History of Dakota Territory, volume V, Part 85

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1262

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NORMAN B. STREETER.

Norman B. Streeter, who is representing his district in the state legislature, is cashier of the Buffalo Gap State Bank and is, moreover, the owner of an extensive ranch in Custer county. His birth occurred at East Waterloo, Iowa, on the 29th of October, 1855, but his parents, James W. and Mary (Anderson) Streeter, were born respectively at Lake Champlain, New York, in 1826, and in Quebec, Canada, in 1834. In 1848 James W. Streeter removed to Iowa from Illinois, to which state he had accompanied his parents previously. He settled in Waterloo at first but later took up his residence upon a farm near Cedar Falls and at length removed to that city, where he was employed at mill work for about twenty-seven years. He passed away in Cedar Falls on the 6th of March, 1907. His widow still survives and makes her home at Elmwood, Nebraska. They were the parents of eight children, of whom Norman B. is the eldest.

The last named received his education in the public schools of Black Hawk county, Iowa. When nineteen years of age he hegan work as a farm hand hut two years later went into the fuel business at Cedar Falls and also conducted a hay yard there. Some time later he followed agricultural pursuits and also engaged in buying stock, but in 1887 he came to Custer county, South Dakota, settling on a homestead claim five miles from Buffalo Gap. He continued to reside there and to give his attention to his ranching interests until 1908, when he was elected county treasurer and removed to Custer. He held that office for two terms and was then elected to the state legislature. Upon his return from Pierre at the close of the session he removed his family to Buffalo Gap, where they now reside. His record as a lawmaker won him reelection and he is now serving his second term in that important capacity.

On the 1st of May, 1912, Mr. Streeter entered the Buffalo Gap State Bank as cashier and still holds that position, which places upon him much of the responsibility for the suc- cessful direction of the institution. He is also one of its directors and is president of the Beaver Valley Live Stock Company, of which his sons are the other members. They operate a four thousand acre ranch known as the Beaver Valley Stock Ranch and raise large numbers of cattle and horses. They also carry on dry farming to a considerable extent and raise a great deal of alfalfa each year. They are up-to-date and progressive in the management of their affairs and their ranch yields them a handsome income annually.

Mr. Streeter was married on the 12th of September, 1877, to Miss Etta L. Green, who was born in Southbridge, Massachusetts. Her parents, Abel and Ann (Williams) Green, were natives of England but emigrated to the United States in their youth and removed from the east to Iowa in the early history of that state. They resided at Cedar Falls and later at Grundy Center, Iowa. While living in Massachusetts the father was employed in the woolen mills at Southbridge and in early life was an engineer. He is now living retired in Grundy Center and is highly esteemed by all who know him.

Mr. and Mrs. Streeter are the parents of eleven children. Mabel became the wife of T. W. Bondurant but passed away in 1906, leaving two children, Martha and Joseph, who make their home with Mr. and Mrs. Streeter. Myra is the wife of Ora Putnam, an employe of the Northwestern Railroad Company, who resides at Chadron, Nebraska. Bertha married Fred Rotzin, likewise in the employ of the Northwestern Railroad and also a resident of Chadron. Nellie, Harry and Charles all reside upon the ranch and the last named is married,

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his wife being in her maidenhood Miss Mary Korthaus. James lives on the original home- stead. Jay, who is in the employ of the Northwestern Railroad, is living at Chadron, Nebraska. Anna died at the age of twelve years. Edith and Jerry are at home.

Mr. Streeter is a republican and is a leader of his party in the southwestern part of the state. He has held various local offices, including that of county treasurer, and as state representative has proved courageous and farsighted, doing all in his power to secure the adoption of measures which will prove of benefit to the people. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and has many friends in that organization. Many hold him in warm regard and his evident capability and nnimpeachable honesty command the respect of all who know him.

WILLIAM J. McROBERTS, M. D.

Dr. William J. McRoberts has for the last fourteen years resided continuously in Fall River county and in that time has won a large and representative practice. His birth oc- curred in Monaghan, Ireland, on the 18th of December, 1858. His parents, William and Eliza (English) McRoberts, were both born in Ireland and passed their entire lives in that country. The father was head constable in the Royal Irish constabulary, which is under the control of the government.

