1. Update for Thomas Mader
Thomas and Eileen (Clement) live in Green Bay WI
2. Update for Richard Mader
Richard and Mary (Gregory) live in La Cresenta, CA
3. Update for Michael Mader
Michael and Carol (Mashak) live in La Crosse, WI
4. Update for Mary (Palzkill) Mader
Ted Palzkill and Mary live in Mineral Point, WI
5. Update for Stephen Mader
Stephen and Jo (Bjorge) live in San Diego, CA
6. Update for Rosanne (Levendoski) Mader
Mike and Rose Levendoski live in Stoddard, WI
7. Update for Gregory Mader
Greg and Sandy (Hubbard) live in West Salem, WI
8. Update for Timothy Mader
Tim and Lori (m: xx/xx/1987) live in Wilbraham, MA
Frank Mader
1923 –
The last child of Dominick Jr. and Edith Mader, Frank was born at 1530 Adams St. of Nov. 2, 1923.
Frank cut ice on the Mississippi River at age 17 for his uncle Gus. Instead of waiting for the draft he enlisted in the service during World War II. After the war Frank came home on September 26, 1945 he married Dorothy Eden. Frank drove a city bus for a short time before his uncle Gus offered him a job making cement blocks by the West Channel bridge.
This led Frank into starting his own pre-cast concrete business with his brother-in-law Frank Weiser. After several years they split up the partnership and started their own companies. Frank moved to his present location in La Crescent and his company is called Crest Concrete Products.
Frank and Dorothy are the parents of three children: Diane, Steven, and Gary. The home they built at 1504 Cedar St. in La Crescent, MN is near Frank’s plant and is connected by a private drive.
William Mader
1920 –
William was born on August 27, 1920 to Dominick Jr. and Edith Mader. Recollecting boyhood days, Bill said: “We got two pennies every Saturday and we went to Stryemaders on 16th and Jackson St. to spend it there. In the store it always took as half an hour to decide how to make the pennies go farther.”
“We were about the only Maders who weren’t Catholic and whenever I went over to the cousins on 1402 So. 13th St. near the church, the Priest was always after me saying, “I’ll get you sooner or later!” even in later years, long after my sister and brother rejoined the church, Monsignor Plecity still kidded me, “I got two out of three.”
Bill spent some of his childhood on the farm. After his marriage to Katherine Erickson, Bill returned to the farm to help his father and uncle run it. Bill and Kathy set up housekeeping in a big two-story brick house below the farm near the old race track. (The brick house no longer stands.) They became parents of two children, Sherry and Dennis.
Bill drove a city bus for some time before he worked for the Highway Dept. in West Salem. He and his wife Kathy are living in the home they built on 2119 Redfield St. in La Crosse.
Margaret (Mader) Seiler
1917 –
Margaret was the first child and only daughter of Dominick Jr. and Edith Mader born on September 24, 1917.
Promoted to the head of her class because she was such a good student, Margaret graduated from high school at age 16. Because of the depression she couldn’t continue school and was need to help on the farm.
Margaret married Elmer Seiler in 1941, a boy from a neighboring farm. (1) Elmer came from a family of thirteen children whose father had died in his 30’s. He always had to work even as a child and after completing 8th grade, Elmer stayed home to help run the family farm.
Two months after Margaret and Elmer’s first child, Margaret was born in 1942, Elmer went off to war. He served in the Pacific in World War II. Margaret and the baby stayed with her parents on the Mader farm until Elmer returned from the war in 1945.
The young Seiler family moved into a small two room house in the Town of Shelby, where their only son Jim was born in 1946. A few years later Elmer and Margaret build a house together on 2162 Denton St. in La Crosse. Elmer would tell Margaret what needed to be done and how to do it. Like – how to lay a hardwood floor or how to put on laths for the plaster! While they were building the house they lived in the basement.
Elmer was a carpenter by trade and also worked at the Brewery. Both jobs were seasonal so he began working for a fuel company as a technician.
Margaret was interested in the family history and she wrote about it in a letter to her grandchildren so that their great-grandparents would be remembered. All the relatives said Margaret was a lovely woman. Margaret died of cancer at age 58 on October 26, 1975. Elmer is retired and still lives in the home they built on Denton St.
