History of Lincoln, Oneida and Vilas Counties

"History of Lincoln, Oneida, and Vilas Counties Wisconsin"

Compiled by George O.Jones, Norman S. McVean and Others. Printed in 1924 by H.C.Cooper. Jr. & Co., Minneapoli-Winona MN. ill. 787 pages. The first two hundred pages are history of the three counties, the remainder of the book is biographies.

Biography

Rusch, August present county clerk of Lincoln County, was born in Germany Dec. 22, 1852, son of Charles and Minnie (ZAEGER) RUSCH. The parents were natives of Germany and the father followed the trade of blacksmith in that country until the summer of 1857, when the family came to the United States. Here they located at Milwaukee and the father was employed in a hardware store there for a time, during the period of which service he met with an accident in which he was injured. They moved from Milwaukee to Waushara County, where they were occupied in developing and operating a farm which, when they purchased it, was practically without clearing and for buildings had only a small shanty. By courage and hard work they built up a good agricultural property from this land, and in 1883, having accumulated a competency, the father retired and removed to Merrill, where he passed away in 1900; the mother died in the same city in 1893. Besides August, the children born to these parents were a son, Gerhard, also born in Germany, and three daughters, who were born in the United States: Elizabeth, now deceased; Lena, who is now Mrs. William TANK of Waushara County; and Anna, who is living in Merrill. August RUSCH grew up on the farm in the town of Bloomfield, Waushara County, attending the country schools there, and at the age of 14 went to Addison, Ills., where he spent two years in a seminary for training teachers. He then returned to Waushara County and attended a normal school there, at which he was granted his diploma. He began his career as a school teacher in the town of Pella, Shawano County, where he remained for two years; in all he followed the profession for nine years. In the spring of 1877 he came to Lincoln County and located at Jenny, now Merrill, where he was engaged in the meat business for the next twelve years and in cattle buying and real estate from then until the fall of 1922, when he was elected to his present public office. Mr. RUSCH was married on May 14, 1881, to Augusta MART, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Karl MART, of the town of Hamburg, Marathon County. Mrs. RUSCH was born in Germany on May 4, 1859 and came to America and to Marathon County, this state with her parents when she was eight years old. Ten children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. RUSCH: Clara, now Mrs. Paul KOEBE of Merrill; Otto, who is living in Seattle, Wash.; Martin, of Minocqua, Oneida County; Rudolph, living at Minneapolis; Emil, also a resident of Minneapolis; Laura, who is now Mrs. Fred GREMLER of Merrill; William, now living in Wausau; and Beatrice, Edwin, and Eleanore, who are living at home. Mr. RUSCH owns a comfortable home in the west side residential section of Merrill; he and his family are members of the Lutheran Trinity Church and are very highly respected members of the community. Mr. RUSCH has watched the growth of Merrill from a tiny hamlet into a thriving, prosperous city, and has himself taken an active part in a great deal of the development. On first coming here he served as clerk of the village until 1881. He has had a very successful career, due to his own hard work and ability, and is in every way a fine citizen and an able public official.

Transcribed by Susan Swanson, from pages 529, History of Lincoln, Oneida and Vilas Counties Wisconsin; Compiled by George O. Jones, Norman S. McVean and Others 1924, H. C. Cooper, Jr. & Co

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