Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 645 - 646 

LEWIS ZISSEL. This gentleman worthily illustrates the commonly accepted view of the character of the enterprising German citizen, who made his way into the Western country at a time when strong hands and stout hearts were most needed, and putting his shoulder to the wheel gave a decided impetus to the car of progress and assisted in the development of one of the richest sections of the Southwest. A native of Badenburg, Prussia, he was born on the 1st of April, 1851, and is the son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Zipp) Zissel, who up to this time have spent their entire lives in their native country. They were also of German birth and parentage, devoted members of the Lutheran Church, and the father a tanner by occupation.

            Time and distance with some men serve but to increase their interest in their childhood associations, and often give them cause to regret that they had not more thoroughly acquainted themselves with the record of their ancestors. Mr. Zissel, in recalling the members of his father's household, brings to mind the fact that the home circle included six children, the eldest of whom was a daughter named Elizabeth. She, like the others, grew to years of maturity on her native soil, and was married to a Mr. Crumb, a shoemaker by trade, and they now, with their two children, reside at the old homestead. Lewis, of our sketch, was the second born; Jacob came to America, where he spent six years, then returned to his native land, was married, and there he still remains; Katrina, continuing in her native Germany, is married and the mother of two children; Amy is married and the mother of one child; John, unmarried, is a soldier in the standing army of Germany.

            It will thus be seen that Mr. Zissel is the only member of his family in this country. He was an enterprising, ambitious boy, and after receiving the usual thorough education accorded the German youths in school, set sail for the United States when a lad of fifteen years. After a short sojourn in the city of New York, he made his way to Lagrange County, Ind., where he was employed as a farm laborer several years, and with genuine German thrift and industry succeeded in accumulating a snug sum of money which he invested in land, and engaged in the cultivation of this until the spring of 1884. He had, in the meantime, formed matrimonial ties, being married, on the 27th of February, 1879, to Miss Polly Schweitzer, the wedding taking place at the home of the bride's sister, in Van Buren, Lagrange Co., Ind.

            Mrs. Zissel is a native of Pennsylvania and was born in Erie County, March 26, 1858. Her parents, Gotlieb and Fredricka (Rieme) Schweitzer, were natives of the little Kingdom of Wurtemberg, whence they emigrated about 1854 to the United States, and settled first in Pennsylvania. From there they removed to Indiana, where the mother died on the 1st of January, 1863, and where the father is still living and engaged in farming. Mr. Schweitzer is an intelligent man and takes an interest in all matters pertaining to his adopted country, with whose affairs he has fully acquainted himself, and is one of the most reliable members of the Republican party. 

            To the parents of Mrs. Zissel there were born nine children, the eldest of whom was a son, Christian, who married Miss Mary Callahan, and they with their three children reside on a farm in Lagrange County, Ind.; Margaret is the wife of Amos T. Bickel, who is a blacksmith by trade; they have five children, and are living in Tennessee. Lucinda married Frank Cook, a well-to-do farmer residing near Elkhart, Ind.; Polly, Mrs. Zissel, was the next in order of birth; Susan is the wife of Homer Moulton, a prosperous farmer operating on land near Rootstown, Ohio, and the mother of one child; Caroline, Mrs. Albert Plotts, resides with her husband in Lima, Ind.; Charles is farming in Portage County, Ohio; Jennie and Minnie are with their father at Lima, Ind.

            Gotlieb Schweitzer had been previously married in Germany, and thus became the parent of the children recorded as follows: Barbara is the wife of Phillip Spruer, a farmer of Lagrange County, Ind., and the mother of four children; Annie is the wife of Henry Weiss, and they with their three children live on a farm in Lagrange County, Ind.; Mary married Casper Weiss, a blacksmith by trade, and became the mother of five children, one now living; they are residents of Van Buren, Ind. Gotlieb married Miss Olive Kilpatrick, who became the mother of two children and died while a young woman; his second wife was Miss Amanda Troyer, who is the mother of one child; they live on a farm in Michigan.

            Our subject and his wife have one child only, a bright little girl, Annie, who was born Oct. 21, 1884. The farm comprises eighty acres of thoroughly cultivated land, with good buildings, a flourishing orchard and various kinds of small fruit. Mr. Z. is still a young man, and is making good headway toward the building up of a homestead and the accumulation of a competency. He meddles very little with political matters, but supports the Republican party, and is a member in good standing of the Lutheran Church. Mrs. Zissel differs somewhat from her husband in religious matters, being a devoted Methodist.

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