Moeskes, Judge Gerhard Tillman

Other Events:

• Moved: Abt 1868; To Appleton
• Occupation: Abt 1884; Lawyer
• Biography: 1895; Record of the Pioneers of Outagamie Co., Wisconsin, by Elihu Spencer, page 71
• Biography: 1911; History of Outagamie County, Wisconsin Page 0954
• Obituary: 26 Dec 1924; Manitowoc News Herald

Notes:

Biography:
Unknown Origin - content different that bio from other bios
MOESKES, Gerhard Tillman, a resident of Appleton, and county judge of Outagamie county, is one of the most conspicuous examples of the "self- made" man of which this volume gives account. He was born on the 18th of January, 1846, at Boenning, near Fort Wesel, in the Rhine province, Prussia. His father, Herman Moeskes, was born of well-to-do parents, near Venlo, Holland; but, becoming an orphan at the age of nine years, drifted into Germany. His education was neglected, and he grew up on a farm as a common laborer, reaching the height of his ambition upon being installed as coachman and hunter of Count Van Loe in the Rhine province, Prussia. From this place he emigrated with his family to the United States in 1860, settling in Manitowoc, Wis., where he died April 28th, 1894. An uncle of his, William Weyers, was a member of the Holland cabinet and quite wealthy. His wife, the mother of Judge Moeskes, was Maria K. Geeren, whose relatives were in good circumstances. She died in Manitowoc, September 10th, 1866. G. T. Moeskes attended a common school in his native Prussia from the age of seven years to fourteen, attendance being compulsory, eight hours a day, with only one month's vacation during the year. He was taught by one and the same teacher during the entire period of his attendance. This teacher, Carl Enkling, is still living, but recently pensioned. Judge Moeskes has always held him in high esteem and frequently corresponds with him now, ascribing to him the benefits of his own early training and his ability for successful work. This youth supplemented his Prussian education, upon arriving in this country, by taking lessons in the English language evenings from a hired domestic, and from a school teacher who boarded with the family for whom he worked on a farm near Ripon. Boy though he was when he reached this country, and in poor circumstances, he began work at whatever he could find to do--on farms and in mills-- and in this way earned the means to pay for a home for his parents. At the age of twenty, he started out for himself, by learning the carpenter's trade, serving an apprenticeship of five weeks, at fifty cents a day. After this he went to Fond du Lac, where he obtained work at two dollars and a half per day. There he continued to work until his mother's death, when, at his father's request, he returned home to Manitowoc, where he obtained work in a ship yard at two dollars and a half per day, while old carpenters, alongside of whom he worked, received but one dollar and seventy-five cents per day--the difference being due to young Moeskes' superior skill and capacity for work. He continued at this business until he was placed in charge of a crew of men to repair or rebuild a dredge for John Schuette. Having acquired a good, practical knowledge of the English language, he gave up his trade, and, in 1868, became an insurance agent, and continued in the business until 1874, when, upon returning from a four weeks' trip in Marathon county, he found himself elected justice of the peace. During his two years' occupancy of the office he tried over six hundred cases. In the spring of 1876 he began the study of law in the office of Collins & Pierce, and in the fall of that year was elected clerk of the circuit court, an office which he filled with characteristic ability and fidelity for eight consecutive years, during which time he steadily pursued the study of Page 191 law as opportunity offered, and was admitted to the bar in 1884. At the expiration of his term as clerk of the court, he commenced the practice of law in Appleton, having as partner Humphrey Pierce, and in this was quite successful. At the end of five years, or in 1889, he was elected county judge of Outagamie county, and this office he has held continuously since, having been re-elected in April, 1897, as a Democrat, by nearly 1,500 majority in a county that gave nearly 1,500 Republican majority in 1896. When Judge Moeskes has taken any part in politics, it has been in affiliation with the Democratic party. In connection with Lieutenant- Governor Baench he called the first meeting of county judges, and was one of a committee of three that formulated the present county court rules. He has been a member of the board of aldermen of the city; director of the Citizens' National bank of Appleton, and director of the Prescott hospital. He is a Catholic in religion. While he was a member of the St. Joseph's Benevolent society, he held continuously the office of secretary, was delegate to the biennial meeting of the Central society at Philadelphia in 1876, and finally president. He was also president, continuously, for ten years, of Branch No. 6, C. K. W., and finally refused re-election. He was a delegate to the state council, chairman of the reserve fund commission appointed by the state council, and inaugurated the present reserve fund provision. On the 12th of October, 1869, Judge Moeskes was married to Maria P. Kamps of Appleton, the youngest of thirteen children. Her father was a native of the same village in Prussia as Judge Moeskes, and a tanner by trade. To Judge and Mrs. Moeskes were born seven children, four of whom are dead--two in infancy, Agnes, in 1892, at the age of twenty-one, and William, a promising lad of sixteen, in 1893. The surviving children are Mrs. Edward Sacksteder, whose husband is of the drug firm of Kamps & Sacksteder; Herman E., a stenographer, and Eliza C., who is at present the official stenographer of the county court. Mrs. Moeskes died August 14th, 1894. The judge was remarried August 27th, 1895, to Eliza Peters of Manitowoc.

