Merton E. Krug, historical writer and educator, was born on May 14, 1907 to William H. Krug and Mary Fish Krug in Winfield, Wisconsin, a rural community near Reedsburg. Due to his family's financial difficulties during the early 1920s, Krug did not attend high school, but instead graduated from Hay Creek Valley School after passing an exam to exempt him from 8th grade classes. He continued to live and work on his parents' farm and in an effort to further educate himself, read and wrote poetry and fiction, some of which was printed in local newspapers and farm magazines. In 1927 Krug was stricken with polio that briefly left him without the use of his arms and back. After recovering, he concentrated his writing effort on historical narratives and a fact column in several Wisconsin newspapers. Krug's first book, The History of Reedsburg and the Upper Baraboo Valley, a collection of these written narratives and the fact columns, was published in 1929.
In early 1931 a skin ailment forced Krug to migrate to a relative's wheat farm near Enid, Oklahoma in search of a drier climate. His condition improved, but he stayed until 1936 due to a scarcity of jobs in Wisconsin. In 1936 Krug returned to Wisconsin and worked with the Madison branch of the Federal Writers Project on the Wisconsin Guide (a part of the American Guide Series) and The Dictionary of Wisconsin Biography. As part of his employment, from 1936 to 1941 Krug researched and wrote about John Baptiste DuBay. Later he published his research as DuBay: Son-in-Law of Oshkosh. The book received good reviews and sold over 4,000 copies, earning Krug mention in the November 1946 Who's Who.
Continuing his interest in historical research and writing, Krug traveled widely in the eastern part of the country from 1947 to 1951, researching his third major work, “Detroit Storm,” which was never published. While searching for a publisher in 1951, Krug met Dr. Allen Nevins of Columbia University, who recommended that he obtain a college degree. Krug heeded Nevins' advice and in June 1954, after only a three-year enrollment, graduated from the University of Wisconsin. Following a new interest in teaching, Krug stayed at the university to take education courses as part of a master's degree program. He revised his book, “Detroit Storm,” and retitled it The Proscription of Brigadier General William Hull, War of 1812 and it was accepted as a master's thesis in 1956.
From 1956 through the school year 1958, Krug was an instructor in the small town of Aztec, New Mexico. On Christmas day 1958, Krug died in a bus crash while on vacation in Mexico.
