ROSA (GANTERT) MADER
Wife of Frank Mader
1840-1908

Near the Swiss border in Baden, Germany, Maria Rosa Gantert was born February 18, 1840. In 1872, when she was 32 years of age she came to America, then to La Crosse and four years later married Frank Mader.

“Skill she acquired as a girl cooking at some of the resorts in the Swiss Alps soon made her famous as a culinary expert here — a fame still mentioned with reverential awe by the remaining few who were fortunate to sit at her table.” La Crosse Tribune “Prominent in City’s History” (1)

Viola Winkel said Rosa went to Switzerland because of skin problems which cleared when she drank goat’s milk.

Stephen Gantert, founder of the Gantert Furniture Co. was Rosa’s brother and known were her three sisters living in La Crosse, Mrs. Agatha Groman, Mrs. M. Josepha Peters, and Miss Philippine Gantert. The family did not immigrate at the same time.

After an illness of only a few days, Rosa died unexpectedly in her home on January 7, 1908 at age 68. Frank Jr. thought the cause of his mother’s death was appendicitis. Her husband, all her children and her sisters were at her bedside.

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FRANK MADER
1842-1916

The second son of David and Mary, Frank was born February 14, 1842, in Baden, Germany and came as a boy of eleven to America.

At age 34, Frank was joined in marriage to Rosa Gantert on February 24, 1876. It appears the couple lived with the Mader family in the stone house for two years and their first child Frank B. who only lived five months was born in the stone house.

“It was written in an old family Bible belonging to Frank Jr. that Frank and Rosa had five sons. Two children died, one an infant and one several months/years old. The Bible has since disappeared.”

David’s stone, engraved in German letters, reads; “Frank B., son of Frank Mader, born 29 January 1877, died 15 June 1877.” Following a German custom from the old country, Frank and Rosa gave all their sons the first name of Frank.

Frank worked on his father’s farm and brick yard until he was 36 years old. In January of 1878, Frank and his younger brother Dominick purchased the Weimer Brick Yard located on adjoining land. It is probable that Frank and Rosa moved into the house belonging to the brickyard.

In the spring of the year, Frank Henry was born on April 29th. The partnership ended after only eleven months when on December 12th, Frank sold Dominick his half of the brick business and on that same day purchase the Charles Fritz farm of 160 acres for $6,000 (The Mormon Coulee overhead of the Burlington Railroad on Highway 14 is above its center. In later years it was known as the Shelby Dairy.)

On this farm in a little white frame house, Frank Joseph was born March 1880 and Frank, Jr. in May 1882. Frank John also would have been born here. Enclosed walkways connected the house to other outside buildings. Frank Jr. remembered when he was about 10 years old one of the chief activities on his father’s farm was raising strawberries which he helped to pick. A 16 quart crate of berries hauled to the John C. Burns Fruit House in La Crosse brought his father 45 cents. The profit was 19 cents a crate. He also raised a lot of watermelon.

Part of the property was sold to the Burlington Railroad. In 1895, Frank sold the farm and moved his family to La Crosse. At that time Frank was 53, Rosa 55, Frank Henry 17, Frank Joseph 15, and Frank Jr. 13 years of age.

First they rented a house on Park Ave. and then in 1896 Frank build a big two-story frame house at 1402 So. 13th Street because he wanted to be close to the church. The new house sat on two lots with an open front porch running around the side and another porch off the kitchen. Inside the front door was a beautiful open stairway. When they opened up the new house, Holy Trinity Church held an ice cream social in the yard and the parishioners toured the house.

A horse barn stood in the back of the second lot by the alley, with a garden in front. Frank kept his horse there and a two-seated buggy with fringes on top. His grandchildren can remember riding in the buggy out to Caroline and Dominick’s farms. The children played on the open double lot between the two houses on 13th Street. Water collected here and in the winter they skated on it.

