Title: Joseph Nuesse Papers
Inclusive Dates: circa 1841-circa 1925

Creator:

• Nuesse, Joseph

Call Number: Green Bay Mss 157

Quantity: 0.2 c.f. (1 archives box)

Repository:

Housed at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Archives and Area Research Center; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

UW-Green Bay Cofrin Library / Green Bay Area Research Ctr. (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Papers, circa 1841-circa 1925, of Joseph Nuesse, who emigrated from Germany to Green Bay, Wisconsin in 1869, and soon moved to the Town of Sevastopol, Door County, where he farmed and was a founder of SS. Peter and Paul Congregation and the Sevastopol Mutual Fire Insurance Corporation. The collection contains records of genealogical interest and of real estate transactions, some original but many photocopies; and letters received from relatives in Germany, 1891-1920, which have been transcribed and translated. The letters describe living conditions and social change, including the time following World War I. Also present is a description of the collection and an article about Nuesse incorporating much of the information found here, written by his grandson, C. Joseph Nuesse.

Language: English, German

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-gb0157

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Joseph Nüesse (1849-1923) and Theresa Mueller (1841-1912), whom he later married, came to the United States together in 1869 from the Kingdom of Prussia. In German, their family names would have been spelled Nüsse and Müller respectively. In the United States, although Joseph used it privately at least as late as 1883, the umlaut was replaced with the letters “ue” and, for reasons unknown, the pronunciation “nis” (with a long i sound) was adopted. (A Milwaukee family of the same name, unrelated, has retained the original nis'se.) Theresa's name is also found as Theresia and Therese, with Theresia being the most common spelling in the families records as well as the records in German.

Both Joseph and Theresa were born and raised in a small rural village named Bredenborn in eastern Westphalia. The village is located about twelve miles west of Hoxter, the Kreisstadt (analogous to county seat), which is on the Weser River. Joseph and Theresa traveled on the Weser to Bremen to board the steamer Smidt.

According to Joseph's account, he and Theresa arrived in New York on May 4, 1869, a month before his twentieth birthday. According to the passenger list of their ship, the Smidt, the arrival date was May 6.

From New York they traveled to Green Bay where earlier immigrants from Bredenborn Frederick Koch and Henry Menne resided. Their family names, Koch and Menne, appear in Bredenborn registers and, in the case of Koch, in the Nuesse ancestry. The Nuesses' travel from New York to Green Bay was interrupted by a stay in Chicago where their eldest child was born on May 12, 1869. They were married in Green Bay on the following June 12 at the Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, commonly known as St. Mary's. It was the church of German Catholics and had been designated in 1868 as the pro-cathedral when the Diocese of Green Bay was erected. It was soon to be replaced when St. Francis Xavier Cathedral was built on the site.

Joseph's employment in Green Bay from June until October is unknown. He and Theresa moved to Sturgeon Bay, where they arrived on October 15, 1869. Joseph found employment in a local saw mill. He soon became a pioneer farmer, beginning with the purchase of forty acres of uncleared land in the town of Sevastopol on October 8, 1872. A log house was built as a residence. An additional forty acres were purchased on February 16, 1883, and a third purchase of forty acres was made later.

Joseph became a founding member and a first trustee of SS. Peter and Paul Congregation at what is now named Institute, in 1884. Previously, Catholics of the area had been served by St. Joseph's Church of Sturgeon Bay, where the oldest of the seven Nuesse children received their instruction in religion. Joseph and Theresa are buried in the church cemetery at Institute.

In 1889, Joseph was a founder of the Sevastopol Mutual Fire Insurance Corporation. He was elected its first secretary and retained this position until his death, maintaining the office of the corporation in a building that he had erected for use, which was brief, as a cheese factory.

Also, as obituaries were to note, he served for about twenty-five years as the elected clerk of the town of Sevastopol.

