History of Marathon County, Wisconsin and representative citizens, Part 69

Author: Marchetti, Louis. cn
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago : Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1042

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Dr. Lemke was married in 1902 to Miss Emma Hennig, of Dodge county, Wis., and they have three children: Irma, Leslie and Marie. He is secretary and treasurer of the Marathon County Dental Society and belongs to the Wausau Commercial Club.

AUGUST H. SCHLUETER, one of the leading citizens of the town of Rib Falls, serving in his fourth term as town treasurer, is proprietor of a cheese factory and is doing a fine business in his establishment which is equipped with all modern appliances. It is situated in the southwest corner of the west half of the northwest quarter of section 13 and his plant includes one-half acre of land. He was born May 25, 1878, in the town of Main, Marathon county, Wis., and is a son of William and Wil- helmina (Lueck) Schlueter.

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William Schlueter was born in Germany and when young accompa- nied his parents to Wisconsin and here his life was passed, his death occurring when he was comparatively yet a young man. He married Wilhelmina Lueck, who was also born in Germany, and they had four children : Bertha, Albert, William and August. Mrs. Schlueter remained a widow for a time and then married Carl Griebenow, who is now deceased. One daughter, Emma, was born to that marriage. Mrs. Griebenow is a resident of the town of Main and is now aged seventy years. She is very highly esteemed and is a member of St. John's Luth- eran church. The old homestead on which she lives with her son Will- iam, contains eighty acres, fifty-five of which have been cleared.

August Schlueter attended the public schools in boyhood and then worked at the carpenter trade until 1904, when he started into the busi- ness of cheese manufacturing. He bought his plant of A. Heise, practi- cally a new establishment as Mr. Heise had been operating it but two months. Mr. Schlueter has carried on the business since then with but one helper, his annual output being butter and cheese, for all of which he has ready customers. In 1905 Mr. Schlueter attended the trade school at Madison and was graduated there with his diploma as a qualified cheese maker and dairyman, and in 1906 received a dairy certificate from the Dairy School at Madison. He begins business about the middle of March and continues without interruption until December, generally closing down on the middle of the month. After his marriage he lived for one year on his father-in-law's farm, then moved for a year to the Herman Schlueter farm, returned then to the former place, again went back to the Schlueter farm and in the meanwhile made his arrange- ments concerning his present enterprise and came here. As he is a skilled carpenter he was able to put up his own substantial buildings and has everything very comfortable and convenient around his place. It lies five miles north and one mile west of Marathon City.

In October, 1904, Mr. Schlueter was married to Miss Anna Schulz a daughter of Fred and Emily Schulz, both now deceased, and they have had three children: Gilbert, who died when ten weeks old; and Clyde and Irene. In politics he is a Democrat and for the past five years has been treasurer of District No. I, Rib Falls. With his family he belongs to Emanuel Lutheran church, of which he is secretary.

ISAIE A. LA CERTE, who has been a resident of Wausau, Wis., since 1878, is the leading photographer in this city, his studio being

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located at No. 125 Clinton street, and is also financially and officially interested in many other business lines here. He was born north of Lake St. Peter's, in Canada, December II, 1848, and is a son of Alex- ander and Mary (Caron) La Certe, both of whom were born and reared in Alsace-Lorraine, when it was yet a possession of France.

Until the age of sixteen years Isaie A. La Certe remained in Canada and there attended school. When he started out from home a possi- ble love of adventure led him to go to the West and he spent two and one-half years in California. In 1878 he came from there to Wausau and here worked for several years at the carpenter trade during the summer seasons and in a logging camp in the northern woods during the winters. It was in 1887 that he started into the photographic busi- ness, in which he has been so very successful, although not more so than in other avenues of business, his business capacity and foresight being evidenced in numerous ways. He carries a full line of photographic supplies and handles the Eastman kodak goods in connection with his studio work. He was one of the first to engage in the automobile busi- ness here, which he continued for three years and also for a number of years dealt in bicycles and supplies. He is a stockholder in the Wausau Fixture and Furniture Manufacturing Company; in the National Ger- man-American Bank ; in the Wausau Ice & Fuel Company, and in the Wausau Building, Loan and Investment Association, of which he has twice served as manager and for several years has been a director, has been district manager for the Security Mutual Life Insurance Co., for the state of Wisconsin as long as the company has done business in this state; and is also a director of the Cash Trading Company, and of the Wausau Comercial Club. To all of these enterprises he gives close at- tention and is justly considered a representative business man of this section.

