Untitled
Surnames: Kaltenbach, Beyerli, Stephens, Moran, Clyde, Reynolds, Davy, McLimans, McDonald
From Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin, publ. 1901 - page 110-111
SIGMUND STEUERT, of the town of Fennimore, is one of the pioneers of Grant county. He was born in the Black Forest, Germany, Nov. 14, 1820, son of Jacob STEUERT, who died when our subject was four years old. His mother survived many years, and died in her native land. Mr. STEUERT was one of five children, and the only one of the family who came to this country. His father was a painter, and made a specialty of painting clock faces, and this became the trade of the son. Clockmaking was one of the principal industries of the people of that region.
In 1842 Sigmund STEUERT came to this country, in company with a neighbor who had already been to America. They were forty-two days in making the passage from Bremen to New York, on the sailing-vessel "Westfall," Our subject spent the winter in Pennsylvania, and the following year went to Stark county, Ohio, where he traveled with a horse and buggy, selling clocks, and made a few hundred dollars. He followed this business for about three and a half years, and then came to Grant county, making the journey to Columbus from Canton by canal, from there to Xenia by stage, and from there to Cincinnati by railroad. From that city he went down the Ohio to St. Louis, and thence to Galena by steamer, where he took the stage to Potosi, Wis., reaching that point March 18, 1846. A relative by the name of Celestine KALTENBACH had been a resident of the village from 1836. That spring he came to Fennimore, and bought land with the money ha had earned in Ohio. Mr. STEUERT had but five francs when he entered Pennsylvania. While in that State he desired to visit an uncle in Philadelphia, and, not wishing to spend his money on the fare, walked in, and paid his way by repairing clocks for the farmers on the road. It was a characteristic performance. He had nerve and strength.
When Mr. STEUERT bought land in the town of Fennimore he had as a partner, Marcus BEYERLI, who sold out to him after some two years, and went to California, making the voyage around Cape Horn, and, as he was never heard of, it is supposed he perished by the way.
Mr. STEUERT and Miss Cynthia STEPHENS, a native of Kentucky, were married July 30, 1848. She died in August, 1857, leaving four children: Samuel, of Fennimore; Cornelia, the wife of William MORAN, of Nebraska; Jacob, a resident of Kansas; and Sarah, who died at the age of eight years. A child named Sigmund died in infancy. Mr. STEUERT was married May 9, 1858, to his present estimable wife, Margaret Ann (CLYDE), who was born in Mercer county, Penn., March 20, 1820. Her parents, Solomon and Sabina CLYDE, came to Mineral Point, Wis., in 1850. They had eleven children, several of whom died young in Pennsylvania. Six of their children reached Wisconsin, and made homes for themselves in this State, where they cared for their parents. The mother died at Montfort in December, 1858, and the father died in August, 1865. Three of their daughters are now (1901) living, Mrs. STEUERT being the eldest. Mrs. Eliza REYNOLDS is in South Dakota. Mrs. Nancy DAVY, of Boscobel, Wis., is the youngest. Mrs. Jane McLIMANS, Mrs. Sarah SMITH, and a brother of Mrs. STEUERT lived in Boscobel. The latter was captain of a company in the war of the Rebellion; he died in Minnesota.
Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. STEUERT, as follows: Samuel, who is now at Fennimore, was a soldier in the war of the Rebellion, serving in the 48th Wis. V.I. Sabina is the wife of Eugene McDONALD, and lives on the old home farm of her parents, then in Fennimore, now included in the town of Mt. Ida. When Mr. STEUERT arrived in the town of Fennimore there were but slight settlements between that town and Lancaster. He became possessed of a fine farm there, and there all his children were born. In 1884 he removed to the village of Fennimore, where he yet lives, respected and highly esteemed by all who know him. He and his wife belong to the Methodist Church. She has been a member of the church since she was fourteen and her husband for more than forty years. Mr. STEUERT was in early life a Democrat, but when slavery became the leading issue he joined the Republican party. When the old issues were settled forever, feeling that the destruction of the saloon is the most vital question before the people, he became a member of the Prohibition party, and has worked with it for a number of years. Mr. STEUERT was the first German settler in what are now the towns of Fennimore, Mt. Ida, Hickory Grove, Marion, and other northern townships. He was justice of the peace for twelve years, and at his first and last elections to the office not a single vote was cast against him.
This biography generously submitted by Carol Holmbeck