More detailed information about the Nuesses is given in the manuscript, “Family History: Nuesse,” distributed by C. Joseph Nuesse to descendants of Joseph and Theresa.

The papers presented in this collection consist of documents, photocopies of letters received by Joseph and Theresa Nuesse, and supplementary documents and letters of biographical significance. They include all the papers that Joseph preserved in a cigar box that he kept in a drawer of a chest in his bedroom.

The documents in this collection either establish biographical facts or pertain to real property transactions. The original biographical documents kept by Joseph Nuesse are supplemented, as noted in each case, by photocopies or certificates of records that are relevant. The photocopies of the first four items from Bredenborn records were obtained by a great-grandson of Joseph and Theresa, Leon J. Long of Fort Worth, Texas, through the courtesy of the Family History Center of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at Sturgeon Bay. Other photocopies as noted are also owed to him.

All of the letters in this collection are photocopies of the originals, arranged in chronological order. Except as explained in the contents, the original letters were addressed to Joseph and Theresa Nuesse by their relatives in Germany during the period from 1891 to 1920. The originals were sent to Friedrich Potthast (now deceased) of Paderborn, Germany and was a son of Heinrich Potthast, half-brother of Joseph Nuesse. Since the earliest of the letters is from 1891, twenty-two years after the arrival of the addressees in the United States, it is probable that earlier letters were received but not preserved. Probably, also, not all letters received after 1891 were preserved.

The letters document conditions of life and social change in the Bredenborn area at the turn of the century and after World War I. Of particular interest are the anecdotal reports of infant mortality, care of the aged, religious expression and practice, conditions of labor, enclosure of farmlands, and conflict of social classes.

Of special interest in the last letter of Heinrich Potthast and in the letters of Heinrich and Albert Becker are descriptions of conditions in the Bredenborn area following the defeat of Germany in World War I. These last letters were sent by an unrelated resident of Bredenborn and his son to the former's daughter in Marquette, Michigan, and forwarded by her to Frank Golueke of Menominee, Michigan, who was also a native of Bredenborn. He passed the letters on to Joseph Nuesse.

Enclosed with the letters, as aids to users of the papers, are transcriptions and translations made by the compiler C. Joseph Nuesse and others who assisted him in reading and translating the old German script, in which the letters were written. Gratitude for assistance is owed particularly to the compiler's mother, Salome Martens Nuesse, to a colleague at The Catholic University of America, Ingrid Merkel, and to a friend, George Zinnemann.

Acquisition Information

Presented by C. Joseph Nuesse, Annapolis, Maryland, March 23, 1998.

