Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co 1895
Copied & transcribed by Elaine O’ Leary 

Pgs 753-54 
 
ISAAC H. ISAACSON.    Among the most prominent and successful business men of Pulcifer,  Green Valley township, Shawano county, is Mr. Isaacson. He is a son of Halvor and Mary (Oleson) Isaacson,  and was born in  Waukesha  county, Wis., near Ashippun, March 23, 1858. 

Halvor Isaacson was a farmer and woodsman in Norway, and in poor circumstances there. With his wife and eldest child he sailed from Christiania in 1856, and in June of that year landed in Quebec, Canada. They came locating first direct to Wisconsin, in Waukesha county, near Ashippun, where he worked out as a laborer. Later they removed to Dodge county, and remained there for one year. About 1861 they went to Oakfield,  Fond du Lac Co., Wis., where Mr. Isaacson rented a farm for about four years, then removed to Waupun, Fond du  Lac county, and lived there for six  years. In 1873 they came to Green Valley. Here he purchased eighty acres of wild land, cleared it, and built a log house for a home. He has since dealt considerably in land, buying and selling.  Mr. Isaacson and his wife were both born in Norway. They reside at present on the homestead in Green Valley. Their children were as follows: Annie, deceased wife of John Johnson; Isaac H., the subject of this sketch; Ole, deceased; Josephine, who married Chris Henningson, and  now resides in Oakfield, Fond du Lac county; Mary, now Mrs. John Lystul, of Wausau, Marathon county; and Hattie, Mrs. Howard Locke, of Cecil, Shawano county. 
 
Isaac H. Isaacson received a common school education, and left school at the age of fourteen. After that time until he was twenty-one he helped at home on the farm, worked out as a farm hand, ran logs on the river, and worked in the woods. He started out for himself at twenty-one, investing in eighty acres of wild land in Green Valley township, which he still retains, cleared twenty acres, and has been speculating in land ever since. 
 
In Green Valley, on May 2 1887, Isaac H. Isaacson was united in matrimony with Miss Jennie Anderson, who was born in Norway, Oct. 9, 1867. Four children have been born to this marriage. When  Jennie Anderson was three years of age she came to the United States with her parents, Martin and Mina (Christianson) Anderson, who located first in Sheboygan, Sheboygan Co., Wis., and later in Milwaukee. About 1881 or 1882 they settled in Underhill, Oconto county, and they now reside there on a farm. After his marriage Mr. Isaacson and his wife located on his first purchase of eighty acres.  He lumbered and farmed for the next four years, then removed to Pulcifer, started an agency for farm implements and machinery, and traveled on the road for one season selling his own goods. In the fall of 1881 he joined with Herman Druckrey in putting up their present place of business, and in the spring of 1892 they opened with a stock of hardware and a full line of farm implements and machinery. 
 
Mr. Isaacson has 160 acres of land, which lie in Sections 15 and 22, in Green Valley township. He is a Republican in politics and takes an active interest in the success of his party. Both Mr. Isaacson and his wife are members of the Norwegian Lutheran Church. He is honored and respected, is strictly an American and professes no allegiance to any foreign hierarchy.
 
 

Commemorative Biographical Record of the Upper Wisconsin counties of Waupaca, Portage, Wood, Marathon, Lincoln, Oneida, Vilas, Langlade and Shawano, containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, and of many of the Early Settled Families.

Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co 1895
Copied & transcribed by Elaine O’ Leary 

Pgs 746-47 

FRANK ISSTAS, prominent citizen and successful business man of Washington township, Shawano county, was born in Belgium November 15, 1855, and is a son of Mr. and Mrs. John Isstas.  John Isstas was a farmer in Belgium, of limited education. With his wife and family he embarked at Antwerp for America in the spring of 1856, landed at Boston, Mass., and came direct to Green Bay, Brown Co., Wis. He afterward bought a tract of land in Wrightstown, Brown county, located upon it, and remained there about six years. He then removed to Neenah, Winnebago Co., Wis., and soon afterward his wife died. Their children were as follows: Louis, now deceased; Frank, the subject of these lines; Sophia and Peter, both now deceased; and two others who died in infancy. In Neenah John Isstas again married, taking to wife Mary Byer, and later they removed with the family to Calumet county, Wis., where he bought a farm. His wife died, and he later removed to Little Chute, Outagamie county, and there married again. He died in Little Chute April 22, 1895. His last wife survives him. 
 
Frank Isstas received a limited education, but has acquired much general knowledge from experience and from good books. He learned the trade of a cooper in Neemah, Wis., and up to that time had done almost anything he could get to do. In his eighteenth year he left home and went to Minnesota, where he was employed for fifteen months as a farm hand near Minneapolis. He then returned to Wisconsin, and for six months worked at his trade in Appleton, Outagamie county, next going to Oshkosh, Winnebago county, where he found employment as a deck hand on a lake steamer. From there he went to Seymour, Outagamie county, procured work in the hub and spoke factory of the Northern Manufacturing Co., and continued in their employ for five years. 
 
On January 4, 1881, Frank Isstas was united in marriage, in Seymour, Outagamie county, with Miss Ida Zachow, who was born in Greenville, Outagamie county, January 4, 1863, and they have had two children William, born November 19, 1881 and Edwin, born March 11, 1884. Shortly, after their marriage they removed to Centralia, Wood Co., Wis., and Mr. Isstas was there engaged as a filer and assistant foreman in the hub and spoke factory of McKinnon & Griffith. At the end of the three years he left their employ, removed to Cecil, Washington township, Shawano county, and purchased an interest in the firm of  J. C. Zachow & Co., of Cecil. They erected a general store, and a sawmill and gristmill. . Later Mr. Isstas disposed of his share in the store. In November 1892, he bought out the interest of his partners in the sawmill and he also has a share in the gristmill. 
 
Mr. Isstas is a strong Democrat, and works for the success of his party. He has been township clerk for five years, justice of the peace for five years, and district school clerk for nine years. He was reared a Catholic, but at present is a member of no Church. His wife is a Lutheran. Mr. Isstas built his home in 1888. It is a modern dwelling and is nicely furnished. He is a man of intelligence, fond of reading good books, and is well-known and respected.
 
 

Commemorative Biographical Record of the Upper Wisconsin counties of Waupaca, Portage, Wood, Marathon, Lincoln, Oneida, Vilas, Langlade and Shawano, containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, and of many of the Early Settled Families.

Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co 1895
Copied & transcribed by Elaine O’ Leary 

Pgs 943-44 

MARTIN JOHNSON was born March 3, 1857, in Kongsberg, Norway, son of Herman and Leal t K. (Horto) Johnson, both of whom were born in Kongsberg—the father September 30, 1828, the mother December 8, 1826. The  parents  of  Herman Johnson,  Johanas and Bertha Johnson, had four children, namely: Christ, who died in Norway; Ole, who is in Norway, if living; Martha, who died in Norway; and Herman.  Johanas Johnson, who was a shoemaker by trade, died when his son Herman was only nine years old, leaving his widow and children alone.  When Herman was a boy he had poor opportunities for an education, and has earned his own living from the age of thirteen years.  He went to work in a gunshop, learned the gunsmith's trade, and worked at this occupation for the government in one place for thirty-one years, receiving at first but sixteen cents a day, and gradually working up to ten or fifteen dollars a month. While here he was united in marriage with Leal K. Horto, and they have had a family of eight children, as follows: Johanna, who died in Norway at the   age of fifteen; Martin, who died in infancy in Norway; Thorvle, engaged  in  the  mercantile business in Maple Grove township with his brother Martin;   Martin, the subject of this sketch; Bernard, who is married and is engaged in a shingle mill in Merrill, Wis.; Martinius, who married Nellie Gullickson and lives on the homestead, caring for his father and mother (they have one daughter, Laura M., born March 20, 1890); John, who owns and operates an eighty-acre farm in Angelica, Shawano county, is married and has a son named  Harry; and Johanna, wife of Ole Oleson, a general business man of Crystal Falls, Mich. (they have three children--Herbert, Carrie and Norman). The parents of Mrs. Herman Johnson, Tolorf and Ingeberg (Larson) Horto, had seven children, namely: Christopher, who died in Little Suamico, Oconto  Co., Wis.; Lars, living in Norway; Engas, deceased in Norway, who worked forty years for one family named White, for which she received a pension; Amberg, who died in Norway; Leal K., Mrs. Johnson; Asa, who died in Norway; and Bertha, who lives in Norway.  Mr. Horto worked in the silvcr mines all his life, and was also on the fire department. 

Herman Johnson sailed from Christiania for America in 1873, and landing in New York after a voyage of fourteen days came to Angelica township, Shawano Co., Wis., where he was employed for a short time in a sawmill.  In six months his wife and children joined him, and he remained in Angelica some seven years, working for six years in a sawmill for Gov. Upham.  At that time this  was all wild  country.  Mr. and Mrs. Johnson bought eighty acres of land in the town of Maple Grove, built a home and lived on this land three years.  At the end of that time he had twenty acres cleared, and selling the place bought eighty acres of unimproved land in Section No. 2 (on which he and his son now live), built a frame house, and immediately started to clear the land, but had no team for two years. Here with his wife he has since lived, and they expect to spend the remainder of their days with their son.  The children, for the most part, remained at home until married. 

Martin Johnson came to America before his parents, when only fifteen years of age, since which time he has made his own living, for seven years being chiefly employed in the woods. On December 1, 1879, he was united in marriage with Mary Oleson, who was born in Kewaunee county, Wis., in January, 1857, and they have had five children, namely, Ludwig, Charlie, Mattie, Otto (now deceased) and Clara. The father of Mrs. Johnson, who was a farmer by occupation, came with his wife and daughter from Hedemarken, Norway, to America, locating in Kewaunee county, Wis., in an early day, and died soon after his arrival. Since his marriage Martin Johnson has been engaged in farming. He first bought land in Section No. 1, in Lessor township, Shawano county, opened it up and cleared a small tract, but he sold this, and removing to Angelica township bought sixty acres of land in Section 31, now having a farm of 100 acres, of which fifty are cleared. Politically he is a Republican. In religious affiliation the family are Lutherans.
 
 

Commemorative Biographical Record of the Upper Wisconsin counties of Waupaca, Portage, Wood, Marathon, Lincoln, Oneida, Vilas, Langlade and Shawano, containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, and of many of the Early Settled Families.

Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co 1895
Copied & transcribed by Elaine O’ Leary 

Page 319 

REV. FATHER JOHN KASTER, pastor of the Church of the Sacred Heart, Shawano, Shawano county, is a native of Wisconsin, born January 6, 1864, at Green Bay, Brown county. 

Castor Kaster, father of our subject, was born February 6, 1831, at Meersdorf, Prussia, Germany, whence, in 1854, when a boy, he emigrated to the United States, stopping in Detroit eight months, later settling in Green Bay, Wis., where he worked at the tailoring trade, which he had learned in Europe, having made it his life work, and is still carrying it on in Green Bay.  In that city he was married to Miss Anna Verschragen, a. lady of Holland birth, born September 30, 1829, and six children were born to them namely: Frank (following the trade of tailor in Green Bay), Joseph (a book-keeper in Green Bay), John (subject of sketch), Anna (who died at the age of twenty-five years), and Peter (1) and Peter (2) (both deceased in infancy).   The father is one of the highly respected citizens of Green Bay, where he was a pioneer in his line of work, in which by industry and square dealing he has made a success, securing a well-earned competency. 
The subject proper of this sketch, whose name introduces it, received his elementary education at the common schools of the city of his birth, and at the age of fifteen entered St. Francis Seminary, near Milwaukee, remaining there until he was twenty-four years old. On April 3, 1888, he was ordained to the priesthood, the ceremony taking place in the Cathedral at Green Bay, and the first charge given him, which was on June 6 following, was the congregation at Neshkoro, Marquette county, in addition to and in connection with which he had several missions. Here he labored until September 18. 1890, on which date he was transferred to Shawano, where the new church building, commenced in 1889, was as yet in a very unfinished condition, especially the interior, but which under his charge has since been completed in a thorough and satisfactory manner. Father Kaster has also the care of missions at Waukechon, Gresham and Leopolis, all also within the limits of Shawano county.   He is very popular among members of all denominations, and his connection with his own church, wherever his pastorate has been, has been marked by evidences of progressiveness and improvement.
 
 

Commemorative Biographical Record of the Upper Wisconsin counties of Waupaca, Portage, Wood, Marathon, Lincoln, Oneida, Vilas, Langlade and Shawano, containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, and of many of the Early Settled Families.

Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co 1895
Copied & transcribed by Elaine O’ Leary 

Pgs 923 - 24 

JOSEPH KERN, M. D., who has a large medical practice in Washington township, Shawano county, was born in the city of Basel, Switzerland, June 20, 1864, and is the son of Joseph and Mary A. (Berger) Kern, who were both born in Switzerland. Mrs. Kern's father was born in France. 
 
Joseph Kern, Sr., was a lumber merchant, and a dealer in real estate. He and his wife both died in Switzerland, in 1871, leaving but one child, Joseph, the subject of this sketch. Joseph Kern attended school in his native city, Basel, until the age of nine, and then entered college, where he remained for nine years. He next commenced the study of medicine, which he pursued successfully in Heidelberg, Germany; Basel, Switzerland, and Jena, Germany. Entering the University Hospital in Jena, in 1888, he practiced there until 1890. On March 19, he and his family took passage at Antwerp, sailing for the United States on the steamer, "Western Land," and landing, after a voyage of thirteen days, in New York. They came direct to Dodge county, Wis., reaching Hustisford, in that county, on April 15, and there he practiced until January, 1891, when he removed to Cecil, Washington township, Shawano county, and erected a large and beautiful home. He has an extensive practice, and has been very successful. At present he is building an addition to his house, which will be used for baths—Turkish, Russian, electrical, etc. In 1885, in Jena, Germany, Dr. Joseph Kern was united in marriage with Miss Hedwig Peter, and they have had three children—Emma, Hildegard and one not yet named. 
 