The 1900 Federal Census is very descriptive of the Mader family living on 13th St:

Frank converted the house into a duplex, ca. 1906 when Frank Jr. got married. Frank Jr. and his wife Magdaline lived in the upper apartment while his parents lived in the lower apartment. When Rosa died in 1908, F. Joseph with his wife Angeline moved in with the Father to take care of him in his reclining years.

Using the house as collateral in 1914, Frank borrowed $2,500 to set his sons up in the Mader Clothing Co.

He died at his home at age 75 on April 20, 1916 after a year of illness.

Memories of their Grandfather

“Someone was locked in the church and was ringing the bell to get out. Everyone just stood around and was afraid to see who was in there but grand father wasn’t afraid and let the person out.”
“He always sat in the kitchen because in those days it was the only room being heated.”
–John Mader

“One of the few remembrances that I have of my grandfather was when I was three years old. I was so mad! Grandpa was going to kill a turkey for Thanksgiving and he chased me out of the barn and wouldn’t let me watch.”
“Grandfather Frank was of medium height in stature and had the most luxuriant hair which his sons Joe and Henry inherited. As young men they never went bald. The luxuriant hair is a Mader trait.”
–Florence (Mader) Hoff

“Our father always said his father Frank was a pallbearer for the first funeral and burial in the Catholic Cemetery in La Crosse.”
“My Dad said something funny about Grandpa Mader. ‘He worked hard all summer but in the winter he just read love stories!'”
“He was so sick when I knew him, he would sit out by the barn with his head back.”
–Viola (Mader) Winkel

“Grandpa would sit in front of the wood stove with his legs crossed and I would sit on his foot. Grandpa would give me a ride swinging his foot and say ‘Benny, Benny, Dockendorf!”
“Before his funeral, Grandpa just laid out on the front porch and the pallbearers just walked off the porch and into the church.”
–Ben Mader

“Grandfather Frank was gentle, genteel, and a very nice man!”
–Isabelle (Mader) Anderson

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FRANK MADER, farmer, Sec. 22 La Crosse; was born in Germany in 1842; emigrated to America in 1853 and came direct to La Crosse, where in 1876, he was married to Rosa Gantert, born in Germany in 1842. In 1878, purchased his present farm of 160 acres. The children are Frank H. and Joseph. His father, David Mader (deceased) was born in Germany in 1798. Was married to Mary Schalk in 1837. Emigrated to the United States in 1853, purchased land and settled in La Crosse Co. where he worked at farming until his death, March 1, 1880; he left a wife and five children — Martin, Frank, Theodore, Dominick, and Caroline. Mrs. Mader is living with her son Theodore.

The following inscription appears on the Mader Family stone.

LOUISA ( ) MADER
Wife of Martin Mader
1851-1904

Louisa died of a brain tumor in the family home at 1005 Cor de Alane, Spokane, Washington on January 15, 1904. She was survived by her husband and five children; Edward, Willard, Clara, Mrs. G.H. Meghen (Angeline) of Minneapolis and Mr. N. Gehr (Anna) of St. Paul.

MARTIN MADER
1840-1928

Martin was the oldest child of David and Mary born in 1840 in Baden, Germany. He came to this country at the age of 13. In the War Between the States, Martin was a soldier in the Union Army.

In 1870, the Federal Census records Martin, age 30, and his wife Louisa, age 18, living with the Mader family in the stone house. They were the parents of seven children. Their first child, named Theodore, born in June of 1871, lived only five months. He died at Christmas time and is buried next to Kreseng on David’s plot in the La Crosse Catholic Cemetery. (The cemetery lists his date of burial December 27, 1871.) Before 1875, they had two daughters, Angeline and Clara, while still in the stone house.(1) Another son William (Willie) was born on July 8, 1878 and died at age three April 24, 1881. The last children born to them were Anna, Willard, and Edward. The family moved to Spokane, Washington in 1890.

“Martin went to Spokane to work in the lumber mills. He was a tall man.” Florence (Mader) Hoff said. She and her cousin Isabelle remembered when they were young, some of Martin’s grown children visited the family in La Crosse.

