John J. Yirsa 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 1081 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 JOHN J. YIRSA, the well-known and popular county commissioner of the fifth district, of Brule county, South Dakota, is a resident of Lyon township, where he is making a success of stock raising. He is a representative of a class of people, the Bohemians, who are a power in Brule county, and much respected as citizens, not because of their numbers, but because of their success as farmers and business men. Our subject was born in Austria, June 14, 1862. His parents, Joseph and Mary Yirsa, emigrated to America when he was but four years of age and located in Lake county, Indiana, where they resided ten years, afterward removing to Chickasaw county, Iowa. In 1882 our subject and his father went to Dakota and took government land in Richland township, where they engaged in general farming. In 1891 our subject located on his present farm, and under his management it is rapidly improving. It is located mostly in section 18, and comprises five hundred and eighty acres, all in the valley of Smith creek. One hundred and forty five acres of the farm are under a high state of cultivation, one quarter-section is fenced, and eighty acres is fine meadow land. A plenteous supply of surface water throughout the valley insures an abundant crop of fine grass, and the farm is specially adapted to stock raising, along which line our subject is working. In 1891 Mr. Yirsa was married to Miss Barbara Rybak, who was born in Calmar, Iowa, June 7, 1872, and is of Bohemian descent. Four children have blessed the home of Mr. and Mrs. Yirsa, upon whom they have bestowed the following names: Bertha, Celia, Gertrude and J. Marquis. As a member of the Democratic party there are few men in the county who carry more influence than Mr. Yirsa, and he is an acknowledged leader among his countrymen, and worthy of his following. He advocates a high license law for the control of liquors, and is opposed to equal suffrage. He helped to organize the civil township of Richland and in Lyon township has served as assessor two years, and chairman of the township board two years. In 1898 he was appointed to fill a vacancy on the board of county commissioners, and at the last election, was tendered the office for a term. He and his family are communicants of the Catholic church.