- JOHN MOLITOR, a substantial agriculturist and public-spirited citizen of the town of Vandenbroek, has been closely identified with the agricultural and public interests of his community for many years and stands high in the esteem of his fellow-townsmen. He was born at De Pere, Wisconsin, November 3, 1846, and is a son of Philipp and Annie Molitor, natives of Prussia who came to the United States in 1845 with their three children, Stephen, Mary Anne and Margarette. Philipp Molitor was born in Prussia, August 10, 1809, and died March 27, 1898. Upon coming to this country. The family first settled at De Pere, Wisconsin, where they resided for about one year and six months, Mr. Molitor engaging in farming, and in 1847 removed to Outagamie county, where he entered Government land, this becoming the Molitor homestead. On this property Philipp Molitor died, his wife having passed away in 1870, when in her sixtieth year. They had two children born in America of whom John was the eldest. Philipp Molitor was one of the pioneers of his section of Outagamie county, and for a number of years the family home was a log cabin, but as the years went by he increased his acreage, added to his farming utensils and became one of the substantial men of his cominmunity, serving as town chairman for several terms and as a director of the first school board. He was always interested in the cause of education, having been a schoolmaster in his native country, and tried to give his children the best of advantages along this line. John Molitor worked on his father's farm until the age of twenty-one years, at which time he rented his present property from his father, who at that time was serving as station agent for the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad in the village of Little Chute, a position which he held for nearly eight years. April 30, 1871, Mr. Molitor was married to Mary Knoll, who was also a native of Prussia, and came to the United States with her mother, who first settled in the State of New Jersey and then came to Outagamie county. Mr. and Mrs. Molitor have had six children, one of whom, Ardina, died in 1890, when thirteen years old, while the survivors are: Philipp, born May 4, 1872, married Hatty Jansen, September 29, 1897, and has three children, Annie, born August 21, 1899, Mary, January 2, 1903, and Mathias, July 9, 1907; Minnie, born May 1, 1874; Peter, born February 2, 1878; Michael, born August 27, 1879; and Elizabeth, born October 17, 1881, married Joseph Schumaker, of Appleton, September 11, 1907, and is the mother of two children, Margery, born September 22, 1908, and Philipp, born June 7, 1911. Mrs. Molitor died in 1887, when forty years of age, in the faith of St. John's Catholic Church, of Little Chute, of which Mr. Molitor is a consistent member. At present he is a director of the school board, of which he has been a member for four years, and he has also served for nine years as clerk of the board, as a member of the side board for three years and as a trustee of the village of Little Chute for five years. He has brought his farm into an excellent condition, and is known among his fellow-townsmen as a good, practical agriculturist and public-spirited citizen.
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1846 - 1924 (77 years)
1850 Census
