John Sauter 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 274

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

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JOHN SAUTER, a prosperous and substantial farmer residing on the 
southeast quarter of section 15, Twin Lake township, Sanborn county, 
South Dakota, was born in Wisconsin, in 1866, and is a son of Therisia 
and Ottman Sauter, who were both born in Germany but were not married 
until after their emigration to America. In their family of eleven 
children, five sons and six daughters, our subject is the third in 
order of birth. The father was one of the leading farmers of Marathon 
county, Wisconsin, and was also engaged in lumbering to some extent, 
owning and operating a sawmill. 

Our subject was reared upon the home farm, and as his father thought 
best to keep him at work his educational advantages were meager. At the 
age of eighteen he commenced working for others, going home to help 
during harvest and other busy seasons. In 1885 he made a trip to 
Sanborn county, South Dakota, to visit his brother, with no intention 
of making Dakota his home, but he was pleased with the country and 
remained here most of the time thereafter, returning to Wisconsin in 
the winter, where he worked in his father's sawmill, receiving thirty-
five dollars per month and board. Until the last two years he and his 
brother have engaged in farming together. The first year they planted 
seventeen acres in wheat and ten acres in oats, breaking the land with 
an ox team and sowing the seed by hand, but their crop was poor, the 
oats only turning out twenty bushels to the acre. As that team was all 
they had, they generally walked to town unless they had a load of 
something to take. In order to help pay his expenses our subject broke 
land for other parties in early days, but from year to year his crops 
have improved, and receiving good prices for them, he has become quite 
well-to-do. 

In 1891, Mr. Sauter bought the east half of the southeast quarter of 
section 15, and the west half of the southwest quarter of section 14, 
Twin Lake township; in 1895 purchased 120 acres adjoining the former on 
the west; and now has three hundred and sixty acres of valuable land, 
of which one hundred and thirty acres are under a high state of 
cultivation. His farm is one of the best hay producing places in the 
township, and by hard work and good management he has become one of the 
most successful farmers, as well as one of the foremost citizens of the 
locality, owing no man a dollar, and having his farm entirely free from 
debt. Having picked up a good knowledge of the carpenter's trade, he 
has erected all the buildings upon his own and his brother's farms. 

By his ballot, Mr. Sauter usually supports the Republican party, but is 
not bound by party ties and votes for the men whom he believes best 
qualified to fill the offices. He has most creditably served as 
constable of his township for two terms and in the spring of 1899 was 
elected assessor.