At Wausau, in 1884, Mr. La Certe was married to Miss Celina Preg- ent, who was born in Canada, and eight of their nine children are liv- ing: Will, Victoria, Urben, Digneur, Clarence, Norman, Larence and Docilla. Mr. La Certe and family are members of the Roman Catholic church. His fraternal connections include membership with the Knights of Columbus, the Catholic Order of Foresters and the Catholic Knights of Wisconsin.

CARL N. DEHLINGER, general blacksmith and carriage repairer, a specialist in horseshoeing and an inventor of more than ordinary

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merit, has been a resident of Wausau for the past eleven years. He was born on a farm in the town of Sharon, Portage county, Wis., January 7, 1877, and is a. son of Nicholas and Regina (Meyer) Dehlinger.

Carl N. Dehlinger was reared on the home farm but his tastes and talents soon showed that nature had intended him for a mechanic and as soon as his father could spare him he went to Nelsonville, Wis., and there worked in a blacksmith shop for six months and for three months more at Stevens Point. He then went back to the home farm and ran a blacksmith shop there for three years and then came first to Wausau. One year later he accepted a shop position at Merrill and worked there for seven months, afterward going to Rockford, Ill., where he worked at his trade six months longer and then came back to Wausau, where for one year he was in the employ of Herman Hartwig, whom he bought out in September, 1909. Being a skillful workman and very obliging Mr. Dehlinger enjoys about as much patronage as he can handle but he finds time also to perfect many inventions, the ideas for which come to him while working at his forge. He has secured patents for the follow- ing useful articles : a stone picker and a carpet stretcher which may also be utilized for stretching wire for fences, and others, equally prac- tical.

Dr. Dehlinger was married first to Miss Rosie Kumba, who died in 1904, his second marriage being to Miss Ida Hess. They have three children: Ruth, Arthur and Lucile. Mr. Dehlenger is a member of St. James' Catholic church and belongs to St. Joseph's Society and also to the fraternal order of Owls.

H. S. WAHL, M. D., physician and surgeon at Stratford, Wis., and a director of the Stratford State Bank, may almost be called a pioneer of this place as he came in 1895, when it was but a hamlet. He was born in Ontario, Canada, August 19, 1860, and is a son of Frederick and Catherine Wahl, old residents of County Perth, Canada.

H. S. Wahl was the first of his parents' four children and attended school in his native place through boyhood and youth. After some pre- liminary medical reading he entered the medical department of the Northwestern University, at Chicago, Ill., and was graduated in the class of 1884. For two years afterward he engaged in medical practice at Minnesota City, Minn., and then went to Winona, where he continued until 1895, when he came to Stratford. The village proper at that time did not seem a very encouraging field as the total population did not

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exceed 200 but there was a large adjacent territory, although but sparsely settled. For a number of years Dr. Wahl had a hard practice, covering miles of unbroken prairie day after day in his merciful ministrations to the sick and injured. Although in later years he has somewhat circum- scribed the area of his practice, yet the old families ten miles distant north, fifteen east, six south and nine west still make such appealing calls that he retains them on his list of patients that receive personal services. Dr. Wahl is serving as health officer, is examining physician for all the standard insurance companies and is a valued member of the county and state and the American Medical Association. He is a charter member as well as a director of the Stratford State Bank, is interested also in the Albandale State Bank and in the Marathon County and Stratford Telephone Company.

Dr. Wahl was married in Minnesota to Miss Clara Waterman, a very accomplished lady, a teacher in the High School. At death she left one son, Harry Roswell, who is a prominent physician of Cleveland, O., and is also connected with the research department of the Western Reserve Medical College and assistant professor of pathology. His scientific attainments have secured him several degrees. Dr. Wahl was married (second) to Miss Emma Eirman, of Milwaukee, Wis. He is a Republi- can in his political views.

GEORGE A. STELTZ, who is serving in his fifth year in the office of city assessor of Wausau, Wis., has been identified with the interests of this city for the past thirty-three years and is a factor both in politi- cal and business life. He was born at Wauwatosa, Wis., October 9, 1860, and is a son of Conrad and Margaret (Smith) Steltz. Conrad Steltz followed the trade of cooper. Both he and wife died at Beaver Dam, Wis., in October, 1900, he surviving his wife but three weeks. He served as a soldier in the Civil War.