Green Bay Mss 157	Biographical Documents
Box   1 Item   1	Civil registers Physical Description: 2 pages each, photocopies  Scope and Content Note Establishing certain genealogical data for Joseph Nuesse, obtained originally from registers of St. Joseph's Church, Bredenborn. Names of maternal great-grandparents: Josephus Nussen and Maria Katharina, née Koch, and Wilhelm Rossbach, tailor, and Gertrud, née Wiechers. Names of maternal grandparents: Hermann Johannes Josephus Nussen (1799-1866), linen-weaver, married on March 6, 1821 to Theresia Maria Carolina Rossbach (1788-1856), widow. Record of marriage of mother, Margaretha Anne Nusse (1826-1900), to Wilhelm Heinrich Potthast (1828-1921) at Marienmunster, Kreis Hoxter, November 18, 1859.
Box   1 Item   2	“Aufgebotene und Getraute im Jahre 1841” Physical Description: 2 pages, photocopy  Scope and Content Note In the marriage register of St. Joseph's Church, Bredenborn, establishing certain genealogical data for Theresa Nuesse, née Muller. Names of grandparents, paternally Josephus Muller, farmer, and Johanna, née Kersing, and maternally, Philipp Rossbach, day laborer, and Theresia, née Sprenger. Record of marriage of parents, Franz Wilhelm Muller, farmer, aged 33, and Franziska Rossbach, aged 17, on February 13, 1841.
Box   1 Item   3	Baptismal register of St. Joseph's Church, Bredenborn, 1841 Physical Description: 2 pages, photocopy  Scope and Content Note: Recording birth of Theresia Katharina Margaretha Muller on May 12, 1841, and baptism on May 16, 1841.
Box   1 Item   4	Baptismal register of St. Joseph's Church, Bredenborn, 1841 Physical Description: 2 pages, photocopy  Scope and Content Note: Recording birth of Maria Magdalena Clara Mueller on March 24, 1850 to Franz Wilhelm Muller, farmer, and Catharina, née Meier, providing basis for presumption of second marriage of father of Theresia Muller after death of mother.
Box   1 Item   5	Certificates of birth and baptism of Joseph Nusse and Theresia Muller Scope and Content Note: Supplied from St. Joseph's Church, Bredenborn, by G. Liuke, pastor, with correspondence between G. Liuke and C. Joseph Nuesse related to same.
Box   1 Item   6	Passport of Joseph Nusse, manual laborer, Minden, Kingdom of Prussia, 1865 April 12 Note: Endorsed at Hoxter, October 8, 1865; Hannover, October 10, 1865; Essen, October 29, 1866; Marienmunster, October 19, 1867; and Wattenscheid, November 19, 1867. Physical Description: Original
Box   1 Item   7	Passenger list of steamship Smidt, 1869 May 6 Physical Description: 3 pages, photocopy  Scope and Content Note: Showing arrival of Joseph Nusse and Theresa Muller at Port of New York on steamship Smidt from Bremen, May 6, 1869, copied from Ira A. Glazier and P. William Filby (eds.), Germans to America; Lists of Passengers Arriving at U.S. Ports (Wilmington, Delaware: Scholarly Resources, 1988-), Volume 22 (October 1868-May 1869), pp. 354, 357. Supplied by Leon J. Long.
Box   1 Item   8	Certificate of marriage between Joseph Nusse and Theresa Muller, 1869 June 12 Scope and Content Note: Issued by Robert F. Gulig, pastor, St. Francis Xavier Cathedral, Green Bay, Wisconsin, and photocopy of original entry from marriage register of St. Mary's Church, with correspondence between Earl Schuh, pastor, SS. Peter and Paul Church, Green Bay, and C. Joseph Nuesse, related to same.
Box   1 Item   9	Order to report for military service, issued to Joseph Nusse, Minden district, Kingdom of Prussia, 1870 December 20 Physical Description: Original
Box   1 Item   10	Last will and testament of Philipp Rossbach and Theresia, née Benning, of Bredenborn, drawn at Nieheim: manuscript, 1876 January 14 Physical Description: Original  Scope and Content Note: Bequeathing 150 marks to Theresia Nusse, niece.
Box   1 Item   11	Certificate of naturalization for Joseph Nusse as citizen of United States, issued at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, 1878 July 16 Physical Description: Original
