USA > Wisconsin > Sauk County > A standard history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, Volume II > Part 57
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His birth occurred in Milwaukee March 14, 1864. He is a son of Dietrich Schweke, elsewhere mentioned in this publication. He was only a child when his parents moved to Reedsburg, and his early edu- cation was acquired in the German Lutheran Parochial School and the Reedsburg High School. He early began to learn merchandising by practical experience as a clerk. One year he was employed by O. H. Perry, for four years by H. C. Hunt, and another year by Hunt & Bueyington. After one year with the firm of Harris & Hosler he engaged in business for himself as junior partner in the firm of Webb & Schweke. This was one of the firms that did a large part of the volume of business transacted in Reedsburg and the partnership was continued successfully until 1907. It was this firm which was the first in Reedsburg possessing the courage and enterprise to put in operation a cash system, and after they had given it a thorough trial and justi- fied its value not only to merchants but to individual patrons, the plan was copied and used by many other merchants in the town and elsewhere.
About the time Mr. Schweke retired from business he built the beautiful home he and his family have since occupied at 244 Locust
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Street, at the corner of Third Street. Mr. Schweke is a republican without any political aspirations and he and his family are members of St. Peter's Lutheran Church.
He was married February 1, 1893, to Bertha Reineke, a native of Recdsburg and a daughter of Gustav and Louisa Reineke. Her par- ents were early residents of Reedsburg and her father was a baker by trade and subsequently was in the hotel business for a number of years. Her mother is still living at Reedsburg. Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Schweke. Phillip, after completing the course of the Reedsburg High School entered the University of Wisconsin, where he was graduated with the class of 1917. Rupert is a graduate of the high school and is now a student in the LaCrosse Business College. Norma. is a junior in the Reedsburg High School, and the three younger chil- dren, still in school, are Amy, Arthur and Ruth.
PETER SUSSNER. The mere fact of a man being born ou a farm does not make him a farmer, but it very often influences, through imme- diate opportunity, his choice of vocation. Accustomed to the duties of farm life from youth up, he naturally is better informed in regard to the different industries than another who has had a different training. One of the successful farmers of Sauk County, Peter Sussner, is the son of a farmer and was brought up amid farm surroundings.
Peter Sussner was born in Richland County, Wisconsin, February 16, 1869, and attended the public schools there. His parents were Andrew and Gustina (Pufhal) Sussner. They were born in Germany and from there came to the United States and were married in Sauk County. Afterward Andrew Sussner bought a farm in Richland County and it was while the family lived there that Peter Sussner was born. His father sold his farm there and came back to Sauk County and lived here the rest of his life, his death occurring in 1879. The mother resides at Reedsburg and is now in her eighty-seventh year and active both in mind and body. They had five children: Paul, Peter, Amelia, Mary and William, all of whom survive except Paul.
Peter Sussner bought his first farm, a tract of 220 acres in Dellona Township, in partnership with his brother-in-law, Henry Benzaman, but later sold his interest. In 1906 he bought 100 acres in Reedsburg Town- ship, and this farm he has improved so that it is one of the most valuable in this section. His buildings are all first class, and his residence is equipped with modern comforts and conveniences. He has one of the largest barns in the township, the structure being 55 by 48 feet, and has a silo that is 46 feet high and 14 feet across. His operations are carried on according to modern methods and he is unusually successful. .
Mr. Sussner was married September 21, 1899, to Miss Lizzie Kruger, who was born at Reedsburg, Wisconsin, August 29, 1874, and is a daugh- ter of Henry and Mary Kruger. They were early settlers in Sauk County and Mr. Kruger owned a farm in Reedsburg Township and there he died in 1898, at the age of fifty-six years. Mrs. Kruger lives at Reedsburg, being in her sixty-sixth year. Their children were: Bertha, Lizzie, Ida, Albert, Mate, Louie and Rudolph, Bertha and Mate being deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Sussner have had three children, namely :
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Herbert, who died in infancy; Leo, who was born August 9, 1901; and. Adaline, who was born February 28, 1903.
Mr. Sussner has always been identified with the republican party, but he has never been willing to serve in a political office, although well qualified in every way to do so satisfactorily. With his family he belongs to the Lutheran Church. Mr. Sussner is a man who stands well in his community, being a friendly neighbor and honest and upright in all his business transactions.
