He was born in Illinois on the 4th of April, 1877, a son of W. and Johanna (Addengast) Van Ruschen. The family came to South Dakota in 1879 and settled on a homestead near Chancellor. During the first year of their residence here a cyclone destroyed their cabin, then the grasshoppers and the drought came and no crops were produced. The family bore many hardships and privations incident to frontier life under such conditions, but in time their courage and determination triumphed and success came to them. The father is now living retired in Marion.