Descendants will honor the role of August and Ernestine Giese in the formation of the village of Suring 100 years ago with an entry in the Suring Labor Day parade.
The Gieses emigrated from Germany to a 40-acre farm in Pulcifer, where they had blacksmith and wagon-making shops. They had 10 children: Alfred, Herman, Herb, Emil, Ida, Ella, Meta, Amanda, Walter and Otto.
Wanting a change, August and his brother Herman decided to start a hardware store in Suring. In June 1896, the building was complete, and August moved his family there. With the railroad not yet having regular service, all their freight was hauled by team.
August was quoted in a 1917 Suring Sun newspaper saying, “Many a day we didn’t take in 5 cents, but we did keep up our courage. Times soon got better.”
The Gieses contributed much to make Suring what it was by 1940. They established a number of Suring’s first businesses. In 1896, they built and started Union Hardware, which offered a full line of coffins and shrouds. They were one of the first in Suring to lay out the dead.
In 1899, they built a warehouse, which later became a pharmacy and even later became Suring’s first Village Hall. In 1907, the building was sold to St. Michael’s Catholic Church.
In 1904, the Gieses sold the hardware store and opened a saw mill. They also built, but did not operate, the Suring Creamery, which produced Rose Brand Butter, in 1904.
The Gieses also built many of the homes still standing in Suring today, including what was their homestead at 409 Groninger St., now home to Pat Drafz, and developed a real estate business. Their original hardware store is where Beyer Furniture is located.
August passed away on Jan. 19, 1941, and is buried with Ernestine in the Hickory Cemetery in the town of Maple Valley.
Out of August and Ernestine’s 10 children, only Meta and Walter made their home in Suring. Meta (Herman) Stuewer had two children, Ray (Adeline) and Lillian (Elmer) Hubbard. Walter (Berniece) had five children, Louise (Don) Luedeman, Audrey (Ron) Whiffen, Roberta (Randy) Letkiewicz, Susan (Eugene) Eisner and Steven (Ruth) Giese.
The others settled in the Shawano area, Milwaukee and Michigan.
Today the only descendants of August and Ernestine remaining in the Suring area are Steven and Ruth Giese and their children, Jeremy Giese and his son, Connor, and Vanessa (Tim) Peters and their sons, Garret, Carson and Creed Walter (named after great-grandpa Walter Giese), and Lois (Hubbard) Brazeau and her son, Terry.
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