John Schamber, born on March 6, 1856, in the Crimean district of southern Russia, was a significant figure in South Dakota’s public and business sectors. After emigrating to the U.S. in 1874, he settled in Yankton County, where he and his family became early pioneers. Schamber initially worked on a farm before moving into the business sector, establishing himself as a leading merchant in Freeman. He later became involved in banking, founding the Exchange State Bank of Menno. A committed Republican, Schamber served as Hutchinson County Treasurer, a state senator, and ultimately, South Dakota State Treasurer. He was also active in his community and the Lutheran church. Schamber married Maria Kayser in 1881, and they had ten children.
John Schamber.—The career of the honored subject of this sketch offers both lesson and incentive, since it indicates what is possible of accomplishment on the part of the young man of foreign birth who comes to our great republic and bends his energies to legitimate industry, availing himself of the resources at his command and gaining a success worthy of the name. Mr. Schamber has been a prominent figure in the public and business affairs of South Dakota, of which he is a pioneer, and has been called upon to serve in offices of high trust and responsibility, as this context will later indicate. He is one of the leading business men of Hutchinson County, being engaged in the banking business in Menno, and is eminently entitled to consideration in this history.
Mr. Schamber was born in the historic Crimean district of southern Russia, within sixty miles of the famed old city of Sebastopol, on the 6th of March, 1856, being a son of Peter and Wilhelmina (Luese) Schamber, of whose six children four are now living, namely: Peter, a resident of Yankton County, this state; John, the immediate subject of this sketch; Rosina, wife of Joseph Bohrer, of Mercer County, North Dakota; and George, a prominent merchant of Freeman, Hutchinson County. The parents were born in southern Russia, where they were reared and where their marriage was solemnized. Peter Schamber was there engaged in agricultural pursuits until 1875, when he came with his wife to the United States, whither our subject had preceded him by one year. The former took up a homestead claim in Yankton County, where he resided until 1884, when he removed to the village of Freeman, where he passed the residue of his life, his death occurring in May, 1901, while his devoted wife passed away in 1883.
John Schamber was reared on the home farm and secured his education in the common schools and the teachers’ seminary in his native land, and there he taught school during one winter term prior to his emigration to America. His English education has been acquired by self-application and absorption since he came to the United States. Mr. Schamber arrived in New York City in August, 1874, and thence came westward to Iowa, where he gave his attention to farm work for one year, then coming to South Dakota and taking up a pre-emption claim in Yankton County, six miles southeast of the present town of Menno. Later he filed a homestead entry on this claim, while in the same locality his father also took up a homestead. In 1880 the subject left his farm, upon which he had made excellent improvements, and came to Menno, where he secured a position as clerk in a general store. In 1882 he removed to Freeman, where he engaged in the general merchandise business, in partnership with his brother George. They continued to be the leading merchants of the town until 1900, when our subject retired from the firm, selling his interest in the business to his brother, with whom he had been so long and pleasantly associated. In 1886 the farmers’ elevator was erected in Freeman, the same being controlled by a stock company of leading farmers in the locality, and our subject and his brother became numbered among the heaviest stockholders in the new concern. In 1894 they acquired control of the enterprise, and finally became sole owners of the property. In 1902 our subject sold his interests in this line to his brother, who still remains in control of the same. In 1900 Mr. Schamber became one of those principally concerned in the organization of the Merchants’ State Bank at Freeman, being made president of the same and retaining this office until February, 1902, when the bank was sold to the present owners. In November, 1901, he organized the Exchange State Bank of Menno, of which he is now the sole owner, the institution being recognized as one of the solid and reliable monetary establishments of the state and controlling an excellent business. He has maintained his home in Freeman.
Mr. Schamber is one of the leaders of the Republican party in the state, and his hold upon public confidence and esteem has been manifested in no uncertain way. He has held numerous local offices of minor order, and in 1886 was elected treasurer of Hutchinson County, serving three successive terms. In 1893 he was elected to represent his district in the state senate, being chosen as his own successor in the election of 1895 and proving a valuable member of the deliberative body of the general assembly. In 1898 still further distinction became his, in that he was elected to the important office of state treasurer, in which he served two terms, having been re-elected in 1900 and continuing incumbent of the office until January 1, 1903. He retired from this position with the record of having given a most able and discriminating administration of the fiscal affairs of the state. He is ever alive to the best interests of his home town, as well as the state in general, and his public spirit is manifested in a most helpful way. He is at the present time chairman of the board of trustees of Freeman. He and his wife are members of the Lutheran church, and both are prominent in the best social life of the community.
On the 17th of November, 1881, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Schamber to Miss Maria Kayser, daughter of Adam Kayser, of Parkston, and they are the parents of ten children, namely: Adolph, who is a student in Concordia College, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, preparing himself for the ministry of the Lutheran church; Robert E., who is cashier of the Exchange Bank of Menno; Otto G. is manager of the J. H. Leval & Company lumber yard at Lesterville and is said to be the youngest manager in the employ of that company; Hildegard, Herta, Edgar, Udo, Hedwig, Berthold and Alfred, all of whom are still at the parental home.
Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.