Leonard Renner, born June 9, 1840, in Baden, Germany, was a respected farmer and politician in Minnehaha County, South Dakota. After emigrating to the U.S. in 1848, his family settled in Racine County, Wisconsin, where he grew up and received his education. Renner served honorably in the Union Army during the Civil War, participating in numerous key battles. In 1878, he relocated to South Dakota, where he developed a successful 960-acre farm in Mapleton Township. Renner was active in local politics, serving on the town board and in the state legislature, and was a dedicated supporter of education and community development. He was married to Catherine Kaiser, and they had four surviving children.
Hon. Leonard Renner.—Prominent in the progress of every enterprising community is its agricultural interest, and the men devoting their energies and power of mind to the development and prosecution of this useful and time-honored vocation contribute more perhaps than any other class to the development and substantial prosperity of a new and rapidly growing state. Among the leading agriculturists of Minnehaha County, South Dakota, Leonard Renner, of Mapleton township, occupies a conspicuous place. He has been prominently identified with this part of the state for a number of years, has taken an active part in promoting its material welfare, and in addition to the noble calling to which he so successfully devotes his attention, he has also made his influence felt in the public and political affairs of the commonwealth.
Mr. Renner is a native of Germany and a creditable representative of this strong, virile nationality, a nationality which, perhaps more than any other, has made for the material welfare, intellectual advancement, and general prosperity of the great American republic. He was born June 9, 1840, in the kingdom of Baden, and is the sixth of a family of eight children, five sons and three daughters, whose parents were Casper and Elizabeth Renner. He spent the first eight years of his life in his native land, and in 1848 was brought by his parents to the United States, the family settling in Racine County, Wisconsin, where he grew to maturity on a farm. Coming to America when quite young, he soon became habituated to the manners and customs of his environment, secured a good practical education in the public schools, and as he advanced in years and knowledge his love and admiration for his adopted country and its institutions increased in like ratio. He remained with his parents until he was twenty-three years of age. On the 8th day of July, 1863, he enlisted in Battery B, First Illinois Light Artillery, with which he served two years to a day, being discharged July 8, 1865, with an honorable record as a brave and fearless defender of the national union. He accompanied his command through all the varied vicissitudes of warfare, and his two years at the front were marked by almost continued activity. Among the many battles in which he participated, the following were the most noted: Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Missionary Ridge, Rocky Face Gap, Resaca, Peach Tree Creek, Kenesaw Mountain, Franklin, Nashville, besides numerous skirmishes and minor engagements, to say nothing of the long marches and other thrilling experiences encountered by the soldier in constant and active service. Mr. Renner retired from the army with the rank of corporal and, returning home, resumed his usual vocation, which he carried on with success and financial profit in Wisconsin until 1878, when he disposed of his interests in that state and removed to Minnehaha County, South Dakota. Purchasing a valuable tract of land in Mapleton township, he at once addressed himself to the task of its improvement and in due time he not only erected a number of substantial buildings on his place, but took leading rank as an enterprising farmer and successful raiser. Mr. Renner’s farm, situated in one of the finest agricultural districts of South Dakota, embraces an area of nine hundred and sixty acres, the greater part under a high state of cultivation, the rest being devoted to livestock, which, as stated above, he has carried on with most gratifying financial results.
His home, beautiful for situation and surrounded by natural and artificial features which enhance its attractions, is supplied with all the comforts and conveniences calculated to make rural life pleasant and agreeable, and without prevarication it can be called one of the finest and on the whole one of the most desirable country homes in the County of Minnehaha.
Mr. Renner, on March 19, 1873, was married in Racine County, Wisconsin, to Miss Catherine Kaiser, whose birth occurred November 22, 1845, in Lafayette, that state, being the daughter of George L. and Margaret (Taupert) Kaiser, both natives of Germany. Of the seven children born of this union, three died in infancy, those surviving being Charles H., George L., Frank T., and Nellie A.
Mr. Renner, as already indicated, has been influential in the affairs of his township and county, and for several years served on the town board of Mapleton, of which body he was chairman during the greater part of his incumbency. In 1901 he was elected, on the Republican ticket, to represent Minnehaha County in the legislature of South Dakota, and his course as a lawmaker meeting the endorsement of his constituency, he was re-elected in the fall of 1902, his record throughout being eminently creditable to himself and an honor to the county. During the session of 1901 he was a member of the committee on education, one of the most important committees of the house, and he also served during that time and the ensuing two years on the committee of public health, besides taking an active part in the general deliberations of that body. For the last twenty years he has been school treasurer of Mapleton township, and as such has labored zealously for the cause of education, sparing no pains to raise the system within his jurisdiction to the highest standard of excellence attainable. He is a zealous member of the Grand Army of the Republic, belonging to Joe Hooker Post, which at various times has honored him with important official positions. Mr. Renner is a broad-minded, intelligent man of generous impulses, enterprising, progressive, and a typical representative of that large and eminently respectable class of citizens that have done so much for the development of the young and growing commonwealth of South Dakota. He is highly esteemed by his neighbors and by the public, and his private and official life demonstrates that the large measure of confidence reposed in him has not been misplaced.
Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.