Immigration:
Unknown

Occupation:
Lawyer

Biography:
BIOGRAPHY: G. T. MOESKES
Was born January 18, 1846, near Fort Weasel, Prussia, village of Boeming; came to Manitowoc in 1860, and removed from there to Appleton, in August 1868; married October 12, 1869 to Maria Kamps, born Sept. 1, 1848 who came to Appleton in the spring of 1861. She died five years ago, leaving three children, Mrs. Kate Sacksteder, born in December, 1872; Herman E., born in March, 1876; Elizabeth C., born in June, 1880. Mr. Moeskes' second wife was Elizabeth Peters, of Manitowoc, whom he married August 26, 1895. She was born June 6, 1844. Occupation, attorney-at-law. County judge at present. Residence, 926 Eighth street, Appleton.

Biography:
GERHARD T. MOESKES, ex-Judge of Outagamie county, whose long and faithful public service entitles him to the respect and esteem of his fellow citizens, was born January 18, 1846, in the Rhine Province, Prussia, a son of Herman and Maria (Geeren) Moeskes. Herman Moeskes was born April 10, 1817, in Holland, and in his native country was employed as a coachman and hunter by a nobleman, also owning a small farm in Rhein, Prussia. In 1860 he came to the United States with his family on the sailing vessel "Daniel Webster," the journey lasting forty-seven days. He had married in 1844, Maria Geeren, and there were ten children born to this union, of whom Judge Moeskes is the eldest, there being two surviving children. On coming to the United States, Herman Moeskes settled in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and there continued to reside until his death, April 28, 1894, his wife having passed away in 1866. Gerhard T. Moeskes received an excellent educational training in the schools of his native land, and he was fourteen years of age at the time when he accompanied the family to America. On account of the ill-health of his father, the eldest son was given but few advantages in his youth, early starting to work at whatever employment offered itself, his principal occupation being wood chopping in the lumber woods. He next secured a position as bookkeeper and lumber scaler, and at the age of twenty years he learned the carpenter's trade, but after two years took up the insurance business in Manitowoc, and shortly afterward, in 1868, moved to Appleton, which city he had for headquarters during the time he was traveling for an insurance company. In April, 1874, he returned from a trip to find out from his wife that he had been elected to the office of justice of the peace, and during the spring of 1876 he started to study law in the office of Collins & Pierce. Later in the same year he was elected clerk of the Circuit Court, but during the eight years in which he was an incumbent of that office he never ceased his law studies, and in 1884 he was admitted to the bar. He commenced the practice of law in Appleton, as a partner of Humphrey Pierce, and in 1889 he was elected County Judge, being reelected in 1893 and for two terms following, his incumbency of that office covering a period of twelve years. Judge Moeskes' administration of the office distinguished him as a man of far more than the ordinary ability, and he established a reputation of being in all things just; no one can say of him that he was ever prejudiced, nor can any one point to a single instance where favor has been shown. That he served the people of Outagamie county in this trying and difficult period for twelve years without the slightest blotch to mar his record is an achievement which should be gratifying to him and of which his family may justly speak with pride in the years to come. Judge Moeskes has been a representative of steamship companies during the past forty years, and now looks after the interests of the International Merchant Marine, Hamburg, North German Lloyd, Holland and American lines. During his youth he worked with Charles Graves, who is now manager of The Fair, in Chicago, and a warm friendship has existed between the two men throughout their lives. Since 1902 Judge Moeskes has been engaged in a large law practice in Appleton. He is a consistent member of the Catholic Church, and was one of the organizers and charter members of Branch No. 6, Catholic Knights of Wisconsin, an insurance organization of which he was president for ten years, during which time it increased its membership from the five original organizers to 155, when he declined a re-election. As an appreciation of the excellent service he had given to the order, Judge Moeskes was presented with a gold-mounted, properly-inscribed cane. He was one of the organizers and for six years treasurer of the Appleton Building and Loan Association; one of the organizers and directors and secretary of the Union Toy and Furniture Company; one of the organizers and directors of the Appleton Straw Board Company, in none of which he is now connected in any way; and one of the organizers of the Citizens' National Bank of Appleton, of which he is a director. Judge Moeskes is a Democrat in his political views, and during 1880 and 1881 he served as a member of the city council. Judge Moeskes was married in 1869 to Miss Maria P. Kamps, of Appleton, the youngest of a family of thirteen children, whose father was a native of the village in which Judge Moeskes was born in Prussia, and who came to Appleton in 1860. A tanner by trade, he erected the first tannery in the town, and died in 1872, his widow surviving him one year. There were seven children born to Judge and Mrs. Moeskes, as follows: two who died in infancy; Agnes, who died in 1892, when twenty-one years old; William, who died in October, 1893, when sixteen years old; Herman E., former register of probate in Outagamie county, and now residing in Colorado; Katie M., who married E. W. Sacksteder of the firm of Kamps & Sacksteder, druggists of Appleton; and Elizabeth, who lives in Los Angeles, California. The mother of these children died August 13, 1894, aged forty-six years, in the faith of St. Joseph's Catholic Church, of which she had been a member for many years.

