KAUFMANN, Moses, has been too busy whenever interviewed in regard to his biography to give any information, but notwithstanding his early life is a sealed book to the writer, enough is known of his recent history to make a short sketch possible.
     He has lived in Sioux Falls since the early eighties, and is a well-known citizen.  When the Sioux Falls brewery passed from the control of its original owners he purchased a large block of its stock, and since then in connection with Moriz Levinger, has had the management of its affairs.  He travels about the state, and is acquainted with the people, especially with all those who have been members of the legislature or are likely to become such in the future.  He attends the sessions of the legislature, arrives there early, secures room at the principal hotel, and then quietly, but in a systematic way, goes about his work of preventing legislation hostile to his business.  In this he has been remarkably successful., and at no time more so than during the session in 1899.  He is always quiet, cool and self-possessed, but he is “sawing wood” as the saying goes, all the time, night and day.  At his rooms, in the corridors of the hotel, in the committee rooms, and sometimes in the legislative halls he is untiringly pushing his scheme to the front.  What seem to be insurmountable obstacles at twilight are frequently overcome before the dawn of the following day.  As a lobbyist he is the smoothest man in the state.  He is an enterprising citizen, and responds liberally to all calls for help in public affairs; is a good business man, social and companionable, and has a host of friends who delight in helping him accomplish whatever he may desire.

KEITH, Hosmer H., was born in New York, July 12, 1846.  His father was a farmer of Scotch ancestry.  Mr. Keith received a thorough academic education, and has not only worked on a farm, but has, like most of the energetic young men of his time, taught school.  He studied law for a time and then entered the law school at Albany, N.Y., graduating in 1870.  He was admitted to the bar at a general term of the supreme court of New York, in June, 1870, and has since then, first in New York and then South Dakota, been in the active practice of his profession.  He came to Sioux Falls in the spring of 1883.  At the election of officers for the proposed State of South Dakota under the Sioux Falls constitution, he was elected judge of the circuit court of the second district.  At the election in the fall of 1888, he was elected a member of the territorial legislature, from the counties of Hanson, McCook and Minnehaha, receiving a majority of 498 over his competitor J.T. Gilbert, who had been elected the term previous by the majority of 165.  He was elected speaker of the house of representatives, and had the honor of presiding over that body during its last territorial session.  He is at the present time a trustee of Colgate University, N.Y., and for several years was president of the board of trustees of the Sioux Falls University.  For three years, after coming to Sioux Falls, he was in practice by himself, but during the year 1886 he was associated with S.E. Young, under the firm name of Keith & Young.  In January, 1889, he formed a copartnership with C.P. Bates, under the firm name of Keith & Bates, which continued until January, 1893, when it was dissolved.  As speaker of the house of representatives the writer can say from personal knowledge that he filled the position with marked ability.  But as a lawyer Mr. Keith is best known.  Where he is employed in a case, his opponents know that there is to be a contest from the beginning to the end. He is a sagacious trier of cases, a good advocate, and when summoned to a court of last resort, he is well equipped, and able to make the very best presentation of his case.  He has a large and lucrative practice, and is employed in a good many important cases, not only at home but throughout the state.  As a citizen he is independent and enterprising, and takes an active part in all public matters.

KELLER, Dr. Alvin H., was born in Rimersburg, Clarion county, Penn., April 4, 1853; attended the common schools and the Clarion Collegiate Institute; when sixteen years of age commenced work in a drug store in Philadelphia; graduated from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and then had charge of a drug business at a salary of $1800 and commission on the sales until 1879, when he removed to Hastings, Neb., and engaged in the drug business for himself completed a course in medicine and graduated from the Omaha Medical College in 1883, and then took up the practice as a physician in connection with the drug business at Hastings.  Later took a post graduate course in Chicago; came to this county and located in the city of Sioux Falls in 1890 and opened a drug store in connection with A.P. Abbott, and practiced his profession; in 1892 he disposed of the drug business and has made the treatment of diseases of the nose, throat and lungs a specialty; in 1898 took a special course at the Polyclinic college hospital in Chicago, organized the Dr. A.H. Keller Chemical Co. in Sioux Falls in 1897 and manufactures the Sylvan Ozone and other remedies, and confines his practice to special work.  He is a man of great industry and his whole time is devoted to his professional work at the present time in connection with his brother, Dr. W.F. Keller, and they have a large and growing practice.

