A standard history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, Volume II, Part 4

Author: Cole, Harry Ellsworth
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 608

USA > Wisconsin > Sauk County > A standard history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, Volume II > Part 4

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Mr. Riggert in politics is a. republican and for the past fifteen years has consecutively held the office of township treasurer of Westfield Town- ship. He and his family are active members of the Lutheran Church. On March 3, 1897, he married Miss Elizabeth Schuette. She was born in Westfield Township of this county March 30, 1875. Mr. and Mrs. Riggert had two children, Lavita, who died at the age of two years; and Valera, born August 5, 1906.

Mrs. Riggert is a daughter of John William and Dorothy (Reinecke) Schuette. Her grandfather, John Schuette, brought his family from Germany and settled on a farm in Westfield Township in pioneer times, in 1863. He and his good wife lived out the rest of their industrious lives in this community. Their children were Catherine, deceased, Elizabeth and John William. John William Schuette was born in Germany March 31, 1849, and was fourteen years of age when brought to Sauk County. He had attended the common schools in Germany and for a short time was a student in Westfield Township. On reaching manhood he bought sixty-three acres of land where his son Henry J. now lives. His success as a farmer enabled him to increase his holdings by the purchase of 160 acres adjoining, and most of this was cleared up while he occupied it and some good substantial buildings erected. In 1905 he retired from the farm and he and his wife have since lived at Loganville. He is a democrat and for a number of years was side supervisor, and for four years assessor of the township. He and his wife are active Lutherans. October 24, 1869, John William Schuette married Miss Dorothy Reinecke, who was born in Germany in 1848, daughter of William and Margaret Reinecke. She was twenty years of age when in 1868 her parents located in Sauk County and found a home on a farm in Westfield Township. John William Schuette and wife have six children : Amelia, wife of Edward Luhrsen, of Reedsburg; Henry J., owner of the old homestead, married Augusta Bargwart, of Jefferson County, and their three children are Arold, Harold and Arciena; Elizabeth, wife of John Riggert; William, of Phoenix, Arizona, who married Tina Kry and has children named Helen and William ; Annie, who died in 1916, was wife of Henry Steckelberg and was the mother of four children, Elva, Herbert, Arnold and Evelyn; Albert, a resident of Columbus, Wisconsin, is married but has no children.

HENRY G. TIELE. An ever increasing prosperity has rewarded the efforts of Henry G. Tiele since his arrival in Sauk County in 1872. To the then fast growing community he brought an carnest purpose and strong physical equipment which counteracted in large degree the dis- advantages of speaking a foreign tongue, of customs with which he was unfamiliar, and of agricultural methods which were better suited to the old world conservatism of Germany than the awakening vigor of the

593

HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY

Central West. At the time of his arrival his chances for success did not seem bright, as he was without capital or friendly influences, but his sturdy nature, his faith in himself and his determination overcame all obstacles, and with these assets he won his way to the achievement of deserved prosperity. He is now the owner of a valuable farm in Baraboo Township and accounted one of his community's substantial men.

Mr. Tiele was born in Germany, January 14, 1853, and is a son of Henry and Christian Tiele. The father passed his entire life in Germany as a small farmer, and there passed away when in middle life, in 1874, following which his widow immigrated to the United States and joined her son, with whom she continued to make her home during the remainder of her life, her death occurring in Baraboo Township in 1909, when she had reached the advanced age of eighty-two years. She became well and favorably known in the vicinity of her son's farm and was highly esteemed for her many sterling qualities of heart and mind.

Henry G. Tiele was reared in a home where a modest income neces- sitated the practice of economy, and as he was reared to manhood he was taught lessons of frugality and thrift. His education was secured in the public schools of his native land, and his carly training was along several lines, so that he was prepared to give a good account of himself when he engaged in his battles with the world. He had seen his father's struggles in trying to gain a competency for his family, and early determined that he would find a locality for the display of his abilities where opportunities were more prolific than those of which his native community could boast, and by the time he was nineteen years of age, in 1872, had saved sufficient funds from his earnings to carry him to America. After a voyage on a sailing vessel he arrived at New York City, and from the metropolis made his way to Sauk County, which com- munity has continued, almost uninterruptedly, to be his home to the present time. On certain occasions he has made short visits to Minnesota and the Dakotas, but each time has returned to Sauk County.