J. Conrad, a grand-uncle of Dr. Kern, is a Swiss statesman. He was born in Arenburg, Canton of Thurgau, in 1808, and studied theology at Basel, but abandoning his plan of entering the ministry, he turned his attention to law, which he studied successfully at Basel, Heidelberg and Paris. On his return to his native canton he was appointed to the presidency of the Supreme Court, and the Council of Public Instruction, and in these offices made himself remarkable for his talent for public speaking, and for his great legal and administrative sagacity. When, in 1838, the French government demanded the extradition of Prince Napoleon, he took the most prominent part at the diet in stirring up the Swiss to refuse to be intimidated. In 1848 he took an active part in the preparation of the federal constitution. Afterward he established the Polytechnic school of Zurich, one of the most admirable institutions of the kind in Europe. In 1857 he was elected to complete negotiations regarding the dispute with Prussia, and at the conference of Paris, between the great powers, he represented Switzerland.  One of Dr. Kern’s grandfathers was an officer under Napoleon the First.
 
 

Commemorative Biographical Record of the Upper Wisconsin counties of Waupaca, Portage, Wood, Marathon, Lincoln, Oneida, Vilas, Langlade and Shawano, containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, and of many of the Early Settled Families.

Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co 1895
Copied & transcribed by Elaine O’ Leary 

Pages  481-2 

JOHN KLICKMAN, one of the oldest and most highly respected settlers of Belle Plaine township, Shawano county, is a Prussian by birth, having been born at Gaegersburg, Neumark, Frankfurt, July 26, 1832, a son of William (a day laborer) and Anna S. (Draeger) Klickman. They were the parents of five children, only two of whom we have any record of, viz.: August, who served in the American Civil war nine months, and died, in 1865, in hospital at Louisville; Ky., and John. 

Our subject received but a very limited education in the common schools of his native land, and at the age of fourteen commenced learning the trade of a brickmaker, which he followed in the Fatherland till 1854, in that year emigrating to the United States, landing at New York in the month of June. From there he came direct to Milwaukee, Wis., thence by wagon to Watertown, Jefferson county, thence to Oak Grove township, Dodge county, where he hired out to a farmer. Here he remained about two years, working as a farm hand, and then rented land, which he cultivated for a season or two. In the meantime, his father having died in Germany, the widowed mother and her son August came to this country and to Wisconsin, and in 1859 they and our subject settled in Belle Plaine township, Shawano county, the journey from Oak Grove, Dodge county, being made with an ox-team. Here Mr. Klickman bought from Alexander Bucholz forty acres of wild land in Section 21, on which stood a small log slab-roofed shanty 16x20 feet in size, and here the little family set to work in earnest, to make a clearing and prepare the soil for crops, their only implements being an axe and grub hoe, their ox-team being not the least important item in their equipment. Day and night they labored assiduously till finally they succeeded in getting enough clearing made to put in a small crop of potatoes, the next being wheat, which was harvested with a scythe and threshed with a flail.  Here the mother died December 18, 1886, at the advanced age of ninety years, the brother, as above recorded, having passed away, far from home, in 1865. Since his marriage in the latter year, which will be fully mentioned farther on, our subject has from time to time bought more land until he now owns 200 acres, seventy of which are under the plow, equipped with substantial and commodious buildings, all accumulated by hard work, indomitable perseverance and judicious economy. 
 
On November 12, 1865, Mr. Klickman was married to Wilhelmina (Klickman) Klickman, a cousin, also a native of Germany, born in 1834, coming in her girlhood to this country, and locating in Fond du Lac county, Wis.; her father, who was a day laborer in the Fatherland, died there leaving three children:  Ernestine, now Mrs. Fred Eberhardt, of Fond du Lac, Wis.;  August, a farmer in Eau Claire county, Wis.; and Wilhelmina, Mrs. Klickman. Three children have come to bless the union of our subject and wife: John, born September 18, 1866, died November 5, of the same year; Albert, born September 25, 1867, was married January 5, 1893, to Anna Schultz, daughter of Robert and Henrietta (Schewe) Schultz, of Liberty, Outagamie county, Wis., and who was born at Maple Creek, that county, June 20, 1871; they live with our subject; Herman, born February 18, 1870, also lives at home, and is a telegraph operator, having been in the employ of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company. Mrs. Klickman died September 20, 1892.  Her mother died April 23, 1881, aged nearly eighty-six years. 

In the fall of 1864 Mr. Klickman enlisted in Company F, Forty-fourth Wis. V.I., was mustered in at Madison, and from there sent to Nashville, Tenn., where for a time his regiment did guard duty some six months.  From Nashville it proceeded to Paducah, Ky., and here our subject was taken sick and sent to the hospital, remaining there until his discharge in June, 1865. Politically he is a Republican, has served as chairman of Belle Plaine township ten years, and has also filled the positions of supervisor, assessor and treasurer. In fraternal fellowship he is a member of the F. & A.; M., and in religious faith he is a Lutheran. He is highly respected in the community, and well merits the esteem in which he is held.
 
 

Commemorative Biographical Record of the Upper Wisconsin counties of Waupaca, Portage, Wood, Marathon, Lincoln, Oneida, Vilas, Langlade and Shawano, containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, and of many of the Early Settled Families.

Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co 1895
Copied & transcribed by Elaine O’ Leary 

Pages 48 - 49 

H. KLOSTERMAN, one of the representative prosperous citizens of Shawano county agriculturist, dealer in real estate, and capitalist, is a native of the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, Germany, born April 20, 1832. He is the eldest in the family of three sons and three daughters born to Gerhard H. Klosterman, a tailor by trade in Oldenburg, where he passed all his days. 
Our subject received a somewhat limited common-school training in his native land, and was offered free education for the ministry, but declined. But what he may not have learned at school, where he was a quick and apt scholar, he made up for by home study and a close observation of men and things, and he also commenced earning money at a very early age, for at about the age of ten we find him herding cattle and sheep, receiving, it is true, very small wages. In his youth he displayed a penchant for carpentry, and, learning the trade, followed it till 1855, in which year, in company with his uncle, Edwin Wilke (his mother's brother), who kindly furnished him with the means, he came to the United States, the voyage being made on the sailing vessel "Nelson" from Bremen for New York, the voyage occupying seven weeks, three days. From the latter city the journey was made by rail to Buffalo, thence by lake to Sheboygan, Wis., where our subject secured work among the farmers, the first money he earned in the United States being at chopping cordwood, an "art" he was taught by a woman. Here he remained until early in the spring of 1857, when he moved to near Two Rivers, where his uncle lived, for whom he now worked, in order to repay him the price of his passage from Germany.   Subsequently he worked for other farmers, and later in a sawmill and gristmill at or in the vicinity of Two Rivers, for three years, at the end of which time he went to Racine, Wis., and on the prairie near that city worked as a farm hand, in the fall of the same year going into the lumber woods. 

In his somewhat varied experience Mr. Klosterman traveled considerably over the State of Wisconsin, and at one time while at Mayville, Dodge county, he bargained with Charles Rudebusch to drive some cattle from there to Shawano, at which latter place, then a mere hamlet of a few shanties, he in the fall of 1860 found work in the lumber woods. In the following spring he married, an event that will be spoken of further on, and he and his young wife commenced keeping house in a log building that stood near the present outskirts of the city; and even this humble home he did not own; for he bought on credit. He also bought a team of oxen and a couple of cows, and with these oxen he went jobbing; but an unfortunate accident happened to him which gave to his now rising prospects a cruel set-back.   One day, in the spring of 1861, while he was engaged at plowing his lot with this same yoke of oxen, making ready to put in his crops, the tree-stumps obtruding themselves pretty thickly around, the plow accidentally caught on one of them, which caused the team to give a sudden jerk, whereby the plow handle struck Mr. Klosterman a violent blow close by the knee of the left leg.  This produced a fever sore, later a stiff limb with a running sore which left him helpless for a whole year. He had just been married and his small pile of savings was soon reduced to a minimum, rendering his condition, physically and financially, anything but encouraging.   He was helpless as far as manual labor was concerned, and it became clear that his attention must be given to something else totally different to what he had been accustomed to; so he undertook whatever kind of work his enfeebled condition would permit him to do.  In consequence of his already injured limb having in December, 1889, received a further hurt by being severely cut with an axe while he was chopping wood at his home, he suffered so severely that the leg had to be amputated September 6, 1890. 

