Bio: Gutwasser, Bertha (1853 – 1951)

Contact: Linda Mertens
Email: mertens@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Gutwasser, Vircks, Dankemyer, Hamfmeister

Source – Anna Johnson’s Scrapbook

Bertha (Hamfmeister) Gutwasser (Born 6 Mar 1853)

Mrs. Bertha Gutwasser, Dorchester’s oldest resident, quietly observed her 96th birthday here Sunday (March 6, 1949). Several old friends and neighbors called during the day, and Monday, to pay their respects to the aged woman who has made her home the past several years with her son-in-law and daughter Mr. and Mrs. M.E. Vircks.

During her 66 years residence in the village, Mrs. Gutwasser recalled, she has seen it change from a logging camp and mill town to a farming community. When she and Mr. Gutwasser came here in 1883, there still were several stands of timber which long since have been sawed into lumber.

They came here to operate a hardware business which they conducted for 30 years. They rebuilt the store twice after fires during that time, after their last fire loss erecting the building which now houses the Fred Dankemyer, Jr., hardware.

Before coming here, they had lived for seven years in Milwaukee, after their marriage Feb. 28, 1876, at Kirchhaym (Kirchhain, Germany?), where she was born Bertha Hamfmeister, March 6, 1853. Mr. Gutwasser died Oct 17, 1929.