USA > Wisconsin > Washington County > Washington County, Wisconsin : past and present > Part 17
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William H. Froehlich
Wisconsin having always been an essentially Republican common- wealth and Washington county having always been overwhelmingly Democratic, one would rather not expect to find any of her sons in some administrative office of the capital of the Badger State. This, however, happened twice, the first time when Leander F. Frisby was elected attorney general, and again when William H. Froehlich landed in the chair of the secretary of state and held it down for four years. Everybody in the county, be he a Republican or Demo- crat, prides himself of these facts. Two at least succeeded in climbing high political pinnacles.
William H. Froehlich was born in the village of Jackson, June 22, 1857. His parents, J. B. and Amalia Froehlich, came from Germany and were early settlers of the county. With pride he points out up to this day the humble home in which he was born, and around which
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he spent the happy days of boyhood. He was educated in the public school of his town and later visited the very well equipped Lutheran parochial school at Kirchhayn, a nearby Lutheran settlement, the oldest in the county, and one of the oldest German Lutheran settle- ments in the state. His religious life was ever since connected with that congregation. His mind trending toward the mercantile career, he later took up a business course in the Spencerian Business College at Milwaukee. From 1874 to 1877 he was clerking in Milwaukee, and from 1878 to 1880 he filled the position of assistant bookkeeper in the dry goods house of T. A. Chapman & Co., in the same city. In June, 1880, he returned to Jackson and established himself in the general merchandise business. In 1902 he organized the Jackson Butter and Cheese Company who opened the first separator creamery in Washington county. He was made secretary of the company, and the venture proved successful.
Mr. Froehlich's career in public life began when in 1887 he was elected justice of the peace. In 1891 he was appointed a member of the school board, holding the office till 1907. He was postmaster from 1881 to 1893. In the latter year he was elected town clerk, and was re-elected without opposition until he was compelled to relinquish the office in order to be ready for the duties of secretary of state. The Republicans of Washington county, in 1892, nominated him for the Assembly, but he was defeated by the Democratic candidate. Two years later he was again nominated for the Assembly, and this time he was successful, receiving 2,310 votes against 2,200 for Herman Cot- ton, the candidate of the Democrats. Judge S. S. Barney, running for Congress, and William H. Froehlich, running for the Assembly, were the only Republicans who received a majority vote at the election of 1894 in the county. It was the first time that a Republican had been elected to the Assembly from Washington county. Mr. Froehlich was re-elected for the Assembly in 1896, receiving 2,845 votes, against 2,463 for George W. Jones, the Democratic candidate. As Assembly- man he held the chairmanship of the Committee on Dairy and Food, and here is where he gained a reputation by his advocacy of the Pure Food Bill to restrict the sale of impure and adulterated food and drugs. He was an early champion of a great movement that is still sweeping over the country, and which will not stop until the last food or drug faker is driven out of his contemptible business. To the dairy industry of Wisconsin Mr. Froehlich with his bill has rendered an in- valuable service, as it was freed from its most destructive competitor, adulterated or filled cheese. He introduced the bill in the Assmbly,
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championed it all the way through, and its enactment into a law was chiefly due to his untiring efforts in behalf of it.
The Republican State Convention of 1898 placed Mr. Froehlich's name on its ticket as a candidate for secretary of state. He was elected by a gratifying majority, receiving 180,548 votes, against 125,- 636 votes for' Peter Olson Stromme, the Democratic candidate; 7,909 votes for L. Arven, the candidate of the People's party ; 7,664 votes for Charles F. Cronk, prohibitionist ; 2,540 votes for Thomas C. P. Meyers, Social Democrat; and 1,550 votes for Eugene B. Bartell, Socialist Labor candidate. He was re-elected by a larger plurality. His most notable actions as secretary of state were his refusal to make a tax levy when the Legislature appropriated $700,00 more than it had funds to meet, and his refusal to pay out the funds on the Portage Levee Bill, amounting to $25,000. He stood by what he thought to be the best interests of the taxpayers, unmoved by threats of political decapitation and civil suits.
After completing his second term as secretary of state, he retired from public life and embarked again in the mercantile business. He organized The Wm. H. Froehlich Co. of Jackson, of which firm he is president. They are conducting a general merchandise and grain business, and are among the leaders in their lines in the county. He also, in 1907, organized the Jackson State Bank, of which institution he is one of the principal stockholders and cashier. In 1905 he was again appointed postmaster of Jackson, and in 1907 he was elected president of the Wisconsin branch of the National League of Post- masters of the 3d and 4th Class Offices to which office he has been re-elected ever since. He has been very active in improving the con- ditions in his home town, and was the leader in the movement to incorporate the village of Jackson. The incorporation, after being granted by the court, was carried almost unanimously by the vote of the electors.
