SHEBOYGAN HISTORY

Carl Muth, M. D., Page 218

CARL MUTH, M. D., a physician and surgeon at Sheboygan, is a native of Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, his native village being Sandhoff, on the left shore of the Rhine, between Maens and Worms.  His birth occurred September 29, 1842, his parents being Wilhelm and Elizabeth (Knobelauch) Muth.  A few facts pertaining to the paternal and maternal ancestry of Dr. Muth are here given.  His grandfather was also named Wilhelm Muth.  He inherited a large estate and was a man of considerable prominence.  His occupation was that of a distiller.  It is recorded of him that he lost his life from a cause never fully determined, while on his return home from the city of Maentz, whither he had gone on business.  The horse which he rode returning without his rider, search was made, and the dead body of Mr. Muth was found by the wayside.  This event occurred in 1822, when his son Wilhelm was about nine years of age.  The latter's mother was Margaret (Lucas) Muth, who was born at Gimbsheim, Hesse Darmstadt.  Her death occurred about 1867, at the age of eighty-three years.

    The maternal ancestors of Dr. Muth were originally from Bavaria, Germany.  His grandfather was Lorenz Knobelauch, who joined the French army in Paris, serving under the first Napoleon and participating in the famous battle of Waterloo.  After the overthrow of Napoleon, he settled at Mettenheim, Hesse-Darmstadt, where he died at the age of forty-two years.  His wife came to America with her children in 1856, dying the following year of cholera in Sheboygan.

    The father of the subject of this sketch, with his family, emigrated from Germany in 1847, and after one year's residence near Cleveland, Ohio, at a place then called Brighton, came to Sheboygan.  The family consisted of the parents and three sons.  The father died in Sheboygan in May of 1878, at the age of sixty-five years, having been born July 5, 1813.  The mother, who was born May 19, 1819, still lives at the family homestead in the town of Sheboygan.  Wilhelm Muth was a veterinary surgeon by profession, and for some time after coming to Sheboygan engaged in the practice of his profession, and also in the early times kept a boarding-house or hotel in that city. He finally settled on a farm in 1864, where he resided until his death.  Mr. Muth was a man who possessed the respect and confidence of his fellow-citizens.  A prominent characteristic of the man was his unselfishness, he being ever ready to assist those needing help, and often to his own disadvantage.  He was a member of the German Reformed Church, and his daily walk in life was always consistent with his profession.  Frederick, the eldest of his three sons, is a farmer residing in the town of Sheboygan; the Doctor is the second in order of birth; and Henry, the youngest, is a hardware merchant in the city of Sheboygan.

    Dr. Muth's early education was obtained in the public schools of the Chair City, and he later took an academic course at a private institution in Milwaukee.  In 1861, soon after the beginning of the War of the Rebellion, he resolved to enter the service in defense of the Union.  He accordingly enlisted as a private, but was soon after made hospital steward of the Twenty-seventh Regiment Wisconsin Infantry, continuing in that capacity until mustered out of the service in 1865.  This proved an excellent school for him, and here he laid the foundation of his profession; in fact, he pursued his studies while in the service under the instruction of Dr. Robert Mitchell.  He entered Rush Medical College, Chicago, soon after his return from the army, and graduated in the Class of '68.  In 1866 the doctor had engaged in the drug business with Hon. Thomas M. Blackstock, and continued to share in that business while practicing his profession.  In 1873 he went to Europe and continued his studies in the medical department of the University at Goettingen.  Returning in 1874, he disposed of his interest in the drug business and devoted his attention entirely to his profession.

    On the 29th of May, 1877, the Doctor married to Miss Thekla Lupinski, a native of Sheboygan.  Dr. and Mrs. Muth have a family of four children, three sons and a daughter: Carl Muth, Jr., born June 1, 1878; Ludmilla, April 17, 1880; Bruno, June 21, 1882; and Egbert, May 23, 1888.  Dr. Muth has long possessed a large practice, and is a gentleman of culture and liberal attainments.