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Biography For August Kickbusch

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Author:
Bill Hart

Background:

August Kickbusch was born in Colberg, Province of Pomerania, Prussia, Germany on October 15, 1828 to Martin F. and Katrina (Koahn) Kickbusch.  August attended the district schools of his local area, then learned the trade of a brick manufacturer. He worked as a brick manufacturer in Germany until 1857.  August married Miss Matilda Schochow, daughter of Ernest and Mina Schochow.  August and Matilda raised six children, the first one born in Germany before the family immigrated to the U.S.

Accomplishments:

In 1857, The Kickbuschs migrated via Quebec to Milwaukee, WI, where they joined August’s parents.  They had crossed the Atlantic Ocean two weeks earlier.  Three days after arriving in Milwaukee, August started on foot for Wausau, walking the entire distance.  There he purchased 354 acres of land in Hamburg Township.  Unable to reach Hamburg, he returned to Milwaukee where he stayed for nearly three years.  In 1860, Mr. Kickbusch purchased a wagonload of merchandise suitable for pioneer country, and drove to Wausau, then called Big Bull Falls.  Selling these goods at a profit of $59, he returned to Milwaukee for his family and household goods.  When they arrived in Wausau, he built a shanty on Clark’s Island.  Here, he began a general trading business, buying furs from the Indians and shipping them to Milwaukee.  Over the next several years, Mr. Kickbusch expanded his businesses to include brick manufacturing, lumbering, hardware, stove and crockery, grocery store, and more.

 

Mr. Kickbusch was soon very interested in the settlement of the county, and thought that the land was not filling up as rapidly as it should.  On March 12, 1867, he took a trip to Germany, and in three months, he recruited 702 people to migrate to Wausau.  The steamer “America” was secured for this trip, leaving from Bremen on May 29, 1867. This large party reached New York on June 12 and Wausau on June 20.  August hired many of these people in his business enterprise and helped find jobs for most of the others.  Many bought land and engaged in farming.  From that time the county began to improve rapidly, and the great impetus which Mr. Kickbusch gave to this prosperity has been lasting.

 

For several terms, Mr. Kickbusch was president of the village, chairman of the county board, and was the first mayor of Wausau.  He served as register of the United States Land Office and served on numerous boards of directors.  His family attended St. Paul’s Evangelical Church. 

His wife Matilda died on May 26, 1891. August was later married to Miss Amelia Flohr, by whom he had two more children. 

August Kickbusch died on May 28, 1901 at age 73. He is buried in Pine Grove Cemetery in Wausau, WI.

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Other Information

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Date of Birth: 10-15-1828

Place of Birth: Prussia

Date of Death: 5-28-1901

Place of Burial: Pine Grove Cemetery Wausau, WI

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