USA > Wisconsin > Sauk County > A standard history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, Volume II > Part 26
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Mr. Johnson is a republican and has been very active in party poli- tics, serving as delegate to county conventions for about eighteen years, though he never asked for any office for himself. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and both his parents were of the same denomination. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Camp of the Modern Woodmen of America.
A stimulus to his business energy through many years was his wife and children, and now that his children are grown and most of them established in homes of their own he well merits the leisure and comfort of retired life. He was married August 20, 1873, to Miss Ella M. Stone. Mrs. Johnson was born in Waterford, Maine, February 12, 1854, a daughter of Thomas and Sarah (Tredwell) Stone, of an old and promi- nent family of Sauk county. Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Johnson. Lillian L. is the wife of George E. Buss, a Sank county
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farmer, and they have four children; Myrle, wife of John Schultis of Reedsburg; Leon, Iva and Edna. Ethel S., the second daughter, is the wife of Frank W. Buss, and they live at Lavalle in Sauk County, the parents of three children, named Velma E., Clinton and Ivan. William Spencer lives at Reedsburg and by his marriage to Mary E. Rose has two children, Lyle and Ferne. Leonora C. is the wife of Frank E. Brimmer, of Lavalle, Sauk County, and they have a large household of seven children, named Perey, Lois, Wesley, Spencer, Lester, Royce and Lucy. Jessie S. is the wife of Will B. Meyer, a weaver in the woolen mill at Reedsburg, and their one ehild is named Mideline. M. Blanche, the youngest of the children, is the wife of Harvey N. Hill, of Cameron, Wisconsin, and the mother of one child, Helen.
WILLIAM FRED PETZKE is a native son of Sauk county who is mani- festing the commendable virtues of his ancestry as a farmer and sturdy and thrifty citizen, and is going ahead in the world as an agriculturist in Freedom township.
ยท Mr. Petzke was born in Honey Creek, Sauk County, June 28, 1878, a son of Frederick and Kate (Roser) Petzke. His parents were both natives of Germany. His father was brought to Sank county when a boy and he began life with limited circumstances in the way of finance or influence. He finally was able to buy a farm in Honey Creek, and he lived there with his family about twenty-one years. On selling that he went to North Freedom and bought the farm now occupied by his son William F. Ten years ago he sold that to the mining company, and has since lived retired at North Freedom. In politics he is a republican and while living in Honey Creek was a member of the school board. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Their children, seven in number, all living, are Tena, Bertha, William, Ida, Minnie, Kate and Clara.
William Fred Petzke spent his early youth partly on the homestead in Honey Creek township, where he attended the public schools, and sinee early manhood has been identified with agriculture as his vocation. For the past eight years he has rented the farm formerly owned by his father from the Mining Company, and as a renter is making a success equally as great as many individual farm owners. Mr. Petzke is a very successful breeder of Percheron horses and high grade Shorthorn cattle. Politieally he is a republican.
In 1907 he married Miss Ida Thom. She was born in North Freedom, daughter of William and Amelia Thom. Mr. and Mrs. Petzke have three sons : Frederick, Theodore and William.
LOUIS KLEIN is a native of Sauk County and has spent his lifetime here as a capable and suecessful farmer and one of the men of influence in Freedom Township. His fellow men have many times reposed their confidence in his judgment as a public official and he has a long record of service as township supervisor.
Mr. Klein was born on the old homestead in Freedom Township August 18, 1868, a son of Carl and Carolina Klein. His parents were
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both natives of Germany. His father came to the United States when a young man. He had learned the trade of foundryman in the old country and the first two years in America he worked in a foundry in Penn- sylvia. From there he came west to the comparative wilderness of Sauk County and bought ninety-one acres near the present home of his son Louis. While he was not accustomed to farming, he was a good worker and he faced the future without fear. He began clearing up his land, and after a time he bought another quarter section. All of this gradually assumed the condition of a well improved farm, and he put up a number of substantial buildings. After coming to Sauk County Carl Klein married, and his first wife died in 1875, leaving three children : Louis, Charles and Augusta. Later the father married Lena Trinne, and of that marriage seven children are living, three having died in infancy. Carl Klein is a republican and for a number of years served on the school board. He is now living retired in North Freedom at the age of about seventy-six. He began his career in Sauk County in a log cabin home, and he long ago acquired a financial independence which enables him to spend his declining years with every comfort.
