Congressman and diplomat Richard William Guenther of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, was born in Potsdam, Prussia, on November 30, 1845, the youngest of eleven children of Theodore and Augusta Guenther. After an education in the local schools he graduated from the Royal Pharmacy. A severe burn prior to his final examinations apparently prompted Guenther to migrate to the United States in 1866. After a brief sojourn in New York City in the plaster business he moved to Fond du Lac, then settled in Oshkosh one year later. There Guenther established a drug store and soon became active in local Republican politics.
Guenther emerged on the state political scene in 1877 when he was elected to the first of two terms as state treasurer. In 1880 he was elected to Congress from the Sixth Congressional District. After serving three terms, Guenther was elected from the Second Congressional District of which he was not a resident. In 1890 he was appointed consul-general at Mexico City. Mining investments made while he resided there, 1890-1893, reportedly resulted in considerable personal wealth. In 1893 Guenther returned to Wisconsin and was appointed to the state Board of Control for several years. From 1898 to 1910 he was consul-general at Frankfort-on-Main; in 1910 he was appointed to a similar post in Capetown, South Africa. In 1912 Guenther returned to Oshkosh because of ill health. He died April 5, 1913.
Guenther married Emelia Schloreb of Oshkosh in 1871. The couple had four children, only two of whom survived into adulthood. Mrs. Guenther died in 1932.
Richard Guenther, Jr., was active in mining in the United States and Mexico. He died in 1921. A daughter, Alice Lillian married Eugen Motz, a German native who served as Chilean vice-consul in Mexico City. In 1928 the couple retired to Oshkosh. Motz died there in 1936; his widow died in 1962.