Dr. McRoberts, who is the eldest in a family of five children, received a public-school education in Ireland and remained in that country until fifteen years of age. He then left home and shipped as a cabin boy across the Atlantic to Nova Scotia. Upon reaching port he ran away from the ship although he had but twenty cents in his pocket and his only clothes were those which he wore and for which he had paid sixty cents in Liverpool. He soon obtained employment as engine wiper at Truro, Nova Scotia, but did not remain there long as he obtained employment as a clerk in a freight office in Moncton, New Bruns- wick. After spending several months in that position he went to Salmon River, New Brunswick, where he was a clerk and bookkeeper for three years. At the end of that time he came to the United States, first locating in Bay City, Michigan, where he learned the lumber business in principle and detail. After remaining in that place for three years he went to Lansing, Michigan, where he engaged in the mercantile business, becoming a partner in a well established store after two years. Five years later he engaged in business at Ironwood, Michigan, where he remained for three years, after which he became a traveling salesman, selling goods in Wisconsin and Michigan.

While Dr. McRoberts was still on the road he began the study of medicine and con- tinued to travel until eighteen months before the completion of his medical course in the Beaumont Hospital Medical College at St. Louis, Missouri. Following his graduation with the degree of M. D. he practiced at Jefferson City, Missouri, for a year and then located in Edgemont, South Dakota, being surgeon for the Burlington Railroad there for five years. At the end of that time he removed to Hot Springs and has practiced here continuously since, or for ten years. He specializes in chronic diseases and he has met with gratifying success in that difficult field of practice. He studies his cases carefully, taking into consideration all of the symptoms, the past history of the patient and his habits of life and is generally able to prescribe a course of treatment that brings about marked improvement or a complete cure. He devotes his entire time to the practice of his profession and is generally recog- nized as an efficient and conscientious physician and surgeon. The Doctor has a most unusual record to his credit of about a month's post graduate work in great medical centers every year since his graduation. This explains why he is able to keep in toneh with the methods so recently developed and practiced in leading clinics of the great centers of medical research. His equipment of modern medical apparatus and therapentie appliances is the most complete and advanced in the Black Hills conntry.

Dr. McRoberts was married in Angust, 1884, to Miss Sarah Alice Carrier, who was born at Marshall, Michigan, and is a daughter of Edwin B. and Cornelia (Root) Carrier, both natives of New York. They became pioneers of central Michigan, the father for many years engaging in business as a stock dealer. He several times visited in South Dakota and passed away at the home of one of his sons, who is president of Carroll College at Waukesha,

DR. WILLIAM J. MCROBERTS

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HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA

Wisconsin, his demise occurring in February, 1914, but the mother died in 1887. Dr. and Mrs. McRoberts have four children: Annie Myrtle, the wife of Dr. S. J. Hanks, a physician and surgeon employed by the Guggenheim mining interests at Hurley, New Mexico; Vesta Willa, who married Ethan W. Young on the 30th of December, 1914, and resides in Ashton, this state; Neara C., who graduated from the domestic science course at the State Agri- cultural College in 1914; and Edwin W., who is a high-school student.

Dr. McRoberts is independent in politics and has never desired to hold office although he has served on the board of education. His religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Presbyterian church, and fraternally he is connected with the Masonic blue lodge, the Independent Order of Foresters, the Royal Arcanum and the Yeomen. He is one of the prominent physicians and surgeons of Hot Springs and has not only won the confidence and respect of his fellow citizens as a representative of the medical profession but has also gained their esteem and warm regard as a citizen and man.

CHRISTIAN HARTMANN.

