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Frank M. Ziebach (also known by his full name of Francis Marion Ziebach) was a noted political figure in the Dakota Territory during the territorial period from 1861 to 1889. He was a pioneer newspaperman, founding a number of newspapers in the Iowa and Dakota Territories, including the Yankton "Weekly Dakotan" (also referred to as the "Weekly Dakotian") in 1861, which is still published today as the Yankton "Press and Dakotan". He was known as the "squatter governor" of the Dakota Territory. Ziebach County, South Dakota was created in 1911, and is named for him.

Frank M. Ziebach was born in 1830 in Pennsylvania, and died in 1929 in Yankton, South Dakota at the age of 99. His life spanned the period from the presidency of Andrew Jackson to that of Herbert Hoover.

Early life and marriage
Frank M. Ziebach was born in 1830 in Union County, Pennsylvania, near Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. He entered the newspaper business by publishing the Lewistown (Pa.) Argus. He married Elizabeth Fisher, of Danville, Pa, and over the course of their married life they had four sons and two daughters.

Iowa 1856 to 1862
Frank M. Zieback moved from Pennsylvania to Iowa and in August 1856 he began publication of the "Western Independent" with J. N. Cummings in Sargeants Bluff, eight miles south of Sioux City, Iowa. In 1858 Frank bought out his partner, and moved the equipment to Sioux City, where he commenced publication in July 22, 1858 as the weekly "Sioux City Register". The "Register" declared itself to be a "Democratic" newspaper. In 1859, Frank sold an interest to William Freney and the "Register" was consolidated with the "Sioux City Eagle". The partnership of Ziebach and Freney continued to publish the "Register" until 1862, but in 1861 Frank transferred his interests to Yankton, South Dakota.

The Yankton Weekly Dakotian newspaper
In 1861, Frank M. Ziebach freighted his printing outfit from Sioux City, Iowa to Yankton by team and wagon. He and his partner from Sioux City, William Freney, formed the Dakotian Printing Company in Yankton, and printed the first edition of the "Weekly Dakotian" at Yankton on June, 6, 1861. Frank Ziebach was the editor and did a good portion of the practical work besides. He was a master printer and a good journalist.

The papers Ziebach had formed in Iowa were self proclaimed Democrat newspapers and the Yankton Weekly Dakotian originally proclaimed itself to be a "Douglas Democrat" newspaper. However, after the elections in the fall of 1861, the newspaper became inactive for a short period. Ziebach sold the newspaper to J.C. Trask in March 1862. The Dakotian now declared itself a Republican newspaper, and the Dakotian Printing Company was rewarded by becoming the first "Public Printer" in Dakota, doing the printing for the first Legislative Assembly.

After the first legislative session the Dakotian was sold to George W. Kingsbury, and Frank M. Zieback subsequently rejoined the newspaper as a partner of Kingsbury. Since the Dakotian had been a declared Democrat newspaper when published by Frank Ziebach in 1861, but now had switched its allegiance to the Republicans in 1862, when Ziebach rejoined Kingsbury in the newspaper business "political party prudence" dictated that Ziebach be a silent partner and Kingsbury, a Republican, be the official editor and manager of the paper. These political machinations had their reward, and during the second session of the territorial legislature Ziebach and Kingsbury retained the position of "Public Printer".

After 1863, the paper passed into the sole possession of Kingsbury. Yankton was the territorial capitol of the Dakota Territory from 1861 until 1883 (when the capitol was moved to Bismarck) and during this period the Dakotian grew swiftly with its reporting of the political wars of Dakota Territory. The paper passed through a number of different ownership entities, and in the following decades other area newspapers become consolidated with the Dakotian which eventually became known as the the Press and Dakotan and is still published under that name today in Yankton, South Dakota.

There is a debate about the "first newspaper" in the Dakota Territory. On March 2, 1861 Congress passed the Organic Act that brought the Dakota Territory into being, with Yankton as its capitol. The Weekly Dakotian was first newspaper that was published in the Dakota Territory after the passage of the organic act. However it was the second newspaper in the area that became South Dakota. The first newspaper in what is now South Dakota was the Dakota Democrat published in Sioux Falls for about four years starting in 1858.