On his arrival in Sauk County, Mr. Tiele first secured employment in the butcher shop of Charles Hunt at Reedsburg, but after several months thus spent turned his attention to farming. At first he worked by the day and month, later was able to set himself up as a renter, and through hard and industrious work finally achieved his ambition and bought a farm in Baraboo Township, the property which is now owned and operated by James Bonham. This was an eighty-acre tract, which Mr. Tiele cultivated for a number of years, and on which he erected all the buildings and made the other improvements. When he sold this land he purchased the farm which he now owns, a forty-acre property, also in Baraboo Township, which has been brought to a high state of cultivation and is a profitable investment. In addition to this the Tiele property includes forty acres of timber land which is the property of his second wife, who was Mrs. Southard. Mr. Tiele carries on general farming and the raising of stock, and has been successful in both departments. He has made his own way in the world, and the success that has come to him has been gained not through outside sources but as a result of his own hard work, ability, resource and initiative. In politics he is inclined to be independent in supporting candidates, although, perhaps, he has demo-

594

HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY

cratic leanings. For himself he has never sought office, having been content to play a good citizen's part in the life of the community and to discharge his civic responsibilities by helping to advance good move- ments, education and morality. Mr. Tiele is a consistent member of the Lutheran Church.

Mr. Tiele's first marriage was to Miss Mary Monti, daughter of Carl Monti, one of Sauk County's pioneer residents. Two children were born to this union, namely : Lena, who is the wife of Jesse Reel, a farmer of Baraboo Township, and has one son, Teddy ; and Erna, who is engaged in teaching in the public schools of Sauk County. The mother of these children died in 1898, and in 1907 Mr. Ticle was united in marriage with Mrs. Jennie (Stelting) Southard, widow of Harry Southard, of Baraboo Township. Mrs. Tiele belongs to one of the early families of Wisconsin. Her parents, originally from Indiana, came to Vernon County, Wisconsin, ' where they were engaged in agricultural pursuits for a number of years and where both passed away.

JAMES ANCHOR. Among the retired residents of Fairfield Town- ship one who is accounted a- substantial and representative citizen is Capt. James Anchor, the owner of a farm of sixty-seven acres situated in the northwest part of the township. For thirty years, from 1872 until 1902, he sailed the Great Lakes, rising from ordinary seaman to master, and abandoned the calling only when, through energy, industry and integrity, he had accumulated a moderate fortune.

Capt. James Anchor was born in Norway, October 30, 1840, and was a son of Hans and Mary Anchor, both of whom passed their lives in that country and died there. They had four children: Katrina, who died in Norway ; James; Anna, who died in Milwaukee; and Mary, who died in infancy in Norway. The education of James Anchor was secured in the public schools of his native land, and with a youth's love of adven- ture became a sailor on ocean-going vessels, his first few trips determin- ing his vocation in life. In 1872 he crossed the bar at the entrance to Chicago Harbor and at once entered upon a career that brought him to the forefront in his calling. He rose rapidly from position to position until he became captain of the Arndale, and remained as master of that sturdy vessel for fifteen years. In 1885 Captain Anchor purchased a farm of 156 acres in Fairfield Township, upon which he located his family, but continued to sail the Great Lakes until 1902, when he bought his present farm of sixty-seven acres, upon which he has since lived retired, the farm being operated by his son Carl. Captain Anchor's char- acter is one admirably adapted to the work in which he spent his active life. Of uncompromising honesty and fearless courage, he was a rigid disciplinarian, yet his sympathies were broad and easily touched. During his experience as a lake captain he had frequently to encounter men whose · inflamed passions impelled them to deeds of violence to enforce the demands of those who denied others the right to fix their own valua- tion upon their own labor. To such malcontents he exhibited a firm front. Those who were willing to work he was always willing to protect, and the turbulent spirit of their persecutors was awed and controlled by his simple word, backed by the expression of a purpose which the dis-

595

HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY

orderly, riotous crowd knew would be carried out to the letter. In the relations of domestic and commercial life he has always been a man to be trusted. Among his business associates his oral promise is considered as good as a bond. He votes the republican ticket, but political matters have held little interest for him, save as they have affected the welfare of his country or his community. Both he and Mrs. Anchor were reared in the Lutheran faith, but now attend the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Captain Anchor was married in 1876 to Miss Katrina Petersen, who was born January 14, 1851, at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, daughter of Abra- ham and Sophia Petersen, natives of Norway and early settlers of Milwaukee, where the father died in 1917, at the advanced age of eighty-nine years, and the mother in 1869, when thirty-nine years old. They were the parents of six children: Katrina, Lena, Josephine, Edward, Paul and Olaf, of whom Mrs. Anchor is the only survivor. Captain and Mrs. Anchor are the parents of five children: Norman, formerly a sailor on the Great Lakes, who secured his first mate's card before taking up farming, is now the operator as a renter of the Ringling farm in Fairfield Township. He married Miss Etta Anchor. Alfred, who is engaged in farming in Fairfield Township, married Hattie Mar- tina, daughter of August Martina, she being now deceased. Carl, operat- ing his father's farm, and supervisor of Fairfield Township, married Lottie Lamar, and has two children, Dazie James and Charley Marion. Hans is unmarried and an agriculturist in Fairfield Township; William died in October, 1913, aged twenty-four years.