Mr. Froehlich is the incarnation of the ideal merchant as Shakes- peare has drawn him. His business principles, his integrity, his assiduity, his conscientiousness he carried with him and applied them to every office he held. But they did not always protect him against trials, and even shortcomings. No human life is without them. He is no man of ostentations, nor vainglory. He has a quiet way to make known and assert the principles which he has found to be the right ones.
There is another thing of moment in Mr. Froehlich's life and suc- cess. He is a fine type of German-American citizenship. Although
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born in this country, he found a chance to get imbued with German culture and learning which invariably lead to the respect and even love of them. This accounts for his help proffered repeatedly to the cause of preserving the German language in this country. He was the speaker at a number of German Day celebrations in different places. As a memento of one of these speeches he shows a fine cane with a golden knob. The German-American citizens of Marinette, Wis., invited him to hold the speech at their German Day celebration. He consented, but declined to take any pay for it, which had been offered to him, as he never cared to speak for remuneration. They therefore presented him with a walking cane which bears an inscrip- tion in commemoration of the day.
Mr. Froehlich was married September 21, 1879, to Clara Frank, daughter of Hon. J. G. Frank, a former member of the Wisconsin Legislature. They have eight children-six boys and two girls-John A., aged 30 years; Alfred B., aged 28 years; Paul E., aged 26 years; Amalia, aged 23 years; William L., aged 21 years; Robert C., aged 19 years; Minnie, aged 16 years; and George, aged II years.
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Dr. Nicholas Senn
Among the famous sons of the county Dr. Nicholas Senn should be mentioned. Although his home lay across the line, it may well be said that the center of his activities in his younger years lay in this county. He was largely interested in property in the county, and his brother Ulrich was a very respected farmer of the town of Wayne.
In 1852 the Senns settled on a farm in the town of Ashford, Fond du Lac county, near the line of the town of Wayne. They came from Buchs, Canton St. Gall, Switzerland. One of the three children of the family was Nicholas. His parents were poor, like most of the settlers, and nothing in his surroundings pointed to the brilliant career which awaited him. But within himself the boy very soon felt the glow of the divine spark, and he knew that his lot was not that of the farmer. Biding his time, he visited the rural school of the neighbor- hood and helped his parents on the farm. Often, however, when he was supposed to be working in the fields, he was discovered in some shady nook, reading a book which he had borrowed somewhere. The schools of those days were in a rather primitive condition, but the boy, indefatigable and burning for knowledge, succeeded in acquir- ing an excellent knowledge of the English, German and Latin lan- guages. He also made considerable progress in the Greek tongue, Vol. I-13
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and in his later life learned to read French without the aid of a teacher, and made such inroads into Spanish and Italian that he was also able to read medical works in these languages without much trouble. After he had gone through the little country school, he entered the grammar school at Fond du Lac. He was a bright boy, and meanwhile his parents had been convinced that he never would do for a tiller of the soil, whom the books lured and held even at such pressing occasions as haying or hoeing times. He was eighteen years old when he graduated from high school and became a teacher. Two years later he made the first decisive step toward his future career. His preference had always been for the medical profession, and it finally had grown into an irrepressible desire. His parents being poor and unable to pay for his studies, he had to earn money and become an apprentice in a Fond du Lac drug store. It was a stepping stone to his fame. He did not stay there long, for he soon had mastered pharmaceutics in his own way. He had become acquainted with a physician, and left the drug store to study medicine in his office. In 1866 he entered the Chicago Medical College and graduated from that institution in the spring of 1868, becoming a physician in the Cook County Hospital. A year and a half later he established his own practice in Ashford, Wis., and was married to Miss Aurelia Mill- houser, a descendant of a German family who had settled in Pennsyl- vania. Although he was successful as a physician, the goal of his ambition had by this time become surgery. He still had many obstacles to overcome, which the prejudice of his older colleagues put in his way. But with him, too, nothing was more successful than success; it cleared the road for him. In 1874 he took a position as surgeon in the Passavant Hospital at Milwaukee, which had been offered to him, and moved to that city. His rise now became more rapid. In 1878 he went abroad to continue his studies of surgery, and entered the university of Munich, Bavaria, from which he graduated with the predicate "magna cum laude." He returned to Milwaukee, but in 1892 moved to Chicago where in 1885 he had been appointed pro- fessor of surgery in the College of Physicians and Surgeons. In 1887 he became professor of the principles of surgery and surgical path- ology in the Rush Medical College of Chicago, and of practical and clinical surgery in 1890; also professor of surgery in the Chicago Polyclinic. He was a member of many medical societies, and was appointed surgeon-general of Wisconsin by Gov. Peck in 1890, and later to the same position in Illinois by Gov. Altgeld.
