Paul Wildermuth (b. 1862, Bessarabia, Russia) was a prominent merchant and civic leader in Tripp, South Dakota. After immigrating to the U.S. in 1884 with his wife, Magdalena Gebhard, he homesteaded in Campbell County before moving to Tripp in 1887. Initially a carpenter, Wildermuth later transitioned to the grain trade and then to retail, co-owning a successful mercantile business. A committed Republican, he served in the South Dakota legislature in 1898. Active in the Lutheran Church and local social life, he and Magdalena raised nine children, contributing to Tripp’s growth and community spirit.
Paul Wildermuth, one of the leading merchants and influential citizens of the town of Tripp, Hutchinson County, was born in the state of Bessarabia, in southern Russia, on the 28th of June, 1862, a son of Karl and Rosa (Tsler) Wildermuth, of whose six children we enter the following record: Frederick still continues to reside in southern Russia; Paul is the immediate subject of this sketch; Karl is a clerk in the mercantile establishment of the subject; Jacob remains in his native land; Christiana is the wife of Mathis Geigle, of Tripp, this state; and Gotlob is still a resident of Russia. The father of the subject was born in Germany, and when he was a lad of eight years he accompanied his parents on their removal across the border into southern Russia, where he was reared to manhood, having devoted his life to agricultural pursuits, and he and his worthy wife still reside in Russia, honored as folk of sterling character.
Paul Wildermuth passed his youth on the homestead farm and received his early education in the excellent schools of his native land. On the 6th of November, 1884, he was united in marriage to Miss Magdalena Gebhard, and on the same day they set forth for America, fortified by mutual confidence and affection and determined to wrest fortune from the hands of fate, even though strangers in a strange land. They came at once to what is now the state of South Dakota and located in Campbell County, where Mr. Wildermuth took up a homestead claim of one hundred and sixty acres of government land. The young couple continued to reside on this embryonic farm for two years, proving on the property in due course of time. Our subject then sold the farm, and in the spring of 1887 he came to Tripp, which was then a hamlet of only a few houses, and his is now the distinction of being one of the oldest citizens of the town in point of years of residence. Upon locating here, he engaged in work at the carpenter trade, having served an apprenticeship in his native land, and he devoted his attention to the same for about six years. He then engaged in the grain business, buying for the Hunting Company. In 1896 he purchased an elevator and began buying and shipping on his own responsibility, thus continuing until the fall of 1899, when he disposed of his elevator and associated himself with C. C. Frederick in the purchase of the old established mercantile business of C. Frederick, one of the pioneer merchants of Tripp. About two years later, F. F. Meyer purchased the interest of Mr. Frederick, and the enterprise was thereafter conducted under the firm name of Meyer & Wildermuth until February, 1903, when Mr. Meyer sold his interest to J. M. Schaefer, with whom our subject has since been associated, under the firm name of Schaefer & Wildermuth. The firm has a well-equipped establishment and transacts a large and constantly expanding business, theirs being one of the leading mercantile concerns in this section of the state.
In politics, Mr. Wildermuth is a stalwart Republican, and he has served repeatedly as a delegate to state and county conventions of his party, being one of its influential members in this district. In 1898 he was elected to represent his county in the state legislature, serving during the sixth general assembly and making an excellent record. He and his wife are prominent and devoted members of the Lutheran Church and are closely identified with the best social life of the community. They have nine children, all of whom still remain at the parental home, namely: Rosa, Lena, Robert and Richard (twins), Bertie, Emil, Otto, William, and Herbert.
Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.