HENRY SCHLICKAU. One of the fine farms of Westfield Township is that owned by Henry Schlickan, and it has repaid his industry and intelligent management throughout the thirty years he has lived there, giving him prosperity and an enviable position among the representative citizens of Sauk County.

Mr. Schlickan was born in Hanover, Germany, March 20, 1862, a son of Henry and Mary (Hams) Schlickau. When he was seven years of age he came with his parents to America. The family arrived in Illinois in May, 1869, and the following August went to Westfield Town- ship of Sauk County. His parents bought 120 acres of wild land. It was a tremendous task to cut down the trees and only gradually was the change made from the wilderness into settled conditions of agriculture. The father lived a long and industrious life and passed away in May, 1901, while his wife died in February preceding his death. Henry Schlickau, Sr., was an active member and an official in the Lutheran Church. Their children were Henry, William, Annie and Lizzie. The son William married Katherina Elling and now lives in Kansas. Annie is the wife of Carl Stoletie of Hill Point; Sauk County. Lizzie married Charles Giffert, of Westfield Township.

Mr. Henry Schlickau married, March 2, 1887, at the age of twenty- five, Miss May Hahn, daughter of George and Dorothy Hahn, of Westfield Township. In the same year of their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Schlickan located on their present farm, and here they have reared their family and while making ample provisions for their training and comfort they have still been prospered and find themselves in a comfortable and

596

HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY

valuable home and surrounded with all the comforts and good things of life. Mr. Schlickau is a progressive farmer, using the silo system of feeding, and has made many improvements on the farm by his own hands. He is a republican voter and an active member of the Lutheran Church.

Mrs. Schlickau's brothers and sisters were: Catherine, now de- ceased ; Henry, also deceased; Anne; and Dora. Anne is the wife of Fred Reincke, of Westfield Township. Dora married Christ Yenke, of Honey Creek Township. Catherine became the wife of Chris Neinmann, and he now lives in the State of Washington.

Mr. and Mrs. Henry Schlickau have a bright and interesting family of six children, all of them still at home and unmarried. Their names and dates of birth are: August, 1888; Lizzie, 1889; Mary, 1894; Annie, 1898; Dora, 1901; and George, 1904. These children were well educated, in the local public schools and also attended a school conducted by the Lutheran Church.

EMANUEL LORENZ PHILIPP, the present governor of Wisconsin, is a native of Sauk County, where he was born March 25, 1861, a son of Luzi and Sabina (Ludwig) Philipp.

Governor Philipp had only a common school education, and his early life was spent as a farmer, school teacher, telegraph operator, railway station agent, and train dispatcher. He achieved eminence as a factor in the business and industrial life of Wisconsin long before his name was considered in politics. From 1893 to 1903 he was engaged in the lumber business at Philipp, Mississippi. For a number of years he gave his time to developing transportation interests and in 1897 was elected president of the Union Refrigerator Transit Company, and has been proprietor and manager of this business since 1903.

For many years his business interests have required his residence at Milwaukee. He has served as president of the Humane Society of that city, as regent of Marquette University, was police commissioner from 1909 to 1914, and in 1914 was elected, after a strenuous campaign, as governor of Wisconsin for the term from 1915 to 1917: Governor Philipp is a prominent republican and was a member of the Republican National . Committee in 1908.

He is known as a forceful speaker and has done some vigorous writing, being author of the "Truth about Wisconsin Freight Rates," published in 1904, and the article "Political Reform in Wisconsin," published in 1908. He is a member of the Masonic Order and the Milwaukee Athletic Club. On October 27, 1887, he married Miss Bertha Schweke of Reeds- burg, Wisconsin.

HERBERT W. DANO, now living retired at Reedsburg, is a native of Wisconsin, and has found his life crowded with opportunities and has used them with discretion and ability. His chief work has been as a farmer, and for a number of years he has been one of the extensive cran- berry growers of Central Wisconsin. His name is one that well deserves mention in any history of Sauk County.