Box   1 Item   12	Family record: autograph manuscript Physical Description: Original  Scope and Content Note: In hand of Joseph Nuesse giving dates, times and places of birth of his children, dated April 10, 1880 (to which same for Anna Frances Nusse, born May 16, 1883, is added, enclosed in envelope by Salome Martens Nuesse, daughter-in-law).
Box   1 Item   13	Parish records of minutes of first meeting of trustees of SS. Peter and Paul Congregation, Institute, Wisconsin, 1885 April 20 Note: In hand of Joseph Nuesse, secretary, distributed in monthly bulletin of SS. Peter and Paul Congregation, June 29, 1986. Physical Description: Photocopy
Box   1 Item   14	Circular for “fair and festival” of SS. Peter and Paul Congregation, 1897? June 1-2 Physical Description: Photocopy  Scope and Content Note: Containing history of founding and early years of the parish, reportedly written by Joseph Nuesse, together with letter of C. Joseph Nuesse to Francis Reinke, pastor, February 26, 1985, indicating disposition of original.
Box   1 Item   15	Letter from Joseph Nuesse to Lorene Long, granddaughter, 1920 January 18 Physical Description: Photocopy  Scope and Content Note: Giving dates of arrival in New York and Sturgeon Bay and other information.
Box   1 Item   16	Official copies of last will and testament of Joseph Nuesse, 1914 June 11 Note: Includes original certificates of probate dated November 27, 1923 and May 6, 1924.
Box   1 Item   17	Judgment allowing final account and assignment of estate of Joseph Nuesse by County Court of Door County, Wisconsin, 1924 May 6 Physical Description: Original certified copy  Scope and Content Note: Together with letter of W.E. Wagner, attorney, to George Nuesse, executor, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, November 16, 1925, transmitting documents.
Box   1 Item   18	Judgment of County Court sent to Register of Deeds, Door County, Wisconsin Note: Supplied by Leon J. Long. Physical Description: 2 pages, photocopy
	Real Property Transactions
Box   1 Item   19	Abstract of title for W ½ SE ¼ Section 26 Township 28N Range 26E, Door County, 1882 December 28 Scope and Content Note Original, certified by James Keogh Jr., Register of Deeds. Affecting prospective purchase of second forty acres (NW ¼ SE ¼ Section 26 Township 28N Range 26E) by Joseph Nuesse. Includes: Original purchase from United States by John Doherty, September 29, 1856, no patent of record extant. Quitclaim deed from John Garland, County Clerk, to Henry Lighthouse (allowing 40 acres additional), June 6, 1870. Quitclaim deed from Henry and Martha Lighthouse to Xavier Doing, October 19, 1870. Quitclaim deed from Xavier and Mari Doing to Henry and Martha Lighthouse, October 12, 1880. Quitclaim deed from Henry and Martha Lighthouse to George Bassford, October 13, 1880.
Box   1 Item   20	Abstract of title for W ½ SE ¼ Section 26 Township 28N Range 26E, 1882 December 28 Physical Description: Original certified copy  Scope and Content Note Certified by James Keogh Jr., Register of Deeds, Door County. Affecting initial purchase of forty acres (SW ¼ SE ¼ Section 26 Township 28N Range 26E) by Joseph Nuesse. Includes: Patent from State of Wisconsin to Peter Propsom, October 6, 1869. Warranty deed from Peter and Katherine Propsom to Joseph Nuesse for consideration of $125, October 8, 1872. Mortgage by Joseph and Theresa Nuesse to Peter Propsom for consideration of $125, October 8, 1872, released by Peter Propsom, September 26, 1873. Mortgage from Joseph Nuesse to Alex Hopp for consideration of $80, September 26, 1873, released by Alex Hopp, undated. Mortgage from Joseph and Theresa Nuesse to A.W. Lawrence and Company for consideration of $150, one note at 10 per cent interest due in one year, November 8, 1875.
Box   1 Item   21	Warranty deed from Peter and Katherine Propsom to Joseph Nuesse, 1872 October 8 Physical Description: Original  Scope and Content Note: For consideration of $125. With photocopies of two related documents from Office of Register Deeds, Door County, Wisconsin supplied by Leon J. Long.
