Muskego Historical Society
Early Farm Families
Ernst Baas Family
LtR: Mabel Baas, Emma Louis Ruehle and Ernst Baas.
(Photo source: Ancestry, Joshua Seamars.)
Ernst Baas was born in Muskego, Wisconsin on 9 Nov 1861. In 1890 he married Lina Miller (1968-1901). Their children include Wilfred Samuel (1891-1961), Lenora (1893-1982), Esther (1898-1950), Elmer (1900-1995).
Ernst Baas married Emma Louise Ruehle (1876-1947) in 1904. Their children include Arnold Julius Benjamin (1905-2004) and Mabel (1910-1994).
Ernst Baas died on 5 Jul 1943 and is buried at St. Paul's Cemetery in Muskego.
Frederick Bluhm
Farmer, Sec. 24; P. O. Durham Hill; born near Robell, Mecklenburg, Schwerein, Dec, 13, 1887; the family emigrated in 1851; spent three months in Milwaukee; then settled in Wauwatosa, where he worked twelve years as teamster for Chase & Holson, stone quarry.
Married Christina Buddanhagen, who was born in 1837, near Tesein, Mecklenburg, Schwerein; they settled on the present farm Oct. 5, 1863; began with 76 acres and a log house; Mr. B. cleared the land of grubs and stone, added 27 acres, cleared 10 of timber, and made the whole smooth enough for machinery; in 1871, he built a 32x45 barn, and in 1876, a house, the upright of which is two stories, 18x28; kitchen wing 18x26, and woodhouse 18x26; his barn is now 32x76, with basement.
Mr. and Mrs. Bluhm have five children - Meena (Mrs. P. Pellman), Lizzie, Frederick, Ernest and Bertha; Mary died June 8, 1879, aged 14. The family belong to the Lutheran Church; Mr. B. is a Democrat.
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(Source: "History of Waukesha County" by Western Historical Company, Chicago 1880)
William Boldt
William C. Boldt of Tess Corners in Muskego, is credited with inventing the first barn cleaner. His patent, dated April 14, 1931, featured a continuous conveyor that traveled through the gutter behind a row of dairy cows as they stood in their stancheons. It carried away the refuse from the barn to a deposit pit or parked spreader for removal to the fields. The patent said, "a dairy can be kept in a very sanitary condition and the refuse cleaned out several times a day so that it will not remain standing in the barn any length of time".
Boldt also invented a special method of laying stone walls so that the mortar was not visible. Several of these buildings have been built of native fieldstone in the Muskego and Prospect Hill areas.
One of Boldt's plant specialties was his Carpathian Walnuts, the first to be planted in this area. He sent to Poland in the 1930's for the seed at $4 per pound. Directions were to soak the seed a week, then plant them two inches in the ground. He did, and they grew, taking 20 years to produce nuts with thin shells and husks that burst as they ripened.
(Source: Landmark Magazine Summer 1978)
August Caesar
August Caesar and his wife Christine originally came from Saxony, Germany. They lived in Milwaukee for ten years before moving to property on Big Muskego Lake in 1859.
There was a log cabin existing on the property. The main barn was built in 1877. The five bedroom cream city brick home was constructed in 1880.
August and Christine had six children, Melinda, Herman Frederich, Luis, Anna and William. August Caesar died in 1893. Christine died in 1890.
George Cook
George W. Cook was born in Germany in about 1811. He and wife Mary raised children who included Sophia, Augusta, Henriette, Augustus, and William.
Source: 1850 Federal Census
William Ferguson
William Ferguson was born on 2 Feb 1819 in County Cork, Ireland. He married Mary Varian (1817-1903) in 1843. Their children include John D., Susan Ann, Richard, Elizabeth, Alice Rosina, Robert, Mary, and Ellen. William died on 26 Jan 1906. He is buried in Forest Home Cemetery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
William Ferguson is on the left.
Photo source: kagnew5860; Ancestry.
George Fletcher
George Fletcher was born in England on 5 Feb 1818. He and his wife Sarah had several children including Hannah, William, George, Betsy, John, and Oscar. George died in 1900 and is buried in Sunnyside Cemetery, New Berlin, Wisconsin.
Ernst Gottlieb Guhr
Ernst Guhr was born in Germany on7 Aug 1848. He emigrated in 1863. He married Adelia Otillia Maria Baas (1849-1819). Their children include Delia A., George Gottlieb, and Emma Caroline. Ernst died on 1 May 1930. He is buried at Saint Peters Lutheran Cemetery in Waterford, Wisconsin.
Charles Albert Haut
Buried at St. Paul's Lutheran Cemetery
Charles Haut was born on 1 Nov 1870 in Germany. He married Martha Kusch (1878-1931) on 4 Feb 1899. Their children include Bertha, Herman, Irving, Gertrude, Irvin, Alfred, Selma, Delbert, and Roland. Charles died on 19 Mar 1950. Charles was naturalized 7 Dec 1925. He is buried in Saint Paul's Cemetery, Muskego, Wisconsin.
