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.
