe, who 
is now successfully engaged in general farming on section 30, Truro 
township. 

He was born in Germany, in 1843, a son of George and Rosa Grebe. The 
father died in that country, after which, the mother, in 1853, came 
with her family to America and first located in New York state, where 
they engaged in farming for three years. In 1856 they removed to 
Wisconsin and bought a forty-acre farm for fifty dollars, to the 
improvement and cultivation of which our subject devoted his energies 
for some time. At the age of nineteen he started out to make his own 
way in the world and for three years worked in the copper mines of 
Michigan. While thus employed he came very nearly being killed. By a 
misstep his partner kicked him, causing him to fall down an eighty-
five-foot shaft whose sides were nearly perpendicular, and his slide 
down to the bottom was a very exciting and dangerous one. Although his 
clothes were nearly torn from his body, he luckily escaped with only a 
few bruises. Returning to his home in Wisconsin, he remained there one 
summer, and then worked in a brickyard near Rockford, Illinois, for 
three years. He next went to Iowa, where he bought a farm of eighty 
acres, and although he met with success in its operation, he finally 
sold the place and rented land for a time. During his residence there 
he also worked on the railroad as a section hand. 

In 1871 Mr. Grebe was united in marriage with Miss Kate Hurrias, a 
native of this country and a daughter of Joseph and and Mary Hurrias, 
who were born in Germany and for some years were farming people of 
Iowa, but now make their home in Portland, Oregon. The children born to 
our subject and, wife are William, Henry, George, Annie, Emma, Mary, 
Jake, Frank, Rena, Robert and Albert. 

Coming to Aurora county, South Dakota, in 1883, Mr. Grebe took up a 
homestead, but the mortgage he was obliged to put upon it was 
foreclosed before he was able to pay it. Since then he has purchased 
the northeast quarter of section 30, Truro township, and now has 
seventy-five acres under a high state of cultivation, while the 
remainder is pasture and meadow land. He came here in very limited 
circumstances, his property consisting of two old horses, a wagon and 
four cows, and as he had no money to buy coal, he was obliged to use 
hay and buffalo chips as fuel. While on his way here, he bought a plow, 
with which to break his land, and the family began life in Aurora 
county in true pioneer style in a little shanty, 14 x 16 feet, but good 
and substantial buildings have since been erected, so that he now has 
one of the best improved farms of the locality. He carries on mixed 
farming, but intends soon to make a specialty of cattle raising. 
Politically Mr. Grebe is a Populist, and he has been honored with 
several township offices, including that of assessor. In religious 
faith he is a Lutheran.