For a time Mr. Klosterman kept a small saloon and grocery in Shawano, after which he served as justice of the peace of the village three years, then as register of deeds four years, deputy clerk two years, and he was county judge of Shawano county sixteen years, the longest term held by any incumbent in that office. In February, 1894, he became a member of the firm of Andrews & Klosterman, who conduct a general store in Shawano. 

On April 20, 1861, Mr. Klosterman was married in Shawano to Miss Ernestine Fink, a native of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany, born December 21, 1843, and to this union have been born children as follows: Louise, born January 18, 1862, died September 17, 1862, and George H., born June 26, 1869, living at home with his parents.  In his political preferences our subject has been a Republican ever since Lincoln’s first term, though his first vote was cast at Two Rivers for James Buchanan. In addition to his other interests which keep him busy he is vice-president of the Shawano County Bank, and deals extensively in real estate owning at the present time between 600 and 800 acres, chiefly timber land. He is in all respects a public-spirited citizen, of that stamen which is recognized as the bone and sinew of any new country and community. 
 
 

Commemorative Biographical Record of the Upper Wisconsin counties of Waupaca, Portage, Wood, Marathon, Lincoln, Oneida, Vilas, Langlade and Shawano, containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, and of many of the Early Settled Families.

Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co 1895
Copied & transcribed by Elaine O’ Leary 

Pgs 922-923 

FRANZ  F.  KOSKE, a popular and successful business man of Green Valley township, Shawano county, was born in the city of Pyritz, Pomerania, Germany, and is a son of Samuel and Hannah (Bretlof) Koske, who were both born in the above-named city. 
  
Samuel Koske received a good education, and when a young man learned the trade of blacksmith, which he followed up to the time of his retirement, a few years ago. He now resides in Pyritz; his wife died in 1869. They had the following-named children: August, Albert, and Rudolph, who live in Germany; Bernard, in Berlin, Germany; Amelia, now Mrs. Emil Schmidt, of Shawano county, Wis.; Franz F., subject of this sketch; Bertha, living in Germany; and Reinhold, in Pulcifer, Wisconsin. 
  
Franz F. Koske received a good common-school education, and at the age of fifteen commenced to learn the trade of miller, at which he served three years, following this trade in Germany, and after coming to America. In June, 1882, he sailed from Hamburg, and, after a voyage of nineteen days, landed in New York, thence coming directly to Monroe, Green Co., Wis., where he remained five months with friends, working on a farm three months out of the five. Going then to Shawano. Shawano Co., Wis., he secured work there as head miller in the mill of Fred Kost, remaining in his employ four months, after which he came to Pulcifer, and was head miller here for Schwarz & Bergner for four years. 
  
On November 7, 1884, Franz F. Koske was united in marriage, in Dodge county, Wis., with Miss Louise Heldt, who was born in Lomira, Dodge county, and they have had three children, namely: Herbert, Hattie and Otto. The parents of Mrs. Koske, Gottfried and Mary (Besco) Heldt, have been married fifty years. They were born in Germany, came to the United States after their marriage, and settled on a farm in Mayville, Dodge Co., Wis., where they now reside. In 1888 Mr. Koske erected his present place of business, where his trade has so increased that he is now building a large addition to the store. He also carries on a small farm. He is a Democrat in politics, but has never sought office. Mr. Koske is pleasant, affable, much respected in the community, and has many friends.
 

Commemorative Biographical Record of the Upper Wisconsin counties of Waupaca, Portage, Wood, Marathon, Lincoln, Oneida, Vilas, Langlade and Shawano, containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, and of many of the Early Settled Families.

Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co 1895
Copied & transcribed by Elaine O’ Leary 

Pgs 752-53 

DELOS W. KRAKE, one of the honored pioneers of Shawano county, was born in Montgomery county, N. Y., December 10, 1828, and is a son of Jacob and Eve (Dillenbach) Krake. The family is of Holland extraction, and both parents were natives of New York. The father followed farming as a means of livelihood, and though he never attained wealth he supplied his family with the comforts of life. Mr. and Mrs. Krake were the parents of fourteen children, ten sons and four daughters, namely: Josiah, David, Nelson, John, Charles, Walstein, Delos W., Jonas, Ira, William H., Eve A., Sarah, Almira, and one daughter who died in infancy.  
      
Upon the old home farm our subject spent his early boyhood, and attended the district schools of the neighborhood. Since the age of fifteen he has been dependent upon his own resources, at which time he began to earn his living as a farm hand. When a young man of twenty-three years, he resolved to seek his fortune in the West, hoping that upon its broad fields he might find better opportunities. His first location was in Fond du Lac county, Wis., where he worked in a shingle-mill. On leaving that place he came to Shawano, which at that time contained only a few buildings, and here secured employment in the woods and on the river. Being pleased with his western home, he returned to New York and brought his parents to Wisconsin, the father renting a farm in Fond du Lac county, where he resided until his death, in 1861. During the greater part of the time afterward Mrs. Krake made her home with our subject, and died in Hartland township, Shawano county, in 1876.  
      
When his parents arrived in this State, Mr. Krake was employed in the lumber woods along the Wolf river and its tributaries. About 1859, in connection with others, he took up land in Section 16, Hartland township, and began the improvement of a farm, not a furrow having been turned or an improvement made upon the place. He built a shanty, 8x12 feet, the roof  being made of basswood logs hollowed out. He then cleared five acres of the land, and remained in the vicinity of Hartland township until 1861, when he rented a farm near Oshkosh, and immediately began its cultivation; but in October of that year he laid aside all civil pursuits to engage in his country's service, enlisting at Oshkosh as a member of Company A, First Wis. V. I. under Captain Goodrich. The troops were sent to Camp Randall, at Milwaukee, thence to Louisville and West Point, Ky., where they remained until December. At Green river, while en route for Nashville, they took part in their first skirmish. The following year they participated in the battles of Murfreesboro, Perryville and Chattanooga, and Mr. Krake was then chosen from his company to return home and secure recruits. This work being efficiently done, he joined his Command at Chattanopga, was in the Atlanta campaign, and continued in the engagements until Jonesboro, whence his regiment was sent to Nashville. While there his term of service expired, and he was mustered out at Milwaukee in October, 1864.  
      
