C. C. Manz 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 412-413 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 C. C. MANZ, one of the wide-awake and enterprising farmers of Brule county, residing on section 12, Grand View township, is a native of Wisconsin, his birth having occurred in Saul: county, that state in 1857. His parents were natives of Germany, and after their marriage left the fatherland for America, taking up their residence in the Badger state in 1830. There they lived until 1871, when they removed to Pottawattamie county, Iowa, where the father engaged in farming until his death, which occurred when our subject was about twenty years of age. C. C. Manz was the seventh in order of birth in the family of eight children. He spent the first fourteen years of his life on the family homestead in Wisconsin, and then accompanied his parents on their removal to Iowa, assisting in the farm work there until about the time of his father's death, when he began clerking in a retail store in Mindon, following that occupation for eight years. Then again turning his attention to agricultural pursuits, he came to Brule county, South Dakota, in the spring of 1882, and entered a claim, which he visited once in six months during the next two years, but made his home in Iowa. In the spring of 1884 he again came to this state, bringing with him farm machinery, three horses and a wagon. He built a little shanty, 10 x 10 feet, in which he lived through the summer, and in the fall erected his present residence. Early in the spring of 1885 Mr. Manz wedded Miss Caroline Werner, who is of German descent, but was born in Sauk county, Wisconsin, and spent her girlhood on a farm. Her father was a weaver by trade, but also carried on agricultural pursuits. Mr. and Mrs. Manz have one daughter, Meta, eleven years of age, and also have an adopted daughter, Mary, now sixteen, years of age. Beginning the development of his land, Mr. Manz planted his fields to wheat, and for a few years raised very good crops. He extended the boundaries of his farm by the purchase of the northwest quarter of section 11, Grand View township, and now has one hundred and seventy acres of land under cultivation, the remainder being devoted to pasturage and the raising of hay. His first barns were straw sheds, but he now has a good barn, 16 x 48 feet, with a cattle shed of equal dimensions, granary and corn cribs. He also has planted apple and plum trees, gooseberry and currant bushes and grape vines. He is now extensive]y engaged in stock raising, having forty-eight head of cattle and between fifteen and twenty head of horses. Water is supplied to his place by a ditch bringing artesian water from an adjoining farm. In the development of his excellent property, however, Mr. Manz has not been without his difficulties, but has met success in spite of them. In 1885 his crops were entirely destroyed by hail, and in 1888 there was a partial loss. In 1894 his crops on three hundred and thirty-five acres were entirely burned by the hot suns, and on the 4th day of May of that year, his barn, 14 x 64 feet, was destroyed by fire, together with three head of horses, five sets of harness, fifty chickens and seventeen hogs, entailing a loss of six hundred dollars. Nevertheless, Mr. Manz has prosecuted his labors with diligence, and his enterprise and industry have made him one of the substantial farmers of the locality. In politics he was a Republican until 1889, since which time he has voted the Democratic ticket. He has served as one of the school officers since coming to South Dakota, and the cause of education finds in him a warm friend. In 1897 he was elected county commissioner, and is now filling that office in a prompt and faithful manner. He has been a delegate to both county and state conventions and is deeply interested in political questions, as every true American citizen should be. Socially he is connected with the Modern Woodmen of America. He is highly respected by all who know him and well deserves representation in this volume. The parents of Mrs. Manz were William and Catharine (Meyer) Werner.