John C. Pritzlaff

John C. Pritzlaff
Born March 8, 1820
Prussia
Died March 18, 1900(1900-03-18) (aged 80)
Nationality Prussia
Occupation American businessman
Known for Owner of John Pritzlaff Hardware Company

John C. Pritzlaff (March 8, 1820 – March 18, 1900) was the founder of the John Pritzlaff Hardware Company, the largest wholesale hardware store in the Midwestern United States until its closure in 1958.

Early life

Pritzlaff was born in 1820 in Truskolas, a village in the province of Pomerania, Prussia. In 1839, after the death of his father, Pritzlaff came to America at the age of 19, eventually settling in Milwaukee, Wisconsin Territory in 1841. He worked as a teamster and a cook, and cut timber at Schlitz Park, the former site of the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company. In 1843, he was employed as a porter by Shepardson and Farwell, which was later acquired by Henry J. Nazro & Company.[1]

Career

In 1850, Nazro was a silent partner to Pritzlaff and another man, who together opened a small outfit called Pritzlaff & Company. By 1853, one partner had left, and the other had been bought out.[1][2][3] Pritzlaff incorporated his hardware store in 1884 as the John Pritzlaff Hardware Company and became the president of the corporation, naming John C. Koch as the vice-president.[1][4]

Pritzlaff's company continued to grow, making it the largest hardware company in Milwaukee. They moved to a second location and his store went on to be known as the largest wholesale hardware company and iron supply house in the Northwest,[1][4] which is most likely is a reference to the Northwest Territory. When Pritzlaff died in 1900, he left behind a fortune nearing $8 million in today's value.

Personal life

In 1844, Pritzlaff married Sophia Christine Bluhme.[5] They had eight children: Elizabeth Sophia (1845–1916), who married John C. Koch; Mathilda (1855–1857); Louis (1858–1872); Amalia Emma (1851-1926), who married Herman August Luedke, the vice-president of the John Pritzlaff Hardware Company;[6][7] and Fred C. Pritzlaff (1861–1951), who went on to be president of John Pritzlaff Hardware Company until he died,[8] and three others who died in infancy.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Jerome Anthony Watrous (1909). Memoirs of Milwaukee County: From the Earliest Historical Times Down to the Present, Including a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Representative Families in Milwaukee County. Western Historical Association. pp. 777–778.
  2. ↑ "North Shore - My Northshore NOW". My North Shore Now. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  3. ↑
  4. 1 2 David Inman Nelke (1895). The Columbian Biographical Dictionary and Portrait Gallery of the Representative Men of the United States: Wisconsin Volume. Lewis Publishing Company. p. 245.
  5. ↑ "John Charles William Pritzlaff and Sophia Christine Blume :: Milwaukee County Marriage Certificates". content.mpl.org.
  6. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-07-14. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
  7. ↑
  8. ↑ "The German Component to American Industrialization". Immigrantentrepreneurship.org. 30 July 2017. Retrieved 2017-07-30.
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