USA > Wisconsin > Marathon County > History of Marathon County, Wisconsin and representative citizens > Part 60
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In 1872 Mr. Miller married Anna M. Lemke, who died January 27, 1911, the mother of seven children, six of whom survive: Martha, who lives at home; Richard, who is a farmer in Marathon county, married Miss Emma Juedes; Laura C., who is the wife of Adam Walslegel of Wausau ; Paul, who is a farmer in this county; Lucy, who is the wife of Roy C. Marsh, of Wausau; Ada, who is a stenographer, is engaged in this professional work at the Northern Hospital at Oshkosh : and George, who died in infancy. Mr. Miller has long been fraternally identified with the Odd Fellows and the E. F. U.
HON. NICHOLAS SCHMIDT, a member of the General Assembly of the State of Wisconsin, in 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911 and 1912, in which public body he gave honorable and efficient service, has long been one of the representative men of Marathon City, a promoter of many of its most successful enterprises and interested in many of its
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most important concerns. He was born in a Rhine Province, Germany, November 2, 1860, and is a son of Nicholas and Margaret Schmidt.
When twenty years of age, Nicholas Schmidt came alone to the United States leaving behind his parents and four sisters, the youngest of whom later came to this country also and lived in Minnesota. In Germany Mr. Schmidt had learned the trade of locksmith and machinist and when he found his first home in America, at Westpoint, Nebr., he worked there for six months. He had never before been separated from his people and there are hundreds who read this record who will sympathize with his homesickness that induced him to start on the long return journey to his native land. He had friends in Chicago and when he reached them they succeeded in overcoming his nostalgia and he gave up his idea of going back to Germany and continued to work at his trade in that city until 1887. He then met with an accident that gave him a broken shoulder blade and this precluded all expectation of his ever being able to resume his trade work. He then embarked in a flour, feed, wood and coal business at Chicago, afterward went into the real estate business there which he continued until 1902, in which year he bought the Marathon City Brewery, at Marathon City, Wis., and came to this place and assumed control in September of that year. In 1905 he made it a stock company and it became the Marathon City Brewing Company, Mr. Schmidt being president, treasurer and manager until December 31, 1910, when, on account of ill health, he gave up the management of the business. During this time he had become interested in other enter- prises, organizing the State Bank of Marathon City, of which he was elected first president and continued at the head of that institution until December, 1911. He was one of the main organizers of the Marathon City Telephone Company and was its first president, and also organ- ized the Marathon Excelsior Manufacturing Company. Although some- what retired from business he retains his stock in all the concerns with which he was formerly actively identified.
Mr. Schmidt was married at Chicago, Ill., to Miss Mary Friedl, who died there, the mother of four children: Frederick M., a physician and surgeon, at Eagle, Wis .; Charles N., who is engaged in the brewery business at Chicago; Thomas E., who is a member of the class of 1914 in the medical department of the Missouri University at St. Louis; and Arthur, who died at Marathon City, when aged eleven years. On May 2, 1899, Mr. Schmidt married Miss Berta Gunjen, who was born in Ger- many, and they enjoyed some months of travel afterward in Europe.
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They are members of St. Mary's Catholic church at Marathon City. He has been a lifelong Democrat and has frequently served in local offices and for six years was a member of the village board. He is identified with the Catholic Order of Foresters, the Germania, and the National Union.
JOHN KING, clerk of Marathon county and a factor in Republican politics in Wisconsin, a member of the Republican State Central Com- mittee of the state, is a native of Pennsylvania, born at Pittsburgh, June 24, 1877. His parents were Dominick and Elizabeth (Smith) King. Dominick King was born in Germany and after coming to the United States in 1848 spent ten years as a boatman on the Mississippi river and the Great Lakes. In the fall of 1877 he settled in the town of Cassel, Marathon county, where he opened up a tract of 200 acres, cleared this land mostly himself and continued to reside on it until the time of his death, July 17, 1911, when aged nearly eighty-one years. At Pittsburgh he married Elizabeth Smith, who was born in Alsace Loraine, and as she lost her mother early in life, relatives took care of her and they came to Pittsburgh in her childhood and there she was reared. Her death occurred in Marathon county, October 23, 1909, in her seventy-first year. They were parents of the following children: Joseph, who died September 12, 1911; Dominick; Anton; Elizabeth, who is the wife of Simon Bauer; Martha, who is the wife of Emil Lang; Minnie, who is the wife of George Burger: Charles; Conrad; Victoria, who is the wife of William Welsh, all of whom are engaged in farming in Marathon county ; and John, who is the youngest born.