His bodily vigor and endurance, and his almost phenomenal mem-
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ory were gifts of Nature, which helped him to gain a position in surgery never before reached by anybody else in this country. It was a trait of his genius to study the nature of such diseases that would baffle most physicians. In this special field he was untiring and undaunted. In spite of his extensive practice, he found the time to render invaluable services to pathology by his microscopical investi- gations. Without swerving he followed up his aims until he had reached them, despising partial knowledge. Great and valuable are his contributions to the literature of surgery, having written some twenty extensive works on the subject. Among his best known publications are: "The Surgical Bacteriology," which has been translated into French, Italian and Polish; "Intestinal Surgery," translated into Ger- man; "Experimental Surgery," treating of his own experience; "Principles of Surgery," a text-book for students and practitioners ; "Tuberculosis of Bones and Joints;" and a "Syllabus of Surgery." His clinic was considered the best in the country. His greatest achieve- ments which amounted to a revolution, were gained in intestinal sur- gery, in which for many years he was truly a pathfinder.
Dr. Senn, like a true scholar, was devoted to his science. It was his work, his joy, his everything. He took little interest in things outside of it. He believed in simple life. He was careless about his person. Often he would send a student of about his size to buy a coat or hat for him-anything would do as long as it was plain and unobstrusive. In all his life he visited the theater twice, and every- time he left it after the first act. The first time it was an English play, and the second time a German play which had been recommended to him. He never played cards in his life. Science had entranced him to the exclusion of almost everything else. His only recreations were hunting and fishing, and his love for the study of Nature was the mainspring that moved him to pursue those kinds of sport. While ascending a high mountain on a visit to South America, heart trouble befell him, and after lingering for a while, he died January 2, 1908, at the age of 63 years.
CHAPTER XXV
THE CHURCHES
One of the first things the old settlers did after they had gained a foothold on their new land was to form a congregation among those of like creed. They were often very slim affairs, those first religious meetings, but there were ample prospects for their growth. The craving for transcendental consolation was naturally strong in people who had to brave so many hardships and privations. The old log churches have since disappeared, and in their place numerous steeples point toward heaven. Many have developed into really fine edifices. Of all the denominations which have adherents in the county the Catholics are numerically the strongest, next come the Lutherans and the Evangelicals. In the following, the histories of the different congregations are given, either condensed, or more detailed if the material seemed available to the purpose of this work.
Catholic
Addison, Town .- S. S. Peter and Paul's Congregation .- The Cath- olic settlers of the town of Addison, in the early '40's of the last cen- tury, were occasionally visited by missionaries who held service in private homes. One of those missionaries was Rev. Michael Heiss, who later succeeded to the archbishopric of Milwaukee. In 1848, Rev. Schraudenbach organized the congregation, and in the same year the first church was built. The first resident priest was Rev. Michael Heiss, a nephew of the archbishop. In 1865, under the administration of Rev. Mich. Wenker, a new church was built, and also a parsonage. The parochial school was established in 1845, three years before the congregation was organized. The school is taught by Sisters of St. Francis. Two societies exist, one for women and one for men. The present priest is Rev. Leo. Gabriels.
Allentown .- St. Anthony's Congregation .- The first church of this congregation was built in 1855. Originally it was a mission of St.
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Lawrence's congregation, later, it was affiliated to S. S. Peter and Paul's. In 1873 a new stone church was built. The congregation also supports a parish school under the direction of the Sisters of St. Francis. The present priest is Rev. A. J. Lauer. St. Mathias's Con- gregation in the town of West Bend is a mission of St. Anthony's. It was organized in 1848 by Rev. Schraudenbach, and incorporated in 1883. The parochial school, established in 1889, is taught by Sisters of St. Agnes.
