Friedrich Vogel (May 8, 1823 – October 23, 1892), more commonly known by the Americanized version of his name as Frederick Vogel, Sr., was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

tanner and businessman from

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

who spent a single one-year term as a member of the

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Representatives are elected for two-year terms, ...

. Together with his cousin Guido Pfister, he founded the

Pfister & Vogel Pfister & Vogel (P&V) was an American tannery business in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Frederick Vogel emigrated from Wurtemberg, Germany to Milwaukee. In 1848, he founded a tannery on Milwaukee's Menominee River. Having also emigrated from Wurtemberg ...

tannery Tanning may refer to: *Tanning (leather), treating animal skins to produce leather *Sun tanning, using the sun to darken pale skin **Indoor tanning, the use of artificial light in place of the sun **Sunless tanning, application of a stain or dye t ...

Background

Vogel was born in

Kirchheim unter Teck Kirchheim unter Teck ( Swabian: ''Kircha'') is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, in the district of Esslingen. It is located on the small river Lauter, a tributary of the Neckar. It is 10 km (6 miles) near the Teck castle, approximately ...

in the

Kingdom of Württemberg The Kingdom of Württemberg (german: Königreich Württemberg ) was a German state that existed from 1805 to 1918, located within the area that is now Baden-Württemberg. The kingdom was a continuation of the Duchy of Württemberg, which exist ...

on May 8, 1823, son of Johann Michael Vogel, a tanner. He received an academic education, and went into the family trade. In 1848, Vogel's cousin,

Jacob F. Schoellkopf Jacob Friedrich Schoellkopf (November 15, 1819 – September 15, 1899) was a pioneer in harnessing the hydroelectric power of Niagara Falls. Early life Jacob F. Schoellkopf was born on November 15, 1819 in Kirchheim Unter Teck, a small town in th ...

, asked him to leave

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Würt ...

and join him in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. He lived for a while in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

and eventually Vogel, bankrolled by Schoellkopf, settled in

and opened a tannery in collaboration with his other cousin, Guido Pfister, who kept a

leather goods Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffalo, pigs and hogs, ...

store. With Pfister's help, he built a small tannery which sold its leather through Pfister's Buffalo Leather Company. In 1853 Vogel and Pfister went into partnership. During the early 1850s, Vogel also established tanneries in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and

Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...

's oldest son,

Henry Schoellkopf Henry Schoellkopf (December 14, 1879 – December 5, 1912) was an American football player and coach. He was selected as an All-American fullback while attending Harvard Law School in 1903. He was the head coach of the Cornell Big Red foot ...

, learned the leather trade and later worked with Vogel's partner, Guido Pfister, in

. Soon thereafter,

married Vogel's daughter, Emily Vogel in 1875. Prior to Henry's early death in 1880, Henry partnered with Vogel and Guido Pfister and opened a tannery in northeast

that eventually "became the largest in the world prior to World War I."

Public office

He had served two terms as a member of the

Milwaukee Common Council The municipal government of the U.S. city of Milwaukee, located in the state of Wisconsin, consists of a mayor and common council. Traditionally supporting liberal politicians and movements, this community has consistently proved to be a strongho ...

as a

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, the first in 1856, before being elected to the Assembly from the 8th

Milwaukee County Milwaukee County is located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. At the 2020 census, the population was 939,489, down from 947,735 in 2010. It is both the most populous and most densely populated county in Wisconsin, and the 45th most populous coun ...

district (the 8th and 11th

Wards Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a priso ...

of the City of Milwaukee) in 1873. He was elected as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

candidate, winning 817 votes to 552 for John Fellenz, the Reform Party candidate (Republican incumbent Galen Seaman was not a candidate); but chose to identify himself as a Liberal Republican when the Assembly convened for 1874, divided between 41 regular Republicans and 59 identified in the ''

Wisconsin Blue Book The ''Wisconsin Blue Book'' is a biennial publication of the Wisconsin's Legislative Reference Bureau. The ''Blue Book'' is an almanac containing information on the government, economics, demographics, geography and history of the state of Wisc ...

'' as "'Opposition,' of all kinds". He was assigned to the

standing committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

s and

banking A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

; and to the joint committee on

penal Penal is a town in south Trinidad, Trinidad and Tobago. It lies south of San Fernando, Princes Town, and Debe, and north of Moruga, Morne Diablo and Siparia. It was originally a rice- and cocoa-producing area but is now a rapidly expanding and de ...

and

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s. He did not run for re-election, and was succeeded by Republican Bernard Schlichting.

After the Assembly

Vogel concentrated on the leather company (known after 1876 as

Leather Co.), eventually building it into the largest leather goods maker in the world. Vogel was the firm's expert on bark tanning, serving as vice-president and

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

. He died on October 23, 1892, aboard a

transatlantic Transatlantic, Trans-Atlantic or TransAtlantic may refer to: Film * Transatlantic Pictures, a film production company from 1948 to 1950 * Transatlantic Enterprises, an American production company in the late 1970s * ''Transatlantic'' (1931 film), ...

steamer during the return leg of a vacation in Europe; he had been ill for some time. The Vogel share of the company passed into the hands of his sons Frederick Jr. and August H. Vogel.

Personal life

On March 13, 1850, Vogel married Mrs. August Dresshel; they became the parents of seven children, of whom three daughters and two sons were living as of 1922.Bruce, William George (ed.)
History of Milwaukee, City and County, Volume 2
'. Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1922, p. 392.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vogel, Frederick 1823 births 1892 deaths People from Kirchheim unter Teck People from the Kingdom of Württemberg Württemberger emigrants to the United States Businesspeople from Milwaukee Members of the Wisconsin State Assembly Politicians from Milwaukee Tanners Wisconsin city council members Wisconsin Liberal Republicans Wisconsin Republicans Schoellkopf family 19th-century American businesspeople