----Source: Original typed manuscript in Roder family files

----Compiled by Alma Schlinsog Snyder at Eugene, Oregon, November 1967

My grateful acknowledgment goes to all those relatives and friends who helped so much with dates and facts and encouragement. I have tried very hard to keep this family history as accurate as possible. Some dates are missing. I have left space for them to be filled in by any who have the missing information. Thank you all
Alma Schlinsog Snyder


This history of the Schlinsog family, as of November, 1967, extends back five generations. It begins with AUGUST SCHLINSOG, SR. the gr. gr. grandfather of the Schlinsog descendants born in the 1960's. The history has been prepared by ALMA SCHLINSOG SNYDER, granddaughter of August Schlinsog. Sr. and daughter of his eldest son, Herman.

AUGUST SCHLINSOG, SR. was born in Selesia, Germany, on August 11, 1837. He migrated to America about 1869, being about 32 years old at the time. A brother, ERNEST SCHLINSOG, and a SISTER (unnamed - who later married a MR. SCHWEIG and settled in Chicago) also came to America at about the same time. As far as is known, the Schweigs had two daughters, MARY SCHWEIG and ELIZABETH SCHWEIG. Mary never married but Elizabeth became the wife of MR. HERMAN SCHMID and lives today (1967) in Riverside, Illinois. August's brother ERNEST SCHLINSOG settled in Minnesota and reared his family there.

AUGUST SCHLINSOG, SR. had been in America about three years when at the age of 35, on September 27, 1872, he married PAULINE HANDKE. She was at that time not quite 21 years old, having been born November 2, 1851. August and Pauline settled on a 60-acre tract of wild land three miles south of the village of Granton, Wisconsin, in Grant Township (at that time called Lynn Township). They built a small log house of trees felled on their own land. Here their eight children were born:

HERMAN ADOLPH SCHLINSOG (28 Nov. 1873 - 25 Dec 1944)
AUGUST WILHELM SCHLINSOG, JR (13 Feb. 1876 - 10 Feb 1924)
MARTHA ERNESTINE SCHLINSOG (27 Dec 1877 - 6 Nov 1963)
BERTHA ANNA SCHLINSOG (2 Aug 1879 - 1898)
AMELIA LOUISE SCHLINSOG (12 Feb 1882 - 23 Feb 1966)
FREDERICH KARL SCHLINSOG (14 Feb 1885 - 12 Oct 1951)
ANNA KAROLINE SCHLINSOG (27 Sept 1887 - March 1943)
ERNEST GOTTFRIED SCHLINSOG(29 May 1889

Over the years, August and Pauline prospered, clearing the land, building it into a fine farm with a large frame house for their dwelling. Other farms were cultivated adjoining theirs and a dairying community was established.

Travel was not easy in those days. Families once married and dispersed would be lucky to see one another on only a few occasions in a lifetime. It was World War I before August saw his brother Ernest again. ERNEST SCHLINSOG and his wife EMELIA (nee WINDLER) SCHLINSOG came from Minnesota to Wisconsin to visit August the summer of about 1918 or 1919. August Pauline took Ernest Emelia up to York Township to visit August's three son, Herman, Fred, and Ernest and their families. The grandchildren were all young at this time. Alma remembers that "Great-Uncle Ernest's 'horn' intrigued us very much. He was quite deaf and used the large horn-shaped device common at the time as a hearing aid. He would put the horn up to his ear and the grown-ups would shout into it to make Great-uncle Ernest hear."

August's four sons, HERMAN, AUGUST JR, FREDERICH, and ERNEST, had all bought land about nine miles from their parent's home, in the then-called Romadka Community in York Township, six miles north of the village of Granton. In the years 1900 to 1910 this land was mostly in timber and the 40 to 80-acre tracts could be purchased quite reasonably. During the time that AUGUST, JR. and FRED were clearing their lands, their younger sisters AMELIA and ANNA (unmarried at the time) took turns keeping house for them. MARTHA was already married, and BERTHA had died in 1889 of tuberculosis. AUGUST, JR. later resold his tract and purchased another piece of land south of his parents' home in Grant Township. (As of Nov 1967, this farm is owned by the Bruno Dudeis). He farmed this for some time, then sold it and rented his parents' farm, purchasing it outright in 1923. (August, Jr.'s son, EMIL SCHLINSOG, still has this farm today along with 40 acres across the road from it that August, Jr. had purchased to add to his acreage. So in 1967, this Schlinsog farm has been continuously in Schlinsog ownership for 95 years. May it see the century mark ).

