Pages 271-272

WILLIAM SALZMANN, by virtue of the distinction he enjoys of being the most extensive lumberman and farmer in the country surrounding Tigerton, Shawano county, and his long residence in that locality, is entitled to prominent mention in the pages of this work.

A native of Germany, Mr. Salzmann was born April 25, 1859, in the Province of Pommern, a son of Charles and Wilhelmina (Huebner) Salzmann, who had a family of five children, as follows: Louise, wife of Julius Ceuske, a farmer of Fairbanks township, Shawano Co., Wis.; William, subject of these lines; Augusta, who is married to A. G. Runge, a shoemaker and merchant of Merrill, Wis.; Charles, a farmer of Morris township, Shawano county; and Amelia, wife of Earnest Dick, a farmer of Swartz Creek, Michigan. In the Fatherland Charles Salzmann was a day laborer on small wages, and, desiring to improve his condition and that of his belongings, he in 1877 emigrated to the United States, all the family accompanying him except the eldest daughter. Coming direct to Wisconsin and settling in Shawano county, the father located one year in Pella, and in the spring of 1878 settled on a homestead in Morris township, Shawano county, which, with the assistance of his sons William and Charles, he succeeded in clearing and converting into fertile fields and luxuriant meadows.  The parents, as are also their son Charles and his family, are still living on the old homestead, which by industry and toil they have increased to 160 acres, sixty of which are cleared.
     
The subject of this memoir, William Salzmann, received a fairly liberal education at the public schools of his native land, and was eighteen years old when he accompanied the rest of the family to the United States, remaining with his parents and caring for them in their declining years until 1891, when he sold out his interests to his brother, who, as above intimated, is still on the home farm in Morris township.  Our subject then moved to Tigerton (where he had previously worked considerably in sawmills), and bought seventy-two acres of land in Section 9, where he now lives.  Today he is the owner of 712 acres of land situated in various parts of this portion of the State, on some of which there is good timber growing, and during the past twelve years he has been engaged extensively in lumbering, buying land from which he would cut the timber for sale, and then sell the land.  In 1890-191 he bought and sold one million feet of hardwood logs, and each winter he gives employment to a large force of men and teams. He is essentially a lumberman, using his farm as his headquarters.

In 1886 Mr. Salzmann was united in marriage with Miss Bertha Gutshow, who was born in Mayville, Dodge Co., Wis., a daughter of Fred and Minnie Gutshow, who emigrated from Germany to this country, first locating on a farm in Dodge county, Wis., and later moving to Pella township, Shawano county, where they own a large farm. They are the parents of seven children, named respectively: Rudolph, Charles, Bertha, John, Minnie, Almira and Louise, all yet living except Louise. To Mr. and Mrs. William Salzmann have been born four children, to wit: Louis, Rudolph, Ida and Arthur.  Politically our subject is a Republican, a leader in the party in his part of the county; and in 1894 was a delegate to county conventions; in the same year he served as chairman of Fairbanks township and on the county board.  In religious faith he and his estimable life partner are Lutherans, and they enjoy the well-merited respect of all who know them. They have an elegant and comfortable home on the banks of a fine stream, with a railroad passing in front of the house, and Tigerton post office being but half a mile distant.