Box   1 Item   22	Quitclaim deed from Anton and Antoinette Long to Joseph Nuesse, 1883 February 16 Physical Description: Original  Scope and Content Note: For NW ¼ SE ¼ Section 26 Township 28N Range 26E. For consideration of $300.
Box   1 Item   23	Mortgage from Joseph Nuesse to Alexander Hopp, 1873 September 23 Physical Description: Photocopy  Scope and Content Note: And release of same, undated, from Office of Register of Deeds, Door County, Wisconsin supplied by Leon J. Long.
Box   1 Item   24	Mortgage from Joseph and Theresa Nuesse to John Westenmeller, Waukesha County, 1883 February 16 Physical Description: Original  Scope and Content Note: For W ½ SE ¼ for consideration of $500 at 7 percent interest, due in four years.
Box   1 Item   25	Tax deed assigned by L.M. Washburn to Joseph Nuesse, 1883 June 6 Physical Description: Original  Scope and Content Note: For NW ¼ SE ¼ Section 26 Township 28N Range 26E sold to L.M. Washburn on May 11, 1880 for non-payment of taxes of $4.42.
Box   1 Item   26	Contract of sale from William Bassford to Joseph Nuesse, 1889 January Physical Description: Original  Scope and Content Note: For hemlock timber of specified condition for removal from SW ¼ NE ¼ before March 12, 1889 and from NW ¼ NE ¼ before November 14, 1890.
Box   1 Item   27	Instrument certifying satisfaction of mortgage to John Westenmeller, 1895 February 15 Note: Together with partially completed form. Physical Description: Original
Box   1 Item   28	Patent from State of Wisconsin to Joseph Nuesse, 1897 December Physical Description: Original  Scope and Content Note: Swamp lands, Lot 4 Section 32 Township 28N Range 27E (35.80 acres). Purchased for standing timber used for cooking and heating.
Box   1 Item   29	Instrument certifying satisfaction of mortgage on December 8, 1894 by Joseph and Theresa Nuesse to Mary Propsom, 1902 November 8 Note: Does not contain description of property mortgaged. Physical Description: Original
	Correspondence Physical Description: Photocopies
Box   1 Item   30	Letter from Heinrich Potthast, Bredenborn, to Joseph Nuesse, 1891 March 8 Scope and Content Note: Writer and addressee are half-brothers. Contents illustrate attitudes toward aged, conditions of labor, enclosure of farmlands, class conflict, and infant mortality.
Box   1 Item   31	Letter from Heinrich Potthast, Bredenborn, to Joseph Nuesse, 1891 March 29 Scope and Content Note: Acknowledges receipt of Nuesse family photograph.
Box   1 Item   32	Letter from Christine Potthast (née Muller), Bredenborn, to Joseph Nuesse, 1891 May 17 Scope and Content Note: Writer is half-sister of addressee. Contents illustrate care of aged, infant mortality, and expectations from emigrants.
Box   1 Item   33	Letter from Maria Gorme (née Potthast), Bredenborn, to Joseph Nuesse, 1891 September 27 Scope and Content Note: Writer is wife of Heinrich Potthast. Contents illustrate expectations from emigrants, agricultural conditions, and infant mortality.
Box   1 Item   34	Letter from Maria Kohne and Theresia Strunk, Bredenborn, to Theresia Nuesse, 1892 May 22 Scope and Content Note: Writers address recipient as niece. Contents illustrate composition of families, infant mortality, enclosure of farm lands and agricultural conditions.
Box   1 Item   35	Letter from Heinrich Potthast, Bredenborn, to Joseph Nuesse, 1894 May 27 Scope and Content Note: Contents illustrate expectations in relations with emigrants, care of aged, agricultural conditions, and infant mortality.
Box   1 Item   36	Letter from Heinrich Potthast, Bredenborn, to Joseph Nuesse, 1894 November 18 Scope and Content Note: Contents illustrate expectations from emigrants, care of aged, and agricultural conditions.
Box   1 Item   37	Letter from Heinrich Potthast, Bredenborn, to Joseph and Theresia Nuesse, 1896 August 16 Scope and Content Note: Contents illustrate care of aged, agricultural conditions, and religious attitudes.
Box   1 Item   38	Letter from Heinrich Potthast, Bredenborn, to Joseph Nuesse, 1898 February 6 Scope and Content Note: Contents illustrate care of aged, infant mortality, agricultural conditions, enclosure of farmlands, and class conflicts.