HENRY WESTEDT has been a resident of Sauk County for over half a century, and has given his capable attention to various lines of business, but chiefly to contracting and building. With headquarters at Logan- ville, he has extended his work as a contractor all over this section of the state, and besides much other high class work he erected two hotels at Loganville.
Mr. Westedt was born in Germany, May 10; 1846, son of Henry and Mary (Schultz) Westedt. His father was born in 1818 and his mother in 1822. The father died in Germany in 1852, when his son Henry was six years of age. The family continued to live in Germany for some years, where Henry Westedt grew up and received his education. On June 9, 1866, he landed in New York City with his mother and two sisters, Dora and Mary. They soon came on west and settled at Logan- ville in Sauk County, where his mother passed away in 1893. Mr. Wes- tedt's sister Dora married Christ Hasz, daughter of Peter Hasz, of Loganville. His sister Mary married William Schmidt.
Mr. Henry Westedt married Dora Schmedt, daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Retzmann) Schmedt. They have reared a splendid family of children named William, Otto E., Dorothea, Ida, Fredericka, Ewald H., Caroline and Ruth. The son William married Anna Schuette; Otto E. married Annie Lueders; Ida is the wife of Charles Bartenbach ; and Caroline is the wife of Edward Kohlmeyer. The other children are still unmarried. The daughter Fredericka is a graduate nurse. The son Otto enjoys a very successful practice as a physician and surgeon at Loganville. Ewald is now finishing his work in preparation for the degree Doctor of Dental Surgery.
MERTON LESTER PORTER. Two of the most honored and respected names in Fairfield Township are Porter and Webster. M. L. Porter, representing one of these families, has spent much of his active career as a substantial farmer in Fairfield Township. His wife was a member of the Webster family, which located here in very early pioneer times.
Mr. Porter was born in Fairfield Township December 17, 1867, a son of Harrison and Elizabeth Sophia (Thayer) Porter. His father was born in Massachusetts in September, 1823, and his mother in the same state on January 9, 1829. They married in Massachusetts and during the carly '50s came west and located in Fairfield Township of Sauk County. Harrison Porter acquired 105 acres of land and developed it to the uses of civilization. He spent his last days there and died May 27, 1892. His widow survived him until January 10, 1903. Politically he began voting as a republican and in later years was a prohibitionist ..
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Their children were: Harley, of Sauk County; Perry, of San Jose, California; Herman, who died in 1908, at the age of forty-four; and Merton L.
Merton L. Porter spent his boyhood on the old farm and indulged in the pastimes and occupations of the average Wisconsin farm boy. He attended the public schools of Fairfield Township. For three years he was employed in the butter tub factory at Brandon in Fond du Lac County, and then returning to Sauk County he located as a tenant farmer on the place he now owns. He began there in October, 1896, and in 1903 bought 160 acres of that farm, known as the old Webster estate. Under his management this land has become increasingly productive and its improvements have been brought up to a high standard. Mr. Porter is one of the leading dairy farmers of the county and has some excellent Holstein cattle. He is a stockholder in the Excelsior Co-operative Cream- ery Company of Baraboo. Politically he is a prohibitionist, is a director of the local school board and he and his family are members of the Wesleyan Methodist Church.
On December 17, 1890, Mr. Porter married Miss Octa Irene Webster. She was born on the farm where she now lives November 11, 1870, a daughter of Samuel H. and Rose (Loveland) Webster.
Samuel H. Webster was born at Fairfield, Vermont, in 1830. He came to Sauk County in 1855 and at that time bought the land now owned by Mr. and Mrs. Porter. He was a man of great energy, of fine char- acter, and became widely known throughout Sauk County. In his later years he left the farm and moved to a comfortable home on East Street in Baraboo, where he died in 1901. He was married in Sauk County. His wife had come to this section with her parents, Thomas Quimby and Roana (House)' Loveland. They were both natives of Trumbull County, Ohio. Thomas Q. Loveland died at Brookins, Brook County, South Dakota, in January, 1916, at the age of eighty-four. His wife passed away in the same state in 1900, at the age of seventy. Thomas Q. Love- land had seen active service in the Civil war, and Mrs. Porter's father was also a Union soldier. Mrs. Porter was the second of four children : Effie, Octa Irene, Myrtle E. and Herman J.
Into the home of Mr. and Mrs. Porter have come two daughters. Vivian, born in March, 1898, is a graduate of the local schools of Fair- field Township and is still at home. Lois, born November 3, 1902, gradu- ated from the common schools in 1916 and is now in the first year of the Baraboo High School.
