- ROBERT KUEHNE, one of the largest shippers of horses, cattle, grain and commodities of all kinds in Outagamie county, Wisconsin, who is doing business throughout this section of the state, has for a long period been located in the city of Seymour. He is a native of Outagamie county, born February 3, 1866, at Greenville, son of Fred K. and Wilhelmina (Weise) Kuehne. Fred Kuehne was born February 23, 1826, in Prussia, Germany, where his father, Andrew Kuehne, was a farmer. The family, which consisted of the parents, six sons and four daughters, came to the United States from Hamburg on the vessel Hobart which landed after a voyage of forty-nine days at New York, in the spring of 1850. Mr. Kuehne went to Newark, New Jersey, where he obtained employment and continued two months, and he then went to Milwaukee, where he entered the service of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, then in the course of construction. Later he obtained work at threshing with a flail for one dollar a week. He was married in 1851 to Wilhelmina Weise, a native of Germany, and settled on a rented farm six miles north of Milwaukee. Two years later he added six acres to the original tract of two, but after one year more he settled in Winnebago county, taking with him his wife and three children: Fred; Louisa, who married William Sperck; and Mary, who married Albert Tesch. Mr. Kuehne lived in Winnebago county for eighteen months and then came to Outagamie county, settling in Greenville, where he bought forty acres of land, which he afterward traded for eighty acres, but after several years sold this and went to Grand Chute township, where he purchased a tract of eighty-one acres, and for some years he added to his property and then sold off. Later he removed to near Appleton, where he commenced the slaughter and sale of cattle, in conjunction with farming, and in this line he soon built up a large trade. Four children were born to Mr. Kuehne and his wife in Outagamie county, namely: Mrs. Minnie Giebish; Hattie, Robert and Avalt. His first wife died in 1868, and he was married in the following year to Amelia Paulson, who died in 1891 without issue.
Robert Kuehne secured his education in the public schools of Outagamie county, and when but fifteen years of age started out in life on his own account, his first work being in the butchering business, his next natural advancement being to the position of stock buyer. In 1893 he permanently located in Seymour, from whence he ships over 400 cars of stock and grain per year, and where he owns a fine farm. He also deals extensively in real estate, is the proprietor of a cold storage plant, vice-president of the Pulaski State Bank of Brown county and a director in the First National Bank and the Fidelity Loan and Trust Company, both of Seymour.
Mr. Kuehne was married in 1899 to Ella Wagner, who was born October 23, 1878, in Germany, daughter of Henry and Augusta (Reto) Wagner; and to this union there have been born six children: Earl, Albert, Emma, Myra, Christina, who died aged two years; and Richard, who died when eight weeks old. Mr. Kuehne is a republican in his political views and served as chairman of the town board of Seymour for three years.
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1866 - 1952 (85 years)
1870 Census
