Biography of Peter Kreuscher

	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 263-265.

	Scan and OCR by Joy Fisher, 1997. This file may be copied for non-profit 
	purposes. All other rights reserved. 


HON. PETER KREUSCHER, one of Miner county's most prominent and influential 
farmers, and a resident of Rock Creek township, is a native of the Rhine 
province, Germany, born March 12, 1856. His father, Peter Kreuscher, emigrated 
to Kenosha county, Wisconsin, in 1867. He was born in 1830, and was a soldier in 
the Hessian army. His wife, the mother of our subject, Elizabeth (Spielman) 
Kreuscher, was born in Germany, in 1836, and died in 1869. They were the parents 
of five children, of whom our subject is the eldest, and of the remaining four 
we have the following record: Carl, deceased; Jacob, deceased; William and 
Elizabeth, twins. William lives in Rock Creek township, Miner county, and is 
married to Miss Anna Arrundale. They have no children. Elizabeth is the wife of 
Fred Buechner, whose home is near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They have six children. 
The father moved to Hanson county, South Dakota, in 1885, and located upon a 
farm there, where he died March 22, 1896. He and his wife were both members of 
the Lutheran church.

	Peter Kreuscher grew to manhood in Kenosha county, Wisconsin, and was 
educated in the public schools of his district. He remained at home until he was 
twenty-three years of age and then started the battle of life for himself on a 
rented farm. In 1880, he thought to secure a farm of his own and he accordingly 
migrated from thence to Hanson county, South Dakota, and filed a tree-claim to a 
quarter section of land in section 11, township 104, range 57, where the country 
was so sparsely settled that his nearest neighbors were six miles distant. The 
following year he moved to Miner county which was equally as thinly settled and 
located on the farm which is still his home. He first lived in a cabin, 9 x 12  
feet, in which the bed and table folded up against the wall and these, together 
with a stove and a trunk, comprised his furniture. The stable was 16 x 20 feet, 
and seven feet high, built of sod and covered with hay, and he also used hay for 
fuel. The following fall he added twelve feet to his house and used the new part 
for a granary. By the time the second winter arrived the weather-beaten boards 
of the roof of his domicile fitted so loosely that the stars shone through. 
During that winter a severe blizzard came up one evening and found our subject 
poorly fortified against elements of this kind, but he carried hay enough to his 
horses to last them three days and nearly half a stack to the house for fuel, 
got into his overcoat, pulled his cap over his ears, and began the struggle by 
poking the hay into the stove, hoping to keep warm partly by the heat produced 
by the fire and partly from the exercise, but he found himself growing colder 
and colder, so he finally left the frail little barracks and made his way across 
the prairie about eighty rods to a neighbor's home and spent the rest of the 
night there. Those days are past, however, and he is now one of the well-to-do 
and influential farmers of the county. He has a fine farm of one hundred and 
sixty acres, one hundred acres of which is under cultivation, and it is 
furnished with a neat set of farm buildings and a residence in which he, his 
wife and his little daughter have a very comfortable home. Besides his farming 
interests he operates a steam threshing machine.

	November 13, 1894, Mr. Kreuscher was united in marriage to Miss Jessie 
Arrundale, a native of England, born August 3, 1874. To this union one child, 
Hattie Emilie, was born August 20, 1895. Mr. Kreuscher is a member of the 
Lutheran church, but his wife is a member of the Episcopal church. Politically 
he is a Democrat, and on that ticket has been elected to several important 
offices. He has been township assessor, and is the present township treasurer. 
In 1 889 he was elected to the office of county commissioner, but resigned after 
serving one year. In 1890 he was elected representative to the state 
legislature, and performed the duties of that office for two years. While in 
session in 1891, Mr. Kreuscher introduced three bills; one of them passed both 
houses and became a law. He served on four committees: Committees on mileage, 
agriculture and horticulture, immigration, and apportionment. He was elected 
county commissioner again in 1896, and was made chairman of the board in 
January, 1 897. He was instrumental in organizing a milk-skimming station at 
Epiphany (which is located one mile from his farm) in 1895, which was run in 
connection with the Howard creamery. In 1898 he again was one of the prime 
movers for a full-fledged creamery association, which was incorporated in 
February of that year with a capital stock of $3,000, and is known as the 
Epiphany Creamery Association, of which he is a stockholder, and was also 
elected president of the same.