Mr. Krake then returned to his mother's home in Fond du Lac county, and in the spring of 1865 rented a farm in Winnebago county. On October 22, of that year; he married Miss Polly Jane Strate, who was born in Steuben county, N.Y., July 20, 1829, a daughter of L. B. Strate who was born in Troopsburg, N.Y., in 1813.  With her parents she came to Wisconsin in 1856; the family locating in Oshkosh township Winnebago county. Her brothers and sisters were Levi, a farmer of Snell's Station, Winnebago county; Helen, who became the wife of Hiram James, and died in Port Washington, Wis.; Squire L., who enlisted in the Union army, and was taken sick at Madison, Wis., where he died a few months later, being only seventeen years of age at the time. The father of this family died March 8, 1889, and was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Neenah, Wis. His widow is living at Snell Station with her son Levi. In the spring of 1866 Mr. Krake located upon his farm in Section 16, Hartland township, making the journey from Winnebago county in a sleigh. His home was a building 14 x 22 feet, that had served as the first school house of Hartland township. He has since been engaged in the cultivation of his farm, and now has eighty acres of land, of which fifty acres are under a high state of cultivation, yielding to him a rich return for the care and labor he bestows upon it. Mr. and Mrs. Krake have had five children: Waldo, who died at the age of two years; Ella, wife of William Shier, of Angelica, Wis.; Louis, Effie and Adelaide, at home. The mother is a member of the Methodist Church, and is a most estimable lady. Mr. Krake is a supporter of the Republican party, and served as postmaster of Bonduel for three years. He was also township treasurer and assessor, was census enumerator in 1890, and has held various school offices, discharging all public duties with promptness and fidelity, and being equally true in all the relations of business and private life.
 

Commemorative Biographical Record of the Upper Wisconsin counties of Waupaca, Portage, Wood, Marathon, Lincoln, Oneida, Vilas, Langlade and Shawano, containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, and of many of the Early Settled Families.

Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co 1895
Copied & transcribed by Elaine O’ Leary 

Pages 604-5 

ANTONE KUCKUK - This gentleman needs no introduction to the citizens of Shawano, for---whether in business or social circles—there are few men in that thriving little city, or indeed in Shawano county, who are better or more favorably known. Though yet a young man, he occupies a most prominent position among the successful and influential citizens of the county, and the fact that that position has been attained solely by his own efforts proves that the esteem in which he is held is well merited. 
      
Mr. Kuckuk is one of Wisconsin's native sons, born February 10, 1863, in Schleisingerville, Washington county, son of Henry Kuckuk, who in 1843 emigrated to the United States from Germany, his native country, and locating at Racine, Wis., then a new town in a new and unsettled region, engaged in various kinds of labor in and near that place. When a young man he wedded Miss Theresa Mueller, also a native of Germany, who came to the United States in girlhood with her stepfather, Frederick Menger, and to this union came children as follows: William, of Wausau, Wis.; Henry, who is local agent of the New Home Sewing Machine Co., at Marinette, Wis.; Antone Kuckuk, whose name opens this sketch; George, a clerk, of Shawano; John, street commissioner of Shawano; and Carrie, Mrs. George Smith, of Jamestown, N. Dak. The father of this family served in the Civil War as a member of the Forty-fifth Wis. V. I.  He died at Wausau, Wis., May 4, 1869, whither the family had moved when our subject was but a child, and being a working man, laboring hard to support his family, he left his widow and children with scarcely any means; Mrs. Kuckuk passed her last years at the home of her son Antone, in Shawano, dying May 4, 1892, at the age of sixty-three years. She sleeps her last sleep in Shawano Cemetery.  
      
The subject proper of this sketch was but six years of age at the time of his father's decease. The family, not being well acquainted in Wausau shortly afterward removed to Schleisingerville where they had formerly resided, but the widowed mother, being without means, found it impossible to keep her family together, and they were soon scattered. Our subject took up his home with his grandfather, Fred Menger, and received his education in the common schools, which he attended only up to the age of twelve years, having since that time earned his own livelihood. When twelve years old he began as roustabout, in the "Wisconsin Hotel," at Hartford, Wis., his salary beng five dollars a month, and about two years later he went to Wausau, Wis., where he entered the employ of John Kiefer, a general merchant at that place, as clerk. It was his first experience in this line, but he proved very apt in learning the business, and retained his position four years, or until April, 1881, when he found an opening in Shawano, a situation having been offered him by H. H. Andrews, with whom he remained nearly five years. In September, 1885, Mr. Kuckuk embarked in a new enterprise, taking charge of the jewelry business previously conducted by G. D. Tolman, which came into his hands as the principal creditor; the stock of goods then on hand did not amount to more than $250, and Mr. Kuckuk entered the business reluctantly. Having once commenced, however, he resolved to give it due attention, and having increased the stock, he devoted himself to it with such success that the rooms he had removed into in May, 1887, were found to be too small for the now prosperous and increasing business, and  in 1890 the substantial business block (one of the best in Shawano) of Kuckuk & Pulcifer was completed.  In this building are two commodious business rooms, one occupied by the jewelry business, of which Mr. Kuckuk is sole proprietor, and the other by the grocery business of Kuckuk & Pulcifer, in which he has a half interest. On February 2, 1895, Mr. Kuckuk received a diploma from the Chicago Ophthalmic College, and he is the only graduate in ophthalmology in Shawano county. He has a jewelry business the size of which would do credit to a city double the size of Shawano, and he also deals extensively in pianos, organs and other musical instruments. This result has been brought about by the good management which characterizes Mr. Kuckuk in every business he has undertaken, and which has been a potent factor in the success which has followed him throughout his business career. In 1890 he became a member of the firm of Kuckuk & Pulcifer, who conduct a flourishing grocery business in Shawano, and he is also a stockholder in the Shawano Shoe Manufacturing Company. 
      
Though never neglecting his own business affairs, Mr. Kuckuk has always given his aid and support to any enterprise for the improvement of Shawano and the advancement and welfare of the community in general, and he is at present serving as a director of the Shawano Water Power and River Improvement Co. He has served as a member of the county board from Shawano, and was supervisor of the Second Ward of Shawano for one term; he is a Republican in political faith, but takes no interest in politics as a "politician." Socially, he is a member of the F. & A. M., being connected with Shawano Lodge No. 170, of which he is the present master, and of the Temple of Honor, in which he is now serving as trustee, and he has held every office in the Order, of which he has been a leading active member.  On October 20, 1885, Mr. Kuckuk was united in marriage, in Shawano, with Miss Mary E. Pulcifer, who was born January 27, 1865, in Fond du Lac, Wis., daughter of Daniel H. and Anna E. (Wright) Pulcifer, and to this union have come two children: Athol O., born January 28, 1887, and Inez B., born July 13, 1892, both living. In 1890 Mr. Kuckuk built a beautiful home in the Second ward of Shawano. Mrs. Kuckuk is a member of the Methodist Church. Enterprising and progressive, our subject is identified with every movement which promises to quicken the march of progress in his town and county, where he has hardly an equal among those of his age, as a self-made man of recognized worth and abilty.
 
 

Commemorative Biographical Record of the Upper Wisconsin counties of Waupaca, Portage, Wood, Marathon, Lincoln, Oneida, Vilas, Langlade and Shawano, containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, and of many of the Early Settled Families.

Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co 1895
Copied & transcribed by Elaine O’ Leary 

Pg 790-791 

WILLIAM KUEHL, a prosperous farmer of Washington township, Shawano county, was born in Prussia, thirteen miles from Berlin, Germany, June 16, 1834, son of Joachim and Mary (Schieber) Kuehl, who were both born in Prussia. Joachim Kuehl was a farmer in comfortable circumstances.  He died in 1835, and his wife survived him about a year, dying in 1836.  They had the following named children: Fredericka, now deceased; Christian, who succeeded his father on the farm, and died in Prussia; Joachim and Charles, now deceased; and William, the subject of this sketch.  
      
