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William H. Hesse
This gentleman, whose popularity is
proverbial, and whose name in his
city and vicinity is "familiar as
household words" comes of that sterling
progressive class of Germans, who, wherever they make a settlement, form an impress for good, leaving on their onward
march indelible "foot-prints on the sands
of time."
Some eight years ago Mr. Hesse be-
came interested financially in mining matters in Alaska and continues in the business today. He is accounted one of the
pioneers of the Seward Peninsula in
Alaska, where he has large interests in
the gold placer grounds, and tin and
quicksilver deposits, with an office in
Nome.
William Hesse, father of our subject,
was born in 1834, in Crivitz, Prussia,
where he was reared and educated. At
the age of eighteen, in 1852, in company
with his father and the family, he went
to the United States, and for a short time made his home in Rochester, New York.
From Rochester the family removed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and there he met his
future wife. Miss Clara Vehring, a lady of German nativity, and who, when sixteen
years old, went to America with an uncle, she being an orphan. Mr. Hesse died in
Neenah, Wisconsin, in 1885, and his wife followed him to the grave in 1893.
William H. Hesse was born in Menasha, Wisconsin, November 2, I860, and
received his elementary education in the public schools in Neenah, supplemented with
a course at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. At the age of twenty-one he
entered into partnership with his father in the hotel business, as managers of the Neenah
Hotel. On the death of the senior Hesse, in 1885, the son continued the business
until 1 893, when he disposed of his interest.
In the meantime Mr. Hesse discovered the existence of white quartz quarries near
Wausau, Marathon County, Wisconsin, and conceived the idea that this might be
made a valuable adjunct to the resources of the Badger State. He had given
considerable attention to geology and mining. With specimens of the Marathon County quartz
in his possession, he returned to Neenah from a visit and began experimenting. He soon
discovered the quartz, pulverized, could not only be utilized in the manufacture of a
fine quality of sandpaper, and for other purposes, but that it made one of the best water
filter beds possible. Armed with this information, he established a factory in a small
way in Neenah, and soon won a reputation with his product that induced the people
of Wausau to offer him sufficient inducements to remove his plant to that city, where he
engaged in the business on a large scale. The correctness of his judgment is testified
to by the fact that the Badger Quartz Mill is among the more important industries of
the Wisconsin Valley today, its output being shipped in carload lots to all parts of
the country.
Mr. Hesse has always taken a deep interest in public matters, whether they con-
cerned the prosperity of his home city, the state, or the nation. In his politcal affiliations
he is a Democrat. He has served his party as a member of both county and congressional committees, and as a delegate to state, county and city conventions. He served
the city of Neenah for three years as a member of the common council, and as mayor
for one term, 1891 to 1892. His administration as chief magistrate, was peculiarly
felicitious, from the fact that it gave to the people the present excellent water works and
inaugurated the street paving system.
At the present time (1905), Mr. Hesse is serving the people as the president of
the Board of Libraries of Winnebago County. He has been a member of the school
board for several years, and takes a deep interest in educational matters.
In 1887 Mr. Hesse married Miss Flora May Dunham, a native of Ohio. They
have one child, Monica A. Hesse.
Descended from sturdy ancestors, some of them in the honorable professions,
others in the no less honorable field of commerce, he is, by inheritance, possessed of
advantages and surrounded by circumstances combining in a remarkable manner to
accelerate the developments of his character and the furtherance of his future prosperity;
and that they have been accomplished in no limited degree, his life itself is indisputable
evidence.
Source: Nome and Seward Peninsula by
R. S. Harrison. Seattle: The Metropolitan Press, 1905.
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