Jefferson Co. OBIT: John George Fuchs (d. 1912) SUBJECT: John George Fuchs SUBMITTER: Mike Fox EMAIL: mfox@pinenet.com DATE: Feb 08, 2000 SURNAMES: FUCHS, FOX, BERHEND, DVORAK, ELLWART (Aug. 1912) Jefferson has lost her oldest resident, one of the remaning few pioneer settlers of this part of the county,in the person of Mr. John George Fuchs, who died last Wednesday morning at about eight o'clock at the age of 93 years. He was remarkably hale and hearty for his advanced years and it was but a short time before his death that he complained of feeling ill. The end came very peacefully, almost unnoticed by his daughter who has been taking care of him for a number of years. The news of his demise became quickly known in all parts of the city and was received with much regret. For he was, next to Alonzo Brown and Mrs. Windl, the earliest settler in the city and represented to us that half forgotten past when this part of the state was one unbroken wilderness, when the Indians roamed freely through the forests and white men's homes were few and far between. John G. Fuchs was born at Falkenhaus, Upper Franconia, Bavaria, May 7, 1819 and emigrated in 1848 to this country, making the trip from Bremerhaven to New York in a sailing vessel in 37 days. From New York he went directly to Jefferson where he arrived in June of 1848 and boarded for a while with John Adam Jahn. Here he became acquainted with Miss Katharine Barbara Miller who hailed from near his birth place, and married her in the following year. There being at that time no minister of the gospel in Jefferson, the ceremony was performed by a justice. Their union was blessed with eight children, three daughters and five sons, of whom five preceded their parents in death; Mrs. Fuchs herself died April 30, 1871. During the first years here, Mr. Fuchs who had learned the cabinet maker's trade in Germany, worked as carpenter contractor and helped build a number of houses. Later, in 1858, he found employment in the shops of the Wisconsin Mfg. Co., with which concern he remained until 1876. He then started in business for himself and conducted, first alone and later with his son Adam, a furniture store, from which he retired in 1901. Mr. Fuchs was one of the three or four surviving organizers or St. Johns Lutheran congregation which was founded in 1849. In the cemetery near the old hill church, the first house of worship of the young congregation, where his wife and five children are buried, was his body tenderly laid to rest last Saturday afternoon, Rev. H.K. Moussa officiating. Messrs. Henry and Casper Zeb, Christ. Blenfang, Henry Kitzmann, John Riess and Wm. Mussehl acted as pallbearers. He is survived by one daughter, Katharine, and two sons, George A. and Adam G. Fuchs ----------------------------------------------------- USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free genealogical information on the Internet, data may be freely used for personal research and by non-commercial entities as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may not be reproduced in any format or presentation by other organizations or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for profit or any form of presentation, must obtain the written consent of the file submitter, or his legal representative and then contact the listed USGENWEB archivist with proof of this consent.