SHEBOYGAN HISTORY

Eberhard Schlaich, Page 369

EBERHARD SCHLAICH was a worthy pioneer of Sheboygan County, and one of the first settlers of Plymouth.  He was born in the village of Gross Heppach, Wurtemberg, Germany, October 31, 1828, and was a son of Burgomaster Eberhard Schlaich, of Gross Heppach.  His education was received at the Gymnasium and at the Agricultural College of Hohenheim, near Stuttgart.

    In 1849, he emigrated to America, and made his first home near Niagara Falls, N. Y., where he worked on a farm for a short time, and then came to Wisconsin.  On coming to Wisconsin he settled at New Holstein, where he was engaged in merchandising until the fall of 1851, when he came to Plymouth, and opened a general store, which he conducted in company with his brother, Julius Schlaich, until the first year of the war.  In 1861 he opened the hotel at Plymouth, now known as the Central House, which he kept until 1867.  He then engaged in farming in the town of Plymouth, continuing in that vocation six years.  In 1874 he built the Plymouth House.

    Mr. Schlaich was a prominent Republican in politics, and during the late war was very active in support of the Government.  He was elected Chairman of the Town Board of Supervisors, and ex-officio a member of the County Board; and was also a member of the Plymouth School Board.

    Mr. Schlaich received a peculiar compliment from the citizens of his native town, where his father and forefathers before him had been Burgomasters for several generations.  They went him an earnest petition to return and accept the position his birth entitled him to, that of their Burgomaster, an honor he felt compelled to decline.

    Mr. Schlaich was a man of unblemished character and had won the sincere respect of his fellow-citizens.  His death occurred November 26, 1874.