JOSEPH MACKEY. There are few names more highly respected in Sauk County than that of Mackey. Especially has Reedsburg great reason to honor and perpetuate the memory of those of the name, for on every side are tangible evidences of this family's useful activities, of father and son, and proof of the civic pride and interest that inspired them. To recall the name to many of Reedsburg's most worthy citizens is to arouse testimonials of personal esteem as well as gratitude.
Joseph Mackey, with his two brothers, Safford and Ebenezer, founded the family in Sauk County, Wisconsin, in 1854. He was born in Scho- harie County, New York, in 1822, attended school there and studied
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law and before leaving his native state had served as district attorney in Schoharie County. The brothers settled at Reedsburg and Ebenezer, who was a physician, became eminent in his profession here, retiring later in life to a home at Catskill, Greene County, New York. Joseph Mackey engaged in the practice of law at Reedsburg and became widely known in his profession, and in many other directions was a man of con- sequence. He owned some of the early mills in Sauk County, brought the first thoroughbred horses into this section, was largely instrumental in getting the first railroad through Reedsburg and founded the first bank. It was Mr. Mackey and his family that made possible the erection of the first Presbyterian Church. Late in life he retired to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and there his death occurred in 1882.
Joseph Mackey was married in 1850 to Miss Cornelia Mackey, who was born in Schoharie County, New York, in 1831. His brother Safford married his wife's sister, Miss Harriet Mackey. To Joseph Mackey and wife two children were born: Franklin J. and Callie. The latter mar- ried Harry McIntosh, and they are residents of Chicago and have two children, Marjorie and Donald.
Franklin J. Mackey was born in Schoharie County, New York, in 1852. He was educated at Reedsburg and has never forgotten his old home, although his wide business interests have demanded his presence in other cities and even in another land. He has resided in Minneapolis and Chicago and has maintained a home at Leamington, England, for many years. He was married in Minneapolis to Miss Florence Day, who died in 1912, leaving no children. She was laid to rest in the beautiful ceme- tery at Reedsburg, to the beautifying of which sacred plot Mr. Mackey has devoted much attention. In his business undertakings in other sec- tions he has been a very successful man, but Reedsburg is the home of his mother and was so long a leading interest to his late father that it seems to give him pleasure to make such improvements as paving the streets and in many directions making the city comfortable and attrac- tive. It is said that he demonstrates, in one way or another, his love and respect for his father at all times and that any one, laborer or capi- talist, who ever proved trustworthy to his father finds in him a friend.
EVAN W. EVANS, of Spring Green, was one of the oldest residents of Sauk County at the time of his death, which occurred August 6, 1917. He bore an honored and honorable part in local affairs for many years, and his children have grown up here and have occupied prominent posi- tions in affairs, including his son, the widely known Judge Evans, now member of the Federal Judiciary.
The family for many generations lived in Wales, where Evan W. Evans was born June 13, 1841, the third in a family of fourteen children born to Evan and Margaret (Williams) Evans. Evan Evans came to America in 1841, bringing his wife and three children. They first located in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and in 1849 came west and settled at Spring Green, Wisconsin, where they were among the early pioneers. Evan Evans developed a farm and most of the land is now within the limits of Spring Green. Seven of the children are still living.
Evan W. Evans was reared on a farm three miles northeast of Spring
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Green. He acquired his education in the local schools and in 1861, early in the Civil war, he enlisted in the Sixth Wisconsin Battery. He saw three years of strenuous and active service. He was in the campaign by which the Mississippi Valley was won from the Confederacy and among other great battles participated in the siege of Island No. 10 in the Mississippi River, and afterwards in the siege of Vicksburg and the battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge.
After the war Mr. Evans returned to Sauk County and for two years taught in the country schools. In 1868 he bought his farm, and con- tinuously identified himself with its cultivation and with the profitable growing of staple crops of this section during the remainder of his life. In the meantime his fellow citizens sought him out for special honors and distinctions, and for four terms he represented them in the lower house of the State Legislature.
Evan W. Evans was married June 13, 1868, on his twenty-seventh birthday, to Mary Ellen Jones, of Spring Green. Her parents, Thomas D. and Mary (Lewis) Jones, were also of Welsh stock. Mrs. Evans was born at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, October 21, 1850, and her mother died there in 1853. Thomas D. Jones came west soon after the death of his wife and he had the distinction of erecting the first house in the Village of Spring Green. He followed farming for many years near that village.