Christian Hartmann is an extensive landowner living in Springfield, South Dakota, and his life shows what a boy left an orphan at an early age and without inherited resources may do if he but has the right character, industry and integrity. Christian Hartmann was born in the village of Oderlom, province of Hanover, Germany. on the 12th of November, 1840. His parents, Conrad and Marie (Langekop) Hartmann, both died when he. was quite young, the father when he was but eight years of age and the mother a year later. For the first few years after his parents' death Mr. Hartmann made his home with George Waesterman, who kept an inn in the village. At the age of fifteen he began work as a farm hand and so continued for three years. At the end of that time he was a lad of eighteen and. as it was customary in Germany for boys to begin learning a trade at eighteen, he apprenticed himself to a mason at Grotauzelsen for a term of three years. However, before the time had expired he was called upon to serve in the army. remaining in the service for eighteen months. He then returned to his preceptor and finished his apprenticeship, mastering all branches of the trade. In 1864, during the war between Prussia and Denmark, Hanover came to the defense of the weaker nation, and the regiment to which Mr. Hartmann belonged saw service in Holstein. After the close of that war he followed his trade until the spring of 1866, when Prussia invaded Hanover, Bavaria and several other allied kingdoms. He went to the front and participated as a sharpshooter in the battle of Langansalser, which occurred on the 27th of June, 1866. It was the Prussian plan to attack the Hanoverian army from two sides simultaneously, but one of the attacking armies was a day late so the battle turned out differently than was expected. Mr. Hartmann conducted himself with great valor and was given a bronze medal for bravery by the King of Hanover in commemoration of his part in that battle. At the elose of the war he was employed at his trade in building the King's palace in the city of Hanover until coming to the United States.

Herman Waesterman, with whom Mr. Hartmann had lived as a boy, was then a resident of old Niobrara, Nebraska, and was on a visit to his father in Germany. He told of the advantages of the new country in the western part of the United States and urged Mr. Hart- mann to return with him to America. The latter finally decided to do so and the two sailed from Bremen on a North German Lloyd steamer on the 8th of March, 1869. They landed in New York after a voyage of eleven days and made their way without delay to St. Louis, where for a fortnight Mr. Hartmann visited with friends whom he had known in Germany but who had preceded him to America. Eight of these friends decided to cast their lot in the west and accompanied Mr. Hartmann on his journey up the Missouri river. For three weeks the steamboat upon which they were traveling wound its tortuous way up the muddy Missouri before it reached the party's destination-old Niobrara, Nebraska. The town was situated a mile below the mouth of the stream of that name, which pours out of the sand hills of Nebraska into the larger river. At early dawn on the 21st of April, 1869, they were hustled out of bed and deposited on a sand bar among the willow trees and told that they were at Niobrara. As no town was in sight, while some of the party remained with their trunks. the remainder began scouting along the shore to find if possible some habitation. They eventually

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located the village which the shifting river had left some little distance from the main channel. The party then made their way to the settlement and began life upon the frontier.

Mr. Hartmann worked for a short time in the mills of Bazile Creek, then as now famous for its fine flour. For a time he was in the employ of Brons & Waesterman, well known traders at Niobrara who dealt extensively in furs. In the fall of 1873 he secured employment as a machinist on the Ponca Reservation, a few miles above Niobrara, running the saw and grist mills belonging to the reservation, building bridges and doing all kinds of mechanical work. While there he witnessed hostilities between the Poncas and the Sioux, saw them indulge in the scalp dance for weeks at a time, when they brought in those grim trophies of the warpath, and he knew how it felt to work for days in the hayfield with sentries on the tops of surrounding hills, whose business it was to warn of an attempted raid by the hostile Sioux. When the government decided to move the Poncas to the Indian Territory in the spring of 1877, Mr. Hartmann was chosen as one of the party to conduct them to the new reservation. The trip overland through Nebraska and Kansas was very long and tiresome and it was sixty days before the Indians reached the lands allotted them at Baxter Springs. Because of their proximity to civilization the Indians became dissatisfied and the following year were moved two hundred miles further west to the Salt fork of the Arkansas river. There Mr. Hartmann was retained in the Indian service to superintend the sawing of lumber for the Indians' dwellings and also to oversee the erection of the buildings. He performed his duties faithfully and saw his charges well settled in their new reservation before leaving in the fall of 1881. He had been married while in Indian Territory and his wife, foreseeing no advancement for a salaried man, insisted upon his resigning from the service in the fall of 1881.

Mr. Hartmann then came to Dakota, having taken up a half section of land in 'Bon Homme county in 1874. He has since added to his landed possessions and now owns two full sections of the finest farm land in Bon Homme county and nearly two sections in Knox county, Nebraska. Two of his children have proved up on claims in Meade county and two in Stanley county and have purchased additional land there.