Louis Klein grew up on the homestead farm and as a boy he attended the Maple Hill district school. Some time after reaching his majority he bought the old homestead of ninety-one acres and subsequently was in a position to acquire the ownership of the 160 acres which represented his father's second purchase. He farmed the entire place for three years and then sold the original farm of ninety-one acres, still retaining the quarter section. Mr. Klein has made something of a local reputation by raising and handling high grade Shorthorn cattle. Even to the casual observer the farm impresses one as one of the best in Freedom Township. Its fields are well kept and tilled, abundantly productive, and the build- ings include a large barn and one of the modern residences of that town- ship. Politically Mr. Klein is a republican. He has filled the office of township supervisor for about twelve years and has also been a member of the school board, an office he still fills. The welfare of the schools has always been a matter close to his heart.
In January, 1892, Mr. Klein married Miss Annie Schultie, who was born in Sauk County in 1870, a daughter of William and Catherine (Behn) Schultie. Her parents came to this county at an early day and settled in Westfield Township, where her mother died in January, 1917. . Her father now lives on the farm with his son Carl, its owner. Mr. and Mrs. Klein have three children : Walter, Alvena and Lawrence.
WILLIAM HASHEIDER. Many lives have entered into the foundation of Sauk County, and none of them more worthy to be considered in a history of pioneer personalities than the late William Hasheider. Those who have come and enjoyed the splendid prosperity of the later era have all owed a great debt to the pioneers who first tested the capabilities of soil and climate, who faced the hardships of existence when only the strong and brave could remain, and who laid the foundations of a greater civilization and permanent prosperity.
Among such men was the late William Hasheider. He was born in
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Germany in 1817. When a young man he immigrated to America with his parents and they all settled in Missouri, where his father died. The family went to Missouri in 1840, but after six years William Hasheider, his widowed mother and a sister came to Sauk County. They arrived in the spring of 1846, and joined the handful of settlers who were then living in Troy Township. This was two years before Wisconsin was admitted to the Union, and all of Sauk County was a virtual wilderness. William Hasheider began with eighty acres of land secured from the Government, and later he bought eighty acres from that old pioneer, Henry Steuber. All of this was wild and uncultivated and he was con- fronted with the tremendous task of clearing away the woods, grubbing out the stumps and gradually, acre by acre, getting the land ready for cultivation. When he came to Sauk County he possessed nothing except the elemental vigor of his body and mind and he had little to do with except his bare hands. Later he bought a yoke of oxen, and used them in performing the heavy labor of the farm.
After getting established William Hasheider married Charlotte Lapabel, who was also born in Germany, the year of her birth being 1813. They became the parents of three children: August, who died in 1892; Mary, Mrs. Jacob Hatz, living at Prairie du Sac; and Adelia.
The parents continued to live on the old homestead which had under- gone many improvements through their management and work until 1880, when they removed to Sauk City. From there they moved to Prairie du Sac, and there William Hasheider passed away in 1899, at the age of eighty-two, while his wife died in 1898. Both were active and zealous members of the Evangelical Church.
Miss Adelia Hasheider, daughter of the late William Hasheider, was born in the Township of Troy in 1857 and has spent most of her life in Sauk County and has been a witness of its changing growth and develop- ment for many years. She made her home with her parents until they passed away and since then has spent most of her time at Naperville, Illinois.
CHARLES E. RYAN. At the time of his death in March, 1915, Charles E. Ryan of Baraboo was said to have been the oldest jeweler in Wiscon- sin. He was in his eighty-eighth year. Mr. Ryan came to Portage in 1854 and to Baraboo in 1855, when he established his jewelry business. He was a New Hampshire man and in 1852 married a New Hampshire woman. His widow is still living. Of their four children three were daughters, and their only son died in infancy; so that although Mrs. Ryan succeeded to the business it is not actively conducted by any member of the family. A. Ch. Reisz conducts the store.
