Frederick Vogel

Friedrich Vogel (May 8, 1823 – October 23, 1892), more commonly known by the Americanized version of his name as Frederick Vogel Sr., was an American tanner and businessman from Milwaukee, Wisconsin who spent a single one-year term as a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly. Together with Guido Pfister, he founded the Pfister & Vogel tannery.

Background Vogel was born in Kirchheim unter Teck in the Kingdom of Württemberg on May 8, 1823, son of Johann Michael Vogel, a tanner. He received an academic education, and went into the family trade.

In 1848, Vogel's cousin, Jacob F. Schoellkopf, asked him to leave Württemberg and join him in the United States. He lived for a while in Buffalo, New York and eventually Vogel, bankrolled by Schoellkopf, settled in Milwaukee and opened a tannery in collaboration with his other cousin, Guido Pfister, who kept a leather goods store. With Pfister's help, he built a small tannery which sold its leather through Pfister's Buffalo Leather Company. In 1853 Vogel and Pfister went into partnership. During the early 1850s, Vogel also established tanneries in Chicago and Fort Wayne, Indiana. He did not run for re-election, and was succeeded by Republican Bernard Schlichting.

After the Assembly Vogel concentrated on the leather company (known after 1876 as Pfister & Vogel Leather Co.), eventually building it into the largest leather goods maker in the world. Vogel was the firm's expert on bark tanning, serving as vice-president and general manager. He died on October 23, 1892, aboard a transatlantic steamer during the return leg of a vacation in Europe; he had been ill for some time. The Vogel share of the company passed into the hands of his sons Frederick Jr. and August H. Vogel.

Personal life On March 13, 1850, Vogel married Mrs. August Dresshel; they became the parents of seven children, of whom three daughters and two sons were living as of 1922.