Brown County MN Archives Biographies.....Zieske, John C. 1842 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 November 27, 2014, 12:31 pm

Source: See Below
Author: L. A. Fritsche

JOHN C. ZIESKE.

     John C. Zieske, well-known retired harness maker of Sleepy Eye, this
county, an honored veteran of the Civil War and one of the most influential of
the early residents of Sleepy Eye, is a native of Germany, having been born in
Prussia, December 25, 1842, son of Michael and Anna (Schultz) Zieske, both
natives of that same kingdom. Michael Zieske was a small landowner in Prussia.
In 1854 he sold his holdings there and with his family came to the United
States, landing at the port of New York and proceeding directly to Wisconsin,
where, in Marquette county, he pre-empted a quarter of a section of land and
established his home in the new country. In 1863 he sold that homestead farm and
came to Minnesota, settling in Nicollet county, where he bought a farm of one
hundred and twenty acres, on which he lived for several years, at the end of
which time he came over into Brown county and bought one hundred and eighty-two
acres in Stark township, where he lived until the time of his retirement from
the active labor of the farm, his last days being spent in Sleepy Eye, where he
died in 1880. He and his wife were the parents of ten children, of whom six, two
sons and four daughters, are still living, Julia, Minnie, Augusta, Mary, John C.
and Fred.

     John C. Zieske was twelve years old when he came with his parents to
America. He had received careful schooling in his native land and after coming
here entered the school at Princeton, Wisconsin, where he quickly acquired an
excellent knowledge of English. At the age of inneteen years, on January 13,
1862, at Berlin, Wisconsin, lie enlisted for service in the Union army during
the Civil War, in Company H, Eighteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry,
and served with that regiment until the close of the war, receiving his
honorable discharge on July 18, 1865, as sergeant. During his term of service
Mr. Zieske participated in thirteen main engagements of the war and in numerous
minor engagements. For the most part the Eighteenth Wisconsin was engaged in the
momentous campaigns in Mississippi and Tennessee, including the battle of
Altona, where the regiment lost six hundred and seven men out of eighteen
hundred. Mr. Zieske also took part in the siege of Vicksburg and the battles at
Corinth and Altona Pass. At Pittsburg Landing he was seized with a severe attack
of fever and was confined in the hospital at that place for six weeks.

     Upon the conclusion of his military service, Mr. Zieske returned to
Wisconsin, but remained there only a short time. In 1866 he came to Minnesota
and took eighty acres of homestead land in Courtland township, Nicollet county.
The next year he married there and made his home on that farm until 1872, in
which year he moved to Sleepy Eye and engaged in the harness business, in which
he was engaged for six years. He then for a time was engaged in the sale of
agricultural implements for some time and afterward retired from business and
has so continued, having a very pleasant home in Sleepy Eye. Mr. Zieske is a
Republican and ever since coming to this country has taken an active interest in
local political affairs. During his residence in Nicollet county he served as
constable of his home township and upon locating at Sleepy Eye took an active
part in the organization of the town's civic affairs, having been the first
school treasurer elected, in that town.

     In 1867, in Nicollet county, this state, John C. Zieske was united in
marriage to Mary Strassburg, who was born in Germany, daughter of Frederick
Strassburg and wife, pioneers of Nicollet county, and to this union six children
were born, Henry, Emma, Chloe, Anna, Reuben and Rhoda, the last three of whom
died within a period of one week of diphtheria. Henry Zieske, a train
dispatcher, now living at Fresno, California, married Leona Lovette, and has one
child, a daughter, Dorris. Emma Zieske married W. H. Cutler a train dispatcher,
of Winona, this state, and has one child, a son, George. Chloe Zieske married
Ira H. King, a steamship agent living in Alaska, and to that union four children
were born, of whom only one is now living, a daughter, Corrine.

     Mrs. Mary Zieske died on June 30, 1911, and on September 3, 1932, Mr.
Zieske married Lillian Mallette, who was born in this county, daughter of H. C.
and Elizabeth (Alaback) Mallette, pioneers settlers of this community. Mr. and
Mrs. Zieske are members of the Evangelical church and take a warm interest in
local goods works. Mr. Zieske is a charter member of the local post of the Grand
Army of the Republic and for years has been one of the most active promoters of
the interests of that patriotic organization. In 1881 he was elected to
represent Brown county in the state Legislature, where he served on a number of
committees and took part in the discussion of several bills.


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


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