John King completed his education in the State Normal School at Stevens Point, after which he taught school for eight years, retiring from educational work when elected to the office of county clerk, in 1904, which he has continued to fill ever since. He has always been interested in public affairs and has so enjoyed public confidence that from his twenty-first year, although not continuously, he has filled such offices as township clerk, school district clerk and justice of the peace in his home town. In 1903 he came to Wausau and here, as elsewhere, he has made his stable qualities of citizenship felt.
On August 26, 1908, Mr. King was married to Miss Winnie McHugh, of the town of Emmett, a daughter of Edward and Catherine (Powers) McHugh, the father a native of Scotland and the mother of Ireland. Mr. and Mrs. King have two sons: Arthur J. and Earl T. They are
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members of St. James Catholic church. He is identified fraternally with the E. F. U., an organization which claims a wide membership in this section.
RICHARD BAUMANN, hardware merchant and president of the R. Baumann Hardware Company of Wausau, has lived in this place for many years, coming in 1864 and being now the oldest hardware man in the city in point of years in the trade. He was born in Germany, Sep- tember 24, 1839, and is a son of Henry and Wilhelmina Baumann.
Richard Baumann remained in Germany until he was nineteen years of age, attending school and also learning the tinsmith trade. After reaching the United States he made his way to Milwaukee in 1859 and there worked as a tinsmith. It was through the encouragement of Jacob Paff that he came to Wausau, Mr. Paff at that time operating a general store, and for two years Mr. Baumann continued in the employ of Mr. Paff and then started a tin shop of his own. As trade increased he expanded his business so that it gradually included a full line of hard- ware and Mr. Baumann keeps abreast with the times in his line, his stock including all the thoroughly proved goods as well as the later improve- ments and the newly invented ones. He has much that is interesting to tell concerning the changes that have come about not only in his own line of trade but in other directions since he embarked in the business some forty-six years ago.
In 1864, just prior to leaving Milwaukee for Wausau, Mr. Baumann was married to Miss Emma Lattermann, who was also born in Ger- many, and five children were born to them, the two survivors being: Anna, a widow (Mrs. Dobring), residing at Wausau; and Agnes, who is the wife of Henry J. Seim. Mrs. Emma Baumann died April 10, 1913. When Mr. Baumann went into business he began on Third street, on the site of his early store in 1880 erecting his handsome Baumann Building. In 1898 he erected the handsome brick residence that he subsequently sold to his son-in-law, Henry J. Seim. Mr. Baumann is a member of the Evangelical church.
JOHN GEORGE SUTTER, superintendent of the hub factory which belongs to the Athens Implement Company, has many additional inter- ests here and is one of the leading citizens. He was born in Germany. April 8, 1850, and was brought to America and to Wisconsin in child- hood by his parents, John George and Elizabeth (Kurtz) Sutter. The
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parents of Mr. Sutter after coming to the United States always lived in Wisconsin but in different counties, settling first in Waukesha county. He was a farmer until death in middle age. His widow some years later married Frederick Snyder and both are now deceased. To this first marriage two children were born: John George and Barbara, the latter of whom is the widow of Carl Knauer. To the second marriage a daugh- ter was born, Bertha, who became the wife of William Bridung.
John George Sutter grew up on the home farm and attended the public schools. When eighteen years old he went to work in the pine woods and more or less has worked in wood all his life. He was one of the organizers of the Athens Implement Company and has been super- intendent of the hub factory since it started and is one of the stockhold- ers. He is a stockholder also in the Athens Bank, the Athens Prniting Company and the Athens Telephone Company, owns two residences at Athens and ten acres adjoining.
In 1884 Mr. Sutter was married to Mary Wintringer, who was born in Germany, a step-daughter of Peter and Mary Neuens. Mrs. Sutter had one brother and two sisters, Paul, who is deceased, and Catherine and Anna, and four half-brothers: John, deceased, John Peter, Peter and Theodore. Mr. and Mrs. Sutter have four children: George, Andrew, Clarence and Elizabeth. The family belong to the Catholic church. In politics Mr. Sutter is a Democrat.
J. HENRY JOHANNES, general manager and secretary of The Jacob Mortenson Lumber Company, of Wausau, Wis., with which he has been continuously identified for the past nineteen years, was born in Germany, September 24, 1866, received his primary education there and was about eighteen years of age when he came to America.
