Alexander Cotzhausen

Ludwig Alexander Frederich Wilhelm Von Cotzhausen was a German American immigrant, businessman, and politician. He served one term in the Wisconsin State Assembly, representing part of the city of Milwaukee during the 1858 session.

Biography Alexander Cotzhausen was born Ludwig Alexander Frederich Wilhelm Von Cotzhausen at Haus Kambach, near Aachen, in the Rhine Province of the Kingdom of Prussia. At the time, this castle and estate belonged to his father.

After his father's death in 1842, Cotzhausen emigrated to the United States. He settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1849 and quickly became involved in local business. He operated several merchandise businesses before ultimately becoming invested with Valentin Blatz, and spent much of his life as an executive of the Valentin Blatz Brewing Company.

He was briefly involved in politics, and was elected to the Milwaukee City Council and the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1857, running on the Democratic Party ticket. He ran into controversy with his party during the 1858 legislative session, however. He voted in favor of a Republican investigation into fraud in the land grant process, and, as a result, was kicked out of the Democratic caucus.

Cotzhausen was considered an invalid from the mid 1880s until his death in 1899.

Personal life and family

Alexander Cotzhausen was a son of Heinrich Wilhelm Ludwig Freiherr von Cotzhausen-Wedau with his second wife, Catharina Magdalena Josephina Hubertina (née von Broich). His father acted as president of the College of Electors during the reign of Napoleon, and was created as a baron under the laws of the French Empire. Castle Kambach, where Alexander was born, had been purchased and renovated by their ancestor Johann Bernhard von Cotshausen in 1701, and was passed down to Frederick's father. According to German sources, the estate was sold not long after Heinrich's death in 1842, though the Cotzhausens continued to use the honorific "baron".

Alexander's younger brother, Frederick W. Cotzhausen (Ewald Alfred Arthur Frederick William von Cotzhausen), emigrated to America in 1856 and became a prominent lawyer and Democratic politician in Milwaukee. He served in the Wisconsin State Senate. Their son Alfred (Alfred Emil Alexander von Cotzhausen), was a successful businessman in Milwaukee in lithography and printing, and was president and general manager of the American Fine Art Company. He was ruined in the Great Depression, lost the family estate, and died in poverty.

Alexander Cotzhausen was active in several Milwaukee fraternal organizations. With the Order of Druids, he was a founder and officer in the Walhalla Grove No. 2 and Milwaukee's Supreme Arch Chapter No. 3. With the Sons of Hermann, he was a founder of the Germania Lodge No. 6.