BIOGRAPHIES:  Winand ERPENBACH, Elk Mound, Dunn County, WI

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Winand Erpenbach, of Elk Mound, where he is now living retired, after an 
active career of many years in different occupations, was born at Colen on 
the Rhine, Germany, June 6, 1850, son of Winand and Agnes (Hartman) Erpenbach.  
Though the parents were not born in Germany, they both died in that country.  
Winand, the subject of this sketch, attended school in his native land and 
subsequently did farm labor until he came to the United States in 1869.  
Landing at New York, he proceeded west to Sauk City, Wis., where he remained 
for two years.  He then went to Michigan, where he was engaged in railroad 
construction work for several months, later being occupied in the same manner 
for a short time in Texas.  He then returned north, resided for a while in 
Lodine and then at Sauk City, coming to Elk Mound in 1874, just half a century 
ago.  During his first winter here he worked in an elevator operated by his 
uncle, John Weissenfels, and one year for Fred Quilling.  Then, in 1876, 
having married, he rented the old Peter Wingen farm, which he operated for 
five years.  At the end of that time he gave it up and went to work on the 
section, and for the next 12 years that was his occupation.  In the meanwhile 
he and his wife had been economical and saved some money, and in 1880 they 
invested their capital, or some of it, in a new enterprise, building a hotel 
in Elk Mound, which they conducted for 27 years thereafter.  At the end of 
that time they gave it up and moved on to a place of 20 acres which Mr. 
Erpenbach had purchased from his wife's parents, and on which he farmed a 
little until 1919, since which time he has been retired from active work.  
His marriage, already referred to, took place in Eau Claire, June 13, 1876, 
and united him with Alice Winger, who was born in Sauk City, Wis., Oct. 18, 
1852, daughter of Peter and Mary A. (Knittel) Winger.  Her parents, natives 
of Germany, came from that country to the United States when young and were 
married in Sauk City, Wis., where they made their home until 1859.  They 
then moved to Eau Claire, and from the latter place came to Elk Mound in 
1866, buying a piece of land here, within the village limits, from Mr. 
Seidenberg, and they made this place their home subsequently until their 
death.  Mr. and Mrs. Erpenbach have been the parents of six children, namely:  
Mamie, born June 2, 1877, who is the wife of Merton Van Dresser of Elk Mound 
and had three children, Irene, Joseph and Lyle; Lulu A., born Sept. 26, 1880, 
who is residing with her parents; William W., born Feb. 12, 1882, who married 
Ida Jessie and has four children, Lloyd, Doris, Marie and Jerome, the family 
residing in Elk Mound; Joseph, born April 14, 1884, who died Dec. 9, 1899; 
Arthur, who died in infancy; and Nina, born Feb. 17, 1893, who is now Mrs. 
Carl Johnson of Eau Claire and has two children, Vernon and Donald.  The 
family faith is that of the Catholic Church, and Mr. Erpenbach belongs to 
the Catholic Knights of Wisconsin.

--From the "History of Dunn County Wisconsin, 1925"