Barton .- Immaculate Conception Congregation .- The organization of this congregation was effected September 12, 1857. For some time before this, and for a considerable time after, traveling mission- aries, and also resident priests from the neighborhood, administered to the congregation. The first priest who said mass in the original church was Rev. Kaspar Rehrl. This building has since been razed. During the ministry of Rev. Michael Ruckengruber, which lasted for almost 19 years, a parochial school with dwelling rooms for the teachers who are Sisters of Notre Dame was built, costing $8,400, and also a parsonage at an expense of $3,500. The present fine brick church, costing $35,000, was erected during the ministry of Rev. August Rossbach. It was consecrated December 5, 1900, by Arch- bishop Katzer of Milwaukee. The congregation has two societies. The Ladies' Society was founded soon after the organization of the congregation and St. Joseph's Society was founded November 18, 1867. The present priest is Rev. F. Ruhmann.
Germantown, Town .- St. Boniface's Congregation .- The town was sparsely settled when in 1845 this congregation was organized. The members were poor and could not afford to erect an expensive church. It was built of logs and divided into two parts, of which one part was used as a parsonage. The designer was Rev. Michael Heiss, later archbishop of Milwaukee. For some time missionaries read mass in this humble place of worship. The first resident priest was Rev. Joseph Salzmann who came in 1847. He was instrumental in the erec- tion of a frame church which it took almost two years to complete. Under the administration of Rev. Foeckler the erection of the present stone church of classical design was begun. The building, 100x45 feet in dimensions, was completed under his successor, Rev. J. Gam- ber. He also had a parsonage built. Rev. Karl Grobschmit had the interior walls adorned with fresco paintings. The parochial school was erected in 1889, during the ministry of Rev. H. Blum. The teachers are Sisters of St. Francis from Milwaukee. The congre- gation has three societies, the Men's Society, the Ladies' Society, and
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the Society of the Sacred Heart. The present priest is Rev. Jos. Wurm. Connected as a mission is St. Mary's Congregation founded in the latter part of the '50's. The present church, costing $2,500, was built in 1895.
Hartford .- St. Kilian's Congregation .- This congregation was or- ganized in 1863 by Rev. Deisenreiter who at the time was stationed at St. Lawrence. In 1867 it numbered 56 German and 40 Irish fam- ilies, but it has since been increased by numerous German families. The present imposing stone church was erected in 1876 under the direction of Rev. Michael Wenker who was stationed here from May, 1872 to September, 1883. He also otherwise improved the church property. His successor, Rev. Nic. M. Zimmer, had a parsonage built in 1884, and a parish schoolhouse in 1891. The school was started in 1864. Under the ministry of Rev. J. A. Bertram, who succeeded in 1893 the church received a splendid high altar and also a fine organ worth $1,200. The school is taught by Sisters of St. Francis. Five societies exist within the congregation. They are the St. Kilian's Benevolent Society, a branch of the Catholic Protective Association, Branch No. 61 of the Catholic Knights of Wisconsin, St. Elizabeth's Society, and St. Rose's Society for young ladies. The congregation is the largest in the county. The present priest of St. Kilian's is Rev. Jos. C. Hartmann.
Holy Hill .- St. Mary's Help Congregation .- On the summit of Holy Hill, near the spot where the rude chapel of the hermit François once stood, and on the site of a former small chapel, a neat brick church was completed in 1881. Its dimensions are 42x90 feet, and the spire is 80 feet high. On the site of the hermit's cave a parsonage has been built. Until the advent of the Carmelite monks in 1906 the congregation was in charge of priests from the neighborhood. The monks since have enlarged and improved the church property. The administering priest is Rev. Kilian Gutmann, O. C. D. St. Patrick's Mission in the town of Erin is attended to by the priest of Holy Hill. It numbers some 70 Irish families.
Jackson, Town .- Immaculate Conception Congregation .- This parish is a mission in charge of the priest of St. Francis's church at Cedarburg, who at present is Rev. Geo. Loughney. There is no account of the organization in the records. Among the first members were the Riordans, Fagans, and Coughlins. The present church was built in 1860.
