SHEBOYGAN HISTORY

Charles Grasse, Page 617

CHARLES GRASSE, an agent of the Standard oil Company, and a manufacturer of cisterns and tanks, is an early settler of Sheboygan and a veteran of the late war.  He was born in the province of Brandenburg, Germany, October 27, 1840, and is a son of Martin and Louise (Kanitz) Grasse, who were also natives of Brandenburg.  With his parents Charles emigrated to the United States in 1852, and settled in the town of Wilson, Sheboygan County, Wis.

    The family consisted of the parents, seven sons and three daughters, one son having died in the Old Country.  They made their home on the southeast quarter of section 8, of Wilson Township.  Of the children of this family, Johan died in Germany; Gottfried resides in the town of Wilson; Martin died in Louisiana in 1858; Gottlieb, who died in 1889, married Caroline Wilke; Augusta is the wife of August Feucker, and lives near Pelican lake, Wis.; Christopher was a soldier of the late war, and died from wounds received at Port Hudson; Helena is the wife of August Bogen, and lives on the old homestead in Wilson Township; Frederick married Mrs. Struethe, and also resides in Wilson Township; Wilhelmine is the wife of Joseph Busch, of St. Nazianz, Wis.; and Charles, the subject of this sketch, is the youngest.  His mother died in the spring of 1855, and his father in February, 1867.  They were members of the Lutheran Church and highly respected people.

    The subject of this sketch was the youngest of the family.  He was reared on his father's farm and educated in the public schools.  On the 4th of August, 1862, he enlisted in the war for the Union as a private of Company H, Twenty-sixth Wisconsin Infantry, and was mustered in toe service of the United States on the 16th of September, for three years.  At the battle of Chancellorsville, on the 2d of May, 1863, he received a gunshot wound in the left leg, for which he was granted a sick furlough, and was sent home, remaining until September, 1865, when he rejoined his regiment.  He participated in the defense of Washington, and when mustered out, October 16, 1865, was a non-commissioned officer.

    Mr. Grasse learned the cooper's trade in 1856, and in the fall of 1867 opened a shop in Sheboygan.  He also engaged in the oil business, being for three years agent for the Hanford Oil Company, and for the past six years has been agent for the Standard Oil Company.  He handles six or seven tank-car loads of kerosene oil per month, besides a large quantity of barreled oil of all kinds for manufacturers' use.

    On the 30th of August, 1866, Mr. Grasse married in Sheboygan Miss Sophia Stecker.  Mrs. Grasse was born in Mecklenburg, Germany, in February, 1844, and came to America in 1856 with her mother.  Seven children were born to this union:  Martin, Louis, Bernhard, Frieda, Alfred, and two that died in infancy.  Mr. and Mrs. Grasse and family are members of the Lutheran Church.

    In politics, our subject is a Republican, having served six years on the County Board as Supervisor from the Third Ward, and for four years he held the office of School Commissioner for the Fifth Ward.  Socially, he is a member of Gustav Wintermeyer Post No. 187, G. A. R., and of Sheboygan Gegenseitigen Kranken Unterstutzungs Vereins.

    Mr. Grasse has now been a resident of Sheboygan County for forty-one years, and of the city twenty-seven years.  He made an honorable record as a gallant soldier; has been useful and faithful in public service, and as a business man and citizen stands deservedly high in the estimation of all who know him.