HISTORY OF M/ANITOWOC COUNTY


land until i909 when he purchased his brother's farm in the town of Rapids,
and here he has continued operations to the present time. He has a finely
cul-
tivated property and carries on an extensive stock-raising business, disposing
of his meat in the city markets.
On January 4, I905, Mr. Eberhardt was united in marriage with Miss Clara
Kurth, who was born in Manitowoc, daughter of Frederick and Minnie Kurth,
natives of Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Eberhardt are members of the Lutheran
church.
ERNST HAMMEL.
Ernst Hammel. alderman of the first ward of Two Rivers, Wisconsin, who is
now living retired after many years spent in business pursuits in this city,
was born
June I7, I836, in Holstein, Germany, a son of George and Anna (Baumeister)
Hammel, whose other children were: Mrs. Johanna Rosenberg, Lena, William
and Henry, all born in Germany, where Mrs. Rosenberg was married. In
I852 the family came to the United States and at 4 a. m. of August I7 of
that
year landed at the pier at the foot of Washington street, Two Rivers. George
Hammel was a butcher by trade as had been his father before him, but he had
now reached years that handicapped his working to any extent, and the boys
began to provide for the family.
The father and his son William first opened a butchering establishment in
I854, and after the latter's death, Ernst Hammel entered the business for
him-
self, in 1871, having previous to this time followed the trade of carpenter.
He
had worked in the chair factory at Two Rivers where he was foreman for five
years, and then had been in Sheboygan, where he started a sawmill and furniture
store with his brother-in-law, William Agis for a similar length of time.
The
sawmill was destroyed with a loss of seven thousand dollars, and for a short
time thereafter Mr. Hammel conducted the furniture business, but eventually
sold out and went to work in the Mann factory at Two Rivers, where he con-
tinued as foreman for five years, then entering the butcher business, with
which
he has been identified to the present time. He was a heavy buyer of stock,
ex-
tensively operating all over this part of the country and shipping to Chicago,
and was also interested in the fishing business and owned several tugs. Mr.
Hammel's father was a democrat in politics, and was a stanch Lutheran in
his
religious views, being instrumental in the establishment of the first Lutheran
church here by securing the services of a pastor, who came here from Manito-
woc at Mr. Hammel's expense, and whom he drove to and from that city to the
service here in his carriage. He also started the first public school here
and in
numerous ways was very prominent. Mr. Hammel, like his father, is a demo-
crat, and he was an alderman when the city of Two Rivers was still a village,
and
for the past twelve years has served in that capacity in the first ward.
He
was also village and city treasurer and served as a member of the school
board
for twelve years.
At the age of twenty-two years Mr. Hammel was married to Mary Eggers,
who died in i892, aged fifty-two years, and they had ten children: Fred,
who


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