George A. Steltz was about four years old when the family moved from near Milwaukee to Beaver Dam, where the father enlisted in the Federal Army, and there he was reared and attended school. Until the age of sixteen years he worked on a farm near Beaver Dam and then came to Wausau, December 1, 1879, and from 1879 until 1884 worked at lumbering in the woods. In the latter year he embarked in the liquor business, but one year afterward, in 1885, was employed by the Halley People to help set up the pump for the city waterworks, completing that contract by Thanksgiving of that year. Mr. Steltz then became

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cooper and millwright in the flour mill of H. E. McEachon, with whom he continued for twenty-three years. His election as city assessor caused him to retire from the mill and ever since official duties have largely occupied his time. He is held in very high regard in the Second Ward of the city, of which he has been alderman for thirteen years.

On September 14, 1885, Mr. Steltz was married to Miss Matilda Albrecht, of Wausau, and two children were born to them: Clara, who died in 1888 and Fred. The latter was born in February, 1889, and is a lineman with the Wausau Telephone Company. Mr. Steltz is identi- fied with Lodge No. 215, Odd Fellows and to Encampment, No. 79; to Lodge No. 1464, Modern Woodmen of America ; Lodge No. 3, Beavers; and the Eagles.

CHESTER A. GLASS, president of the Glass Fruit Company, of Wausau, Wis., with quarters at No. I Scott street, shippers and handlers of fruit, produce and flour, has been in the produce and commission busi- ness for the past ten years and, in fact, has been connected with this line ever since the end of his school days. He was born at Green Bay, Wis., January 24, 1888.

As a youth Chester A. Glass became an employe of the Thomas Pro- duce Co., a general commission, fruit and produce house at Green Bay and continued with that firm in various capacities until 1909, when the firm sent him to Wausau as manager of their branch house in this city. In 1911 the Glass Fruit Company was organized and incorporated with Chester A. Glass as president; Louis Trentel as vice president, and James E. Murray as secretary and treasurer, with a capitalization of $15,000, this firm succeeding the Thomas Produce Co., at Wausau, but not the old house at Green Bay. The Glass Fruit Company has under contemplation the establishing of numerous branch houses, and they now employ two traveling salesmen, a city salesman and eight other individuals. The past success of this house gives reason for anticipated prosperity in the future.

Mr. Glass was married at Wausau to Miss Anna Plier, a daughter of Anton Plier. Mr. Glass is identified with the Elks and with the Wau- san Chib. His political activity is only that of an earnest and trust- worthy citizen.

THEOPHILUS SMITH, M. D., deceased, for many years stood at the head of the medical profession at Wausau. He was a man of

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scholarly attainments and of strong personality and for forty years exerted a beneficial influence in all matters pertaining to public affairs in this city. He was born in 1817, at Clarksburg, now West Virginia, a son of Jesse and Jane Smith, and in his boyhood was reared under the old regime of slavery.

Dr. Smith accompanied his parents in his youth to Jefferson county, Pa., and after preparing for a medical career entered Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, where he secured his degree, and in 1862 he came to Wausau. Here he engaged in medical practice almost continuously until his death, February 27, 1904. A Republican in politics he was ever interested in public matters along the lines that his own good judgment dictated. He served as postmaster of Wausau for a short period pre- ceding his death.

Dr. Smith was married first in Pennsylvania to Miss Emily Postle- thwaite, who died in that state, the mother of five children. In 1867, at Wausau, Dr. Smith was married to Mrs. Harriet (Crown) Millard. She was born in Vermont, December 16, 1832, a daughter of Alanson and Amity Crown. She was fifteen years old when she came to Green Lake, Wis., and from there, in 1851, to Wausau, and in the following year was married to Burton Millard, who was a millwright by trade and a young man of sterling character. When the Civil War broke out he enlisted for service, entering Co. G., 5th Wis. Vol. Inf., and was the first victim of the war from Marathon county, falling at Yorktown, April 30, 1862. He was survived by his four children: Harriet; Albert, who is a resident of Milwaukee; Arthur, who is a printer, lives at Gal- veston, Tex .; and Paul, who is assistant postmaster of Antigo, WVis. To Dr. and Mrs. Smith three children were born: Laura, who is the wife of F. E. Bump; Mary, who is the wife of Dr. Joseph F. Smith; and Charles, who is a resident of San Jose, Cal. Mrs. Smith continues to reside in the same residence which Mr. Millard erected in 1861, on Third street, which, after her marriage to Dr. Smith, was moved by con- tractors straight through the lot so that it now fronts on Fourth street. Mrs. Smith has considerable other city property, some of it being in the very heart of Wausau.

