William Mohr 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 350-351 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 WILLIAM MOHR, a prominent farmer and highly respected citizen of Grand View township, Brule county, South Dakota, residing on section 23, was born in Germany, in 1859, and there grew to manhood upon the home farm, early becoming familiar with agricultural pursuits and acquiring his literary education in the country schools. His father was a farmer who served for three years in the German army and for two years and nine months in the Danish army. At the age of twenty-one, William Mohr was united in marriage with Miss Cicelia Anderson, a native of Sweden, and to them have been born ten children, namely: Amelia C., Frederick C., Henry, Josie, Cicelia, Wilhelm, Anna, Bertha, John and Andrew, all still living. In 1882, Mr. Mohr brought his family to America and on landing at New York proceeded at once to Brule county, South Dakota, where he took up one hundred and sixty acres of government land on the northwest quarter of section 23, Grand View township. Here he commenced life with a capital of one hundred and fifty dollars, which was soon gone, and as his crops were poor he experienced some very hard times. After erecting a small house upon his farm, he commenced to break and cultivate the raw prairie, placing acre after acre under the plow. At one time he had to place a two-hundred-dollar mortgage upon his home, but it is now entirely paid off and free from all such encumbrances. While hunting in 1892 Mr. Mohr met with a sad misfortune which rendered him a cripple for life, being accidentally shot in the left leg by his companion. For a long time he lingered between life and death, and his property run down, while the doctor's bills accumulated. During the first three years of his residence here he worked for others a great part of the time in order to support his family, but as time has passed he has prospered and he does not regret his emigration to the New World, for he is now the possessor of a comfortable home and competence. He has planted apple trees and some small fruit upon his farm, but it is principally devoted to general farming. Mr. and Mrs. Mohr are consistent members of the Lutheran church and have the confidence and esteem of all who know them.