Anthony Waechter 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 534-535

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

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ANTHONY WAECHTER, a public spirited and enterprising farmer and stock 
raiser of McCook county, stands among the foremost men of his calling. 
He has devoted his life to agricultural pursuits almost exclusively 
since locating in Dakota, and is the proprietor of as good a farm as 
can be found in Spring Valley township. 

In tracing the life of the subject of our sketch we find that he was 
born in Loraine, Germany, but of French parentage, and is the fifth 
child in the order of birth of a family of eight children. His father 
being a farmer, he spent his boyhood on a farm and was educated in the 
public schools of France, now Germany. At the age of fourteen years he 
began working by the month for the farmers in his community, and was 
thus engaged until he migrated to America in the year 1872. He landed 
in New York, but went at once to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and worked in 
the iron rolling mills and also in the mines of. that region. In 1876 
he moved to Iowa and secured employment in the coal mines, and while in 
that employment he had several narrow escapes with his life from 
accidents in the mines. He finally quit the mining business, and the 
last few years he spent in Iowa were devoted to farm labor. In 1879 he 
came to Dakota, took a homestead claim and later a tree claim. For the 
next seven years Mr. Waechter worked by the month, arid did just enough 
work on his homestead to retain possession of it. 

In 1886 our subject was united in marriage with Miss Lena Pope, an 
American lady of German extraction, and five children have come to 
bless their home, namely: Alfred, now eleven years of age; Edward, aged 
eight; Emma, aged six; and Helen, aged four years, and Rosa, three 
months. From 1886 to 1892 Mr. Waechter rented land in connection with 
his own farm. In 1890 he bought the west half of section 3, Spring 
Valley township, placed upon it a good house, large barn, corn cribs, 
granaries, windmill, etc., and all are kept in the best of order. Mr. 
Waechter is truly a self-made man. When he arrived in Dakota he had 
just enough money to purchase a meal, and one meal will last but a 
short time, nor does it go very far toward starting a man in business. 
But he is a man of push and energy as a well as a man of keen foresight 
and good judgment and never fails to take advantage of good 
opportunities. He is now possessed of five hundred and sixty acres of 
the finest land in this section of the county, and although three 
hundred and fifty acres of it is under cultivation he practically does 
all of his own work. He conducts a general farming business, and thinks 
that line will pay any man in this part of the state. Stock raising 
pays the best of any one line, and this he carries on extensively, 
having at present forty-five head of cattle, sixty hogs and enough 
horses to do the farm work. Mr. Waechter is identified with the 
Independent Order of United Workmen, and the entire family are members 
of the Catholic church.