RESEBURG TOWNSHIP, Clark County, Wisconsin

WILLIAM RESEBURG, namesake of Reseburg township, and a resident of section 15, town 28, range 3 west (formerly Withee Township), was born in the Province of Pommern, Prussia, August 9, 1845, the son of Ludwig and Caroline (Berg) Reseburg, both natives of Prussia, and later of Sheboygan County, Wisconsin. The father brought his family to the United States in 1856, settling in the town of Schleswig, Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, which was then covered with timber, and they were also among wild animals and Indians. They were poor, and all had to work hard. They were the parents of nine children: William, Charles, Caroline, Otto, Bertha, Louis, Julius, Annie and Minnie (twins).

William received but six months' schooling in the English language, the rest was obtained by hard study. He remained in Manitowoc County until twenty years of age, when he traveled through the States of Iowa and Nebraska, spending ten months in Independence, Iowa. He then went to Menominee, Michigan, and worked in a saw mill during the summer and in the pineries in winters for three years. He then returned to Wisconsin and bought a homestead, which he farmed two years. In the spring of 1879 he moved to Clark County, settling on land heavily covered with timber. He owned 200 acres of land and for five years lived in a log cabin, before building a frame home.

William married August 17, 1879, to Albertine Thiel, daughter of William Thiel, of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. Three of their children survive to adulthood: William, born April 3, 1883, and Anna, born June 14, 1887.

William was active in the early politics of the area. When a new township was created by the Clark Co., Wisconsin board, 13 May 1893, it seemed only fitting to name it in William's honor. It's officers met the first Tuesday in April of 1894 at the Zimmer's Corners school house and William was elected as the first chairman of the Reseburg Town Board and filled that position for six years.

[Reseburg Town Records]