Julius Bodenstab

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Julius Bodenstab
Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
from the Sheboygan 1st district
In office
January 5, 1873 – January 3, 1875
Preceded byGeorge W. Weeden
Succeeded byJoseph Wedig
Personal details
Born(1834-01-13)January 13, 1834
Ronnenberg, Kingdom of Hanover
DiedJune 1, 1916(1916-06-01) (aged 82)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Resting placeForest Home Cemetery, Milwaukee
Political party
Spouse
Friedericke Schuette
​
​
(m. 1867⁠–⁠1916)​
Children
  • Bertha (Herr)
  • (b. 1868; died 1929)
  • William H. Bodenstab
  • (b. 1870; died 1962)
  • Henry H. Bodenstab
  • (b. 1874; died 1948)
  • one other son
OccupationFarmer
Military service
AllegianceUnited States
Branch/serviceUnited States Volunteers
Union Army
Years of service1862–1865
Rank1st Lieutenant, USV
Unit27th Reg. Wis. Vol. Infantry
Battles/warsAmerican Civil War

Julius Bodenstab (January 13, 1834 – June 1, 1916) was a German American immigrant, businessman, and Wisconsin pioneer. He was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, representing the city of Sheboygan during the 1873 and 1874 sessions. He was the father of Henry Bodenstab, who served four years in the Wisconsin State Senate.

Background[edit]

Bodenstab was born January 13, 1834, in Ronnenberg in the Kingdom of Hanover. He came to the United States in 1846 with his parents; they settled briefly in Albany, New York, but in 1847 moved on to the Wisconsin Territory, settling in Hermans Grove in the Town of Herman in Sheboygan County. He received a common school and academic education, and became a farmer.

During the American Civil War, he joined up with a volunteer company from his area, known as the "Herman Tigers". Their company was inducted into the Union Army as Company C in the 27th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment, and Bodenstab was commissioned second lieutenant of the company.[1] He was promoted to first lieutenant and transferred to Company I in March 1863. The 27th Wisconsin Infantry served in the western theater of the war, and participated in the Vicksburg Campaign and operations in Arkansas and Alabama. Bodenstab mustered out with the rest of his regiment in August 1865.[1]

He bought the family farm from his father, who went back to his medical practice. He married Friedericke Schuette, another German American immigrant, in 1867. They would have a family of one girl and three boys.

Public office[edit]

Bodenstab served as town clerk and chairman of the town board for Herman.

In 1870 he was the Republican Party nominee for Sheboygan County's 1st Assembly district. He lost in the general election to Democrat Charles Œtling (like himself, a native Hanoverian now living in Herman) with 756 votes to 986 for Œtling.[2]

After redistricting in 1872, Bodenstab made another run for Assembly, but as a member of the Liberal Republican faction. During these years, the Liberal Republicans operated in a short-term coalition with the Wisconsin Democrats known as the Reform Party. Bodenstab defeated his Republican opponent in the general election.[3] Bodentstab was re-elected without opposition in 1873.[4]

He served on the committees on the militia, and on privileges & elections.[4] He did not run for re-election in 1874, and was succeeded by Joseph Wedig, another Reform Party member (and another Hanoverian emigrant).

After the Assembly[edit]

Around 1875, he is reported to have sold the farm and gone into the real estate business, including building the Howards Grove Cheese Factory in 1878 (now operated as a museum of early cheesemaking under the name of "The Julius Bodenstab Cheese Factory"[5]) and trading in several lots in the nearby hamlet of Franklin in the 1880s.

He eventually moved to Milwaukee. He appears to have kept in contact with family back in Germany, as he sponsored a nephew who arrived in New York Harbor in 1902.[6] In 1904 a private bill was passed by Congress, boosting his monthly pension to $30.[7] In November 1908, his son Henry, an attorney, was elected to a four-year term as a Republican state senator from Milwaukee County.[8]

He died in Milwaukee on June 1, 1916, and is buried in that city's Forest Home Cemetery.[9]

Electoral history[edit]

Wisconsin Assembly (1870)[edit]

Wisconsin Assembly, Sheboygan 1st District Election, 1870[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
General Election, November 8, 1870
Democratic Charles Œtling 986 56.60%
Republican Julius Bodenstab 756 43.40%
Plurality 230 13.20%
Total votes 1,742 100.0%
Democratic hold

Wisconsin Assembly (1872, 1873)[edit]

Wisconsin Assembly, Sheboygan 1st District Election, 1872[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
General Election, November 4, 1872
Liberal Republican Julius Bodenstab 1,379 68.27%
Republican Joseph Schrage 641 31.73% -17.24%
Plurality 738 36.53% +34.47%
Total votes 2,020 100.0% +66.53%
Liberal Republican gain from Democratic
Wisconsin Assembly, Sheboygan 1st District Election, 1873[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
General Election, November 3, 1873
Liberal Republican Julius Bodenstab (incumbent) 1,080 100.0%
Total votes 1,080 100.0% -46.53%
Liberal Republican hold


References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Twenty-Seventh Regiment Infantry". Roster of Wisconsin Volunteers, War of the Rebellion, 1861–1865 (Report). Vol. 2. Office of the Adjutant General of Wisconsin. p. 346, 360. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Official Directory". The Legislative Manual of the State of Wisconsin (Report). State of Wisconsin. 1871. p. 384. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Official Directory". The Legislative Manual of the State of Wisconsin (Report). State of Wisconsin. 1873. pp. 452–453. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  4. ^ a b c "Official Directory". The Legislative Manual of the State of Wisconsin (Report). State of Wisconsin. 1874. p. 468. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  5. ^ The Julius Bodenstab Cheese Factory, 1867 Sheboygan: Sheboygan County Landmarks, Limited, 1989
  6. ^ Page 10 of 16, Entry #311: Fredrick Doige, in "List or Manifest of Alien Immigrants for the Commissioner of Immigration Required by the regulations of the Secretary of the United States, under Act of Congress approved March 3, 1893, to be delivered to the Commissioner of Immigration by the Commanding officer of any vessel having such passengers on board upon at a port in the United States" for S. S. Auguste Victoria Departed Hamburg, Germany 24 September 1902; Departed Cuxhaven 25 September 1902; Arrived New York, New York 3 October 1902
  7. ^ United States Statutes at Large, Volume 33, Part 2 Washington: Office of the Federal Register, 1905; pp. 1455, 1456
  8. ^ Beck, J. D., ed. The blue book of the state of Wisconsin Madison: Democrat Printing Co., State Printer, 1909; p. 1094
  9. ^ "J. Bodenstab Passes Away in Milwaukee". The Sheboygan Press. June 5, 1916. p. 6. Retrieved January 28, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.

External links[edit]

Wisconsin State Assembly
Preceded by Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from the Sheboygan 1st district
January 5, 1873 – January 3, 1875 		Succeeded by
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