C. C. DE LONG, general merchant at Edgar, Wis., where he is also identified with the other leading business enterprises, was born in Fond du Lac county, Wis., November 18, 1860, and is a son of Charles and Caroline (Shurtliff) De Long. The parents of Mr. De Long were born,

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reared and married in the state of New York and from there came to Wisconsin. They had four sons and one daughter, C. C. being the only member of the family now living in Marathon county. The mother died at Edgar when aged seventy-three years and the father when aged seventy-four years.

C. C. De Long was reared and attended school in Monroe county, Wis. His first business responsibility was as agent for the Lake Shore Railroad for two years, then was transferred to Pelican Lake and from there to Crandon in Forest county, where he served for eight years as county clerk, elected on the Democratic ticket. He then embarked in a general store business at Pelican Lake in partnership with S. B. Rob- erts, which was conducted for three years under the firm name of C. C. De Long & Company. Mr. De Long then came to Edgar with Mr. Roberts and the business was continued under the former name until the death of Mr. Roberts and Mr. De Long still retains it as it is so firmly established in public regard. He deals in groceries, dry goods, shoes, grain, wood and hay. While living at Pelican he was postmaster, and when the village of Edgar was organized was its first president, has been one of the trustees ever since and for eight years has been school treasurer. He has an interest in a cranberry marsh, is a stockholder in the Edgar Telephone Company and also in the Edgar, Cassel & Emmett Telephone Company, and since the reorganization of the Edgar Bank of Edgar has been a charter member, a stockholder and a director.

Mr. De Long married Miss Cora B. Pratt, who was born in Monroe county, Wis., a daughter of Mrs. Annie Pratt, and they have three chil- dren: Edna, who is assistant to Postmaster Wagner, at Edgar; C. H., who is a clerk in his father's store ; and Fayette, who still goes to school. Mr. De Long is a Thirty-second degree Mason.

HON. CHARLES A. BARWIG, who is one of the prominent busi- ness men of Wausau, was born at Milwaukee, Wis., in 1859, and is a son of Charles and Eliza (Swatzburg) Barwig. Charles Barwig was a native of Germany and was young when brought to the United States but became a very prominent man in Wisconsin, both in public life as well as in business. His parents came to America with their family in 1847 and settled at Germantown in Washington county, Wis., where they spent the rest of their lives. In 1864 Charles Barwig moved with his family to Milwaukee and later to Mayville, Wis., where he subse- quently became the leading citizen, mayor of the town, a member of

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JACOB GENSMANN

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the board of education, a delegate to the Democratic National Con- vention and thrice was elected to Congress. He died March 9, 1812, surviving his wife almost three years, her death occurring October 19, 1909, at the age of sixty-eight years. She was born in 1841 and was the first German child of her sex born at Milwaukee. The family consisted of one daughter and four sons: Eamelia, who is the widow of Fred Schwartz, resides at Mayville; Byron, who is in the wholesale liquor busi- ness at Mayville ; Charles A. ; and George and Robert, both of whom are in the furniture business in Chicago.

Charles A. Barwig was five years old when he accompanied his par- ents to Mayville and there he attended the public schools and the German and English Academy, after which he went into business with his father at Mayville, where he continued to reside until "May, 1903, when he moved to Wausau, selling his interests at Mayville. Here he opened the first wholesale liquor house in the city. He was one of the organizers of the Citizens State Bank of Wausau and is vice president of the same; is secretary and treasurer of the Wausau Brick and Tile Company ; is vice president of the Fire and Police commission ; treasurer of the Wau- sau Advancement Association ; and is president of the Marathon County Agricultural Society. For seven years Mr. Barwig served in the office of mayor of Mayville and has always been more or less active in pol- itics, ever giving hearty support to the Democratic party.

In 1879 Mr. Barwig was married to Miss Bertha Hellberg, of Mil- waukee, her father being an early distiller and manufacturer there. Mr. and Mrs. Barwig have four children: Melville, who is a graduate of St. John's Military School, is working for his uncles in Chicago in the furniture business: Margaret, who is a student at Downer College ; and Charles and Richard, who are yet at home and in school. Mr. Bar- wig and family are members of the Lutheran church. He is a Thirty- second degree Mason and belongs also to the Elks and the Eagles.

