Henry Grebe, born on October 16, 1843, in Germany, emigrated to the U.S. in 1853. Settling in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, he worked on farms before apprenticing as a tailor. In 1862, Grebe enlisted in the Union Army, serving in the 20th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. Post-war, he pursued commercial studies and worked in tailoring in Missouri and Iowa. Moving to Yankton in 1879, he continued his trade until becoming register of deeds for Yankton County in 1895, a role he held for many years. Grebe was married twice and had four children. He was active in the Grand Army of the Republic and Freemasons.
Henry Grebe, who has long served with signal efficiency as register of deeds of Yankton County, is a native of Germany, where he was born on the 16th of October, 1843, being a son of Christian and Elizabeth (Dillon) Grebe, of whose two children the other passed away in childhood. The father of the subject was an officer in the Revolutionary army in Germany in 1848, and his death occurred while he was in service. In 1853 his widowed mother came with the subject, who was then a lad of ten years, to America, taking up her residence in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, where she later became the wife of Jacob Petri, one child being born of this union. George, who resides on the old homestead farm in that County. The mother entered into eternal rest in 1877.
The subject of this sketch received his preliminary educational discipline in his native land and continued his studies in the common schools after coming to the United States. Prior to his sixteenth year, he began to depend on his own resources, securing work on neighboring farms in Wisconsin and receiving for some time only four dollars a month in compensation for his services. In 1859 he entered upon an apprenticeship at the tailor’s trade, becoming a skilled workman and continuing to follow this vocation for a long term of years, up to the time of his election to his present office.
On the 15th of August, 1862, Mr. Grebe tendered his services in defense of the Union, enlisting as a private in Company H, Twentieth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, with which he served three years, being promoted from time to time and being mustered out as second lieutenant. He participated in the battle at Prairie Grove, Arkansas, and in the siege of Vicksburg, and from August 12 to December 26, 1863, he was confined in the hospital at New Orleans, after which he was on detached duty, serving in various capacities and thus continuing until he received his honorable discharge, on the 22nd of June, 1865.
After the expiration of his military service, Mr. Grebe returned to Wisconsin, locating in Ripon, where he remained until the following autumn, when he went to Chicago, Illinois, where he took a course of study in a commercial college. In April, 1866, he located in St. Joseph, Missouri, where he was engaged in the work of his trade until February 2, 1872, when he removed to Sioux City, Iowa, where he became foreman and cutter in the leading merchant tailoring establishment of John A. Magee, retaining this position for the ensuing six years, at the expiration of which, in 1879, he came to Yankton, Dakota, arriving on the 4th of June, and here he continued to be engaged in the work of his trade until the 1st of January, 1895, when he entered upon his duties as register of deeds for Yankton County, having since been consecutively the incumbent of this office save for an interim of two years. He is well known to the people of the County and commands unqualified confidence and esteem. In politics he has ever given a staunch support to the Republican Party, his first presidential vote having been cast in support of Lincoln while he was in the service during the Rebellion. Fraternally, he is a popular and honored comrade of Phil Kearney Post No. 7, Grand Army of the Republic, and is also identified with St. John’s Lodge No. 1, Free and Accepted Masons. He and his family are members of the Congregational Church.
On the 3rd of August, 1868, Mr. Grebe was united in marriage to Miss Bacia Wilbur, and they became the parents of one child, Harry W., who is now a traveling salesman for the extensive pharmaceutical house of Parke, Davis & Company, of Detroit, Michigan. On the 21st of March, 1882, Mr. Grebe consummated a second marriage, being then united to Miss Caroline E. Geyman, of Wisconsin, and they are the parents of three children, H. George, Walter C., and Elmer E., all of whom remain at the parental home, being numbered among the popular young folks of the city.
Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.