Bio: Pivernetz, Wenzel (1877 - 19??)

Contact: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Pivernetz, Zeman, Zelinka, Peroutka, Duevstein

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

Pivernetz, Wenzel (5 August 1877 - 19??)

WENZEL PIVERNETZ, superintendent of the schools of Marathon county, Wis., and one of the best known educators in the state, was born in Kewaunee county, Wis., August 5, 1877, a son of Frank and Annie (Zeman) Pivernetz. His parents were natives of Bohemia who came to the United States in 1855. Frank Pivernetz was a wagon maker and followed his trade in the village of Kewaunee for 20 years. He then moved to a mill site some distance out in the country, where for another 20 years he was engaged in milling. In 1892 he moved to Edgar, Marathon County, being one of the first permanent settlers in the village. Here he resumed his original trade of wagon making and continued to reside until his death in 1898, at the age of 64 years. His widow, who still resides in Edgar, came to America with her parents in 1857, they settling on a farm in Kewaunee County, Wis., where they spent their last years.

To Frank Pivernetz and wife four sons and three daughters were born, as follows: Milosh, a miller by occupation, who married Anna Zelinka and died in 1889 at the age of 26 years; Frank, who married Mary Peroutka and is in the employ of the Paine Lumber Company, of Oshkosh, Wis., as lumber inspector; Vlasta, who died in 1878 at the age of 12 years: Joseph, a wagon maker residing at Edgar, Wisconsin; Anna, wife of Jacob Duevstein, a lumber scaler and grader for the Quaw Lumber Company: Libbie, who died in 1901, after being for six years a teacher in the public schools, and Wenzel, subject of this sketch, who is the seventh and youngest member of the family.  

Wenzel Pivernetz was fourteen years of age when his parents settled in Marathon County. He completed the public school course here and was graduated in the class of 1904 from the Stevens Point Normal School, having previously taught school for three years in the county. He has been exclusively engaged in educational work, for which his natural inclinations, with years of special training, have well qualified him. He has worthily filled some responsible positions in the educational field in different parts of the state; for two years he was principal of the state graded schools and he has been principal of the high schools of both Athens and Mosinee. In the spring of 1909 he was elected county superintendent of the schools of Marathon County, being re-elected to the same office in 1911. He takes a keen interest in educational advancement, to which he has efficiently contributed through public lectures and literary work. In politics he is affiliated with the Republican Party and he is a member of the E. F. U., and the Western Bohemian Fraternal Association.