Obituary:
JUDGE MOESKES DIES AT APPLETON
Judge Gerhard T. Moeskes, 78, former judge of the Outagamie County Court, died at St. Elizabeth hospital at Appleton Wednesday morning. The funeral will be held at Appleton.
Judge Moeskes was born in Germany [in the village of Boeming, near Wesel] on Jan. 16, 1846, and received his elementary education in his native land. In 1860 he came to the United States with his parents, settling in Manitowoc where he learned the carpenter trade. He entered into the insurance business about 1867 and a year later moved to Appleton. In 1875 he was elected a justice of the peace and a year or so later he began the study of law in the office of Collins and Pierce. Mr. Moeskes was elected clerk of circuit court in 1876 but continued his study of law and was admitted to the bar in 1884 and became a partner of the late Humphrey Pierce. His election as county judge followed in 1889.
Judge Moeskes was one of the original members of the Catholic Knights of Wisconsin and was instrumental in the rapid growth of that order. He was one of the organizers of the Union Toy and Furniture Co., and Appleton Straw Board Co. and assisted in organizing the Citizens National Bank of Appleton of which he was a director for many years. Judge Moeskes served in the city council in 1880 and 1881.
Mr. Moeskes was married in 1869 to Miss Maria P. Kamps of Appleton, who died in 1894. Late in the following year, he was married to Eliza Peters of Manitowoc, and she died on Oct. 26, 1919.
Mr. Moeskes' survivors are two daughters, Mrs. Henry [Katie Sacksteder] Reuter of Appleton and Mrs. J.L. [Elizabeth] Radcliffe of Los Angeles.

Gerhard married Kamps, Maria 12 Oct 1869, Appleton, Outagamie, Wisconsin, USA. Maria (daughter of Kamps, John Henry and Blankenmeier, Marie Agnes) was born 31 Aug 1848; died 14 Aug 1894, Appleton, Outagamie, Wisconsin, USA; was buried , St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery, Appleton, Wisconsin, USA. [Group Sheet]

Gerhard married Peters, Elizabeth "Eliza" 27 Aug 1895. Elizabeth was born Abt 1843; died 26 Oct 1919, Appleton, Outagamie, Wisconsin, USA; was buried , St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery, Appleton, Wisconsin, USA. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Obituary: 6 Aug 1892

Notes:

Obituary:
Agnes Moeskes, who died of consumption at Appleton, Friday, was the daughter of County Judge Moeskes. She had been treated in vain with Koch's lymph.
From the Milwaukee Journal, 6 Aug 1892:

Other Events:

• 1920 Census: 1920, Appleton, Outagamie, Wisconsin, USA

Notes:

1920 Census:
Henry Reuter56
Catherine Reuter46
Agnes H Reuter30
Helen C Reuter27

Katherine married Sacksteder, Edward 13 Sep 1893, Appleton, Outagamie, Wisconsin, USA. Edward (son of Sacksteder, Peter and Greulich, Barbara) was born 11 Mar 1868, , , Ohio, USA; died 3 Dec 1906, Appleton, Outagamie, Wisconsin, USA; was buried , St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery, Appleton, Wisconsin, USA. [Group Sheet]

Katherine married Reuter, Henry 16 Jun 1909. Henry (son of Reuter, Peter and Borlinghausen, Gertrude) was born 1 Jan 1865, Rice Lake, Barron, Wisconsin, USA; died 25 Aug 1925, Appleton, Outagamie, Wisconsin, USA; was buried Aft 25 Aug 1925, St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery, Appleton, Wisconsin, USA. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Obituary: 21 Oct 1893; Daily Northwestern

Notes:

Obituary:
Willie Moeskes, aged fourteen, a son of County Judge Moeskes, fell in an epileptic fit this morning while dressing and died in a few minutes. He was alone in the house with a younger brother, his parents being at the World's fair. He has been subject to fits for several years.

Eliza — Radcliffe, UnknownM. [Group Sheet]