Theodore Schmitt 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 522

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

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THEODORE SCHMITT, proprietor of one of the fine farms of Salem 
township, McCook county, is one of the men in whose coming to this 
country all who honor honest industry and good citizenship can rejoice. 
His career has been marked throughout with persistent and faithful 
efforts and he has been rewarded by the acquisition of a good property 
and a high reputation. His home is situated on the northwest quarter of 
section 5.  

Mr. Schmitt is a native of Germany, where he first opened his eyes to 
the light of day June 13, 1840. His father was a mason, and of him our 
subject learned that trade when still a boy. Soon after his marriage, 
or in the year 1878, he migrated to America, landing in New York, and 
from there he went directly to Chicago, where he spent about eighteen 
months. He then went to Carroll county, Iowa, where he purchased a farm 
and made his home for a short time. About the year 1884, he came to 
Dakota with his family of six children, and arrived with a capital of 
just eight hundred dollars. Here he purchased a right to a quarter-
section of land, filed his claim, and began slowly, careful not to go 
beyond his means, but kept steadily building and improving his farm 
until the improvements amount to three thousand dollars. The barn, 
which is 32 x 62 feet in dimensions, is the best farm barn in Salem 
township, and the place is stocked with a herd of  
about twenty cows besides much young stock. Mr. Schmitt possesses many 
estimable traits of character, is endowed with activity, persistence 
and a good capacity for well-directed labor which have placed him in 
the forefront among the farmers in his vicinity. The present condition 
of his farm testifies to his ability as a farmer and as a developer of 
a new and unbroken prairie into a valuable farm, and his large and 
substantially constructed barn attest his skill as an all around 
workman, when we consider that he never learned the carpenter's trade. 
Politically our subject is a Democrat and voices the policies of high 
license and anti-suffrage. In religious matters, he is identified with 
tile Roman Catholic church.  

In 1877, Mr. Schmitt was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Barlen, 
and their wedded life has been blessed by the advent of a family of 
four children, upon whom they have seen fit to bestow the following 
names: John B., Meth, Joseph and Lena.