William Kuehl received a good common-school education, left school at the age of fourteen, and worked at home on the farm, which was managed by his uncle, Gottfried, until his eldest brother became of age. He remained at home until he was about twenty-one, then went to his uncle's, twenty-one miles away, was with him for two years, and returned home in the fall. In the following spring, 1857, he came to America. Leaving Bremen in the sailing vessel "Hansa," which was formerly a Prussian warship, he was twenty-three days in crossing the ocean to New York, during which time fire broke out in the hold of the vessel, and was extinguished only with much danger and trouble, and they had to put into Boston for a supply of coal. He went direct to Mayville, Dodge Co., Wis., remaining there a short time with his brother, Joachim, who had come to America one year previously. Going then to Beaver Dam, Dodge Co., Wis., he worked on a prairie near there until the spring of 1859; then came to Shawano and hired out to H. C. Naber, clearing land, and continuing with him about two years. He then bought eighty acres of land which was partially improved. 
      
On November 11, 1860, in Shawano, Shawano Co., Wis., William Kuehl was united in marriage with Miss Sophia Fink, who was born in Germany May 28, 1842, and their children are as follows: Charles and Hattie, at home; Mary, now Mrs. Gustav Tiemer, of Cecil, Washington township; William, John and Alice, at home; Emma, at Shawano, and Albert, at home. When eighteen years of age Miss Sophia Fink, now Mrs. Kuehl, came to America with her mother in the sailing vessel "Donah," landing in New York. Her father had previously died in Germany. They first settled in Mayville, Dodge Co., Wis., and later went to Shawano, Shawano county.  
      
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Kuehl settled on their eighty acres in Shawano, where they remained ten years, in the fall of 1870 removing to Washington township. He traded the eighty acres in Shawano for a house and lot and 400 acres of wild land in Washington township, with Cornelius Crowley, and after clearing built a small log house. He obtained an excellent start by selling his pine land. Of the 400 acres he still has retained 180, which are in Section 23. In 1875 he built his present home, which is a good, substantial house, comfortably furnished. Mr. Kuehl has held the office of township clerk for one year, has been chairman one term, and district school clerk for three years. Both Mr. and Mrs. Kuehl are members of the German Lutheran Church, and he takes an active part in Church matters. He is a worthy gentleman, well-to-do, and highly honored and respected.
 

FOUR GENERATIONS OF KUPSKY FAMILY 

Four generations of the Kupsky family are represented in the accompanying picture.  It is a rare occasion when a family can boast of four generations.  Ferdinand Kupsky, who is 76 years old and is one of the early pioneers of this county, represents the first generation; his son, Herman, aged 53, the second generation, and Herman’s son, Adolph, aged 24, the third, while the latter’s son, the smiling little fellow, Leslie, 14 (or 24) months, is the fourth generation. 

Ferdinand Kupsky came to this country from Germany in 1867, when he was seven years old.  His parents settled in Belle Plaine on land located just off what was then called Military Road.  It was the first trail to be cut by the government through northern Wisconsin.  All about was dense wilderness and in typical pioneer fashion, Mr. Kupsky’s father set about building a new home in a new country.  All of Mr. Kupsky’s life has been spent on this same farm, which has been developed by three generations of the family. 

Like many of those early settlers, Mr. Kupsky’s father had only a small sum of money to take he and his family to America.  When they arrived in Belle Plaine the money had dwindled away and it was up to him to take the first job at hand in order that he might provide food for his family.  His father was one of the first wagonmakers to come to these parts and because of his skilled knowledge of the work it was not hard for him to find employment.  “Those were the days, “ Mr. Kupsky said, “when a man worked for a living.” There was no county aid, no old age pensions, nor relief.  Both men and women worked from sun-up to sunset, taking advantage of every opportunity offered them.  “People were more content and appreciated what nature had to offer,” he said.  “They lived simple lives and knew the joys that came with such manner of living.”  He well remembers when his father paid $15.00 for a barrel of flour(?) 

In 1883 he married Augusta Reinke in the town of Grant and brought her home to his father’s farm to live.  There are eight children in the family, five boys, one of whom is a minister, and three girls.  The children are: Herman, who lives in Appleton; henry, of this city; Ted, who resides on a farm near Bonduel; rev. William Kupsky of Bellwood; Albert, who is on the home farm; Helen, Mrs. William Schmelling, Rockford, Illinois; Tillie, Mrs. Arnold Krohn, this city; and Gertrude, Mrs. Walter Cash, who lives near Rockford.  There are 17 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. 

Besides farming, Mr. Kupsky and his sons have operated a sawmill on the farm for over twenty years.  All of them worked in the mill besides assisting with the farm work.  Today, Mr. Kupsky’s son does as his father did—operates the mill along with the farm. 

Two years ago, Mr. Kupsky fell from a ladder and broke his hip, and since that time has been forced to retire.  Mr. and Mrs. Kupsky celebrated their golden wedding anniversary nearly five years ago.  In March 1937, they will have been married fifty-five years.  Mrs. Kupsky is 77 years old. 

For many years, Mr. Kupsky has been active in the town of Belle Plaine as well as in the county.  He served as a member of his town board and has been a member of the Shawano County fair association for many years and is one of the early presidents of that organization.  Age, however, has not diminished his interest in the association and this week you will find him at the county fair just as he has been coming for over fifty years. 

Mr. Kupsky is among the last of those pioneers who aided in the development of this community.  Their foresight and integrity have builded a community that they can, with pride, hand down to the generations to come.  He has built a beautiful farm home, he has reared a fine family, and now, when he has reached that place in life when he no longer can engage in active work, he is able to guide others because of his experience.  We know the late years are going to be all the more interesting and amusing because of that curly haired little fellow, his great grandson, who has come to bring happiness to one of Shawano county’s oldest pioneers. 
 

Commemorative Biographical Record of the Upper Wisconsin counties of Waupaca, Portage, Wood, Marathon, Lincoln, Oneida, Vilas, Langlade and Shawano, containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, and of many of the Early Settled Families.

Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co 1895
Copied & transcribed by Elaine O’ Leary 

Pages 114-115 

ANTON LIEG & SON is the name of one of the most prominent business firms of Shawano, and these gentleman demonstrate what can be accomplished through industry, diligence and perseverance. The senior member of the firm was born in Prussia June 22, 1835, and is a son of Kasler Lieg, a tailor by trade. The father died when Anton was only seven years of age, leaving the widow with two children—Anton and John.  
    
After obtaining an ordinary education, Anton Lieg at the age of fourteen began working as a slater, and when seventeen he came to the United States, going down the Rhine to Rotterdam, thence sailing across the North Sea to Hull, England, and from there journeying by rail to Liverpool, where he boarded a sailing vessel, which sixty days later reached New York harbor in safety. From there traveling westward, his funds were exhausted at Erie, Penn., in consequence of which he was forced to seek work there, and obtaining a position as a farm hand, remained there from August, 1852, until July, 1853, when he came by boat to Milwaukee. He had been employed on the construction of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern railroad, but through a dishonest contractor lost his wages. In Milwaukee, he secured work in a brickyard, receiving from $25 to $30 per month, and in that locality he remained until 1856, when he went to Green Bay, Wis., where he again secured work in a brickyard. 
      
