Bio: Burger, Joseph (1851 – 19??)

Contact: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Burger, Wirtz, Kane, Hershfeld, King, Mathie, Heller, Prahl, Manecke

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

Burger, Joseph (1851 – 19??)

JOSEPH BURGER, one of the best known residents of the town of Wausau, who has resided on his present well improved farm of 120 acres, situated five miles northeast of Wausau, for the past thirty-seven years, was born near Detroit, Mich., in 1851, and is the eldest son of Mathias and Anna (Wirtz) Burger.

Mathias Burger was born in Germany and from there came to the United States when aged twenty years, locating at Detroit, Mich., where he followed the shoemaking trade. On September 29, 1858 he moved to the town of Wien, Marathon County, Wis., and followed fanning until 1898, when he removed to Marathon City, where he lived for four years, his death occurring there at the age of eighty-two years his son George purchasing his farm. He was married to Anna Wirtz, who was also born in Germany and was twelve years old when she accompanied her parents to the United States, living first at Parkersburg, Va., and afterward coming to Detroit, Mich., where she was married. Her death took place in 1909, when she had reached her seventy-ninth year. She was the wise, careful and beloved mother of a family of eight children, namely: Joseph; Jacob, living in Marathon County: Mrs. John Kane; Mrs. Anna Hershfeld, living at La Crosse, Wis.; George, residing at Edgar; Mrs. D. P. King, living at Edgar; Peter, living at Chattanooga, Tenn.; and Anton, living at Tomahawk, Wis.  

Joseph Burger attended the district schools in his native section and afterward, for ten terms, taught school and made a very good record as a teacher. In 1875 he bought his farm, on which he moved in the spring of 1876, and has continued to live here. He has sixty acres of his land cleared, has made many improvements in the way of building, and carries on general farming and stock raising, displaying excellent judgment in his operations and consequently meeting with very satisfactory results.  

Mr. Burger was married to Miss Paulina Mathie, a daughter of Joseph and Magdalen Mathie. Joseph Mathie came to New York from Wurttemberg, Germany, and for nine years engaged there in cabinetmaking. In 1861 he moved to Marathon County and lived on his farm in the town of Wausau until his death at the age of eighty-one years. He married Magdalena Heller, who died here when aged sixty-eight years and they had six children: Joseph, who died when aged thirty-seven years; Louise, who lives on the old home place; Charles, who died at the age of thirty-two years; Paulina, who is the wife of Mr. Burger; and two children who died in infancy. The following children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Burger: Hubert, formerly town clerk, married Selma Prahl, and they have had the following children: James; Laura, who married Walter Manecke; and Lawrence, Isabel and Esther. The entire family belongs to the Catholic Church. In politics Mr. Burger is an Independent voter but he is looked upon as so reliable a citizen that he has been kept continuously in public office ever since he became a resident of the town.