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Rudolph S. Hummel

Biographical History of Clark and Jackson Counties, Lewis Publishing Company, 1891, pg. 159

RUDOLPH S. HUMMEL, of Section 22, Warner Township, Clark County, was born in the village of Dorf, Brugg County, Switzerland, December 25, 1837. His mother died when he was small, and his father brought the family to the United States in 1850, locating in Cleveland, Ohio , where the latter died in 1852. Rudolph remained one year with his stepmother, and then began life for himself. He came to Waukesha, Wisconsin, in 1855, and thence to Clark County the next spring , where he remained at Levi's Tavern until the fall of the same year. He next went to Alma Center, Jackson County, thence to Hixon, Same County, in 1859, and then to Black River Falls in the fall of 1860 , where he enlisted in the Union Army, September 1861, in Company G, Sixteenth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. He served until February, 1863, when he was discharged for disability, having received a gunshot wound in his left arm. He participated in the battles of Perryville, Bowling Green, Murfreesborough, Bridgeport, Tennessee, Bear Creek Stevenson and others. In the fall of 1864 he re-enlisted in Company G, Fifth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and served until the close of the war. His wound has never healed, and he now draws a pension.

After the war Mr. Hummel returned to Black River Falls and drove a team for D. J. Spaulding several years, and in 1872 came to this county, where he homesteaded eighty acres in Beaver Township. He settled on his present farm in 1882, which was then covered with heavy timber. He was married April 20, 1863, to Louisa H. Schermerhorn, who was born in Erie County, New York, the daughter of William Schermerhorn, deceased. They have five children, three of whom are now living: William G., Warren I., and Oscar A.. One son, Albertus j., died February 19, 1890, at the age twenty-three years, and one daughter, Myrtle, died October 21, 1886, aged seven years. William married Almeda Baker, and resides in this county. Mr. Hummel has an adopted daughter, Laura L. He is a member of the G.A.R. and both himself and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Politically he is a Republican