"Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local
biography, including biographical sketches of prominent old
settlers and representative citizens of South Dakota..."
Published by G. A. Ogle & Co., Chicago, 1898. Pages 249-250.
Scan and OCR by Joy Fisher, 1997. This file may be copied for
non-profit purposes. All other rights reserved.
ftp://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/sd/biography/memorial/dutcher.txt
PAUL DUTCHER is editor and the senior member of the firm of
Dutcher, Breed & Storgaard, publishers of the
"Register," at Brookings, Brookings county, one of the
most prosperous semi-weeklies in the state. Mr. Dutcher was born
in Stoughton, Dane county, Wisconsin, on the 9th day of August,
1864, and is the youngest of two sons born to Curtis E. and
Lucinda C. (Mattice) Dutcher. Curtis E. Dutcher was born in
Bloomfield, Oakland county, Michigan, in May, 1831. As a young
man he traveled quite extensively and later settled in Wisconsin,
where he engaged in the mercantile business at Stoughton and
afterward at Lone Rock and Waterloo. He died at Waterloo,
Wisconsin, April 15, 1872, at the age of forty-one. Mr. Dutcher
had been a regimental sutler in the Civil war, and as the result
of an accident (causing necrosis of the bone) was compelled to
have one of his legs amputated. He never afterward entirely
recovered and his death was hastened by this injury, although the
immediate cause of death was blood poisoning. His ancestors were
among the Colonists who early settled upon Manhattan Island,
which is now New York City, and his grandfather was a
Revolutionary soldier. His father, William Dutcher, was an
attorney at-law, and who died at Madison, Wisconsin, at the ripe
age of eighty-six, after a very active life spent in law
practice, politics and civil life. Our subject's mother, Lucinda
Dutcher, is also a descendant of the Knickerbockers, one of the
Mattice family having been the first white child born in
Schoharie county, New York. Mrs. Dutcher was herself born there,
Fulton, Schoharie county, being her birth place. She was born
September 25, 1831, and came west with her parents at the age of
twelve and located in the state of Michigan. She received her
education in the common schools and graduated at The Ladies
Seminary at Schoolcraft. She was married to Mr. Dutcher,
September 3, 1861. Mrs. Dutcher was a very intelligent woman,
being very fond of reading, and having taught school for years
both before and after marriage. She is now sixty-six years old
and lives at Aberdeen, South Dakota. Her father, L. B. Mattice,
was born near Middleburgh, Schoharie county, New York, and lived
to the ripe age of ninety. Her mother was a Bouck, a relative of
the once famous Governor Bouck, of New York state.
Paul attended the public schools in Wisconsin until he attained
his fourteenth year. At the age of nine he went to work upon a
farm, and by working summers aided somewhat in the support of the
family, his father being dead. He learned the printer's trade in
the office of the "Evening Wisconsin", in Milwaukee. He
remained there five years and then with his brother, Ward E.
Dutcher, bought the Waterloo (Wisconsin) "Journal" and
continued its publication for two years. At the age of nineteen
he entered the newspaper field and has remained almost
continuously in charge of one from that time to this. In August,
1884, Mr. Dutcher came to Raymond, South Dakota, and secured
control of the "Gazette," published there, and
conducted it very successfully for the next five years. During
his residence in Clark county, he took quite an active part in
politics and held the office of postmaster and justice of the
peace in his home town. He was a member of the Republican county
central committee and also a member of the legislative committee
of the Ninth district of the then Territory of Dakota. Mr.
Dutcher arrived in Brookings June 1, 1890, and immediately
started the "Register," taking as a partner Mr. George
Nelson Breed, who is the oldest newspaper man in Brookings county
and whose sketch will be found in another part of this work. The
same year the "Sentinal," of Brookings, was purchased
and consolidated with the "Register," making a very
strong combination and the largest circulation in the county. In
the fall of 1895 the paper was converted from a weekly to a
semi-weekly and since that time its growth has been very rapid
and its success most gratifying. The "Register" is a
straight Republican organ and has done much for the party in
Brookings county and in fact all over the eastern part of the
state. Mr. Dutcher is a member of the blue lodge, chapter and
council of the Masonic fraternity, and also of the Eastern Star.
He has always been a Republican and served four years as
aide-de-camp upon the staff of Governor Sheldon with the rank of
colonel. In 1895 he was second assistant chief clerk of the South
Dakota house. Mr. Dutcher married Miss Susie M. Adams, of
Columbus, Wisconsin, June 15, 1885. Mr. and Mrs. Dutcher have two
children, Raymond Adams and Gladys Pauline. Raymond Adams was
born March 28th, 1886, at Raymond, Clark county, and Gladys
Pauline was born August 25, 1892, at Brookings, Brookings county.
The family attend the Presbyterian church at Brookings, Mr.
Dutcher having been chairman of the board of trustees of that
society for the past six years.