Louisa, Martin’s wife died at age 53 making Martin a widower for 24 years. Martin was a member of the Reno Post of G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic). He had been a resident of Spokane for 38 years when he passed away August 18, 1928 at age 87. The G.A.R. conducted services at the funeral home and Martin was buried next to Louisa in Greenwood Cemetery.

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MARY (SCHALK) MADER
1815-1902

Mary was also from Baden, Germany, born in February of 1815. On the date of her marriage to David, she was 22 years of age to his 39 years.

After the death of her husband, Mary continued to live with her son Theodore and his wife Kate until Theodore sold the farm in October of 1899. Mary then lived with her daughter Caroline Boma on the Boma farm where she died two years later of old age on January 23, 1902. She was 86 years old and had been a widow for 22 years.

Mary lived in America for 49 years but she could not speak, read, or write English. She is buried without a headstone to the left of her son Dominick in the La Crosse Catholic Cemetery.
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David Mader
1798-1880

On December 29, 1789, David was born in Frutzen Baden, Germany. At age 39, he married Mary Schalk in 1837, who was 17 years younger than he. There were 6 known children born to them in Germany.

The family immigrated to America arriving June 29, 1853, when David was 55 years of age. Of his children were Martin 13, Frank 11, Theodore 8, Carolyn 7, Kreseng 5, and Dominick 2 years old. Kreseng died at a young age. An inscription in German on David’s cemetery stone reads; “Kreseng, daughter of David and Mary who died 31 July 1863, 15 years 1 month.” (1)

They came directly through Chicago to Galena Illinois and then up the river on a rafting steamboat to La Crosse, a small community of about 600 nestled close to the Mississippi River. Settling in a one room, windowless log cabin on rented farmland south of Ebner’s Coulee in the town of Shelby.(2) (Just east of the catholic cemetery near Cliffwood Bluff.) In the area were only nine families. Since there was no Catholic Church, Mass was held in their home by Father Lucien Galtier from Praire du Chien when he visited the Catholics in Praire La Crosse.

The early pioneers planted wheat which had to be hauled by oxen to the Leon Mill near Sparta to be ground into flour. The trip took two days each way.

“…After working the land for two years, David bought forty acres in section 11, which he immediately began to improve. He bought 160acres adjoining and thus became the owner of 200 acres of rich land. He erected a large stone house, barns and other buildings and was quite wealthy at the time of his death….”(3)

David bought the forty acres from Wm. Hanscome of Sacramento California on Dec. 11, 1855 for $70. (David’s farm was located at the base of Irish Hill and the stone house is to the right just before ascending Irish Hill.)

David built the stone house on the original 40 acres ca. 1856-1860.(4) The walls were solid stone 2 1/2 to 3 feet thick. Ice formed on the inside of the stone in the wintertime. The stone part of the house had only three rooms on the first floor; a large, long living room on the north side and two bedrooms toward the south. The front of the house faced the West. It did not have a fireplace.

The Mader Family farmed and made brick. The brothers worked the land and the brickyard, which had one shed, for their father David, until he sold it to his son Theodore two years before his death.

On April 13, 1878, David and Mary sold Theodore 200 acres which included personal property, belongings, and the brickyard which was located on the property. Theodore was to pay David $600 in installments, Martin $500 within three years without interest, and Carolyn Boma $1,000.

David and Mary continued to live with Theodore and his wife in the stone house where David died March 1, 1880, aged 82 years, and two months.

He was laid to rest in the old section on the hill of the Catholic Cemetery in La Crosse. His grave is marked by a tall stone with the cross missing from the top.

Obituary
Died, Mader–Died at his residence in State Road Coulee March 1, 1880. David Mader, aged 82 years and two months. The funeral will occur from St. Joseph’s church.

Deceased was one of the old residents of this county, and a man greatly respected by all who knew him. He will be long remembered by the community in which he lived as a good citizen and neighbor.
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