Christian Friederich (b. 1854, southern Russia) was a successful banker and early settler in Tripp, Hutchinson County, South Dakota. After emigrating in 1876, he homesteaded near Tripp and farmed for a decade before moving to the newly founded town in 1886. Initially opening a shoe and harness shop, Friederich transitioned into hog and grain trading, then expanded into hardware and general merchandise. In 1903, he acquired the Tripp State Bank, focusing on its management. A committed Republican and active Lutheran, Friederich married Christina Vetter in 1875, and they raised six children together: Christiana, George, Edward, Carl, Lydia, and Leonora.
Christian Friederich, a successful banker of the town of Tripp, Hutchinson County, was born in the southern part of Russia, on the 14th of November, 1854, and was there reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm, receiving a common-school education. In 1876 he emigrated to America, arriving in Yankton, South Dakota, on the 5th of May of that year. Shortly afterward he took up a homestead claim four miles east of the present village of Tripp, Hutchinson County, and there he took up his abode and turned his attention to improving his farm, being dependent upon his own exertions for a livelihood. He was engaged in farming and stock growing there for about ten years, and his success was cumulative, owing to his energy and good management.
In 1886, when the town of Tripp was founded, he came here as one of the first settlers. He had learned the trade of shoemaking in his native land, and upon locating in the new town, he opened a shoe and harness shop, thus becoming numbered among the first business men of the village. He carried on this enterprise for one year, after which he was employed as a clerk in a local hardware establishment for about six months. He then engaged in the buying and shipping of hogs and grain. In 1893, Mr. Friederich embarked in the hardware and farming-implement business, which he continued for about two years, while also operating his grain elevator and shipping hogs, with which enterprise he was prominently concerned until 1901, building up an extensive and prosperous business.
In 1897, the subject also established himself in the general merchandise business, and this branch of his enterprise he continued until the fall of 1899, when he disposed of his interests in the same. In March 1903, he purchased the Tripp State Bank, and he is now devoting his attention primarily to the management of the institution, which stands in high favor and controls a large and representative business. He is a stalwart supporter of the Republican party but has never sought or desired official preferment. He and his wife are prominent and honored members of the Lutheran Church.
In the year 1875 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Friederich to Miss Christina Vetter, who was born and reared in southern Russia, and of their ten children, six are yet living, namely: Christiana, Jr., George, Edward, Carl O., Lydia, and Leonora.
Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.