On April 24, 1884, Mr. Johannes reached Merrill, Wis., and went to work in a factory there where he remained until an accident, on August 23, 1888, terminated his factory life and resulted in the loss of the fin- gers of his left hand. While this was indeed a calamity, it definitely turned his thought and ambitions in a different direction and opened up, ultimately, the path in which he has been very successful. In order to better equip himself mentally, Mr. Johannes attended the Merrill High School for two years and afterward took a full course in the Wausau Business College and thus was well qualified when he accepted the posi- tion of bookkeeper in a bank at Merrill. In 1892 he became bookkeeper for the Wisconsin Valley Land Company and was interested in real
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estate until 1894 at Wausau and in September of that year became book- keeper for The Jacob Mortenson Lumber Company. In 1899 he was made sales manager for the firm, in 1901 became manager and assistant treasurer and since 1912 has been general manager and secretary.
In 1894 Mr. Johannes was married to Miss Mollie Beilke, who is a daughter of Louis and Caroline Beilke. The parents of Mrs. Johannes were pioneers of this city and the father died when she was still young. Her mother had passed more than fifty-one years here when her death occurred on July 24, 1912. Mr. and Mrs. Johannes have four children : Raymond, Lovina, Myrtle and Elnora.
Mr. Johannes served as a member of the school board for seven years, succeeding Mr. Thalheim, deceased. He is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church.
WILLIAM A. FRICKE, M. D., who is vice president and general manager of the Great Northern Life Insurance Company of Wausau, Wis., has been prominently identified with insurance in this and other states, for many years of an exceptionally busy life. He was born May 15, 1857, in the city of New York, and his collegiate training prepared him for the professions of both law and medicine.
Dr. Fricke was a candidate for commissioner of insurance on the Republican ticket in the state of Wisconsin, in 1894. and was elected to succeed Commissioner Root in January, 1895, and in the following year was reelected. He was the first commissioner to adopt the Gain and Loss Exhibit, in 1895, and published such Exhibit for that year and for each year while in office, in the Wisconsin Reports of all companies transact- ing business in that state. He was appointed by the legislature of Wis- consin, in 1895, chairman of the commission to revise the insurance laws of the state. In this revision appeared the first demand for an annual apportionment and accounting of deferred dividend accumulations. In October, 1898. a few months before the conclusion of his term of office as insurance commissioner, he resigned to accept the New York metro- politan agency of the Union Central Life Insurance Company of Cin- cinnati. As a result of the National Convention of Insurance Commis- sioners held in Milwaukee, in September, 1898, which was arranged by, and of which he was vice president. Dr. Fricke, early in 1899, issued "Insurance : a Text-book," being a compilation of the essays delivered at the convention. He has also prepared and delivered many addresses on life insurance and supervision. All of these are of signal value, cov-
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erring special points, and particular mention may be made of : "The Limi- tations of Assessment Life Insurance," "There is but One System of Life Insurance," "The Discretionary Powers of an Insurance Commis- sioner," and "Success in the Life Insurance Field." In 1902 he wrote an extensive treatise on "The Law of Distribution of Surplus Life Insur- ance Companies," which was widely discussed. At the National Con- vention of Insurance Commissioners in 1899, he was elected an honorary member. Dr. Fricke was president of the Wisconsin Society of New York, 1902-1903. In 1905 he resigned the New York general agency of the Union Central Life, and was engaged as counsel before the Wiscon- sin Legislative Insurance Committee in 1906 and 1907, and in 1909 was elected to the office mentioned in the opening paragraph. Dr. Fricke is also vice president and general manager of the Employers' Mutual Lia- bility Insurance Company of Wisconsin. Additionally he is a Fellow of the American Institute of Actuaries, and is also a Fellow of the American Association of Public Accountants.
MATTHEW J. BERRES, a representative man of the town of Rib Falls, who has served in the office of town clerk for the past thirteen years, is a general farmer owning land, lying in section 19, four and one-half miles north of Edgar, Wis. He was born at Kewaskum, Wash- ington county, Wis., November 20, 1863, and is a son of John and Cath- erine (Rodermund) Berres.