The Yankton Dakota Militia in the 1862 Indian uprising
In August 1862 raiding Sioux killed Judge Amedon and his son near Sioux Falls, and shortly thereafter Yankton got news of the massacre in Minnesota by Little Crow. Settlers panicked and came pouring into Yankton with their goods and livestock. A sod stockade was thrown up around the printing offices of the Dakotian. The stockaded newspaper building became known as "Fort Yankton". The governor called for militia volunteers, and four hundred citizens responded. Frank M. Ziebach was elected Captain of Company A of the Dakota Militia, and George W. Kingsbury, the co-editor at the Dakotian became the company orderly sergeant. Frank M. Ziebach became know by the tongue in cheek title of Commander in Chief of the Army at Fort Yankton. Although for Yankton there was almost no fighting (excepting a short clash in the late fall on the outskirts of Sioux Falls), historical memory now recalls dashing images from "the exciting and perilous weeks of the Indian outbreak of 1862, when Yankton was besieged."

Public offices in Iowa and the Dakota Territory, 1868 to 1889
Frank M. Ziebach went to Dubuque Iowa in 1863 and purchased an interest in the Dubuque Herald. He returned to Sioux City, Iowa in 1866 and in the fall of that year was appointed register of the land office at Sioux City. He was mayor of Sioux City for two terms 1868-69 and 1869-70.

He returned to Yankton in 1870, where he again became engaged in the newspaper business. In 1873, he was elected to the office as Superintendent of Schools, but since he did not qualify, another was appointed to fill his place. He was elected mayor of Yankton serving for three terms from 1876 through 1880.

He served as a member of the territorial legislature 1877-78 and 1883-84. When in the 1877-78 territorial legislature, Mr. Ziebach resided in Yankton, and represented Yankton County. When he was in the 1883-84 territorial legislature he resided in Scotland, and represented Bon Homme County.

He was a delegate to the South Dakota state constitutional convention, in 1883. He served as a member of first Yankton’s Board of Education, formed in 1875. He has also held other minor offices in city and territorial government.

From 1861 to 1889, Dakota Territory elected a single non-voting Territorial Delegate for a two year term to the United States House of Representatives. Each party held bi-annual conventions to nominate their candidate for the office. Frank M. Ziebach attended the Democratic Party Territorial Convention in 1874, and in 1882, serving each time on the influential "Committee on Resolutions". Though not chosen as the Democratic candidate for territorial delegate to the U.S. Congress, in each convention he was nominated for the position and received a substantial number of votes.

The squatter governor
Frank M. Ziebach is known to history as the “squatter governor” of Dakota Territory. During the first territorial legislative session he presided as the mock "governor" over an informal caucus of territorial leaders who formed a mock legislature. This caucus was known as the "third house". This incident caused Frank M. Ziebach to be referred to as the "squatter governor" (a squatter being a frontier term for a person who holds land by possessing it, or "squatting" on it, without having any formal legal title to the land). The mock leglislature sessions continued sporadically in later years, and Frank M. Ziebach was often called to preside. These mock legislature sessions afforded a good deal of entertainment during the formal legislative sessions. Because he had became known as the "squatter governor" Frank M. Ziebach was popularly referred to as “governor” throughout the latter half of his life.

Candidate for territorial governor, commissioner of U.S. land office, 1886 - 1889
When Dakota sought admission as a state, an intense debate arose whether the territory would be admitted as the single state of Dakota, or admitted as two states. Politicians became known as "one state" advocates, or "two state” advocates, also called "divisionists". In 1884 Grover Cleveland, a Democrat was elected President of the United States, and in 1886, it fell to him to appoint a governor for the Dakota Territory.   Frank M. Ziebach was the overwhelming choice of 90% of the rank and file Democrats in the territory, and extensive petitions were prepared and sent to the President.  Frank M. Ziebach went to Washington, and met all the right people, and the Democratic faithful and the candidate confidently expected that he would be appointed governor.  However, Frank M. Ziebach was a "two state Democrat" with a reputation as a "pronounced divisionist" and President Cleveland favored a "one state" admission.  In 1886 President Cleveland awarded Frank M. Ziebach the consolation prize of appointment as receiver/commissioner of the U.S. Land Office, and in 1887 the President appointed a "one state" candidate as governor. Nevertheless, Frank M. Ziebach continued to advocate for a two state admission, and in 1889 the United States Congress resolved the issue by passage of the Enabling Act of 1889 which admitted North Dakota and South Dakota, along with Montana and Washington.

Later life, and becoming the namesake for Ziebach County
In 1911, Frank M. Ziebach was honored when Ziebach county in South Dakota was created and named for him. When aged 99, he was elected a "Life Member" of the South Dakota State Historical Society because, "His long residence in the State... (and) his activities on behalf of the growth and development of South Dakota, from earliest territorial days to the present time make him one of the marked figures on the list of our most prominent citizens."

Death and burial
Frank M. Ziebach died on September 20, 1929, at age 99. His wife predeceased him, dying at Winner on August 8, 1917. Frank M. Ziebach is buried in the Yankton Cemetery at Yankton, South Dakota.