Biography of August King

August King, born on December 15, 1863, in Saxony, Germany, is a respected citizen and legislative representative of Brookings County, South Dakota. Emigrating to the U.S. in 1880, King initially worked on farms in Minnesota before moving to South Dakota in 1886. He married Pauline Schulz in 1890 and eventually purchased a 280-acre farm in Brookings County. King, a successful farmer and stock grower, also contributes to the community through his political service as a Republican and involvement in local organizations. He and his wife are active in the Methodist Episcopal Church and have six children.


August King, who is one of the well-known and highly honored citizens of Brookings County, has the distinction of being its representative in the state legislature and has shown himself to be one of the loyal and public-spirited citizens of the great commonwealth in whose service his efforts are thus enlisted. Mr. King is a native of the German Empire, having been born in the province of Saxony, on the 15th of December, 1863. He is a son of Henry and Ernestine King, the former of whom passed his entire life in the German fatherland, where his widow still maintains her home. Of the six children born of this union five are yet living, the subject of this sketch having been the eldest. Mollie is the wife of William Rolberg and they reside in Germany; Henry is a successful baker in Germany, as is also his brother Edmund; Hattie still resides in the fatherland; and Minnie is deceased. From this brief record it will be seen that our subject is the only representative of the immediate family in the United States.

August King was reared to the age of sixteen years in his native country, in the meanwhile receiving the advantages afforded in its excellent schools. In 1880, in company with his cousin, Carl Miland, he bade adieu to home and fatherland and set forth to seek his fortunes in America, proceeding to Minnesota, where he joined relatives. Soon after his arrival Mr. King began work on the farm of his cousin, being thus engaged for a period of five months, and he continued to work by the month until the spring of 1886, having been frugal and industrious and having succeeded in saving about three hundred dollars from his wages. In the spring of the year mentioned he left Minnesota and came to South Dakota, locating in Brookings County, where he secured employment on the farm of Samuel McBride, with whom he remained about twenty months, after which he was for three years employed by Edward Spurling. On Christmas Day of the year 1890 Mr. King was united in marriage to Miss Pauline Schulz, a daughter of Christopher and Anna Schulz, both of whom were born in Germany, as was also Mrs. King, who came to America as a young woman, here joining her brothers, who had emigrated here some time previously. Mr. King had carefully conserved his resources and at the time of his marriage his accumulations represented about one thousand dollars. In the spring of 1891 he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of unimproved land in Brookings County for a consideration of twelve hundred dollars, and within the same year he erected a house on the farm and there took up his residence. He reclaimed the land and brought it under effective cultivation, the while making permanent improvements of a substantial order. In 1899 Mr. King purchased a tract of one hundred and twenty acres adjoining his homestead on the east, so that he now has a fine farm of two hundred and eighty acres, all in one body. The prosperity which has attended his indefatigable efforts is indicated in the appearance of his place, which is improved with a good house and barn and other necessary buildings, a windmill and other modern facilities, while the land is well fenced and shows the careful attention given by the enterprising and progressive proprietor, who is recognized as one of the representative farmers and stock growers of the county. His land is now valued at fifty dollars an acre and constitutes one of the attractive and valuable farms of the section. Mr. King has devoted considerable attention to the growing of corn from the time of inaugurating his farming enterprise and has been successful in securing good yields, while he also raises wheat and oats and a general line of high-grade livestock, being also one of the stockholders in the farmers’ grain elevator in the village of White.

In politics Mr. King accords a staunch support to the Republican Party, in whose cause he has taken an active interest from the time of attaining the right of franchise in his adopted country. The confidence and esteem in which he is held in his home county has been signalized in divers ways. For the past four years he has been incumbent of the office of treasurer of his school district; he has served as delegate to the county and state conventions of his party, and in the autumn of 1902 he was elected to represent his county in the lower house of the state legislature, where he has proved himself a valuable member of the legislative body, being signally faithful to the interests of his constituents and of the state at large and doing all in his power to further good government and ensure the progress and prosperity of the great state in which he has gained so marked personal success. In the house he was assigned to the committees on corporations, banks and banking, and emigration, and in each of these connections his work has been of no perfunctory order. Fraternally Mr. King has been identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows since 1890, being now affiliated with White Lodge, No. 135, at White, while he is also a member of White Lodge, No. 67, Ancient Order of United Workmen, in the same village. He was reared in the faith of the Lutheran Church, but he and his wife are now regular attendants of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in whose work they maintain an active and helpful interest. When Mr. King arrived in New York City his capitalistic resources were summed up in the amount of five dollars, and the position of independence which he today holds represents the result of his own efforts, while he has so guided his course as to retain unbounded respect and esteem on the part of all with whom he has come in contact. He has contributed his quota to the development and material progress of South Dakota and is well entitled to representation in this history. In conclusion we would state that the marriage of the subject has been blessed with six children, namely: Alma, Edward, Esther, Frederick, and Minnie Anna, twins, and an infant daughter.


Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.


Leave a Comment