Brown County MN Archives Biographies.....Retzlaff, Frank H. 1863 - 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/mn/mnfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 December 1, 2014, 1:05 am

Source: See Below
Author: L. A. Fritsche

FRANK H. RETZLAFF.

    Frank H. Retzlaff, well-known hardware merchant of New Ulm, president of the
city council at that place, one of the directors of the Citizens State Bank of
the same city and a member of the board of trustees of the Dr. Martin Luther
College at New Ulm, is a native of Germany, though a resident of Brown, county
since he was three or four years of age. He was born near the city of Stettin,
capital of the province of Pomerania, December 30, 1863, son of Gottfried and
Wilhelmina (Grosse) Retzlaff, natives of the same district and sturdy farmers.

    Gottfried Retzlaff was a soldier in his country's army during the war
against Austria in 1866, and the next year 1867, emigrated with his family to
the United States, proceeding directly to Minnesota and settling in Brown
county. He bought an eighty-acre farm in Cottonwood township and there
established his family. He prospered from the very start and quickly became
recognized as one of the most substantial farmers in that neighborhood,
gradually adding to his land holdings until he became the owner of a fine farm
of two hundred and sixty acres. About 1899 he and his wife retired from the farm
and moved to New Ulm, where they have since resided and where they are very
comfortably located. They are members of the Lutheran church and their children
were reared in that faith. Gottfried Retzlaff is the fourth of the five children
born to his parents, the others having been Frederick, William, Wilhelmina and
Sophia. His wife is the second of the two children born to her parents (Wilhelm
who died here in Cottonwood township), and Wilhelmina Grosse (who died in
Germany), she having a brother, Wilhelm, who owns a large coffee plantation near
Rio Janeiro, Brazil.

     To Gottfried and Wilhelmina (Grosse) Retzlaff ten children have been born,
namely: Frank H., the immediate subject of this review; Auguste, deceased, who
was the wife of Ernest Thiede; Bertha, who married Albert Guth, of New Ulm;
Anna, widow of C. A. Spalding, of Lamberton, this state; Emma, wife of Frank
Guth, who occupies the old Retzlaff homestead in Cottonwood township; Ida, wife
of Albert Spalding, of Wanda, this state; Henry, deceased; Martha, wife of
George Kastner, of Lamberton; Henry, the second, deceased, and Herman, deceased.

     Frank H. Retzlaff, eldest of the above children, was four years old when
his parents came to America and settled in this county and he has lived here
ever since except from 1884 to 1887 lived in Little Falls. Minnesota. He was
reared on the homestead farm in Cottonwood township, received his education in
district school No. 3, and remained at home until grown. For a year he worked in
the employ of the Minneapolis Harvester Company and then went to Little Falls,
where he engaged in the Agricultural business in 1884, remaining there two
years, at the end of which time, in 1887, he located in New Ulm, where he
established his present business. At first Mr. Retzlaff engaged only in the sale
of agricultural implements, but after two years added a general stock of
hardware to his line of implements, and has thus been engaged, long having been
recognized as one of the leading merchants of the city and of this section of
the state. Upon the development of the automobile business he secured the agency
for a popular make of car and has since made much of the automobile department
of his extensive establishment. Not only has he been diligent in his own
business, but he has found time to devote proper attention to the public service
and for four years has been a member of the city council at New Ulm, being the
president of that body one year. His financial interests are not confined solely
to his hardware business, and for more than eighteen years he has been one of
the directors of the Citizens State Bank of New Ulm. He has also given proper
attention to the general cultural development of the community and for
twenty-five years has been a member of the board of trustees of the Dr. Martin
Luther College.

    On October 28, 1884, Frank H. Retzlaff was married to Minnie Fritsche; who
was born on a homestead farm in Cottonwood township, daughter of Ernest and
Christina (Schumacher) Fritsche, natives of Germany, the former born in Saxony,
and the latter in Mecklenburg-Schwerin who were among the early settlers of
Cottonwood township. Ernest Fritsche, who is still living, is the eldest of
seven children born to his parents, who emigrated with their family from Saxony
and came to the United States, becoming early settlers in this county, where
they spent the rest of their lives, his brothers and sisters having been,
Friederick, Mrs. Victor, Mrs. Hauenstein, Mrs. Koehne. Mrs. Strasser, Louis and
Carl, all of whom are living with the exception of Mrs. Victor and Carl. His
wife, who died in 1886, at the age of forty-three, was one of six children born
to John Schumacher and wife, who came to this country about the same time the
Fritsche family came, and were also among the pioneer families of Brown county.
Her brothers and sisters were John, Henry Sophia, Mrs. Walker and Jerome. To
Ernest Fritsche and wife nine children were born, of whom Mrs. Retzlaff is the
eldest, her brothers and sisters being Louis, Herman, Robert, Emil, John, Emma,
Louise and Alfred, the three last named being deceased.

     Frank H. Retzlaff and wife are the parents of seven children, as follows:
Minnie, who married Rev. W. C. Albrecht, who is pastor of the Evangelical
Lutheran church at Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, now living at Sleepy Eye, this county,
has four children, Ruth, Gilbert, Armin and Philip; Alma, who died in early
childhood; Selma, who also died young; Armin, who is actively connected with the
work of his father's store; Waldemar, who is a student in the Northwestern
College at Watertown, Wisconsin; Elsie, a student in the Bethany College, a
ladies' finishing school at Mankato, this state, and Victor, who died in early
childhood. Mr. and Mrs. Retzlaff have long occupied a prominent place in the
social and cultural life of the community and are held in high esteem hereabout.
They are earnest members of the Lutheran church, in the general beneficences of
which they take a warm interest, and Mr. Retzlaff is president of the board of
trustees of that church. He is also a member of the Board of Regents of Dr.
Martin Luther College, New Ulm. Mr. Retzlaff is secretary of the New Ulm Rural
Telephone Company, of New Ulm, an office which he has held for ten years.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:
HISTORY OF BROWN COUNTY MINNESOTA
ITS PEOPLE, INDUSTRIES AND INSTITUTIONS

L. A. FRITSCHE. M. D.
Editor

With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records
of Many of the Old Families

VOLUME II
B. F. BOWEN & COMPANY, Inc. Indianapolis, Indiana

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mn/brown/bios/retzlaff516gbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/mnfiles/

File size: 7.4 Kb