John Berres was born in Germany and was seventeen years old when he accompanied his parents in 1848, to America. They were very early settlers in Washington county, Wis., and located near the present little village of St. Michaels, where they found a home, in a vast uncut timber tract. Some years later he married Catherine Rodermund, also born in Germany, whose parents, Paul and Barbara (Miller) Rodermund, had emigrated in 1847 and had settled in Washington county, Wis. In the spring of 1880 they emigrated to Marathon county and located on the land in the town of Rib Falls, now owned by Matthew J. Berres, and in order to reach it had to clear a path through the dense underbrush. He was a hard-working man, spending his time clearing his land and afterward cultivating it, thus providing for his family, contributing to the support of the Catholic church, and giving help to his neighbors as they settled about him. When election day came around he went to the polls and voted the Democratic ticket, believing his duty as a citizen was thus performed, but otherwise he bothered very little about politics.
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His death occurred at Wausau, when aged sixty-nine years. His wife died two years later, and they were interred in the Trinity Catholic cem- etery at Poniatowski. They were parents of five sons and four daughters, two of the daughters and one of the sons being now deceased.
Matthew J. Berres attended the country schools in boyhood and later the West Bend school and at the age of sixteen he came with his parents to Marathon county. For some years afterward he worked in mills on the river and in logging camps and for two years was a clerk in a store after which he spent one year in the state of Washington. Returning to Marathon county in 1890 he was married to Miss Agnes Hettig, who was born in Marathon county, a daughter of Michael Hettig, a former resident of Marathon City. After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Berres located at Marshfield, Wis., where he followed the carpenter trade for three years. When the panic of 1893 caused a widespread business depression he returned to the old homestead which he had previously bought and has resided here ever since. He now has sixty acres of his land cleared and pays considerable attention to high grade Holstein cattle for dairy purposes. He has seen many changes during his lifetime in this sec- tion and remembers when there were no roads leading through the woods around this place and the nearest point where purchases could be made was miles away. As a carpenter and contractor Mr. Berres has built many of the most substantial buildings at Poniatowski and in the vicinity.
Mr. and Mrs. Berres have the following children : Matilda, Roman T., Carrie, Minnie, Matthew C., Joseph N., George Philip, Eugene Peter, Elmer Charles and Edward Michael, all born in Marathon county except the first two, whe were born at Marshfield. The two eldest daughters are teachers. The family belongs to Trinity Catholic church at Poniatok- ski. He has served in the offices of justice of the peace, school district clerk and town clerk.
HON. CLYDE L. WARREN, judge of the Probate Court of Mara- thon county, came first to Wausau in 1899, at that time entering upon the practice of law, and his entire professional career, both at the bar and on the bench, has been of such a character as to make those with whom he has been thus associated pay him freely the tribute that he has earned so honor- ably. He was born at Green Bay, Wis., in 1871, and is a son of Albert and Vesta O. (Beach) Warren.
Albert Warren was born in Ross county, O., and when he came first to Wisconsin, about 1864, settled at Mayville, but has been a resident of Green
HON. CLYDE L. WARREN
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Bay for the past forty years. He married Vesta O. Beach, who was born in Ashtabula county, Ohio, and four sons were born to them : Clyde L .; A. M., who with his next younger brother, F. B., lives at Los Angeles, Cal .; and E. B., who is an attorney and also is engaged in the insurance business at Green Bay.
Clyde L. Warren was educated in the public schools and the university of Wisconsin, graduating from this institution in the class of 1895 and in 1897 graduating in the department of law from Northwestern University. He then engaged in an individual law practice at Wausau for two years and then entered into partnership with Mr. Manson, under the style of Man- son & Warren. For two years he was assistant district attorney, and in the spring of 1909 was elected county judge, assuming the duties of the office on January 1, 1910. Judge Warren is a valued member of the Marathon County Bar Association and of the Criminology Association. In his political attitude is found those tendencies which make many men waver in party allegiance, feeling that the time has come for personalities to be placed before party policies.
Judge Warren was married October 22, 1901, to Miss Mabel E. Carr. daughter of William Carr, of Sioux Falls, S. Dak. Three sons and one daughter have been born to them: Edgar, Harold, Seiger, and Ada. While in college Judge Warren was a member of the Delta Upsilon fraternity and still preserves this connection. He belongs also to the Masons and the Odd Fellows and additionally the Wausau Country Club.
