merchant, hardware company executive, b. Pomerania. He migrated to the U.S. in 1839 and to Wisconsin in 1841, settling in Milwaukee, where in 1850 he founded John Pritzlaff and Co., a hardware firm. In 1884 the company was incorporated as the John Pritzlaff Hardware Co., and eventually it became one of the leading wholesale hardware firms in the Midwest. He was a founder, and for many years a trustee of the Evangelical Lutheran Trinity Church in Milwaukee. His son, FREDERICK C. PRITZLAFF, b. Milwaukee, became president of the John PritzIaff Hardware Co. on his father's death, and served in this capacity from 1900 to 1951. He was also a director of several Milwaukee banking and insurance firms, and was prominent in Lutheran philanthropy. He was a member of the board of control of Concordia College in Milwaukee, and of the board of directors of the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod. F. L. Holmes, et al., eds., Wis. (5 vols., Chicago, 1946); J. G. Gregory, Hist. of Milwaukee (4 vols., Chicago, 1931); Concordia College, 1831-1931, [Milwaukee, 1931]; Milwaukee Sentinel, Aug. 17, 1900; Milwaukee Journal, Nov. 10, 1951.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the John Pritzlaff Hardware Company Records for details.

View newspaper clippings at Wisconsin Local History and Biography Articles.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]