George Grimmer, Citizen and Businessman

If there are any Grimmers left in Kewaunee, the name does not appear in the White Pages. Mentioned 100 years ago, the name was one everybody knew. George Grimmer was a highly respected, prominent resident of the City of Kewaunee and the county beyond. As one whose formal education ended at age 14, he was a successful businessman, served as postmaster of Kewaunee, served as Director of the State Bank of Kewaunee, and served on both the town and county board. The public spirited Grimmer served as a state senator, representing Wisconsin’s First Senatorial District, which covered most of Northeast Wisconsin, and took an active part in Kewaunee’s educational system.

Grimmer’s lumbering interests are well documented in Kewaunee County, and elsewhere. Detailed records indicate that he dealt mostly in oak that came from beyond Kewaunee County. Though he was associated with mining in Colorado, it was the lumbering interests that made him wealthy. To read his accounts is to question if Mr. Grimmer ever had time to sleep. The seemingly Type-A personality never became ruthless and was always held in the highest esteem. Grimmer associated with Racine’s Murray and Kelley, and then Kelly and Weeks. Murray eventually joined Grimmer’s one-time business partner George Slausson in a Two Rivers lumber venture. When D. Smith of Oconto Co. had 12 million board feet of pine on the Peshtigo and Oconto Rivers to sell, he contacted Grimmer.  Slausson and Grimmer discontinued their Kewaunee business in 1877 when their source of pine was exhausted. Their mill was along the north side of the Kewaunee River, about where the Life Saving Station would later be, just a bit east of the old ferry dock.

Correspondence indicates that Grimmer was the go-to person in Kewaunee, for both business endeavors and personal reasons. When George Slausson needed a good pair of oxen in July 1881, he wrote to Grimmer telling, not asking, him to find a good pair, as he (Slausson) was traveling from Racine and expected a good pair “right off” when he left the boat. In At about the same time Chris Gaynor wanted to buy land near the Scarboro River and wanted Grimmer’s help, but not for the land purchase. Gaynor had land to sell near Brookfield in Waukesha Co. because he wanted to “move back to Kewaunee Co. where the land was cheaper.”

As a state senator, Grimmer seemed to be associated with the thick of things, possibly because he held so many mortgages. Correspondence with DeWayne Stebbins indicated a mortgage relationship with Philitus Sawyer, the U.S. Senator, and lumberman, from Oshkosh. There were other things. Charles Fellows and Franz Swaty owned the pier at Foscoro. Tufts and Paarman wanted to length their Clay Banks pier, something Swaty was against. He wrote to Grimmer asking help in securing a denial for Tufts. Apparently that didn’t work because a few weeks later Swaty again wrote. This time he was looking for a good, sturdy man to run a pile driver like Grimmer’s because his company was doing “Tufts and Paarmann’s Pierage.” Charles Fellows applied to Grimmer for a position as a fish warden saying he had fished for years and knew all about it. He also said he could use the salary.

Grimmer and his family kept abreast of current affairs receiving newspapers from Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Two Rivers, Sturgeon Bay, Marinette and, of course, the county papers. His mind was always working and he built his own snowplow for opening roads and walks around his property. He felt good schools were a must and took an active part in ensuring that Kewaunee schools were. Business associates from well beyond Kewaunee sent recommendations for teachers seeking employment, including one for John O’Hara that was written on U.S. Internal Revenue stationery. O’Hara had applied for the position of principal.

Grimmer lavishly spent money on his family for purchases of the highest quality. When he built his Queen Anne style home at the northwest corner of Rose and Dodge Streets in the 1890s, his furniture and china, and the marble for his fireplace mantle were the best Wisconsin had to offer. A blue china set for the bedroom was purchased from Therras & Massey Importers. Tapestries, or window treatments today, were as much as $35 each and came from Stark Bros. of Milwaukee. Twenty-one dollars for a mattress from Matthews Bros. in Milwaukee seems high when the chandelier from Blair and Andree Co., also of Milwaukee, cost $16. In November 1884, Milwaukee painter W. VerBryck was engaged to paint a portrait of Grimmer’s daughter Laura. The price tag was $95. After Grimmer sent Laura’s picture, VerBryck said it was too pretty and without wrinkles or lines. How could he paint what he did not see? VerBryck wrote that he was happy to report two Manitowoc ladies happened into his shop and immediately recognized the painting, saying it was an excellent likeness and how much Laura looked like her mother. It seems the artist knew where his bread was buttered!

While Mr. Grimmer was so involved, the country witnessed the second of its four presidential assassinations. Ironically, two future assassinated presidents - James Garfield and William McKinley - served in the Civil War while Abraham Lincoln was president. President James Garfield was shot on July 2, 1881, a mere 16 years after the assassination of Lincoln. Garfield was in office for only 200 days when he died on September 19, 1881. Though he was shot, it was infection, blood poisoning and pneumonia that caused his death. Probing for the bullet in his body, doctors repeatedly used their unwashed, dirty fingers and instruments. In today’s world, Garfield would have lived, but in 1881, his doctors didn’t know about and/or accept sterilization or just cleanliness. It was his doctors who hastened his death.

By late November 1881, Chester A. Arthur was president and the country was planning a monument to the late Garfield. It was then that the go-to Grimmer was contacted by William E. Smith on stationery inscripted “Executive Department of the State of Wisconsin.” Smith wrote that he was requested by the committee in charge of erecting a monument to Garfield to collect funds. Smith said it was necessary to fix an amount for each county and “to ask someone personally to see that it is raised” to ensure that Wisconsin met its contribution assessment. Kewaunee County’s portion was $50, with the City of Kewaunee responsible for $25.

Smith attached a small subscription book so names, amounts and post offices would be accurately listed. Donors received a personal certificate with pictures of the late president, his wife and his mother. Grimmer immediately dealt with the responsibility and a month after he was asked to help, Smith wrote again. But this time it was to acknowledge the contribution and to comment on its promptness.

Smith’s comments on Grimmer’s promptness was, in part, a summation of his life. If there were complaints about Mr. Grimmer, nobody bothered to record them. It appears that George Grimmer never raised too many eyebrows. A generation or two ago, the adage was, "Don't let grass grow under your feet." Grimmer must have lived by those words.

Note: Candice Millard’s 2012 Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President deals with Garfield’s death. Her remarkable story provides insights into the short presidency of one who many felt had the potential to be one of the greats. How medical treatment of the day caused the president’s death leaves readers aghast.