HERMAN B. ESSELMAN, secretary, treasurer and manager of the Athens Implement and Manufacturing Company, was born in Washi- ington county, Wis., in January, 1871, and is a son of Clemens and Anna (Bushman) Esselman. The parents of Mr. Esselman were born, reared and married in Germany. After they came to the United States and settled in Wisconsin, the father followed farming during his active years. His widow survives him and lives at Marshfield. They had the following children : Sophia, who is the widow of Joseph Leonard ; Clemens ; . Anna, who is the wife of Joseph McKim; Herman B.,; Dena, who is the wife of Joseph Herbst: Josephine; Mary: Augusta; Amelia, who is the wife of George Claridge ; and Louis.
At the age of nine years Herman B. Esselman was considered old enough to put aside his school books and begin to help on the home farm and he worked for his father at farming and in the woods and logging and teaming until he was twenty-one years of age. Wishing to see
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something of other parts of the country, Mr. Esselman then went to Minnesota and while there was in a general store business until 1894, when he returned to Wisconsin and for one year was in the hotel busi- ness at Loyal in Clark county. Later he bought a blacksmith shop and taught himself the trade and conducted the shop for three and one- half years, when he bought a hardware store. Six months later, after selling the store, he came to Athens, in the spring of 1901, and here bought a blacksmith and wagon shop and operated the same for three years. In 1904 the Athens Implement and Manufacturing Company was organized for the sale of farm implements and the manufacturing of wagon hubs and all kinds of turned wood. Since July, 1905, Mr. Essel- man has been manager, secretary and treasurer. It is one of the pros- pering enterprises of this section, largely owing to Mr. Esselman's energy and good judgment. In 1912 the above concern added a department for the sale of automobiles and operation of an up-to-date garage. Mr. Esselman is a stockholder in the Bank of Athens and the Athens Tele- phone Company, and, in partnership with George A. Kouetzer is inter- ested in lands and also owns personally other lands.
On February 13, 1898, Mr. Esselman was married to Miss Emma Sala, who was born at Kewaskum, Wis., a daughter of Adam and Cather- ine (Filber) Sala, the former of whom was a millwright and carpenter by trade. Mrs. Esselman has the following brothers and sisters: Will- iam ; Elizabeth, wife of John Brasch : and Charles, Jacob, Frederick, Min- nie and Linda. Mr. and Mrs. Esselman have three children: Herman, Bernard and Marcella. The family belongs to the Roman Catholic church. Mr. Esselman is a member of the Catholic Order of Foresters and of the Eagles. He is a Republican in politics and for two years, 1902-4, served very efficiently in the office of marshal of Athens, but otherwise has accepted no public office.
HON. JOHN F. LAMONT, who twice served in the office of mayor of Wausau, Wisconsin, and is known all over the state for his public interest and his value in constructive citizenship, standing at the head of educational progress and exerting unmeasured influence in this direc- tion, was born at Mill Center, Brown county, Wisconsin, and is a son of Angus and Almira Lamont. Angus Lamont was born in Prince Edward's Island and was a pioneer lumberman in Wisconsin. His wife was a native of New York. In 1874 they moved to Colby, Wis., and there Angus Lamont died October 25, 1910, his widow yet surviving.
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John F. Lamont was graduated from the Unity High School in 1882 and from then until 1884, when he entered the University of Wiscon- sin, he taught school. Graduating from that institution in 1888 he then turned his attention to business and engaged in the lumber industry from 1888 until 1894, at Colby, in the meanwhile becoming widely known and tendered many political offices. In the latter year he was a member of the county board of supervisors of Marathon county and was also elected county superintendent of schools. Immediately he set about the organization of a training school for teachers, the first county organ- ization of its kind in the United States. He organized also the Marathon County School of Agriculture and Domestic Economy ; was state presi- dent of the State Association of County Superintendents of Schools; was chairman of the State Board of Visitors to River Falls Normal School; was treasurer of the State Teachers' Association ; state manager for Wisconsin for the National Educational Association, and during his service of ten years and six months as county superintendent, the schools of Marathon county became rated as the best in Wisconsin. From 1894 until 1905 Mr. Lamont was thus continuously engaged in educational work along the line of school extension but in that year he retired and again turned his attention to a business life, entering into the real estate, loan and insurance business, in which he continues, and until 1909 he was the junior member of the firm of Kretlow & Lamont. He was not permitted long, however, to withdraw from the public eye, in 1906 becom- ing secretary of Wausau's Fire and Police Commission; in 1908 being first elected mayor of Wausau and reelected in 1910, and in 1911 became secretary of the Marathon County Agricultural Society. During 1910 and 1911 Mr. Lamont delivered many lectures in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin, for the Wisconsin Advancement Association in the interests of Upper Wisconsin.
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