James Henneberry
James Henneberry was born in Ireland in 1820. He married to Winifred Mitten (1843-1924). Their children include James, Kate, and John. James was naturalized in 1888. He died in 1899 and is buried in Saint Martin of Tours Cemetery in Franklin, Wisconsin.
William Kingston
In 1848 William and his wife Barbara left Ireland and sailed from Queenstown to Quebec on a three-masted schooner, The Crimea. From Quebec they went south and settled for a time in Rochester, New York. William spent a year working digging the Genesee Valley Canal, and later worked on building railroads. Then they traveled west, relocating in North Greenfield, near Milwaukee.
William worked on constructing eighteen miles of track from Milwaukee to the Fox River, and later worked on a line that was headed toward Whitewater and Jefferson. These ventures failed and were financially disastrous for Kingston, who then turned to farming in the town of Muskego. He did well farming, and was described as being civic minded and honest. He also fathered thirteen children.
Heinrich Kurth
Born 1834 in Prussia
Died 1919 in Muskego, WI
Emigrated in 1853
Married in 1857 to Fredericka
Buried in St. Paul's Cemetery
Herman Kurtze
Herman Kurtze, farmer, Sec. 15; P. O. Muskego Center; born in Goze, Prussia, September, 1839; his parents, David and Rosine Kurtze, emigrated 1852, and located in Milwaukee, where Herman was engaged in Wertstein's Hotel for five months; he then engaged under Dr. Fassel for six years, and during the next six years worked the Doctor's farm in New Berlin; was engineer a year in Siegler's saw-mill, Hale's Corners, and in 1868 settled on his present farm of lily acres, most pleasantly situated on the shores of Muskego Lake.
He married Miss Paulina Warder, she was born in Prussia, and came to America in 1854; they have nine children, Emma, Bertha, Ida, Salina, Ella, Adda, Amanda, Charles, and Frances, all born in Waukesha County, the three eldest in New Berlin, and the others on the home farm, which is susceptible of being made a most beautiful summer resort. Mr. Kurtze is a Republican.
Died of tuberculosis on April 23, 1904 at the age of 64.
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(Source: History of Waukesha County)
George Law
George Law was born on 28 Jan 1814 in Northampton, Northampton Borough, Northamptonshire, England. He married Rebecca Mansfield (1818-1894) on 16 May 1840 in Lambeth, Surrey, England. Their children include Charles, Robert, Mary Ann, and Esther. George died on 7 Feb 1899 and is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery, Raymond, Wisconsin.
Cornelius Lynch
Cornelius Lynch was born in Ireland in 1811. He married Margaret Hourigan (1810-1850) on 1 Dec 1827 in St Finbarr's (South), Cork city, Ireland. Their children include Cornelius, John, Dane, Hannah/Anna, and Edward. Cornelius Lynch died on 13 Nov 1875 and is buried at Saint Martin of Tours Cemetery in Franklin, Wisconsin.
Possible marriage: Cornelius Lynch (1811-1875) married Ellen (1809-1954) in 1851.
Simon McKenna
Farmer; Bought a farm in Section 17, Muskego Township in 1839. Died in 1865.
James McLaughlin
John McShane
Farmer; Sec. 12; P. O. St. Martins, Milwaukee Co.; was born in September, 1836, in New York City; his parents, Michael and Rosanna, natives of Ireland; came to New York in 1828 and settled in Muskego in 1842.
Mr. McShane bought out the heirs and has owned the 92-acre homestead since 1861. Married Miss Catherine Hackett, who was born in Milwaukee; they have eight children - Mary E, James, Maggie, John, Bernard, Katie, Edward and Ellen, all born in Muskego.
Mr. McShane is a Roman Catholic and a Democrat; was town Treasurer in 1865 and 1866. His father died in 1843; his mother married Owen Carey, and lives near him.
Mr. McShane is a noted breeder of horses; his first horse, Young Plow Boy, sired by old Blackhawk, was owned by him from 1862 to 1867; in 1866 he bough Young Robin Hood, sired by imported Old Robin Hood; in September, 1878, he bought, near Ottawa, Canada, the splendid imported horse, Honest Sandy; this horse is a beautiful dapple brown, seventeen hands high and weighs 1,800 pounds; his stock, found among the best breeders of Washington Milwaukee, Racine, Walworth and Waukesha Counties, prove him to be the best horse in the State. Honest Sandy took three prizes at the Centennial, viz., the International, the United States and a special award, and never fails to carry off the prize he competes for; his owner now has a belt on which are seventeen medals and cups, won by this noble horse, as prizes.
