Bio: Edward Schroeder (1869  - ?)

Contact: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org on Sat, 17 Feb 2001

Surnames: SCHROEDER, STANGE, BABCOCK

----Source: 1918 History of Clark Co., WI, by Franklyn, Curtiss-Wedge

EDWARD SCHROEDER, the present postmaster of the village of Granton, Grant Township, was born in Saxony Germany, Dec. 12, 1869, son of Gottlieb and Marie (Stange) Schroeder. The father, who was a mason by trade, died at the age of 50 years, when his son Edward was 4 years old. There were five children in the family-Amelia, Otto, Gottlieb, Edward and Ernest. In September, 1882, the widowed mother, Mrs. Marie Schroeder, came to the United States, accompanied by all her children, except Gottlieb, who had preceded them by six months, locating in Neillsville, Clark County, where a cousin, Carl Stange, resided.

On arriving here Mrs. Schroeder bought sixty acres of land in Washburn Township, all wild except twelve acres, the tract being situated in Section 12, Township 24 West. There were several shacks on the place, and the family, having a yoke of cattle, set to work unitedly to clear and develop the land into a farm. Their supplies were obtained at Neillsville, to and from which place they were then obliged to walk. There Mrs. Schroeder died, May 2, 1917. Edward Schroeder acquired his education in Germany, except for three months during which he attended an English school here. He grew to manhood on mother's farm and then became head sawyer in a sawmill, which position he held for ten or twelve years. Then, having purchased a farm in Washburn Township, he spent two years in operating it, improving the place from a half-wild tract covered with stumps to a tillable farm with good buildings. At the end of that period he engaged in the lumber business in Granton as manager of the Connor Retail Lumber Company, and was thus occupied for ten years. In March, 1914, he was appointed to his present position as postmaster of Granton, in which he is serving to the general satisfaction of the public.

He is a member of the Masonic lodge at Neillsville and has a wide acquaintance throughout this part of Clark County, but is a man of quiet, domestic tastes.

Mr. Schroeder was first married in 18--, to Norah Cramer, daughter of Peter Cramer, of Washburn. She died in 1893, leaving one child, Norman, now a school teacher in Grant Township. Mr. Schroeder subsequently married for his second wife, Stella Babcock, daughter of Charles Babcock, a pioneer of Neillsville, where he now resides. The children of this second marriage are Charles E., Marie and Marion, all residing at home.