Kewaskum .- Holy Trinity's Congregation .- Prior to 1861, the Catholics of Kewaskum had to go to neighboring churches to fulfill
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their religious duties. In that year they built a medium sized brick church on two lots presented to the congregation by Mathias Alten- hofen. Until 1869 they were affiliated to the Barton congregation as a mission. The first resident priest was Rev. J. Mueller. He also said mass in St. Michael's mission in the town of Kewaskum. Rev. Grome who came in 1878 and held the ministry for 17 years had an addition built to the old church; he also had a school building and a parsonage erected which cost $3,000 each. Originally the parochial school was taught by secular teachers who later were supplanted by School Sisters of St. Agnes. The societies within the congregation are: The St. Francis's Benevolent Society, a branch of the Catholic Protective Association, the Ladies' Society, and the Young Ladies' Society. In July, 1895, the present priest, Rev. Phil. J. Vogt, took charge of the congregation. Under his ministry a fine and spacious brick church was erected in 1905. It has four bells in its lofty tower. The consecration by Archbishop S. G. Messmer of Milwaukee took place March 27, 1906. St. Bridget's in the town of Wayne is a mis- sion in the care of the Kewaskum priest. As far back as 1848 the Catholics of that section were visited by Rev. Beittner of St. Law- rence, who said mass in private homes. Under his direction they built a log church in 1852. In 1856 the congregation was organized, and for many years Rev. Kaspar Rehrl of Barton attended to it. The parochial school of St. Bridget's is taught by Sisters of St. Agnes.
Newburg .- Holy Trinity's Congregation .- In 1860, twelve years after the first white settler, that remarkable genius of a founder, Bar- ton Salisbury, built his log house among the remnants of the former Indian population on the wildly beautiful bank of the swift running Milwaukee river, and harnessed its bumptious strength to run a saw- mill, the Catholics of the community felt strong enough to start a congregation. It was the first German settler of the place, Nicholaus Schwinn, a blacksmith, who did the preliminary work of such an organization. He came in 1848. In his wretched log cabin, mission- aries, who now and then happened to come that way found hos- pitality and shelter. In 1854 Bishop Henni of Milwaukee was his guest, and he picked out a place for him that in his opinion would be best suited for the site of a church. Eventually, on that spot the first church was built. In 1858 Dr. Jos. Salzmann of the Catholic Semi- nary in St. Francis, on a collection trip, visited this pioneer in the wilds, who accompanied him to the Catholic settlers of the neighbor- hood and took this chance to interest them in the foundation of a congregation. During a number of years services had been held in
HOLY TRINITY CATHOLIC CHURCH, NEWBURG
NEWBURG GRADED SCHOOL
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a hall by traveling priests who occasionally visited the settlement. The need of a church edifice was felt more with the advance of the pioneers and their increasing numbers. In March, 1850, the first meeting for the purpose of organizing a congregation was held. Trustees were elected and also a building committee; the former were Jacob Barth, Jr., Nicolaus Schwinn, Math. Wierschem, Peter Klein, Joseph Uetz and Dr. M. J. Leonard; the building committee consisted of F. Waldkirch, Math. Welskiel, Johann Lauterbeck, George Kaiser, Ferd. Moersch, Jacob Spenner and Theodore Weinand. The first church was a rather sober-looking brick building, 75x40 feet in dimen- sions. Each side had four windows, the front had a rose-window, and near the front gable appeared a little turret with a steeple, and a cross on top. The building was completed in 1860, and the first serv- ice was held in it on Easter Monday by Rev. Kaspar Rehrl and Rev. B. Smeddink. The consecration by Bishop Henni took place Decem- ber 8, 1861. Until 1861, the congregation was served by priests from the Barton and Port Washington parishes. For some time the church did not possess such a thing as a bell, and to call the faithful to mass or vespers, a steel hoop was used, which was struck with a hammer. The first bell was purchased in 1862. At the time of its organization, the congregation numbered 25 families, none of whom enjoyed ma- terial wealth. The first resident priest was Rev. Wilhelm Engeln. In 1882, under the administration of Rev. P. J. Stupfel, a parochial schoolhouse was built in which School Sisters of Notre Dame are teaching. Under the same administration a parsonage was built in 1887. In 1896 the present priest, Rev. B. Nuttmann, arrived. A new and magnificent church was erected during his ministry. It was consecrated October 5, 1899, by Archbishop F. X. Katzer of Milwaukee. In 1912 a new and commodious parsonage was built. The following societies exist within the congregation: St. Joseph's Society, Society of Christian Mothers, St. Agnes's Society, St. Alois's Society, Society of the Sacred Heart, and a branch of the Catholic Knights. St. Augustine's Mission is affiliated to the Newburg parish. This mission was founded in 1855, when Messrs. Weiss, Bach and Wollner donated 13 acres of land for church purposes. Missionaries held the first services in the log house of Mr. Bach. In 1857 a church was built.
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