PAULINE HANDKE SCHLINSOG also came from Germany. She was 20 years old when she came with her father, WILLIAM HANDKE, her sister ERNESTINE HANDKE, and her brothers GUSTAV HANDKE and KARL HANDKE, and her stepmother, KAROLINE HANDKE to America. The Handkes, like the Schlinsogs, came from the Province of Schlesian in Germany (pronounced "Selesia" in the English language). The Handke family landed in New York City, and WILLIAM HANDKE had to work there for several weeks in order to get together enough money to continue his journey on to Wisconsin, where he wanted to join up with other friends who had gone there ahead of him. When he had accumulated enough from his work in New York, the family continued by train to Wisconsin, where they settled at what is now Shortville Community, Clark County, nine miles south of Granton. WILLIAM HANDKE, too, purchased wild land which had to be cleared. Forests of pine, oak, sugar maple, and elm were everywhere in Wisconsin in those days. Later, William bought land in Lynn Township, three miles east of Granton, then known as Lynn Community. The land was about a mile from the Lynn Store at that time.

WILLIAM HANDKE was born in 1829. He was a man of great courage, a large, strong, broad-shouldered man who always chose the hardest jobs when working with a group of men. It was told by his friends that when a threshing machine got mired down in the muddy road, William simply said "Heave Ho " (or the German equivalent), took hold of the rig and literally lifted it out of the rut alone. He was a man of good, Christian principles and was one of the early pioneer members of the Lutheran Church (now known as the Zion American Lutheran Church) still established today on it's original site one and one-half miles south of Granton. (The little log meeting house built in 1864 was later replaced by a frame structure which in it's turn gave way in 1906 to one built of brick. Many of William Handke's descendants still worship there, and in the cemetery adjoining the church many of the Schlinsog ancestors are laid to rest).

WILLIAM HANDKE was married three times. His first wife, the mother of Pauline, Ernestine, Gustav, and Karl, died when Pauline was 13 years old and Karl, their youngest, was only five. William married a second time, but had no children by this wife, who died of a heart attack during the night. His third wife, KAROLINE HANDKE, born Feb 1840, was the "Great-Grandma Handke" that Alma (this writer) remembers. (she would be the gr. gr. gr. grandmother to the youngest Schlinsog descendants in 1967).

The following are the stories of PAULINE HANDKE SCHLINSOG's sisters and brothers:

ERNESTINE HANDKE married a Mr. SCHULTZ of the Shortville Community in Clark County (the Schultz family includes the Schultz cousins, ALBERT SCHULTZ, WILLIAM SCHULTZ, CHARLIE SCHULTZ, and ANNA SCHULTZ. Anna married ARTHUR MOUTNER, of Tony, Wisconsin, near Ladysmith. JOSEPH MOUTNER, LEVI MOUTNER, twins GLADYS MOUTNER and GLENN MOUTNER are her children).

GUSTAV HANDKE, the older of Pauline's two brothers, was a deaf-mute. Pauline tells that Gustav was about two years old, just learning to talk, when the children, playing, set him on the edge of a table. He fell to the floor. It was after this they noticed he did not hear when they spoke to him. He then became mute as a result of not being able to hear. This happened while they were still living in Germany. Gustav was educated in Germany, and then after he came to America, taught himself to read the English language so that he could read the newspapers. Alma, remembers that the children all knew Gustav as "Uncle Dummy". This in no way reflected on his mentality but was because Grandma Pauline always referred to her brother as 'the deaf-mute' in German, 'der schtume'(the dumb one). She remembers that he always wore a large brown mustache which later grayed, and that he would play great roughhouse games with the children but when he had had enough would wave his arms wildly and make faces signifying "run off now, leave me alone". Gustav worked around for the farmers in Neillsville Community and kept himself financially independent. He never married. In later years he made his home with his sister Pauline and her husband August and was their right-hand man on the farm after the children were grown and gone to farms of their own. When August and Pauline retired and went to live in a house in town, Gustav went along, but he stayed only one week. He did not like the enforced idleness. August and Pauline's daughter AMELIA HANDKE MILLER and EMILE MILER, came to visit and Gustav went home with them. AMELIA and EMIL MILLER owned a big farm in Veefkind community, Sherman Township, Clark County (now called Route 2, Spencer, Wisconsin). Gustav loved farming. Nothing made him happier than to be allowed to go ahead with preparing the fields and planting and harvesting the crops. He watched the corn and wheat as it grew and did everything in his power to see that their land produced the best crops in the area. He lived with the Millers until his death sometime in the 1930s.

KARL HANDKE, the younger of Pauline's two full brothers, was born in Germay in 1859. He would have been about 12 when he came with his family to Wisconsin. Sad to say, he lived only to the age of 30. In 1889, while working as the night-watchman of a logging camp in the densely forested area between Loyal and Spencer, Wisconsin, he was robbed and murdered. The criminals were never found.

Four more children (half brothers and sisters to Pauline, Ernestine, Gustav, and Karl) were born to WILLIAM HANDKE by his wife KAROLINE HANDKE in America after they had settled on their second farm in Lynn Community. These children were CARRIE HANDKE (named for her mother Karoline), ANNA KAROLINE HANDKE, FRED HANDKE, and ERNEST HANDKE. Carrie married a MR. AUGUST DANKEMEYER.