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Gladys North
1913 –
Gladys was the last child of Emil and Mary North born in November of 1913.
Gladys never married. Her two nieces lived with her for a time after her sister died. Gladys had her heart set on raising the girls but on a trip to see their father Pat in California, he kept the girls with him.
As a young woman, Gladys tinted pictures at Paramount Studios in La Crosse. A job she was very good at. This was before colored film and all the colored pictures were still hand painted. Later she was employed at Northern Engraving. When they moved out of town Gladys took care of the elderly in St. Joseph’s Home. After working there many years, the home was changed to self care in 1981 and Gladys retired.
Three years after retiring, Gladys became ill with Alzheimer’s Disease and went into a nursing home in La Crescent.
Marie (North) Johnson
1911 – 1952
The daughter of Emil and Mary North, Marie was born in October of 1911. She was a pianist and played the piano in several orchestras.
Marie was joined in marriage to Pat Johnson. Pat was a cook on the Wabash Railroad. During World War II, they were stationed in Maryland where he served as cook on a submarine. After the war they came back to La Crosse for a short while before following a dream to move to California.
The Johnson’s had two girls. When they left La Crosse, Patty was age six and Jean was two. While the children were still young, Marie died of cancer at age 41. Patty and Jean came back to La Crosse to live with their aunt Gladys for a while before rejoining their father in California.
Andy North
1909 –
Andy was born March 20, 1909, the first child and the only son of Emil and Mary North.
Andy grew up below grandad’s Bluff where his father managed the stone quarry. Recalling some good times on the bluff Andy said,
“When I was a teenager I built a bobsled from oak. It had brakes and a bell on the back. Gladys and I, with friends from high school, would slide down Bliss Road in the bobsled from the top of grandad’s Bluff all the way to the church on Losey Blvd. We pulled the bobsled up to the top behind a friend’s old car. “
When he was young, Andy worked at the brick yard for John Schnell who was married to his aunt Julie. After high school he worked in the quarry.
“One of his jobs was operating the locomotive of a narrow gauge railroad that hauled the rock from the quarry site to the tramway. He also worked as a weighmaster at the crusher, a stone salesman, and as a supervisor of county trucks hauling away loads of crushed rock. ‘Working in the quarry wasn’t easy!’ Andy said. ‘Even getting to the top of the bluff in the winter time was a hard day’s work, especially if I had to carry fifty pounds of dynamite.'”(1)
Andy’s job ended with the closing of the quarry in 1935. He then worked for Allis Chalmers.
Andy married his high school sweetheart, Gladys Ott, in 1934. Four years later he built their home on 2628 King St. using the wood from Dominick Mader Jr.’s tobacco shed. Andy did most of the work on the house himself and he and Gladys have made it their home for 48 years. It is located about a block from his childhood home within full view of grandad’s bluff. In 1940 the North’s became the parents of their only daughter, Nancy.
In his retirement, Andy enjoys woodworking. A complete circus made of wood that he has made was on display at the La Crosse Library. He also has built train sets and many country items that his daughter paints and sells. Andy sees something he likes and then goes home and makes his own pattern.
Andy had been featured in many articles written about the bluff, since he has been involved with the early stone quarry and has lived at the foot of grandad’s bluff all his life.
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William Schnell
1916 –
William was born in the Schnell brick house above State Road in 1916, the last child of John and Julia Schnell.
Only nine years old, Bill started working in the Schnell brick yard. “that’s how I got my crooked fingers!” he said. His school days came to an end at age 15 when he was sent to run the Boma farm of 380 acres for his father Bill farmed the land from his parents home for nine years until his marriage to Idel Miller.
Bill and Idel were married on April 26, 1941 and moved on the farm to live in the Boma brick house. At this time Bill purchased the farm from his father, John. Here, their only son, David was born on February 21, 1947. They lived on the Boma place until ca. 1965. Bill said, “A guy from Milwaukee wanted it worse than I did so I sold it to him.” The farm had been in Boma family for 100 years.
The family moved to 1718 Losey Blvd. in La Crosse where Bill and Idel still live. Bill worked for 10-15 years as ground man for the University.