He was born at Janesville, Wisconsin, Jannary 26, 1852, a son of William and Margaret (Culver) Dano. His father was of New England

597

HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY

ancestry and was born at Vergennes, Vermont, in 1814. His mother was born in Germany in 1822. In 1846 the Dano family arrived in Wisconsin, locating at Janesville in Rock County, but in 1854, when Herbert was two years of age, they removed to Sauk County and located in Washington Township. Margaret Culver before her marriage had been a school teacher at Sandusky, Ohio. Another early settler in this part of Sauk County, coming about the same time as the Danos, was Mr. Joshua Holmes, who married Miss Rosetta Lahmen. Mrs. Holines had also taught school in Sandusky, Ohio, and the two ladies selected Sandusky as a name for an incipient village in Washington Township, a name that still designates one of the little centers of Sauk County. William Dano served as the first postmaster of Sandusky, having been appointed in 1855. Associated with Mr. Joshua Holmes, he also built sawmills, and they were together in the mercantile business. William Dano resided at Sandusky for ten years, also lived for some time in Baraboo, but spent his last years in Reedsburg, where his death occurred in 1886. His wife had died on the farm in Excelsior Township in 1870. William Dano was a republican in politics, taking a vigorous stand in political questions. He and his wife had the following children : Louisa, who died at Janes- ville in 1850; Elmer G .; Duane M .; Herbert W .; Charles; Albert O .: Edward E .; Oscar L .; and Inez Clair, who died in infancy.

Mr. Herbert W. Dano spent some of his childhood years in Sandusky village and attended the public schools there. After his marriage he located on the farm of his wife's father, the old Metcalf place, and Mr. and Mrs. Dano still own this fine homestead, consisting of 240 acres. They also own and for a number of years Mr. Dano looked after the active management of three cranberry marshes situated in Juneau, Monroe and Jackson counties.

Mr. and Mrs. Dano came to Reedsburg to live on March 4, 1908. Their home is at 1118 East Main Street. Their home was destroyed in the high wind of 1915, but it was rebuilt in the same year by a fine residence of every modern convenience. Politically Mr. Dano follows the example of his father and is a stanch republican.

On November 13, 1879, he married Miss Alice Metcalf. Mrs. Dano was born on the old Metcalf homestead in Excelsior Township July 31, 1856. They have one daughter, Margaret, born September 24, 1880. She was educated in the public schools, graduating from the Reedsburg High School, and is now the wife of Walter Morgan. Mr. Morgan is a man of affairs at Ladysmith, Wisconsin, serving as city engineer, is a wholesale and retail produce dealer and a drainage contractor. For several years he was in the lumber business and has had a very successful career. Mr. and Mrs. Morgan have two children, Ruth and Alice.

Mrs. Dano is a daughter of Thomas and Mary (Warrener) Metcalf. Her father was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1821, and her mother in Kilburn, England, in 1826. They arrived in New York City in April, 1847, and located on a tract of new land in Excelsior Township of Sauk County in April, 1852. Mrs. Dano's mother died there in 1859 and her father passed away in 1899. Mrs. Dano is a sister of Richard Metcalf, elsewhere mentioned in this publication.

598

HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY

ADAM LEICHER, a retired business man of Loganville, enjoys the satis- faction of having given the world a capable service as a mechanic and business factor for more than half a century. Honest and good work has been the means by which he has climbed step by step to a position of prosperity, and he is one of the most highly esteemed men of Westfield Township.

Mr. Leicher was born in Germany, September 16, 1847, a son of Lawrence and Margaret (Ruf) Leicher. In 1857, when he was ten years of age, his parents came to America and located in the wilderness section of Hartford in Washington County, Wisconsin. His father bought forty acres of raw land in Hartford Township, cleared it up with his own hands, and provided for his family by its cultivation. He died at Lavalle, Wisconsin, in 1875, at the age of sixty-nine, and his wife passed away in 1877, aged sixty-six. They had a family of six children: Elizabeth, Catherine, Eva and Lorenz, deceased ; and Martin and Adam, still living.

Adam Leicher attended school in Germany for four years before coming to America. He was just old enough to appreciate his surround- ing and environment when the family settled at Hartford in Wash- ington County. The first school he attended there was a private one and in the basement of a house owned by Fred Prien. He is one of the few men still living who can recall the time when the few children of Hart- ford attended that old institution. Later he went to school in a little red schoolhouse. In the fall of 1865, when he was eighteen years of age, he began an apprenticeship at the wagon making trade, and worked steadily in that line for fifty-one years.