WILLIAM HANDKE's brother, GOTTLIEB HANDKE, also came to America, as did his two sisters ANNA HANDKE and HANNAH HANDKE, but five other Handke brothers remained in Germany. (Quite possibly their descendants still live in and around Seliesia). HANNA HANDKE married a MR. NITSCHKE, of Random Lake, Wisconsin. ANNA HANDKE married MR. CARL RODER who lived in Grant Township, Clark County, about two miles from Granton. The Roder Elementary School was named for them. The Roders had five children: ERNESTINE RODER, AMELIA RODER, CHRISTINE RODER, AUGUST RODER, and PAUL RODER. Ernestine became MRS. ERNEST NITSCHKE Amelia became MRS. CARL KRAUSE. Their husbands both came from Granton and Lynn Communities. Christine married MR. HENRY STERNS. August and Paul Roder both owned farms a few miles south of Granton. AUGUST RODER married ALVIRA (ELVIRA ERETTA) AYERS PAUL RODER married AMALIA HILLERT of Granton Community. Their children are: WALTER RODER (who is farming the Roder home place one mile south of Granton - 1967) EDNA RODER (now MRS. LOUIS BRESEMEN, southeast of Granton) and ESTHER RODER (now MRS. LELAND BASS, southeast of Granton).

WILLIAM HANDKE died in 1897 of a hernia, at the age of 68. His wife KAROLINE lived until 1933.

WILLIAM HANDKE's mother was born ANNA RADEMACHER, 2 Feb. 1800. She, too, eventually came to America where she lived with her daughter ANNA HANDKE RODER. She died there 5 Sept 1885, at the age of 85.

Family ties were kept close-knit in those days. Alma Schlingsog Snyder remembers that each Sunday her parents would gather up the children and drive by team and wagon the 2-hour trip (later shortened by automobile) nine miles to the Zion Lutheran Church which all the Schlinsogs attended, south of Granton, close to Grandfather and Grandmother Schlinsog's farm. She would have had the dinner partly prepared in the early morning, finishing the rest after they arrived from church. "How the aroma of roast pork or chicken and boiled potatoes and good sauerkraut would fill the air, and what appetites we would have There were always many huge loaves of freshly baked bread and, for dessert, delicious kuchen with rich crumbs on top Salads were unheard of in those days, especially in rural areas. Greens were available from the garden only in summer, so sauerkraut and dill pickles took the place of salad. Spiced crabapples might also be a part of the meal. Grandfather Schlinsog had an old, established, big apple orchard. How good those apples were A real treat, because of course the orchards on the farms of the younger married couples had not come into full bearing yet. Always, after diner, Grandmother would take the children into hers and Grandfather's bedroom with it's big bed covered with a patchwork quilt and it's tall clothes cupboard. She would reach into the cupboard into a small paper sack and bring out for each of us a candy peppermint for a treat. The children would go out onto the front porch and sit on the steps while they sucked the candy. There were two big lilac trees at the front gate, one purple, one white. Whey were so beautiful and so fragrant in the spring sunshine "

Alma also recalls that once every year Grandfather August and Grandmother Pauline Schlinsog would visit their children. They would come in a black-topped buggy drawn by one black horse, staying one week between their three sons in York Township, then going home and returning later in the year to visit their three daughters. They would always bring a little gift of some kind of candy for the grandchildren. Every child looked forward to these visits. During one of them to his son Herman's house, Grandfather August celebrated his 80th birthday. It was a great occasion. After that, for the 10 years until his death, all his children and their children would gather at Grandfather's house to celebrate his birthday. The ladies would bring sandwiches. Someone would bake the birthday cake. Grandmother would buy ice cream.

AUGUST and PAULINE SCHLINSOG celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary 27 Sept. 1922, in their farm home where they had lived for 50 years. It was a beautiful autumn day. All the families were present. The daughters had been baking for days ahead of the event, and there was a big chicken dinner. After dinner, everyone loaded into automobiles to drive in to the photographer at Neillsville for a family portrait. Enough copies were made so that each one in the picture should have one to keep. (There must be prints of this photograph still in existence in the possession of some of the Schlinsog descendants).

In 1923, having retired from active farming at the vigorous old age of 85, August sold the home farm to his son and namesake, AUGUST SCHLINSOG, JR. and he and Pauline moved to a small house in the little village of Chili, Wisconsin, just across the street from their daughter, MARTHA, MRS. ERNEST NEINAS. Here, five years later, in February, 1928, August died at the age of 90 years. He was never known to have been ill or hospitalized at any time during his long life. His death was attributed to simple old age. PAULINE HANDKE SCHLINSOG died a little more than a year later, 21 May, 1929, at the age of 77. She had developed arteriosclerosis, but was bedfast only six weeks before passing on. She died at the home of her daughter, ANNA LUSTIG FRANK.