Mr. and Mrs. Evans had seven children. Emma is now agent of the state school at Sparta, Wisconsin. George graduated with the degree civil engineer from the University of Wisconsin and is now practicing his profession at St. Louis, Missouri. Mary is a graduate of the Uni- versity of Wisconsin, with the degree B. A., in 1904, and now teaches history and mathematics in the public schools of Eau Claire. Evan A. has attained distinction as a lawyer and is now federal judge on the Seventh Circuit, including the states of Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana. His official headquarters are at Chicago, but Sauk County still regards him as one of its foremost citizens. Isaac is manager of the home farm and is a stock buyer at Spring Green. Lillian is a graduate in the classical department from the University of Wisconsin with the class of 1904 and is now teacher of English in the Kenosha High School. Alice was graduated A. B. from the University of Wisconsin in 1906 and is the wife of Henry J. Steeps, superintendent of schools at Rice Lake, Wisconsin.
WILLIAM F. WATERSTREET is one of the most expert cheese makers of the State of Wisconsin, noted for its products in that commodity. He has had long and thorough experience and is now manager of the Spring Green branch of Schmitt Brothers, wholesale cheese dealers. The Schmitt Brothers headquarters are at Blue River, Wisconsin. This firm buys immense quantities of Wisconsin cheese and ship the product all over the world. The Spring Green branch, of which Mr. Waterstreet is the manager, consists of a frame warehouse, two stories high with basement, 115 by 30 feet, and located near the railway station on the railway tracks. Through the Spring Green branch six cars of cheese are marketed and shipped out every week. This means about 250 cars
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per year, and as each car holds on the average about 20,000 pounds it can be seen that the business done through Spring Green is an enormous one. The price in recent years has averaged about 19 cents a pound.
Mr. Waterstreet was born at Kewaunce, Wisconsin, March 20, 1874. His father, Frederick ·Waterstreet, was born in Germany in 1844, and married in the old country Sophia Keuhl, who was born in Germany in 1848. They came to America in 1868 and located on a farm near Kewau- nee, Wisconsin. Frederick Waterstreet died there in 1904 and his widow is still living at Kewaunee.
The fourth in a family of eleven children, William F. Waterstreet grew up on his father's farm and received all his early education at Kewaunee. At the age of fifteen he left home and going to Morrison, Illinois, was employed as a farm hand three years. It was in 1893, at the age of nineteen, that he began his career as a cheese maker at Kewaunee. He acquired a practical knowledge of the business during the three years spent there and subsequently he was located two years at Cadott, Wisconsin, one year at Dundas, and another year at Big Hollow near Spring Green.
In 1900 Mr. Waterstreet was appointed instructor in cheese making. It was the firm of Crosby & Myers, well known wholesale cheese dealers at Chicago, who employed him in this capacity to look after the output of their 100 plants in Wisconsin. The duties of this position required almost constant travel. After two years the firm built the large ware- house at Spring Green, and Mr. Waterstreet was then employed to take active charge of the branch. In 1914 Crosby & Myers sold this station to Schmitt Brothers, but Mr. Waterstreet remained with the new firm. Besides handling the business of the branch storage and warehouse he personally supervises the operation of eight cheese factories in and around Spring Green.
Mr. Waterstreet has also acquired other business interests and is a stockholder in the Larsen Automatic Pump Company of Menominee, Wisconsin, and in the Madison Bond Company of Madison. For two years he served as a member of the village board of Spring Green. He is active in the German Lutheran Church.
On December 31, 1902, he married Miss Grace Flynn, of Spring Green. Mrs. Waterstreet was born at Mazomanie, Wisconsin, May 7, 1881, a daughter of Larry and Mary (Murphy) Flynn. Her father was born in Ireland in 1841 and after coming to America he enlisted in a New York regiment for service in the Civil war, served gallantly until captured and spent six months in the foul Libby Prison at Richmond before he was released. He afterwards came to Wisconsin and for many years was active in the railway service but is now living retired at Spring Green. His wife, Mary Murphy, was born in Ireland in 1848. Mr. and Mrs. Waterstreet have two children: Mary Valerian, born October 20, 1903; and Neal William, born October 18, 1907.
