Henry A. Hanten 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, 1898. Pages 450-451

	Scan, OCR and editing by Joy Fisher, jfisher@sdgenweb.com, 1999.

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HENRY A. HANTEN is postmaster at Alto, Codington county, and also a 
general merchant and grain buyer of that place.  In addition to his 
local interests Mr. Hanten has a four-hundred-acre farm in Codington 
county, and. altogether is one of the most successful and highly 
esteemed business men in that vicinity.  He was born on the second of 
August, 1864, in Dakota county, Minnesota, and is the son of Henry and 
Anna M. (Lies) Hanten.  A short history of the family will be found in 
the sketch of Mr. John B. Hanten, a brother of our subject.  Henry was 
taken to Germany by his parents when six months old, remaining there 
until the fall of 1872.  In November, of that year, he returned to this 
country and settled in Scott county, Minnesota.  A few months later he 
went to New Trier, Dakota county, Minnesota, where he remained for 
upwards of six years.  In 1878 his father accompanied a party of ten or 
twelve persons bound for the West.  This band of pioneers went to 
Codington county, Dakota, and selected several large tracts of land for 
settlement.  Soon after Mr. Hanton returned to Minnesota, he disposed 
of his interests there and took his family to South Dakota, settling 
upon a farm of one hundred and sixty acres and filing upon another 
claim of like size.  Our subject also filed upon a claim at the same 
time, and now owns four hundred acres of land in Codington county, all 
of which is well improved and under cultivation.  He devotes but a 
small portion of his time to this large farm, however, as he is engaged 
in the general mercantile business at Alto and has the duties of 
postmaster there to look after, besides being an extensive grain buyer. 
Politically Mr. Hanten is independent.  He takes little active part in 
political affairs, his business requiring all of his attention. On the 
26th of October, 1886, he married Miss Mary N. Reis in the village of 
Kranzburg, South Dakota.  Mrs. Hanten was born in Luxemburg, Germany, 
in July, 1860, and is a daughter of B. S. and Mary Reis.  She came to 
this country with her parents in 1884, settling in Codington county.  
Mr. and Mrs. Hanten are the parents of one child, Harry B., who was 
born on the fifth of June, 1890.  The family are members of the 
Catholic church at Kranzburg.