On October 20, 1864, in Green Bay, Wis., Mr. Lieg married Miss Gertrude Bibelhausen, a native of Germany, born February 18, 1844. When a child she came to the United States with her father, John Bibelhausen, who engaged in farming in DePere township, Brown Co., Wis. For four years Mr. Lieg continued his connection with the brickyard, then worked as a gardener in the summer and chopped cord wood in the winter. He also clerked for two winters in a store there, purchasing a house on Main street near Rahr's brewery, and kept boarders. In 1871 he came to Shawano—traveling by stage—and here worked as a gardener, while his wife conducted a little store, beginning with a capital of only $60. In the fall of 1871 they returned to Green Bay, where for a short time Mr. Lieg was employed as overseer of a gang of men. In the spring of 1872 he again came to Shawano, and purchasing twenty-two acres of land, began the manufacture of brick. He had disposed of his property in Green Bay, and now had a capital of $1,100; but the new business proved a failure, and left him with only $200. With this he began merchandising, at first renting his store room, but after thirteen days he purchased it. He first opened with a stock of groceries, and subsequently added dry goods, later developing a general store.  At first the family lived in the store room which was 40 x 20 feet, as they did not wish to go beyond their means;  but as time passed prosperity attended the new undertaking, and today the establishment is one of the best mercantile houses in Shawano, occupying as it does a brick building 82 x 20 feet.   
      
The firm of Anton Lieg & Son have carried on a successful business, and fair and honorable dealing, courteous treatment and earnest, desire to please their patrons' have been the important factors in their success. Theirs is one of the most substantial firms in Shawano, and in connection with general merchandising, they are interested in the Shawano Wafer Power and River Improvement Co., the Shawano Shoe Factory, and the Shawano County Bank. The business history, of this locality would be incomplete without the record of their lives, for they have greatly promoted commercial activity in this region, and while promoting individual prosperity have advanced the material welfare of the community. 

While living in Green Bay, the following children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Lieg: Catherine who died in infancy; John A., a member of the firm of Lieg & Son; John, who died at the age of five years; and Mary, who died at the age of ten. Since coming to Shawano the family circle has been increased by the birth of the following children; Catherine and Frank, who are employed in their father's store; Charles, who died in infancy; Peter and Joseph, at home. In politics, Mr. Anton Lieg has always been a Democrat, and served as alderman for five years, but has never been a politician in the sense of office seeking.   In religious belief he is a Catholic, and helped to build the beautiful church in Shawano. He also belongs to St. Bonifacius Society of Green Bay. [Since the above was written Mr. Anton Lieg died at his home August 12, 1895.]  
      
JOHN A. LIEG, the wide-awake and enterprising young businessman of the firm was educated in the common schools of Shawano, and has been connected with the mercantile store here from the beginning. He has served as a member of the city council for two years.
 
 

Commemorative Biographical Record of the Upper Wisconsin counties of Waupaca, Portage, Wood, Marathon, Lincoln, Oneida, Vilas, Langlade and Shawano, containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, and of many of the Early Settled Families.

Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co 1895
Copied & transcribed by Elaine O’ Leary 

Pages 475-7 

HEALY MARCY LOOMER, at present one of the Agency Clerks at Green Bay Indian Agency, Keshena, Shawano Co., Wis., but whose home is in the city of Shawano, was born in the town of Oppenheim, near the village of Brocketts Bridge (now Dolgeville), Fulton Co., N. Y., November 5, 1847 and is the son of Aaron Perry and Esther Marcy (Healy) Loomer.  

Aaron P. Loomer, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in the town of Stratford, Fulton Co., N.Y., on the 31st of May, 1822, and was brought up a farmer, but for the past thirty years has been a hotel keeper. He had three children, as follows: Healy M., the subject of this sketch, is the oldest; Byron Lucien, unmarried, is a farmer at Zillah, Washington; Guilford Morell, is a resident of Beaumont, Jefferson Co., Texas, and has been engaged in lumbering the greater part of his life, meeting with fair success. He married a daughter of Col. T. D. Rock, of Woodville. Texas, and has four children:  Perry, Harry, Mary and Bessie.   The subject of our sketch is of Scotch, English, Irish and Mohawk-Dutch ancestry. George Loomer, his great-grandfather on his father's side, and Job Wood, his great-grandfather on his mother's side, were Revolutionary soldiers, the latter living to be upward of ninety years old, and his wife was one hundred years old at the time of her death. 

The Loomers are descendants of emigrants from Connecticut, who moved into New York State shortly after the Revolutionary war.  George Loomer, grandfather of H. M. Loomer, died with the cholera when his son, Aaron P. Loomer, was an infant, and his widow, Hannah (Chase) Loomer, a few years afterward, married again, and lived to the age of ninety-five years. At the time of her death it was claimed that she was the oldest living heir to the noted Chase-Townley estate of England. Aaron P. Loomer was an only son, and had a half-sister, Ophelia White, who married Andrew Thompson, and died in Oshkosh, Wis., a few years ago. 

Healy M. Loomer was reared a farmer's boy, but being averse to that mode of life, was sent to school. After learning what could be taught him in the rather primitive district country school, where he lived, he attended Fairfield Seminary, in Herkimer county, N. Y., which, at that time, was quite a noted institution of learning. At the age of seventeen he commenced teaching district schools, and while not attending school himself engaged in this vocation until he was about twenty-three. Taking Horace Greeley's advice, at that time quite notorious, to "'Go west, young man; go west," he landed in Oshkosh, Wis., May 1, 1869. In the fall of 1869, Charles M. Upham, a merchant of Shawano, engaged him to go to Shawano and teach the village school, and he arrived in the then frontier village of Shawano, November 6, 1869. At that time Shawano was the last settlement between Green Bay and Ontonagon, Mich., on Lake Superior, a distance of over two hundred miles. The nearest railroad was at Green Bay, Brown county, a distance of forty miles. After teaching school in Shawano for two years, Mr. Loomer went to work in the lumber woods. His first job was given him by T. H. Dodge. He worked in the woods for two years, and then, in company with John A. Winans, John M. Schweers and Chas. R. Klebesadle, purchased the Shawano County Journal from M. H. McCord, changed its politics from rabid Republican to rabid Democratic, eventually bought his partners' interest, and while under his control, the paper was one of the staunchest and sprightliest Democratic country weeklies in the State. In 1879 he sold the Journal to Mrs. Peavcy, now State School Superintendent of Colorado, and a sister of Governor Upham, of Wisconsin. Mr. Loomer, after taking a trip to Montana in company with a colony from Chippewa Falls, which was headed by ex-Speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly, A. R. Barrows, returned to Shawano and engaged in lumbering for several years; was the editor and half owner of the Shawano County Advocate for some time, after which he was land man and private secretary for Chas. M. Upham of Shawano, for two years. In 1887, Col. Win. F. Vilas, then postmaster-general, obtained for him the position of agency clerk at the Green Bay Indian Agency, under Thos. Jennings, agent, which position he resigned at the end of a year to accept a position with Robinson & Flinn, pine land dealers of Detroit, Mich., to go south to purchase pine lands for them, which business he was engaged in for several years, becoming familiar with all the long-leaf pine territory from Texas to Florida.  In September, 1894, Thomas H. Savage, agent at the Green Bay Indian Agency, appointed him to his present position. 