For several years he lived at Neosho in Dodge County, where in 1869 he married Miss Marietta Kendall. She was born in Walworth County, Wisconsin, February 13, 1849, daughter of William and Eliza Kendall. Her parents were natives of Vermont, were pioneers in Walworth County and in 1851 removed to Dodge County and settled at Neosho, where they died, her father July 10, 1892, and her mother in 1855. Her father after the death of her mother married twice. His second wife was Louisa Stoughson, and the one son of that union was William Fenton. His third wife was Jane Goodwin, and she was the mother of a daughter, Nellie.

In 1870 Mr. and Mrs. Leicher moved to Loganville, where he estab- lished a wagon shop and for years his shop was the place where the farmers brought their instruments to be repaired and it became one of the leading business establishments of the village. In 1892 Mr. Leicher added an undertaking department, and continued in that business until 1915. In 1916 he practically retired from business altogether, although he is still interested with his sons in a local automobile business.

In matters of politics Mr. Leicher is a republican. His fellow citizens have shown their confidence in his judgment and integrity by electing . him and keeping him steadily in the position of justice of the peace for over forty years. With many other good things to his credit it remains to account briefly for his family. Eleven children were born to him and his wife, and most of them have grown up to occupy honorable stations in the world. William L., the oldest, was born March 6, 1870, and is now deceased ; Fenton A., born March 20, 1873, is now in the automobile

599

HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY

business at Luverne, Minnesota ; Edward L. was born September 23, 1876 ; Albert, October 12, 1878; Lyda, June 24, 1879; Gilbert C., July 3, 1882; Frank J., October 19, 1884; Cora May, May 11, 1887 ; Clyde and Claud, twins, January 22, 1889; and Fernando, January 23, 1891. The sons, Gilbert and Frank, with the assistance of their father as silent partner, established an automobile business at Loganville under the name Leicher Brothers, and they now have the leading garage and repair and accessory shop of the town.

AUGUST THIES. Some of the finest and best equipped dairy and gen- eral farms in Sauk County are found in the Loganville community, and one of these is in Westfield Township, its proprietor being August Thies. Mr. Thies represents a family that has been identified with Sauk County since early times, and his own part has identified him with the clearing and developing of the land as well as the substantial and well-ordered industry of modern times.

Mr. Thies was born in Westfield Township, on the farm now owned by his brother Herman, on April 25, 1873. He is a son of Charles and Eliza- beth (Meyer) Thies, both of whom were natives of Germany. The paternal grandparents also came to Sauk County after the arrival of some of their children and spent their last days here. The maternal grand- parents, George and Elizabeth Meyer, found a home in Sauk County for their last years. George Meyer was a German soldier under the great Napoleon and had marched with the French troops into Russia and wit- nessed the burning of the Russian City of Moscow. Charles Thies came to America in 1850, when ten years of age, with his two brothers, who located in Dane County, Wisconsin. One of these brothers was Frederick, who was then twenty-one years of age and who passed away recently in April, 1917, at the age of eighty-seven. The other brother was Henry, who spent his life at Cottage Grove in Dane County. When Charles Thies was seventeen years of age he came to Westfield Township with his brother-in-law, Frederick Telker, and bought what is known today as the John Schultz place. He cleared up most of the land contained in that farm and later sold it. Charles Thies then bought a tract of land which he subsequently sold to Mr. Luthermann, the present proprietor. His next purchase was the Briggs farm of 120 acres, and here again he applied himself to the clearing and developing of a farm from practically new land. This constituted the old homestead where August was born and where the son Herman now lives. Charles Thies owned and developed a number of good lands in Sauk County. He bought the 160 acres where his son William resides, and later bought 106 acres nearby, and still later the Lew Tarst farm of 152 acres at Reedsburg. This is the farm now owned and occupied by his son Henry. Charles Thies finally moved to Loganville, where he bought the home of D. B. Hulbert, a good house with seventeen acres of ground. In that home he spent his last years in com- fort and plenty and passed away in 1913, at the age of seventy-three. His widow still lives among her children and is now eighty-three years of age. The parents were both active in the Lutheran Church and the father was a democrat. Their children were: Henry, who died in early child- Vol. II-3

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

A standard history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, Volume II, Part 4

Author: Cole, Harry Ellsworth Publication date: 1918 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 608

Author: Cole, Harry Ellsworth
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 608