John Schmitten 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 987

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

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JOHN SCHMITTEN, a prosperous agriculturist residing in Zell township, 
Faulk county, is one of the progressive men of his community. He has a 
fine estate, and has gained his competence by dint of his own energy 
and honesty and is one of the respected men of that region. 

Mr. Schmitten was born in Westphalia, Germany, April 13, 1858. His 
father, Mathias Schmitten, was a mason by trade, and lived and died in 
his native land. The mother of our subject bore the maiden name of 
Francisco Albers. Of a family of six children our subject was the 
youngest, and attended the common schools of his native land. In 1880, 
at the age of twenty-two years, he came to America and settled in New 
Ulm, Minnesota. He had spent three years in Germany learning the 
tailor's trade, and he plied his trade in New Ulm about four years. He 
went to Dakota in the spring of 1885, and purchased a relinquishment to 
the southeast quarter of section 3, township 117, range 66, and erected 
a shanty 14 x 12 feet. He had no barn the first summer and in 1886 
built a straw stable. He started farming without means, and purchased 
the lumber for his stable, and two horses and a little machinery, on 
time. During the first three or four years he worked at his trade in 
Redfield for the firm of Nottymyer & Miller. He now owns two hundred 
and forty acres of land, and has one hundred and twenty acres under 
cultivation, and operates altogether about three hundred acres 
annually. He engages in grain and stock raising, and has forty head of 
good cattle, thirteen head of horses, and his farm is well improved. 
His residence, erected in 1899, is a model of convenience and comfort, 
and the lumber alone was purchased at a cost of five hundred dollars. 
His residence is 24 x 28 feet, granary is 24 X 24 feet, and barn is 46 
x 64 feet, and together furnish commodious quarters for the family, and 
the farm products and stock. He dug many wells before the present well 
was completed and that is sufficient in supply for one hundred head of 
stock. 

Mr. Schmitten was married in 1883 to Miss Francisco Geuke, a native of 
the same county as our subject, and they were acquainted in their 
native land. Mrs. Schmitten was the daughter of Casper Geuke, a farmer 
by occupation, and she came to America in 1880. Eight children have 
been born to Mr. and Mrs. Schmitten, as follows: Clara, John, Antonia, 
Paul, Caroline, George, Willie and Francis. The family are communicants 
of the Catholic church, and our subject holds membership in the Central 
Aid Society of America, for sick benefits and insurance. Mr. Schmitten 
has been called upon to serve in various official capacities, and in 
every instance has discharged his duties faithfully and well, and has 
gained an enviable reputation among his associates. He is now chairman 
of the township board and clerk of the school board, and is much 
interested in the welfare of his community. In political sentiment he 
is a Democrat, and stands firmly for the principles of his party. He 
has been a resident of Faulk county many years, and the people of his 
community recognize in him a generous neighbor, kind friend, and 
public-spirited citizen, and accord him the highest esteem.