Box   1 Item   39	Letter from Maria Kohne, Bredenborn, to Theresia Nuesse, 1899 December 31 Scope and Content Note: Contents report local news, illustrate family relations, and infant mortality.
Box   1 Item   40	Letter from Heinrich Potthast, Bredenborn, to Joseph Nuesse, 1900 October 3 Scope and Content Note: Contents report family and local news, illustrate care of aged, and expectations from emigrants.
Box   1 Item   41	Letter from Maria Kohne, Bredenborn, to Theresia Nuesse, 1903 March 8 Scope and Content Note: Contents report family news, illustrate agricultural conditions, and relations with emigrants.
Box   1 Item   42	Letter from Maria Kohne, Bredenborn, to Theresia Nuesse, 1906 October 1 Scope and Content Note: Contents report family news and illustrate religious observance, educational standards, and agricultural mechanization.
Box   1 Item   43	Letter from Magdalena and Maria Meier to Theresia Nuesse, 1907 January 26 Scope and Content Note: Writers indicate that they are “sisters” of addressee, suggesting that they may have been half-sisters as children of the second marriage of Theresia Muller's father. Contents report family and local news, and illustrate agricultural and economic conditions.
Box   1 Item   44	Letter from Maria Kohne, Bredenborn, to Theresia Nuesse, 1907 December 29 Scope and Content Note: Contents report family and local news, and illustrate agricultural conditions, child mortality, and care of aged.
Box   1 Item   45	Letter from Heinrich Potthast, Bredenborn, to Joseph Nuesse, 1909 May 12 Scope and Content Note: Contents report family and local news, and illustrate care of aged, infant mortality, religious attitudes, enclosure of farm lands, and economic change.
Box   1 Item   46	Letter from Elise Kohne, Bredenborn, to Theresia Nuesse, 1910 January 2 Scope and Content Note: Writer is grand-niece of addressee. Contents report family and local news, and illustrate composition of families, care of aged and infant mortality.
Box   1 Item   47	Letter from Maria Potthast, Hinnenburg bei Brakel, to Joseph Nuesse, 1912 February 5 Scope and Content Note: Writer is daughter of Heinrich Potthast, half-brother of addressee. Contents report family and local news and illustrate care of aged, religious observances and entry into employment.
Box   1 Item   48	Letter from Maria Potthast, Hinnenburg bei Brakel, to Joseph Nuesse, 1912 May 16 Scope and Content Note: Contents report family and local news and illustrate religious attitudes.
Box   1 Item   49	Letter from Heinrich Becker, Bredenborn, to daughter Mina, 1919 August 20 Scope and Content Note: Forwarded by addressee from Marquette, Michigan to Frank Golueke of Menominee, Michigan and by him to Joseph Nuesse. Reports family news, including casualties in World War I. Describes local and national conditions following war.
Box   1 Item   50	Letter from Albert Becker, Bredenborn, to sister Mina, 1919 October 20 Scope and Content Note: Presumably forwarded by Frank Golueke to Joseph Nuesse. Contents report family and local news, and illustrate post-World War I conditions, German nationalism, and anti-Semitism.
Box   1 Item   51	Letter from Heinrich Becker, Bredenborn, to daughter Mina, 1920 June 13 Scope and Content Note: Copy dated August 16, 1920, in hand of Joseph Nuesse, of letter sent by addressee to Frank Golueke and by him to Joseph Nuesse. Contents report family affairs and illustrate in detail post-World War I conditions from point of view of employer.
Box   1 Item   52	Letter from Frank Golueke, Menominee, Michigan, to Joseph Nuesse, 1920 September 10 Scope and Content Note: Forwards letters and newspapers from Germany. Contents illustrate religious observances of immigrants.
Box   1 Item   53	Letter from Heinrich Potthast, Bredenborn, to Joseph Nuesse, 1920 September 22 Scope and Content Note: Contents report family news and illustrate post-World War I conditions, class conflict from anti-farm, anti-employer point of view, anti-Semitism, and family relations.