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From Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette, Wisconsin, publ. 1901 - page 297-298
CHARLES E. STEHL was born in Prussia, Germany, March 29, 1833, and is a son of John and Otallie (WASHSMITH) STEHL, who spent their entire lives in that country. He was given a good education in the German schools and in 1853 came to New York on the sailing-vessel "Oregon," the same year going to Philadelphia to work at the trade of a shoemaker. This calling he followed until 1865, when he came West. Mr. STEHL and Miss Caroline P. MYERS were married in 1857. Mrs. STEHL is the daughter of Jacob MYERS, a native of Germany, where she was born in 1833, coming in 1848 with her parents to Philadelphia, where her father died in 1855. The mother came West, and died in 1892 in Grant county.
When the Civil war broke out Mr. STEHL responded to the first call for volunteers, and enlisted in the 27th Penn. V.I. He took part in the second battle of Bull Run, at that time serving in the Army of the Shenandoah. Mr. STEHL participated in a number of battles in the Army of the Potomac, under Gen. Pope. He served under Gens. Burnside and Hooker, and was in the battles of Antietam and Gettysburg and a number of others less important. Mr. STEHL re-enlisted at the expiration of his first term, becoming a member of the 12th Penn. Volunteer Cavalry. Under Gen. Crooks they fought the Rebel army of Early, and on July 4, 1864, they were driven out of Harper's Ferry. This corps was then attached to the army of Gen. Sheridan, and served under that distinguished cavalryman until the close of the war. Mr. STEHL was at the battle of Winchester, and at Cedar Creek fought Mosby's guerrillas during the closing months of the war, and came home with the consciousness of having done his duty. A brave and efficient soldier, he was promoted from the ranks to official standing before the close of the war.
Mr. STEHL returned to Philadelphia when the war was ended. In the summer of 1865 he came West, locating in Arthur, in the town of Lima, Grant county, where he worked at his trade until 1893. After coming to the village he purchased the home which he owns at the present time, and he has other real-estate holdings. The career of Mr. STEHL is an honorable one. Landing in New York, he had only fifty cents with which to begin business in a strange land. From that humble beginning he has become one of the prosperous and well-to-do men of Grant county. Mr. STEHL was elected justice of the peace in 1875, serving continuously until 1898, was assessor for ten years, and in 1890 was census enumerator in his district. In 1898 he received the appointment of notary public. He is oil inspector for the State in his district.
Mr. and Mrs. STEHL are the parents of six children, of whom four are living at the present time: (1) Caroline and (2) Frank were both born in Philadelphia, and died in Wisconsin while children. (3) Louisa, born in Philadelphia in 1858, was a student at the State Normal at Platteville, and taught for several years in Grant county. She married W. E. BROWN, of Lyon county, Iowa, and is the mother of eight children, Frank, Charles, Ora, Katie, Minnie and Winny (twins), George and Luella. (4) Charles E., Jr., born in Philadelphia in 1860, is now an engineer in one of the mills in San Francisco, Cal. (5) Katie, born in Grant county in 1866, married John SCOTT, a resident of Des Moines, Iowa, and they have two children, Stella and Inez. (6) Minnie, born in Grant county in 1868, is the wife of Thomas HARSHA. They reside in the city of Nora Springs, Iowa, and have two children, Harry and Elton.
In politics Mr. STEHL is a Republican, has been prominent in the affairs of the town, and has been a delegate to the county convention for twenty-four consecutive years. As might be expected, he belongs to W. T. Sherman Post, G.A.R., at Platteville; and for forty-six years has been a member of the I.O.O.F., of the local lodge of which order instituted Jan. 5, 1874, in the town of Arthur, he is a charter member. Mr. STEHL was reared a Lutheran, but attends the Methodist Church in company with his wife. Mr. STEHL left two sisters in the old country, Dora and Mary, and is now the only living member of his family.
This biography generously submitted by Carol Holmbeck