Bio: Bradfish, Frederick (1844 - 19??)

Contact: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Bradfish, Waldkircher, Gitzen

----Source: History of Marathon County Wisconsin and Representative Citizens, by Louis Marchetti, 1913.

Bradfish, Frederick (27 December 1844 - 19??)

Frederick Bradfish, one of the well known men of the town of Rib Falls, who is well qualified to speak of the pioneer hardships that attended early settlement in Wisconsin, having lived here since he was eight years old, was born in Germany, December 27, 1844, and is a son of Frederick and Rosa Bradfish. His farm of 165 acres lies in sections 7 and 18, town of Rib Falls, and he resides in the former section, five miles north of Edgar, on the east side of the range line road.

The parents of Mr. Bradfish came to the United States with three children and as pioneers settled in Washington County, Wis., securing land which the father cleared and cultivated but subsequently sold. The mother died in Washington County, when aged forty-five years, and her burial was at Trentontown, Wis. The father survived to the age of sixty-five years, dying at Lake Superior, and his burial was at Hancock, Mich.

Frederick Bradfish lived at home until he was twenty-four years of age, in the meanwhile having some educational opportunities in the town of Trenton. He went then to Lake Superior where he worked in the copper mines for three years and then became a quartz miner in Colorado. Deciding then to return to agricultural pursuits he came to the town of Rib Falls and here secured 1093/ acres of heavily timbered land, through which he had to blaze his way in order to find his own cabin when he wandered away from it. All the clearing done on his land he has accomplished himself, one of the greatest of his early problems being the making of roads, the most of them, to use a local term, having to be "under-brushed." For some time the only manner in which he could convey necessary provisions to his house was to carry them from Poniatowski. After he was well settled he returned to Washington County and there was married to Miss Helen Waldkircher, who was born at Newburg, Wis., April 7, 1861, and a daughter of Matthew and Apelonia (Gitzen) Waldkircher. The father of Mrs. Bradfish was born in Switzerland and the mother in Prussia and they were married in Washington County, Wis. Of their seven children, Mrs. Bradfish was the fourth in order of birth and she has one brother in Marathon County, Matthew, of the town of Halzen. The parents were early pioneers and when they passed through Milwaukee that city was but a village. Both died on their farm in Washington County, aged respectively sixty-five and sixty-four years, faithful members of the Catholic Church.

Since marriage Mr. and Mrs. Bradfish have resided on the present farm and here their children have been born, seven in number as follows: Josephine, an educated and talented lady, formerly a teacher in Marathon County but now filling a position as stenographer in California; Frederick, who assists in the management of the home farm, which includes the raising of dairy cattle; Rosellia, who also is a resident, with her sister, of. California, also is a stenographer and taught school for eight years in Marathon county; Annie, who has been a successful teacher in the county schools for six years; Eleanor, who has been teaching at Hamburg, for the past six years; Walter, who has been a teacher in the town of Rib Falls, for two years; and Laurence, who is yet a student. The family belongs to the Catholic Church. A Democrat in politics, Mr. Bradfish recently resigned the office of chairman of the county board, in which he had served continuously for fourteen years.