KENDALL, Frank A., was born in Fowlerville, Livingstone county, N.Y. August 31, 1848; moved with his parents to Sparta, Wis., in 1854; was educated in the public schools and graduated from a commercial college at Milwaukee, Wis.  When sixteen years old entered a drug store at Red Wing, Minn., where he remained eight years, then for three years was in the drug business at Prescott, Wis.  The next seven years traveled for Noyes Bros. & Cutler of St. Paul.  In 1884 went to Howard, Miner county, S.D., and was there engaged in banking until 1895, when he moved to Sioux Falls.  While at Howard was mayor one year.  Since coming to Sioux Falls he ahs had charge of the Syndicate block, and is now also in charge of the Edmison-Jameson and Gilbert blocks.  Mr. Kendall is a good business man, pleasant and affable, and highly respected by a wide circle of acquaintances.

KIDDER, Jefferson P., was born in 1816 at Braintree, Vermont, where he received a common school education; was raised to agricultural pursuits, and taught school.  He prepared for college at the Orange county Grammar school, graduated at the Norwich university and was a tutor therein.  In 1848 he received the degree of Master of Arts from the University of Vermont; studied and practiced law; was a member of the state constitutional convention of Vermont in 1843; was state’s attorney in 1842-9; was a member of the state senate of Vermont in 1847-8; was lieutenant governor of Vermont in 1853-4; removed to St. Paul, Minnesota in 1857; was elected a provisional delegate from Dakota territory while visiting there in 1859; was a member of the Minnesota house of representatives in 1861-3-4; was appointed associate justice of the supreme court of Dakota territory in 1865, and removed there; was reappointed in 1869 and again in 1873, and resigned after having discharged the duties of that office for ten years; was elected to the Forty-fourth Congress in October, 1874, as a Republican, receiving a majority of 2,408 votes over Moses K. Armstrong, a Democrat; was again, in 1876, elected delegate and served until 1879, when he was reappointed associate justice of the supreme court of Dakota territory and held this office until his death, which occurred October 2, 1883.  He held his first term of the district court in Minnehaha county in June, 1879, and remained Judge of this court until his decease.  He was an honest judge and greatly respected by all who knew him.

KILAND, Gustav H., was born at Manitowoc, Wis., March 2, 1862.  He attended school until twenty-one years of age, graduating from the Luther college, at Decorah, Iowa, in 1883; then returned to his native town; was elected justice; commenced the study of law, and was graduated from the law department of the State university at Madison, Wis., in 1889.  In July of that year came to Sioux Falls and entered the law office of Boyce & Boyce, where he remained three years; then opened a law office by himself, but soon after formed a copartnership with Wm. Fuerste; in 1890, was appointed a member of the board of trustees of the State University at Vermillion, S.D.; in 1896-7 was city assessor of the city of Sioux Falls; is secretary and treasurer of the City Hospital, and of the Scandinavian Publishing Co., and was elected clerk of the school board of the city of Sioux Falls in 1899, and is practicing law.  Mr. Kiland is a good official, a good business man, and an esteemed citizen.