JACOB GENSMANN, president of the George Ruder Brewing Com- pany of Wausau, Wis., and a director of the First National Bank of this city, has spent almost his entire life in Wisconsin and is justly numbered with the big and helpful men of Wausau. His birth took place February 24. 1844, in Kreiss Bachrach, Province of Rhine, Germany, a son of Philip and Elizabeth (Breidenbach) Gensmann.

In 1851 the parents of Mr. Gensmann emigrated to America and. al- though but seven years old at that time, he has very distinct recollections of

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the great changes in the life of the family incident to travel and association with new and wonderful conditions. Philip Gensmann settled with his fam- ily on farm land in Washington county, Wis., and the son gave his father assistance until he was fifteen years of age. He had but few educational opportunities, but possessed sound common sense and the sturdy spirit of independence inherent in every real German and in thinking of his future, decided that the acquisition of a trade would be the first step in advancing it. For three years he served as an apprentice to the shoemaking trade in a neighboring village and was eighteen years old when he came first to Wau- sau, a very different place indeed from what it now is, the change having been brought about by the energy, enterprise, and wisdom of such men as Mr. Gensmann. He secured work at his trade with George Halder, a shoe merchant, located on the main street of the village, and when his employer moved to another place some time later, Mr. Gensmann, with Ernst Schulze and Peter Zimmerman, started into the shoe business under the firm name of Jacob Gensmann & Co. Mr. Gensmann continued in the business until 1867, when he embarked in the saloon business in a small building on the site of the present substantial one, and remained in that business until 1872, when he started in the lumber business, first being alone and later being in partnership, his operations in subsequent years reaching into vast amounts. Mr. Gensmann has erected a number of the substantial business blocks at Wausau and has had many business enterprises operating with his capital. It may not be out of place to quote here a bit of advice that Mr. Gensmann once gave when asked to point out the way to young men ambitious for suc- cess : "Make it a point never to spend as much as you earn, and keep con- stantly at work. You will find that if you lay by some money each month that some day you will have a comfortable competence."

At Wausau, in 1868, Mr. Gensmann was married to Miss Amelia Wilde, who was born in Germany, and seven of their sixteen children are living. He has always taken an active and earnest interest in civic matters and at times has consented to serve in the city council and on public boards of differ- ent kinds as emergencies have arisen, but his participation in politics has been merely nominal. Mr. Gensmann is one of the heaviest tax payers of Wausau.

GEORGE G. GREEN. of the firm of Green Bros., owners of the City Bus and Baggage line at Wausau, with which business he has been identified since July 1, 1896, was born at Wausau, Wis., June 26, 1867, and is a son of George G. and Sarah Jane (Partridge) Green. George G. Green, Sr., was born at Bloomfield, Trumbull county, O., in 1816 and

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was reared in his native state, coming from there in 1840 as a pioneer to Marathon county. He was a lumber jack on the river and also built dams and bridges. His death occurred in 1893. He was twice mar- ried, his second union being with Sarah Jane Partridge, who was a daugh- ter of George W. Partridge, an early settler and for many years a jus- tice of the peace at Mosinee, Marathon county. Mrs. Green died in 1894.

George G. Green, Jr., was reared at Wausau and obtained his school- ing here and then, for a time, was employed variously in the iron district of Northern Wisconsin, when satisfied with a wandering life returning to Wausau. Here his brother, J. R. Green, with C. C. Jones, had estab- lished an omnibus line some eighteen months before and George G. bought the Jones interest and since then the brothers have continued and expanded the business, under the firm name of Green Bros. They are well equipped for all kinds of transportation, operating five omni- buses, three baggage wagons and other vehicles, have nine head of horses and employ four men beside giving their own services.

Mr. Green was married in 1897, to Miss Jessie Palmer, then of Wau- sau, but a native of St. John's, New Brunswick. She was two and one- half years old when her parents, John and Janette Palmer, brought her to Wausau, where the latter yet resides, the former dying in 1898. He was a contract painter. Mr. and Mrs. Green have four children: G. Norman, J. Earl, Dorothy M., and Helen May. Mr. Green belongs to a number of fraternal organizations, including: the Knights of Pythias, the Eagles, the E. F. U., and the Royal Arcanum.

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History of Marathon County, Wisconsin and representative citizens, Part 69

Author: Marchetti, Louis. cn Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Chicago : Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1042

Author: Marchetti, Louis. cn
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago : Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1042