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(Source: "History of Waukesha County" by Western Historical Company, Chicago 1880)
Peter Muckey
Birth: Mar. 9, 1796
West Copake
Columbia County
New York, USA
Death: Sep. 12, 1878
Muskego
Waukesha County
Wisconsin, USA
Son of Marcus Muckey and Catherine Allin/Elin. Husband of Catherine Muckey. Father of Marcus, Catherine, Joseph Albert, Amelia, Elizabeth, Margaret, Lorenzo, Eliza, Matilda, Caroline, Sally Ann, Harriet, Annaliza, and Cynthia.
Came to Muskego in 1841. Built a log tavern which was one of the main stops on the old Janesville Plank Road.
The Nieman Family
John Neiman (1836-1894) and his wife Sophia Stuhn (1835-1919) arrived in America in 1867. They moved from Brookfield, Wisconsin to Muskego to rent a farm in 1868.
William Neiman was born to John and Sophia in Muskego in 1869. William married Augusta Berndt (-1938) of Greenfield, Wisconsin. They had two sons: Edward (1911-1970) and John 1913-1999)
The Neimans lived on a farm on Woods Road. It ranged in size from 85 acres down to 30 acres in 1980.
[John (1913-1999) shared that] during the depression their family raised its own wheat, potatoes, vegetables,, pigs, chickens, and apples. Food was canned, and the wheat was ground into flour whish they sometimes used with dried apples for pies.
For amusement there was ice skating, sleigh rides, Sheepshead, visiting neighbors and friends, and church and school socials.
John remember basket socials and Christmas programs at Muskego Centre. In winter they went there in a cutter and in summer they road in a buggy or a double seated buggy call a "sharity."
(Source: Portrait of Muskego Farmers: 1836-1980)
William Paepke
Glenn Pellmann
Charlie Peters
Carl Posbrig
Carl Posbrig was born in Prussia on 2 Aug 1830 to Gottleib and Maria Posbrig. He married Johannie Milde (1831-1886). At the age of 25, Carl departed from Hamburg, Germany on 22 May 1856. He arrived in New York on 14 Jul 1856. Johannie joined Carl in the United States in 1859. Carl and Johannie's children include Theodore, Charles, Henry, and John. Carl died in Muskego on 8 Aug 1887 and is buried at St. Paul's Cemetery, Muskego.
John Post
The Franz Schaefer Family Farm
Owned and operated by three generations of Frank Schaefers.
Franz Schaefer (1817-1895)
(Photo source: Ancestry, Ronald Kurer)
Cedar Hedge Farm, S8642 Durham Drive, 1848 forward
Franz Schaefer (1817-1895) and wife wife Katherina (1823-1903) emigrated from Bavaria in 1847. They settled in Muskego in 1848. Their children include Henry, Elizabeth, John, Adam , Frank, and Magdalena.
The next generation, Frank(1864-1950) and his wife Katherine Puetzer (1869-1933) continued to farm the land. Their children include Mary, Frank, Gertrude, Florence, George, Fred, Laura, and Theresa.
And the next generation, siblings Frederick, Frank, and Gertrude, continued to operate the farm after their father's death. With the death of Frederick in 1971, family operation ceased but family ownership continued.
As noted in Portrait of Farm Families 1836-1980, they lived in the old Durham Hill School District and Gertrude remembers the basket social at school where neighbors gathered. "They were lots of u
During the Great Depression, the closeness to Big Muskego Lake kept them supplied with "an abundance of fish," Gertrude recalls.
(Source: Portrait of Farm Families: 1836-1980.)
Herman Schauwitzer
Born 1850 in Germany
Emigrated 1852
Married to Mary
William Searle
Henry Klaus Tans
Henry Klaus Tans was born in Hannover, Germany on 23 Sep 1833. Henry married Anna Margrett (1830-1898), their children include Mary, Johann (John), Anna, William, and Frederick (Fritz). Henry died on 20 Nov 1890 in Muskego, Wisconsin and is buried at the New Berlin Cemetery, New Berlin, Wisconsin.
Peter Vieau
John Wentland
Adolph Wollmer
Adolph Wollmer, farmer, Sec. 11; P. O. Tess Corners. Born Aug. 22, 1837, near Otterndorf, Hanover. His parents, Peter N. and Sophia W., emigrated in 1847, locating on a farm in Greenfield, Milwaukee Co., where Adolph remained until 1866. He then located on his farm of 94 acres; has cleared it of the stumps of the original timber, and built, in 1878, a large and pleasant, farmhouse; has also enlarged the original barn, it now being 30x80, and built one 26x30.
Married Miss Meena, daughter of C. L. Pellman. She was born in Saxony. They have five children – Tillie, Rudolph, Amanda, Edward and Ella, all born on the home farm. Mr. W. is a live farmer; formerly bred horses, but at present is raising grain; politics, Democrat.