CHARLES L. BREWSTER. The enterprising and progressive City of Baraboo is fortunate in the character of the citizens who make up its quota of officials, for it is a well-established fact that a community is measured in large degree by the worth and integrity of the men who govern its affairs. One of the most important offices of the civic admin- istration is that which has to do with the handling of the city's finances,
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and in choosing Charles L. Brewster for the office of city treasurer, in 1916, the citizens of Baraboo displayed remarkably good judgment and assured the city of honorable and honest representation in regard to its monetary affairs.
Charles L. Brewster has been a resident of Sauk County all of his life and for thirty-five years has made his home at Baraboo. He is a product of the farm, having been born on his father's homestead, located one mile south of the City of Baraboo, in the township of the same name, August 28, 1850, and is a son of William and Lavina (Frey) Brewster. His father was born in New York, July 7, 1823, and as a lad accompanied his parents to Indiana, where his father died when he was seven years of age. From the Hoosier state he came with his mother to Wisconsin in 1844, settling on a farm in Sauk County and here engaging in agri- cultural pursuits. Here he met and married Lavina Frey, who was born in Virginia, in 1819, and who had come to Wisconsin in 1846 with her grandparents, having lost her parents when she was a small child. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Brewster settled on the farm one mile south of Baraboo, and there the father developed a good and paying property and established himself as a substantial and progressive agriculturist. He was a man much esteemed in the country community, and when he retired from active pursuits in 1882 and removed to Baraboo he left numerous friends behind who had come to know him as a man possessed of admirable traits of character and a business citizen whose word could be depended upon absolutely. Mrs. Brewster died seven years after locating at Baraboo, and Mr. Brewster then went to live with his son, Charles L., with whom he resided up to the time of his death. William Brewster was one of Baraboo's most remarkable old men. At the age of ninety years he was still active in body and alert in mind, and until within two weeks of his death, when he was ninety-three years of age, was up and about, in the best of health and spirits, and taking a keen and enjoyable interest in all that went on about him. In January, 1916, he contracted an attack of grippe and this disease was the cause of his death two weeks later. As in the country, he had made numerous friends at Baraboo. There were three children in the family of William and Lavina Brewster, namely: William, who went to Missouri as a young man and there died; George E., who is a resident of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin ; and Charles L.
Charles L. Brewster received his education in the public schools of Sauk County and was reared to agricultural pursuits, in which he con- tinued to be engaged until he came to Baraboo in 1882. In the fall of that year he began teaming and followed that business for three years. During this period he became connected with city contract work and thus was placed in a position where he became a candidate for the office of street commissioner, to which he was duly elected. With the exception of three years Mr. Brewster continued to act in that capacity until 1916, discharging his duties in a manner that won him public commendation and confidence. In 1916 he became the republican candidate for the office of city treasurer, and was duly elected to that position, in which he has given the best of satisfaction. Mr. Brewster has fully lived up
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to his pre-election promises and is conscientiously trying to put the city's finances in the best of condition, his work thus far having been especially pleasing to the taxpayers. During his long residence at Baraboo he has been identified with various movements for the public welfare, and the city has few more public-spirited men. Fraternally Treasurer Brewster is identified with the local lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows and the Modern Woodmen of America.
Mr. Brewster was married first in 1871, to Miss Emmeline Prothew, who died in 1900, leaving one child: Harry Z., who resides at home. In 1902 Mr. Brewster was again married, taking as his bride Miss Eliza- beth Myers, of this city.
HENRY STEINHORST. The Steinhorst family, of which there are worthy representatives in Sauk County, has belonged to this section for over a quarter of a century and its members have a reputation for suc- cessful farming and for good citizenship. Henry Steinhorst, who owns one of the best improved properties in Excelsior Township, was born in Germany June 29, 1871, and accompanied his parents to the United States in 1890. He was the eldest in a family of eight children born to Frederick J. and Johanna Steinhorst.