In politics Mr. Loomer has always been a Democrat, and has taken an active interest in politics ever since coming to Wisconsin.  He has received many nominations from his party; but on account of the large Republican majority in his vicinity has been elected but a few times.   In 1876 he was nominated by his party for member of Assembly, the District at that time consisting of Shawano and Oconto counties. He ran away ahead of his ticket in his own county, but Oconto county gave a large enough majority for his opponent to elect him. In 1878 he was his party's candidate for State Senator for the First Senatorial District, which at that time was composed of the territory that now embraces the counties of Shawano, Oconto, Door, Kewaunee, Marinette, Florence, Forest and Langlade, nearly one-fourth of the whole State. His opponent, George Grimmer, of Kewaunee, was elected in 1876 by over nineteen hundred majority, but he only succeeded in defeating Mr. Loomer by about two hundred and fifty votes; but who had the satisfaction, however, of receiving in his home city all the votes cast but twenty-seven. Mr. Loomer has repeatedly been elected a member of the county board of supervisors of Shawano county, and several times has been chairman of the board. He has also several times been elected city clerk and alderman of Shawano. In 1882 he was elected county clerk of Shawano county, but failed to be re-elected. He has been chairman of the Democratic County Committee of Shawano county, several times, and has repeatedly been a delegate to all his party's conventions from a ward caucus to the Congressional and State Conventions. In 1884 he was an alternate to the Democratic National Convention at Chicago that renominated Grover Cleveland for President, and was one of his stanch supporters. 

On July 7, 1875, Healey M. Loomer was united in marriage in the Presbyterian Church at Shawano, by the Rev. A. F. DeCamp, to Bessie Ann Charnley, who was born at Newport, R. I. April 2, 1852, and they have had two children born to them, namely:  Grace Esther, born March 6, 1877, who is now a school teacher; and Inez Healy, born February 6, 1879, who is now a school girl and resides at home. The parents of Mrs. Loomer were William and Sarah (McNeil) Charaley, the former of whom was an Englishman from Lancaster, England, the latter a Scotch woman from Johnstone, near Glasgow, Scotland, both of whom emigrated to America in early life, and were married in the State of Rhode Island. 

Mr. Charnley was a mason and a farmer by occupation. He removed from Rhode Island to a farm he purchased near Black Lake in St. Lawrence county, N. Y., where he lived for many years. In 1869 he came to Milwaukee, Wis., removing to Shawano in 1871, and both he and his wife died there. Their children living are as follows: Mary, wife of James A. Alien, of Shawano, Wis., James, wife of John Loan, a farmer of Shawano; Bessie A., the wife of H. M. Loomer, the subject of this sketch; John T., of Alexandria, Louisiana, who has a wife and two children (he is a mason by trade, and is also engaged in the soda-water bottling business);  Frances Ida, of St. Paul, Minn., who is an assistant principle in one of the city high schools; William H. C., unmarried, who is a farmer and speculator and lives in the town of Richmond, Shawano county, and Anna, wife of John Williams, a hardware merchant of Marshfield, Wisconsin. 

Mr. Loomer is a Knight Templar Mason, and in 1878-79 was grand senior deacon of the Grand Lodge of A. F. & A. M. of Wisconsin. He has been the representative of his Lodge in the Grand Lodge many times, and is an enthusiastic Mason. He formerly belonged to the I. O. O. F., and Mrs. Loomer is still a member of the Daughters of Rebekah of that order.  Mr. Loomer is not connected with any religious denomination, but his wife and two daughters are Episcopalians.
 
 

Commemorative Biographical Record of the Upper Wisconsin counties of Waupaca, Portage, Wood, Marathon, Lincoln, Oneida, Vilas, Langlade and Shawano, containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, and of many of the Early Settled Families.

Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co 1895
Copied & transcribed by Elaine O’ Leary 

Pgs 765-66 

C. P. E. LUTZ, superintendent of the M. L. O. H. at Wittenberg, Shawano county, was born in Germany, June 14, 1849, and came of a prominent family there. His father, Judge Ferdinand Lutz, was a man of good education and fine position. He died in Germany, in 1851, and his wife survived until 1894. In the family were twelve children, five sons and seven daughters. One son, Ferdinand, was first mate on the vessel "Veritas," which went down on the Chinese coast with all on board. Two other brothers, Herman and Bernard, were officers in the Austrian army, and the fourth brother, Adolph, was a physician. 

Mr. Lutz was the eleventh child of the family. At the age of four he entered the kindergarten, and at ten entered college at Goettingen, the University of Hanover, and began studying languages. When he was fifteen, years of age his sailor brother returned home and stimulated our subject's desire to see the world, so he shipped from Hamburg on a ship as a cabin boy, and for four years followed the sea. He visited Cape Town, Madras, Rio Janeiro, Porto Rico, and most of the large seaports of Europe, and has therefore seen much of the world. He had intended going to a navigation school, but the political difficulty in 1866 in Hanover led to the alteration of his plans. Owing to his father’s merits, his widowed mother and her family were supported by the King of Hanover, George I.  Instead of entering the Prussian navy, Mr. Lutz came to the United States, sailing from Bremen in November, 1868, on the "Columbus", which reached New York after one hundred and sixteen days.  He paid the expenses of the voyage with money which he had himself earned. His destination was White Hall Station near Allentown, Penn., where a friend had told him he could secure work. He was employed in a stone quarry for a month, and also worked on a gravel train, after which he went to New York and clerked in a grocery and bakery. He was employed in the same capacity in Newark, N. J., and in June, 1869, went to Lyons, Iowa, where two of his former shipmates were then living. He first found employment in a sawmill and lumber yard, but after a short time became an instructor in a Lutheran school. In the fall of 1871 he entered a normal school of Addison, Ill., where he was graduated in June, 1873, and was thereby fitted for teaching in the Lutheran Church Congregation School, near West Point, Neb. He remained in charge of that school from September, 1873, until Easter, 1875.  
  
During his residence there Professor Lutz was married March 30, 1875, at Stanton, Neb., to Augusta Schultze, a native of Prussia, born November 17, 1855. She came to the United States with her parents in 1870. Her father, Carl L. Schultze, was a carriage and wagon manufacturer in his native land, but in this country followed farming. Eight children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Lutz: Paulina and Theresa, at home; Edmund, who died at the age of two years; Adolph; Ferdinand, Carl, Dorothea  and Alphonso, still under the parental roof. 
  
In April, 1875, Professor Lutz accepted a position as teacher of a parochial school in Cleveland, Ohio, at that time a branch of Zion Congregation, where he remained for thirteen years, after which he spent two years at the head of a school in Bedford, Ohio. In 1884 he revisited Germany, spending three months amidst the scenes and friends of his youth. On the 5th of August, 1889, he accepted a call to Sheboygan, Wis. and there continued until February 24, 1892, when he came to Wittenberg, having accepted a call as Superintendent of the Martin Luther Orphans' Home. This was built in 1885 by the Lutheran Church, and is supported by it.  Here one hundred and twelve orphans are cared for until the age of eighteen. It is an excellent institution, well worthy the support and commendation of all good people, and the scholars are making rapid progress under the able management of Mr. Lutz. He and his wife are faithful members of the Lutheran Church. He is a highly educated man and in his chosen work is meeting with excellent success.