KIRBY, Joseph, like other people was at one time a mere child, in fact, he was a very small child October 5, 1863, when his parents began to care for him at Chickasaw county, Iowa.  He worked on his father’s farm, taught district schools, and studied law a little in New Hampton, Iowa.  On the 28th day of June, 1886, he arrived in Sioux Falls, and within thirty minutes after his arrival was reading law in Bailey & Davis’ law office.  He was admitted to practice November 12, 1886, but was employed by Bailey & Davis until March 17, 1888, since which time he has been practicing law by himself.  There is not a more untiring, indefatigable and persistent (right or wrong) lawyer in the city of Sioux Falls.  He has a great faculty of getting  business, and since 1888, it is probably that no attorney’s name has appeared in so many cases in the courts of Minnehaha county, and possibly in the supreme court as that of Joseph Kirby.  During the last three years he has had quite an experience.  The post offices at Waubay, Miller and Highmore in South Dakota, had been robbed, and quite an amount of postage stamps taken.  On the 2d of July, 1896, a detective called at his office and demanded the stamps stolen.  Mr. Kirby turned over a package he had received twenty-two days before.  He was indicted in the United States district court that fall, charged with having received all the stamps stolen from the offices above named, knowing them to have been stolen, with the intent to appropriate them to his own use.  The indictment was held to be bad on demurrer, and he was again indicted and brought to trial.  When the evidence was all in, the court directed a verdict of not guilty as to the stamps stolen at Waubay and Miller, and the Highmore branch was submitted to the jury. The jury disagreed.  The case was again tried, and the jury after being out fifty-two hours brought in a verdict of guilty as to the first count in the indictment and he was sentenced to the penitentiary for the term of two years.  A majority of the jurors made affidavits after the verdict had been rendered, that they did not intend, and did not suppose that in rendering the verdict they had found him guilty of intending to appropriate the stamps to his own use, which was essential to the finding of the verdict of guilty.  The case was appealed to the United States supreme court, and was heard in January last, and this court found that he had been erroneously convicted, and sent the case back to the trial court for a new trial.  The case will be on the calendar of the October, 1899, term of the United States district court held at Sioux Falls.  In consequence of the conviction, Mr. Kirby was disbarred from the practice of law in the state and United States courts, but immediately after the decision was rendered by the United States supreme court, the state supreme court reinstated him.  The United States through its officials prosecuted Mr. Kirby with great vigor, and nothing was left undone that could possibly aid in his conviction.  Mr. Kirby is a man of wonderful energy, takes a hand in all public affairs, and is an enterprising, generous citizen.

 KINGSBURY, Walter R., was born in Andover, Connecticut, December 25, 1832.  He was reared on a farm, attended the public schools, and was graduated from the State Normal school.  He taught school in Connecticut and Illinois for thirteen years, and then engaged in the mercantile business for the same length of time, first in Adams county, Illinois and then in Chicago.  On the 4th day of April, 1878, he arrived in Sioux Falls, and until 1883 was engaged in the real estate business, and was the promoter of some of the large business enterprises of the city.  He has always been an industrious, enterprising citizen, and greatly esteemed by a large circle of acquaintances.  He is one of those persons who has merited greater success in his attempts to build up Sioux Falls than has fallen to his lot, but this has not been owing to want of courage and ability in his management.  A loyal friend, a first-class citizen, and a generous neighbor, are the most prominent characteristics of the subject of this sketch.

KITTREDGE, Alfred B., is a native of Cheshire county, New Hampshire, and was born March 28, 1861; received his early education in public schools and by private tutor; in 1878 entered Yale and graduated from that institution in 1882 then commenced the study of law in the office of Judge Veasey, at Rutland, Vermont, and also studied in the office of Bachelder & Faulkner of the same place, until 1884, when he entered the Yale law school from which he graduated in the spring of 1885; was admitted to the bar by the supreme court of Connecticut the following June; then came to Sioux Falls, and subsequently entered into a copartnership with C.H. Winsor, which copartnership existed until Mr. Winsor removed to New York in October, 1895.
     It is only fourteen years since Mr. Kittredge came to Dakota, but he is one of the best known men in the state.  This is largely due to the part he has taken in politics.  He soon became very popular with his associates, and nothing, in the estimation of his friends, was too good for him, which resulted in his being pushed to the front in political circles.  Possessed of good sense, and a rare faculty of organization, he soon exercised a controlling influence over the political conventions of the Republican party, and persons desirous of political promotion in South Dakota come to Sioux Falls at their earliest convenience to consult Mr. Kittredge.
     He was elected senator from Minnehaha county in 1889 and re-elected in 1891, and was one of the most influential men in the senate.  At the national republican convention in 1892 he was elected a member of the national republican committee from South Dakota and re-elected in 1896.  He has never been a trifler in political matters, and if any criticism is to be made upon his political methods, it is that he has pushed aside from political preferment all such persons as would not fight in the ranks with the same zeal as they would if their names appeared upon the roll call of the acknowledged leaders of the party.  He is the local attorney for the Great Northern and the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad companies and has a large law practice which he is industriously looking after; and with his thorough legal attainments and wide acquaintance it is not too much to expect that he will become one of the most successful lawyers in South Dakota.

KLAUSON, William, was born on a farm in the province of Sodermanland, Sweden, July 22, 1862.  He attended the public schools and the University at Stockholm, where he was graduated in 1883; worked as foreman for a building contractor three years, and then came to this country and settled at Salem, McCook county, this state, December 11, 1886; worked as stone mason until 1892, when he located at Sioux Falls, where he has since been engaged in the real estate business.  Mr. Klauson is a conservative, safe business man, and a good citizen.

