Henry Schumacher
Henry Schumacher, a well-known liveryman of East Dubuque, Jo Daviess Country, Ill., is one of the young and enterprising business men of that flourishing town. He was born in Baden, German, Dec. 16, 1844, and is a son of Martin and Theresa Schumacher. He was only nine years old when his parents emigrated to American, in 1853. They settled in Cattaragus County, N.Y., and there Henry was reared and received his education, passing his time on the farm principally. The outbreak of the Civil War found him a stout boy of seventeen. When eighteen years of age he determined to take part in the struggle, and on Aug. 13, 1862, he enlisted in Company F., 116th New York Infantry, and served until the close of the war, receiving an honorable discharge June 26, 1865. He participated in a number of heavy engagements. His first memorable fight was at White Store Plains, La., on May 21, 1863, on the Red River expedition, under Banks in 1864. The regiment was subsequently transferred to West Virginia, and was in the battle of Winchester, Sept. 19, 1864; next at Fisher's Hill; then at Cedar Creek, and in many minor battles and skirmishes. Promoted to the rank of Corporal, our subject is one of three of his company who went through all the engagements and marches without a scratch.
After receiving his discharge Mr. Schumacher returned to New York, and in the fall of 1865 hired as an assistant on a propeller steam-boat plying on Lake Erie, Huron, and Michigan, mainly between Buffalo, N.Y., and Chicago, Ill. In this occupation he passed two seasons, and then removed to the lumber regions of Michigan, where he spent one year, removing in the spring of 1868 to Grant County, Wis., working on a farm there until the fall of that year, and then again going to the lumber country at Green Bay. In 1869 he returned to Grant County, Wis., where he was married, April 29, 1869, to Miss Louisa Kieler, daughter of John and Catherine (Hupe) Kieler, both natives of Saxony, who came to the United States in 1854, settling in Grant County, Wis., where the father died May 8, 1882, aged eighty-two, and the mother May 31, 1888, at the age of eighty-three. This worthy couple had seven children, of whom Mrs. Schumacher was the youngest. She was born in their German home, Jan. 25, 1847.
Mr. And Mrs. Schumacher are the parents of seven children. Those now living are: Henry M., Katie T., Anna L., and Angeline M.E. Three - George J., Maggie M., and an infant - are deceased.
After his marriage our subject worked at farming until the spring of 1870, when he came to Dunleith, now East Dubuque, where he was engaged in the lumber business for Messrs. Ashley & Cook, and later for M.H. Moore. In 1885 he became a partner of Mr. Moore, but in February, 1887, he sold his interest in that concern, and with his brother George embarked in the livery business, in which he is still engaged, having purchased his brother's interest April 1, 1889.
Mr. Schumacher and his family are members of the Roman Catholic Church, and among the citizens of the county he is numbered as an intelligent, conscientious, and good citizen.
Source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Jo Daviess Co., IL (1889)