businessman, lumberman, banker, b. Griinsfeld, Germany. He migrated to the U.S. and to Wisconsin, settling first in De Pere (1869) and then in Wausau (1873). There he operated a men's clothing store and gradually expanded his interests to include lumbering, banking, and manufacturing. He was the president and founder of several important firms in the area, and was the principal organizer of the B. Heinemann Lumber Co. His brother, SIGMUND HEINEMANN, b. Germany, migrated to the U.S. and to Wisconsin, settling in Appleton (1871). From 1880 to 1891 he operated a general store in Merrill. In 1883 he began a partnership that led to the formation of the George E. Foster Lumber Co. This firm acquired extensive lumber holdings, and, in 1902, was divided into the Heinemann Lumber Co. at Heinemann, the Foster and Ratimer Co. at Mellen, and the B. Heinemann Lumber Co. at Wausau. Sigmund Heinemann was also an organizer of the National Bank of Merrill (1890), and was its president until his death. WALTER BEN HEINEMAN, b. Wausau, the son of Benjamin Heinemann, changed the spelling of the family name. He began work in his father's lumber business, and in 1919 succeeded him as president of the B. Heinemann Lumber Co. He was also a director of the American National Bank of Wausau, chairman of the executive committee of the state Republican party (1913-1922), and vice-treasurer of the Republican national committee (1928-1930). With his important position on the Republican national committee, and as a personal friend of Presidents Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover, Heineman was for several years a principal dispenser of federal patronage in Wisconsin. Who's Who in Amer., 16 (1930); L. Marchetti Hist. of Marathon Co. (Chicago, 1913); G. O. Jones, et al., comps., Hist. of Lincoln, Oneida and Vilas Cos. (2 vols., Minneapolis, 1924); Merrill Daily Herald, Nov. 28, 1913; Wausau Daily Record-Herald, June 3, 1919, July 7, 1930.Learn More
Dictionary of Wisconsin History
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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]
