Riedel, August H. (History - 1841), Biographical Sketch of Clark Co., WI

----Source: History of Clark County, Wisconsin (1918).

AUGUST H. RIEDEL, representative of a well known and respected family of Grant Township, was born on a farm in Schlassinn, Germany, Aug. 1, 1841, son of Christian and Anna (Stinizeki) Riedel. The father was a farmer and wagon-maker, born in the same part of Germany in 1806. They were married in their native land, where they resided for twenty-seven years afterwards. In 1863 they emigrated to the United States landing in this country after a voyage of six weeks in a sailing vessel. Their further history may be found in the biography of Fred D. Riedel. August H. Riedel was 20 years old when he came to this country. Reaching Neillsville in 1865, he worked for twenty years as a miller in the flour mill. The year after his arrival, however, he had purchased a farm of eighty acres in Section, Grant Township, which he rented out while he worked in the mill. For awhile also after coming here he attended night school, though he had acquired the elements of a fair education in his native land. In October, 1876, he was united in marriage with Susan Riedel, daughter of John and Helen Riedel, and they resided in Neillsville subsequently for about two years. He then moved onto his own farm, on which was a frame residence and log barn, and, starting with two cows and two horses, he applied himself to general farming, which has been his occupation ever since a period of thirty-five years. He increased the size of his farm by buying forty acres more and now ranks among the prosperous citizens of Grant Township. For thirty years Mr. Riedel has served as school director, being warmly interested in the cause of education and in seeing that the younger generation have proper facilities for acquiring useful knowledge. He and his wife have had three children, Otto, Rudolph and Emma, of whom the two first mentioned died in infancy. Emma resides with her parents. Biographical mention of Mr. Riedel's brothers may be found elsewhere in this work.

AUGUST H. RIEDEL, representative of a well known and respected family of Grant Township, was born on a farm in Schlassinn, Germany, Aug. 1, 1841, son of Christian and Anna (Stinizeki) Riedel.

The original book (History of Clark County Wisconsin, 1918, on page 434, August H. Riedel biography) has Anna’s name written as Stinizcki (which is undoubtedly a misspelling of Sternitzke, or Sternitzky) by Franklyn Curtiss-Wedge, who was the compiler of the original book.

Other errors I noticed in the book:

The compiler mistakenly used the German words Schlassinn (on pages 434, 470, 572, 574), Schlasing (on page 435), Schlesing (on page 476) and Schassing (on page 593) for the Prussian province known in German as Schlesien.

The English and Latin name for Schlesien is Silesia, which the compiler wrote as Silicia (the Italian, Sicilian and Spanish word for Sicily) on page 526.

The biographies affected are pages August H. Riedel, Fred D. Riedel , William Reisner, Henry J. Albrect, August Roder, William Wischulke, David Riedel, and Henry Pischer.

Two other errors (by Franklyn Curtiss-Wedge) appear in the on page 435, in the biography of Fred D. Riedel:

1. The village name they lived at in Silesia is given as Dumnovitz, Schlasing. The Riedel and Sternitzke families lived in the village Domnowitz, Schlesien (Silesia).

2. The birth date of Fred D. Riedel is given as 1754, but his parents emigrated from Silesia to Wisconsin in 1863. Christian Riedel (the father of Fred D. Riedel) was born in 1806 (as shown on page 434).