THEODORE MADER
1845-1928

In Baden,. Germany on September of 1845, Theodore was born to David and Mary Mader. He immigrated with the family when he was eight years old.

Theodore was living at home when he bought the farm and brick yard, at age 33, from his father with the provision that he would care for his parents in their old age. Two years later, the same year of David’s death in 1880, he married Catherine Delphenich who was 22. They lived in the stone house with his mother Mary for nineteen more years.

Theodore and Kate did not have any children. John Mader said, “Theodore fell off a barn roof and hurt his leg. He always used a cane and walked with a limp.” Florence Hoff remembers him as a very nice person and a lot of fun. He was very short. In the old Mader pictures, Theodore and Kate are the only two immediately recognized by all of the older family members.

Frank Mader, Jr. stated in a La Crosse Tribune article on July 1, 1951, “The fourth brother Theodore operated another brick yard nearby.” The photo taken from Irish Hill, shows that Theodore was still making brick in the 1890’s after the Schnell yard opened. After that there is no further record of this brick yard. Possibly Theodore stopped making brick when the demand for brick began to decrease with the coming of cheap and limitless lumber.

Theodore sold the Mader farm Oct. 30, 1899 to Sara Hodge for $7000. It had been in the Mader family forty four years. Theodore and Kate retired to La Crosse, his occupation being landlord in the 1900 Federal Census. In his home at 1229 Vine St. La Crosse, Theodore died age 83.