Frederick J. Steinhorst was born, reared and married in Germany. His occupation was farming in his native land and it continued to be the same after reaching Wisconsin with his family in 1890. For two years after reaching Sauk County he worked at Ableman, then came to Excelsior Township and bought eighty acres of land, and during the remainder of his life succeeded in clearing the greater part of it. He made improvements and carried on farming and stock raising with success. He was a faithful member of the Lutheran Church, and in politics was a republican. His death occurred in December, 1914, at the age of sixty-eight years. His eight children are: Henry, Bertha, August, Herman, Helena, Minnie, Fred and Emma, all of whom survive, as does also his widow, who still lives in Excelsior Township.
Henry Steinhorst was educated in his native land and after reaching Sauk County remained with the family at Ableman for two years, in the meanwhile working by the month for farmers in the neighborhood. Being industrious and frugal, by 1899 Mr. Steinhorst found himself in a position that made it possible for him to buy a farm of eighty acres. The only improvement on the place was a log shanty and there was no well, but these disadvantages did not discourage him and very soon better conditions were brought about. At the present time Mr. Stein- horst has cleared fifteen acres of his heavily timbered property and has added thirty-one acres, has excellent buildings and has invested in good stock. Through his own efforts he has brought about his present pros- perous state and is numbered with the best farmers of Excelsior Township.
Mr. Steinhorst was married October 30, 1896, to Miss Emma Eickert, who is a daughter of Fred and Mina Eickert, who came to Sank County from Germany in 1892 and now resides at Ableman, Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Steinhorst have had nine children, as follows: Edward, Henry,
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Herbert, Helda, Walter, Essie, Clara, Otto and Alace, the two last named being deceased. Mr. Steinhorst is a republican in politics but takes no active part in political campaigns and seeks no public office. With his family he belongs to the Lutheran Church.
Fred Steinhorst, the youngest brother of Henry Steinhorst, was born on the old family homestead May 25, 1888, and now owns this property, on which he has built a fine barn. Like his brother he is a republican and belongs to the Lutheran Church.
JOHN P. DOLL is a native of Sauk County, spent a number of years as a practical farmer, and knows farming conditions and farming people. This knowledge has proved of immense value to him in his present busi- ness as a dealer in agricultural implements at Prairie du Sac. In point of continuous service he is one of the oldest business men of that village.
Mr. Doll was born in Honey Creek Township of Sauk County June 28, 1865. He is a son of George and Ursula (Masseger) Doll. George Doll was born in Germany in September, 1824, and came to America and located at New York City in the '50s. Ursula Masseger was born in Switzerland in 1828 and when she came to America she also located in New York City. Not long afterwards they were married in the eastern metropolis, and seeking opportunities to get a home of their own they came to the free and unsettled West and became pioneer settlers in Sauk County. Here George Doll bought a farm and spent many years in its improvement and cultivation. In 1888 his noble wife and the mother of the children died on the old place, and being left practically alone he then removed to Prarie du Sac and lived in that village retired until his own death in 1912. He and his wife had seven children: Mary, deceased ; Barbara, wife of Leonard Meyers, of Baraboo; George and Caroline, deceased; Emma, who died in infancy ; John P .; and Emma, living at Prairie du Sac.
The early environment of John P. Doll was the old homestead farm in Honey Creek Township. Besides getting an acquaintance with the farm and field, all its pleasures and pastimes and duties, he also attended the public schools. In 1886, at the age of twenty-one, he began an apprenticeship at the carpenter's trade and followed it regularly as a means of livelihood for five years. With this experience he removed to Prairie du Sac and on February 7, 1891, opened his place of business as a dealer in agricultural implements. He has prospered in every way and his trade has been constantly growing. He owns his building and warehouses and has a splendid stock of implements.
Mr. Doll is a republican in politics. He served as a member of the council at Prairie du Sac four years, and was deputy sheriff under Sher- iffs Myers and Nicholsen. Fraternally he is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and belongs to the Evangelical Church. Mr. Doll was married June 17, 1897, to Miss Mary K. Witwen, of Troy Township. Ifer father, Martin Witwen, was one of the carly settlers of Sauk County.
HENRY NEHRING. Considering the inauspicious circumstances of his earlier career, Henry Nehring has made an exceptional success, and
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from a farm laborer has progressed until his credit now ranks with that of the most substantial citizens of Freedom Township.
