F. W. Kickbusch

Frederick W. Kickbusch (sometimes misspelled Kickbush) (January 25, 1841 - September 12, 1907) was an American lumberman and firefighter from Wausau who served one term in the 31st Wisconsin Legislature as an Independent Greenbacker member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from Marathon County.^[1]

Background

Kickbusch was born at Kolberg, in Pomerania, part of the Kingdom of Prussia, on January 25, 1841; he received a common school education; immigrated to America with his parents in 1857, and settled in the city of Milwaukee, but moved to Wausau in 1860, and became a lumberman. On October 28, 1864, he married Mathilde Braatz of Berlin, Wisconsin; they would have four children.

Elective office

As of 1878, he had been elected county treasurer of Marathon County three times in succession as a Democrat, as well as having held other local offices such as alderman and county supervisor. In 1877 Kickbusch (a long-time volunteer firefighter) was elected president of the State Fireman's Association, an office he would hold for three years.

He was elected to the Marathon County Assembly seat as an Independent Greenbacker in 1877, with 977 votes to 799 for Democrat J. C. Clarke. He was assigned to the standing committee on the assessment and collection of taxes.^[2] He ran for re-election in 1878, but was unseated by Democratic former state senator John Ringle, who polled 1282 votes to 1226 for Kickbusch.^[3] After 1879, he abandoned the Greenback movement and returned to the Democratic Party.

In 1893, he was appointed as the United States Consul for Stettin, in his native province of Pomerania, now part of the German Empire.

References

[1] Cannon, A. Peter, ed. Members of the Wisconsin Legislature: 1848 – 1999. State of Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau Informational Bulletin 99-1, September 1999; p. 70 Archived December 9, 2006, at the Wayback Machine

[2] Bashford, R. M., ed. The Legislative Manual of the State of Wisconsin: comprising the Constitutions of the United States and of the State of Wisconsin, Jefferson's Manual, Forms and Laws for the Regulation of Business; also, lists and tables for reference, etc. Seventeenth Annual Edition. Madison: David Atwood, Printer and Stereotyper, 1878; pp. 394, 442, 475, 490, 495

[3] Warner, Hans B., ed. The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin, for 1879. Containing the Constitutions of the United States and of the State; Jefferson's Manual; Rules and Orders of the Senate and Assembly, and Annals of the Legislature; also, statistical tables and history of state institutions Eighteenth Annual Edition. Madison: David Atwood, State Printer, 1879; p. 497

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