LIEUT .- GOV. EDWARD F. DITHMAR. Sauk County has sent a number of men from its boundaries into the larger service of the state, and none has reflected more credit upon this constituency than the present
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lieutenant governor Mr. Dithmar, a Baraboo lawyer and a native of Reedsburg.
Mr. Dithmar is serving his second term as lieutenant governor. He was first elected in the campaign of 1914. His service in the office was of exceptional merit, especially because of the dignity and impartiality with which he presided over the state house during the extraordinarily long session of 1915. In the primaries of 1916 his choice by the repub- licans as lieutenant governor was approved by an overwhelming vote, and he went into office a second time with the substantial endorsement of the people.
Mr. Dithmar was born in Reedsburg January 31, 1873, of German parents, Rudolph E. and Fredericka (Dargel) Dithmar. His parents were both born in Germany. His mother came to this country with her parents in 1865. His father was a druggist and physician and died at Reedsburg August 4, 1873. The widowed mother is still living in Reeds- burg. There were just two children, and the oldest son, J. T. Dithmar, is assistant attorney general at Madison.
Lieutenant Governor Dithmar was educated in the German Lutheran School and the high school at Reedsburg, and in 1890 entered the Uni- versity of Wisconsin, graduating with the class of 1894. He had already had some public experience, having been a inessenger in the general assembly during the session of 1889. In 1894, at the age of twenty-one and fresh from college, he was elected clerk of the circuit court for Sauk County and re-elected in the campaigns of 1896 and 1898, serving creditably for six years. While circuit clerk he was diligently pursuing the study of law and was admitted to the bar in 1899. Since 1901 he has been in active practice at Baraboo.
Mr. Dithmar served four years as chairman of the Sauk County Republican Committee, four years as member of the Republican State Central Committee and in 1910 was vice chairman of that committee. He was secretary of the Republican State Central Committee from the campaign of 1912 for two years.
Governor Dithmar married Miss Emily Upham, daughter of Pro- fessor A. A. Upham, of the Whitewater Normal School. They have two sons, Edward Upham Dithmar and John Upham Dithmar.
FRED J. HOLTZ. In contemplating the careers of those who have attained more than ordinary success in the pursuits of life, one is inter- ested to know just what qualities have gone into the making up of such lives. In almost every case it is found that the foundations of the for- tunes of today have been laid by industry, close economy and strict integrity, and particularly is this true in the career of Fred J. Holtz, who is now the owner of one of the finely cultivated farms of Reedsburg Township and a citizen of worth and standing in his community. Mr. Holtz has been a resident of Sauk County for thirty-seven years and during this time has been identified with the agricultural interests of this rich region, so that his experience has been extensive and he has had ample time to familiarize himself with conditions existing here as to climate and methods.
Mr. Holtz was born in Germany, April 17. 1876, and is a son of
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Adolph and Minnie Holtz. In his native land the father was a farmer in a small way, but did not make the success that he desired, so in 1880 brought his family to the United States and settled in Sauk County. Four years later he bought a traet of twenty acres in the vicinity of Ableman, to which he subsequently added thirty-two acres by purchase, and put the entire tract under cultivation. In 1893 he disposed of this property and removed to Reedsburg Township, where he bought the 120-acre property that is now being operated by his son. Here he passed the remainder of his life in the industrious tilling of the soil, and died in 1901, at-the age of fifty-one years. Mr. Holtz was one of the substantial men of his community, a hard-worker, possessed of honorable business methods and good judgment, and respected by his fellow-citizens. He voted the republican ticket at eleetions and was a member of the Lutheran Church, to which Mrs. Holtz, who is sixty-one years of age, and resides with her son, also belongs. They had two children : Fred J. and Augusta.
Fred J. Holtz was four years of age when brought to the United States by his parents, and his education was here secured in the public school at Ableman. He was brought up to habits of honesty and indus- try, and carefully trained by his father in the work which must be done by the successful farmer, and his tuition in this direetion was secured in the school of hard work and practical experience. From the outset of his career he has been devoted to farming, and his present 120 acres, the home traet, shows every evidence of the presence of ability and business judgment, its buildings being of modern character and its im- provements in other directions of the best. In addition to general farm- ing, Mr. Holtz has carried on stockraising to some extent and at this time has about twenty head of high grade Holstein cattle. Politieally a republican, Mr. Holtz has not been an office seeker, but has discharged his eivie duties in a publie spirited way, and as a friend of education has served as a member of the board of sehool directors. He belongs to the Lutheran Church and has liberally supported its movements.
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