- FERDINAND PURATH. In naming the representative citizens of any community, it is invariably found that among the most prominent are men who started in life with little or no advantages either of educational or financial nature and worked their way to the top through their own industry and perseverance. Ferdinand Purath, one of the self-made men of Outagamie county, Wisconsin, who is now engaged in operating a finely cultivated farm of 200 acres in Center township, is a son of Frederick Purath, a native of Germany. Frederick Purath was reared in his native country, where he served his time in the German army, and came to the United States at the age of thirty-two years. He came from New York to Milwaukee, where he remained three years working as a carpenter, and spent five years in like manner at Hartford, after which he located in Center township, where he bought land. He was engaged in agricultural pursuits here until he was about sixty-five years old, when he retired from active life and went to Appleton, where he died at the age of eighty-three years. Frederick Purath married Doretta Rietz, also a native of Germany, and they had a family of six children. Frederick Purath served as a soldier during the War of the Rebellion, being a member of the Forty-seventh Wisconsin Volunteers, from which he received his honorable discharge at the close of the war .
Ferdinand Purath was born July 13, 1858, in Dodge county, Wisconsin, and his education was secured in the district schools of Outagamie county, but when there was work to do on the home farm he was compelled to do his share, whether his education suffered or not. The farm was located in the solid woods, and the boys worked through the long summers and winters, from dawn to dark, helping their father to claim it from the wilderness. When but fifteen years of age, Mr. Purath began working out on other farms in his neighborhood, at first receiving fifteen dollars per month, and later, when he was a little older, being paid eighteen dollars and his board. When he was twenty-two years old he had accumulated enough money to justify his striking out on his own account, and he bought what is now a beautiful, well-cultivated farm, then but a mass of wild country covered with stones and stumps, but after years of unending, untiring labor he converted it into one of the best farms in Center township. When he bought the land there was a little frame house standing on it, and this was Mr. Purath's home for twelve years, when the present commodious residence was built. He carries on general farming, having 200 acres under cultivation, and has met with the success that has been due his earnest efforts .
In 1881, Mr. Purath was married to Miss Mary Gorges, daughter of Godfrey and Wilhelmina (Neiland) Gorges, natives of Germany, who came to Wisconsin and were engaged in farming in Center township. Mr. Gorges lost his life in the last battle of the Civil War, in which he was serving as a soldier in the Union army. To Mr. and Mrs. Purath there have been born seven children: Walter, born in 1895, who died at the age of one year, sixteen days; one child which died in infancy; Sylvia, born in 1887; Etta, born in 1889, and Elsa, born in 1891; Annie, born in 1893, and Elma, born in 1901. Of the living children all are at home except Elsa, who married Alfred Wirth of Center township. The family are members of the Evangelical Church in Center. In politics Mr. Purath is a Republican, and for six years served as treasurer of the district schools .
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1858 - 1936 (78 years)
1870 Census