KNAPP, Dexter J., was born at Dummerston, Vt., November 30, 1844; was educated in the public schools, and when only sixteen years of age went to New Haven, Conn., and engaged in the silk trade for about six years; then went to Minneapolis, Minn., where he engaged in the loan and lumber business until he removed to Sioux Falls in October, 1877.  At first he bought city lots and did some building, but his principal business from that time to the present writing has been dealing in real estate.  He has been a great advertiser, sending out circulars by the thousands at times, in which he portrayed the advantages of the country in his peculiar and attractive style.  He has also written articles for the newspapers which were sure to catch the public eye.  But he has not confined himself to literary efforts in the interest of the public.  Four years ago it occurred to him that the ponds and rivers in southeastern Dakota were not yielding their proportion of food supply for the inhabitants.  With him to conceive of a project, especially where the public good is concerned, is to act.  He studied the subject and came to the conclusion that the streams ought to be stocked with fish, and without any aid or any hope of gain to himself, he interceded with the United States commissioner of fish and fisheries for a supply of fry.  He has received six large consignments, and distributed them in the lakes, rivers and streams throughout this part of the state, not forgetting Minnehaha county.  He put three million of black bass, crappies and other game fish into Wall Lake, and the Split Rock received a large supply of speckled and rainbow trout.  He was appointed fish warden of the state by the late Governor Sheldon, and has received two appointments to the same office by Governor Lee.  Mr. Knapp is an industrious, enterprising and esteemed citizen.

KNOWLES, Edward S., was born in Rigo, N.Y., February 24, 1861; attended the common schools, and the Rochester academy in New York; moved to Danville, Ill., in 1878, and after having attended the high school at that place for some time, engaged as clerk in a grocery store one year; came to Sioux Falls on the 14th day of April, 1882, and engaged in the grocery business under the firm name of Mighton & Knowles; in 1884 was employed by the Insurance Company of Dakota, and in 1885, by the Luverne Granite Company, at Luverne, Minn.; subsequent to this was employed by Avery & Erskine, Walter French, and T.J. Fosdick in Sioux Falls, as clerk in their mercantile business; in 1893 went into the insurance business, and is now a member of the firm of Morcom & Knowles in the same business.  Mr. Knowles is a Knight Templar and Shriner, and has been the recorder of the Chapter in Sioux Falls since 1890.  He is a prominent in social circles, and is a respected citizen.

KREISER, Frederick, was born in Germany, January 6, 1851; emigrated to the United States in 1868, and located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he remained until he removed to Sioux Falls May 1, 1883.  Has nearly all his life worked at his trade, which is that of carpenter.  In 1889 was elected alderman from the Second ward in the city of Sioux Falls and served one year.  In 1894 was elected alderman from the Sixth ward for a two years’ term.  In May, 1898, was appointed chief of police of the city of Sioux Falls.  He is a good official, a good neighbor and an upright citizen.

KUH, Solomon, is a native of Saxony, Germany, and was born August 19, 1825.  He received a common school education, and when quite young became clerk in his father’s store, and remained there until twenty-two years old, when he emigrated to the United States; was clerk in a store of general merchandise in Baltimore, Md., for several years, and a commercial traveler for about ten years; removed from Baltimore to Pittsburgh, Pa., where he clerked in a store for about two years; then went to Milwaukee; came to Chicago in 1859, just as the cholera epidemic broke out; there were no railroads at that time, and he took the stage for Dubuque, Iowa, where he remained two years; then embarked on the War Eagle, which had the famous statesman Charles Sumner on board, and went to St. Paul, and during the trip saw the present site of Minneapolis, where at that time nothing could be seen but endless prairie and a land office down in a ravine; returned to Dubuque, got married, and engaged in the mercantile business there for several years; then removed to Des Moines, Iowa, where he opened a broom factory and resided for about eight years; in April, 1889, he came to Sioux Falls where has since resided.  Since his coming here he has invested heavily in real estate.  He also opened a broom factory in connection with his two sons, Julius and Louis Kuh, under the firm name of Kuh Bros., and they are doing an extensive and successful business.  Mr. Kuh has always been an active business man, and notwithstanding his age takes active interest in everything calculated to promote the prosperity of the city in which he lives.  He is an enterprising man, and a good citizen.