Source: "History of Manitowoc County Wisconsin" by Dr. L. Falge, 1911-1912, v.2, p.597-599.

William H. Reinholdt

William H. Reinholdt is numbered among those men who are not only prominent representatives of business development in Manitowoc county but are also proving their worth as citizens through the faithful discharge of the duties of public office. He is serving as justice of the peace in addition to successfully conducting his farm and dairy. His home is in Schleswig township upon the farm on which his birth occurred in a little log cabin September 29, 1855. He is a representative of one of the old pioneer families here for since pioneer days the Reinholdts have been associated with the growth and progress here. His father, Claus H. Reinholdt, was born in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, in 1825. He married Miss Anna M. Broeckert and with his wife came to America, in 1854, settling first near Holstein, Wisconsin. In May, 1855, he purchased from the government a tract of land upon which he spent most of his life and which is still known as the old Reinholdt homestead. He has retired to the village of Holstein where he now makes his home. Not a furrow had been turned nor an improvement made upon the place when he took possession; in fact, it was covered with a growth of native timber which had to be cleared away before the fields were cultivable. With characteristic energy, however, he set himself to the task, and the family shared in all the hardships and privations of pioneer life, but with the passing of the years these gave way before the comforts and improvements of an advancing civilization. In the family were nine children of whom the following are yet living: John H., a resident of Milwaukee; Theresa, the wife of J. Porter of that city; William H.; Dora, the wife of F. Gisch, of Manitowoc; and Margaret and Helena, twins, the former the wife of H. Walters and the latter of S. Parlaman, of Milwaukee. Henry J., Gustav and Mary are all deceased.

William H. Reinholdt was reared amid the wild scenes of frontier life. Indians were still quite numerous in the neighborhood during the period of his youth and he has intimate knowledge of the red men and their ways and customs. He engaged in farming with his father whom he assisted from early childhood, remaining on the old homestead until twenty-eight years of age. During his younger years the farming was done with ox teams and other primitive methods were employed, but as time passed on and the Reinholdt family gained prosperity modern conveniences and accessories were added to the place. In 1884 William H. Reinholdt joined a brother in the conduct of a hardware business at Reedsville, Wisconsin, where he remained for three years. He was then married and returned to the farm, at first renting the place and afterward purchasing it. He has since carried on general agricultural pursuits and has also engaged in the dairy business. Both branches are proving sources of profit for he is practical in his methods and his industry is seemingly indefatigable. His farm presents a neat and thrifty appearance and the products of his dairy find ready sale on the market.

In 1887 Mr. Reinholdt was married to Miss Mary T. Sievers, who was born August 17, 1859, near Holstein, Wisconsin, a daughter of Joergen Sievers, who was born in Holstein, Germany. He married Wiepke Platt, a daughter of Claus Platt, who in 1848 came with his family to America, settling in Calumet county, Wisconsin, where he devoted the remainder of his life to farming. Mr. and Mrs. Reinholdt became parents of five children: Theresa V., twenty-five years of age; Rudolph, aged twenty-three; George G., who is twenty-two years of age and engaged in bookkeeping; Helen May, twenty years of age, who was graduated from the Manitowoc Training School, since which time she has engaged in teaching, being now teacher in district No. 4, Eaton township; and Emma A., nineteen years of age.

William H. Reinholdt is one of the most prominent workers in the ranks of the democratic party in his township and his opinions carry weight in the local councils of his party. He has served as chairman of the town committee and has filled various offices, being now justice of the peace to which office he was elected in 1896. He was also supervisor for three years, was chairman of the town board for four years, school clerk for twenty-one years and for ten years was road superintendent. For a decade he was cemetery director of Eaton township. He has firm belief in the efficacy of the party principles as factors in good government and his advocacy thereof proves a strong and potent element in winning democratic successes in his district. His religious faith is that of the Lutheran church, and a well spent and honorable life has gained for him the high regard and confidence of an extensive circle of warm friends among whom his entire life has been passed. He can relate many interesting incidents of pioneer days and his memory forms a connecting link between the primitive past with all its hardships and privations and the progressive present with its comforts and conveniences.

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