Mr. Hartmann was married in Sumner county, Kansas, on the 31st of March, 1881, to Miss Lizzie Knight, a native of Duquoin, Illinois. Her parents, Albert and Eliza (William- son) Knight, went from Illinois to Kansas in 1874, settling in Sumner county, that state. To Mr. and Mrs. Hartmann eight children were born, namely: Leona, the wife of James Stevens, a resident of Stanley county; William, who is farming the old homestead in Bon Homme county and who is married and has one daughter; Ella, who married John Fitch, farming a part of the Niobrara land in Nebraska and has two children; Carl, who is em- ployed in a mercantile establishment at Springfield; Albert, who died when six months of age; Maude, the wife of Charles Taft, farming the remaining part of the Niobrara ranch and has one daughter; and Lassara and Grace, who are students of the State Normal School of Springfield. All of the other children are graduates of the Springfield Normal School. Mr. Hartmann was reared in the Lutheran church and has never departed from that helief. Politically he has always been a democrat.

Mr. Hartmann recounts a number of interesting reminiscences of the early days which give vividness to one's conception of pioneer life. When he arrived in Niobrara, flour had to he hauled by ox teams from Omaha or from a mill twenty-five miles below Sioux City. One especially exciting incident occurred during his sojourn on the Ponca Reservation. He and William Miller were cutting hay near the agency when a war party of the Sioux swept down upon the Poncas. The attacking band rode to a hill overlooking the agency and were ready to close in on the defenders, and it was necessary to act quickly if the agency was to be saved. There was but little ammunition on hand, but as a bluff the last of the powder was loaded into an old cannon, a lot of boiler rivets were rammed down on top of the powder and the charge fired at the Sioux ranged along the hillcrest. The clatter of the rivets was too much for the enemy, who turned and rode pellmell down the further side of the hill. At another time the Sioux came and stampeded all the Ponca ponies that were at pasture along the Niobrara river. The Poncas followed the fleeing Sioux, recovered their ponies and killed two of the enemy. Cutting off the hands and feet of their victims, besides scalping them, the victors rode back to the agency and for six months engaged in the scalp dance around the ghastly trophies which were suspended from poles in the center of their dancing ground.

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At one time Mr. Hartmann had to fight prairie fires every spring, once for a period of twenty-four hours, and he also experienced the severity of a Dakota blizzard. He was out after cattle in the three days' storm from April 12 to 14, 1873, and in the worst of the blizzards, that of January 12, 1888, he was in the river bottoms three miles from home. He started to return, but, finding that his horses could not be driven against the storm, he sought the house of a ranchman nearby, who took him in but had no shelter for the team. Mr. Hartmann would not leave them exposed while he was warmly housed so, unhitching them, he led them two or three miles back to his own place, following the deeply worn trail he knew led to his own buildings. Without the guidance afforded by this trail he could never have found his way. Next morning he discovered a neighbor's team standing at his fence, and, following their tracks back less than forty rods, he found their owner face down in the snow in a ravine. He had perished within that short distance from shelter, which, however, could not have been seen even a rod away in the blinding storm. Such incidents as those recounted were not particularly unnsual in pioneer days of South Dakota and such were the perils that confronted those who settled upon the wide and treeless plains, building through the years the present prosperous state of South Dakota.

MARTIN BERGH.

Martin Bergh, attorney at law of Sioux Falls, whose practice has brought him promi- nently before the supreme court of the state, while he has also been connected with much important litigation heard in the district courts, was born in Christiania, Norway, Septemher 16, 1862, a son of Erik and Anna (Westen) Bergh, who came to America in 1867, settling in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

There Martin Bergh was reared and in the public schools pursued his early education, passing through consecutive grades until he was graduated from the high school at the age of eighteen years. He afterward entered the law department of the University of Wisconsin, in which he prepared for the bar and then passed the required examination before the supreme court, after which he returned to La Crosse for active practice. He continued a resident of that city until 1902 and his ability won him recognition as an able and progressive lawyer. He was called to the position of city attorney of La Crosse in 1894 and occupied that position continuously for five years. He continued successfully in private practice there until 1902, when, believing that there was a still better opportunity in the growing city of Sioux Falls, he removed to South Dakota and has since been a representative of the bar of this state.

