Bio: Volhard, Henry (1845 - 19??)

Contact: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Volhard, Stieber

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

Volhard, Henry (10 September 1845 - 19??)

HENRY VOLHARD, a retired farmer and prominent citizen of the town of Marathon, of which he has been a resident for forty-five years, was born in Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, September 10, 1845, and is a son of Peter and Christian Volhard, who spent their entire lives in Germany.  

In his native land Henry Volhard attended school until he was over fourteen years of age, when, through a fortunate combination of circumstances, he was enabled to cross the Atlantic Ocean and in 1859 landed in the harbor of New York. He found employment in that great metropolis as a clerk in a shoe store and remained there until 1868, in the meanwhile learning the shoemaking trade. In 1868 he came to Wisconsin and secured 200 acres of land situated in the town of Marathon, Marathon County, 100 of which he cleared through individual effort, and subsequently erected all the substantial buildings now standing. He carried on general farming until 1904, when he found his time well taken up with duties of a public nature and then retired, selling the farm to his sons, the property lying three miles southeast of Marathon City.  

Mr. Volhard was married at Newark, N. J., to Miss Catherine Stieber, who was born in Germany, and they have had seven children: Mary, Anthony, William, Katie, Emma, John, who is deceased, and an infant, also deceased. Mr. Volhard and family belong to St. Mary's Catholic Church. He has always been an interested and conscientious citizen and has served his town in public office for many years, at present serving in his third term as trustee of the Marathon County Insane Asylum and Hospital Home; for seven years was chairman of the town of Marathon; for nine years was town supervisor, and for eight years was school treasurer. He is one of the stockholders in the Marathon City Brewery Company. Few men are better known or more highly esteemed in the town of Marathon than is Henry Volhard.