Bio: Flieth, Herman George (1861 - 19??)

Contact: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Flieth, Haefner, Harsch, Thompson, Mitchell

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

Flieth, Herman George (26 February 1861 - 19??)

Herman George Flieth, cashier of the National German American Bank of Wausau, has been a resident of Wausau for twenty-seven years and his business connections during this long period have been of great importance. He was born at Sheboygan, Wis., February 26, 1861, and is a son of Fred and Katherine (Haefner) Flieth.

The parents of Mr. Flieth were of foreign birth, the father a native of Prussia and the mother of Baden, Germany. They came to America and to Wisconsin in the early fifties and settled at Sheboygan, where the father entered the employ of the Sheboygan & Fond du Lac Railroad, now a part of the Chicago & Northwestern system. He assisted in some of the surveys and later helped to survey the Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western Railroad and was with these roads for a number of years. He resided at Sheboygan until his death in 1906, aged seventy-one years. The mother survived two years more although seven years older. Two sons were born in the family: Herman George and John, four years intervening. John Flieth died in 1905, having been a railroad man all his life.

Herman George Flieth was educated in the public and parochial schools at Sheboygan, attending until he was fifteen years of age. He then became a railroad employee working with the construction department and after the completion of the road was made freight check clerk and later baggage-master. He climbed steadily upward, beginning railroad life as water boy on a gravel train and later found time to learn telegraphy, holding the position as telegraph operator at Sheboygan several years. Mr. Flieth came first to Wausau, in 1880, and, as agent, took charge of the office for the Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western, now the Chicago & Northwestern, and continued until May 1, 1887. In that year he was sent to Milwaukee as commercial agent for the same road and remained almost six years or until 1893, when he resigned his position with the railroad company in order to accept that of cashier of the National German American Bank, with which he has been continuously identified ever since. During this time the capital of the bank has been increased from $100,000 to $300,000 and its deposits from $175,000 to a million and three quarters. Other business connections of Mr. Flieth are as follows: Treasurer of the Wausau Canning Company; treasurer of the Wausau Quartz Company; secretary and treasurer of the Peth Candy Company; president of the Thompson & Flieth Lumber Company, located at Cornucopia, Wis.; secretary and treasurer of the Wausau Realty and Loan Company; treasurer of the Marathon County Building, Loan and Investment Association, and treasurer of the Wisconsin Bankers' Association.

On June 17, 1880, Mr. Flieth was married to Miss Mary Harsch, a daughter of Adam Harsch, of Sheboygan, Wis., and they have two children: Walter N. and Mabel. Walter H. Flieth, who was educated in the public schools of Wausau and took a business course after leaving the High School, has charge of the Thompson & Flieth Lumber Company at Cornucopia, Wis. He married Miss Matie Mitchell, of Oshkosh, and they have three children: Herman George, Jr., Cornelia and Charles William. Miss Mabel Flieth attended the public schools and later both Downer and Carroll Colleges. Mrs. Flieth died January 3, 1910. She was a faithful member of the Presbyterian Church, to which Mr. Flieth also belongs, and of which he has been a trustee many years, but was reared in the German Reformed faith. In his political views Mr. Flieth is a Republican, but no seeker for office, the extent of his public service being as trustee and treasurer of the Public Library. For years he has been identified with the Masonic fraternity, in which he has attained to the thirty-second degree and is treasurer of Omer Commandery and Masonic Temple. He belongs also to the Knights of Pythias and to the Wausau City and the Wausau Country Clubs.