No dreary novitiate awaited him here. Within a brief period he has gained a large and distinctively representative clientage and has been connected with much important litigation. He is known as a strong advocate and wise counselor and is well versed in the basic prin- ciples of the law and in precedent. The thoroughness with which he prepares his cases has been one of the strong elements in his success and he marshals the facts in evidence with the precision of a military commander, bringing forth each point with its most telling effect. His name appears as attorney in connection with a large number of cases which have been heard in the supreme court of Wisconsin as well as some in Minnesota and many in South Dakota. He is now serving for a second term as states attorney of Minnehaha county, dis- charging the duties of his position in a most capable manner, his course winning him the approval of the general public and of the profession. Among the important cases which have been successfully conducted by him as states attorney in the supreme court of South Dakota may he mentioned the following: Bank taxation cases; the tax ferret case, com- pelling estates of insane persons to pay the expense of state hospital charges; the dental practice law case; the drainage law case; the notable oleomargarine case and others which have attracted widespread interest and attention.

At La Crosse, Wisconsin, on the 4th of June, 1890, Mr. Bergh was united in marriage to Miss Hannah C. Fleischer, a daughter of Frederick and Josephine Fleischer, and they have become the parents of three children: Harold F., who was born in 1893; Robert F., whose birth occurred in 1896; and Inga A., born in 1902.

The religious faith of the parents is that of the Lutheran church and Mr. Bergh gives

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his political allegiance to the republican party, which he has supported since age conferred upon him the right of franchise, and aside from the offices which he has held in the strict path of his profession he served as alderman of Sioux Falls from 1905 to 1907. He has an interesting military chapter in his life record, having for five years been a member of the Wisconsin National Guard, during which time he attained the rank of lieutenant in the La Crosse Light Guards. Mr. Bergh is prominently known in fraternal circles. He is a Knight Templar Mason and a member of the Mystic Shrine, a member of the Modern Wood- men, the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Red Men, the Eagles and the Sons of Norway. In several of these organizations he has been honored with official preferment and for three years, from 1901 until 1904, he was national president of the Independent Scandi- navian Workingmen's Association of America, a large mutual benefit society. For the past ten years he has held the position of secretary of the Scandinavian Republican State League of South Dakota. Nature has well fitted him for leadership and his indorsement of a cause usually wins to it a large following, especially among those of his own nationality. He ranks as an able lawyer and progressive citizen and one whose course in connection with any cause which he espouses is marked by intense loyalty.

HERSCHEL G. HARRIS, M. D.

Dr. Herschel G. Harris, engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery at Wilmot, was born at Assumption, Christian county, Illinois, January 3, 1877, a son of Nelson and Margaret (Gordon) Harris. The father's birth occurred near Vincennes, Indiana, in 1846, while the mother was born in that state in 1848. They were married in Shelby county, Illinois, Mr. Harris having removed to Illinois when a youth of fifteen years. He devoted his life to farming, following that occupation in Illinois until 1910, when he came to South Dakota, where his remaining days were passed, his death occurring May 12, 1914. His widow survives. They were the parents of eight children: Herschel G .; Grace, the wife of Orin C. Humphrey, a resident farmer of Illinois; Charles, a farmer of South Dakota; Lottie, who died in September, 1914: Siegel, living on a farm in South Dakota: Carl, who has just graduated from Rush Medical College of Chicago and has entered upon hospital work in St. Paul; Rose, who is engaged in the millinery business in Wilmot; and Emmett, who is employed by his brother, Herschel. Mr. Harris was a member of the Presbyterian church, to which his widow still belongs. In the work of the church he was very active, serving as deacon for a number of years, and did all in his power to advance the growth of the church and extend its influence. His political views were in accord with the principles of the demo- cratie party, but he did not seek nor desire public office. He possessed many sterling traits of character so that his demise was the occasion of deep regret to his large circle of friends.

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History of Dakota Territory, volume V, Part 85

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920 Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1262

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1262