Mr. Nehring was born in Germany March 7, 1870. His father, Henry Nehring, died in the old country in 1872. Later his widow, Mary, mar- ried Henry Steve. Mr. Henry Nehring of Sauk County was the only child of his father and mother. His mother and her second husband eame to Sauk County in 1894, loeating on a farm in Baraboo Township, where she died in 1915, at the age of fifty-seven. Mr. Steve is still living in Baraboo. They had four children, named Charles, Herman, Paul and Alvina, the daughter the wife of August Steckman.
Mr. Henry Nehring grew up in Germany, had only the advantages of the common schools, and was early inured to hard work and the earning of his living by the sweat of his brow. When he came to Sauk County in 1895 he worked out on farms at monthly wages, and subsequently rented a tract of land. It was only by constant thrift and much self denial that he was in a position to acquire the surplus with which in 1900 he bought eighty acres in Freedom Township. He has since devel- oped that land into a good farming proposition, has put up good build- ings, and has cleared away many aeres of timber and is now practically free of debt and has much to show for his efforts. Mr. Nehring is a successful stock raiser and keeps high grade Shorthorns and Durham cattle. He is a republican in polities and has been a member of the local school board.
In 1896 he married Miss Christina Kapelka. She was born in Ger- many April 2, 1864, a daughter of Henry and Tena (Schroeder) Kapelka. Her parents were born and married in Germany and in 1893 her father came to Sauk County, her mother having died in Germany. Mr. Kapelka is now living with Mr. and Mrs. Nehring and is seventy-five years of age.
Besides the farm and material possessions with which he is surrounded Mr. Nehring has the satisfaction and pleasure of a happy family of six children, all of whom are living. Otto, the oldest, married Mabel Daw- son, of Baraboo, and has two children, Harold and Alfred, these being the only grandchildren. The other children, all at home, are Anna, Leonard, Elsie, Ida and Frederick.
JAMES BRENNAN. The elaim of James Brennan upon the good will and consideration of his fellow townsmen in Baraboo Township rests upon many years spent in progressive and individual work as an agri- culturist, upon a meritorious record as a citizen, and upon his activity in promoting edneation and kindred accompaniments of advanced civili- zation. While born in New England, he has resided in Sauk County since his infancy, and much of his life has been passed on the farmn which he now ocenpies and a large part of which he himself eleared from its virgin state. He has led an honorable career, and is accounted one of the representative and substantial citizens of his community.
Mr. Brennan was born at Stamford, Connecticut, April 8, 1866, and is a son of Thomas and Alice (Terry) Brennan. Thomas Brennan was born in Ireland, in 1824, and was a young man when he came to the United States, settling in Connecticut, where he met and married Alice
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Terry, who had been born in 1834, also in Ireland. While an energetic and industrious worker, Mr. Brennan met with little success in his ven- tures in the East, and in 1867 brought his family to Wisconsin, where opportunities were brighter and better for the achievement of prosperity. Locating in Sauk County, he settled on a farm in Baraboo Township, the one that is now occupied by his son Walter, and here passed the remainder of his life, devoting himself whole-heartedly to the pursuits of the soil and working out a well-earned success. Mr. Brennan had the confidence of his community. He was a practical agriculturist who believed in using the tested methods, but was never disdainful of the new inventions and discoveries as relating to his vocation, and was always willing to give any method a trial that sounded feasible. As a citizen, while not thrusting himself forward in taking part in the civic life of the locality, he quietly did his share in advancing movements for the general welfare. His original purchase, a modest tract, was added to from time to time by his good business management and shrewd investment, and at the time of his death, in 1909, he owned 320 acres of good land, with modern improvements and good buildings. Mrs. Brennan died on the homestead in 1895. They were the parents of the following children : John, who is deceased; Edward; Thomas, deceased; Alice and James, twins; Mary ; Walter, operating the old homestead; William; Bridget, deceased; Ella, and Peter. Mrs. Brennan, the mother of these children, was a sister of John Terry, a substantial farmer and livestock raiser and head of one of the best known families of Baraboo Township. He was the father of Joseph P. and James M. Terry, mentioned elsewhere in this work: Mrs. Brennan's father was Edward Terry, who was an early resident of Sauk County and spent his last years at the Brennan home, where he died at the age of eighty-two.
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