Louis Wolf

Louis Wolf (born Friedrich Ludwig Wolff; September 14, 1825December 12, 1887) was a German American immigrant, businessman, Democratic politician, and Wisconsin pioneer. He served two years in the Wisconsin Senate (1878, 1879), and three years in the state Assembly (1864, 1874, 1876), representing Sheboygan County.

Early life and business career Louis Wolf was born Friedrich Ludwig Wolff in Dürkheim, in the Rheinkreis (Palatinate) district of the Kingdom of Bavaria (present day Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany). He was raised and received his early education in Bavaria. At age 13, he emigrated to the United States with his family; they purchased passage aboard the American packet boat Louis Phillippe from Le Havre to arriving on May 27, 1839. The family settled in Utica, New York, among several other German American immigrants. As a young man in Utica, Louis apprenticed as a shoemaker and cordwainer.

In 1848, Louis ventured west to Sheboygan, Wisconsin, with his wife and her father and siblings. Louis worked as a shoemaker for several years in Sheboygan, before moving to the neighboring village of Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin, where he started his own boot and shoe business. His business prospered and became one of the largest retail boot and shoe businesses in the county. In 1857, he put some of his profits into starting a brewery with wagonmaker Heinrich Dicke, but sold his share of the business after only a few years. he lost the general election to Frederick Aude.

His next run for public office came in 1863, when he was elected to represent Sheboygan County in the 17th Wisconsin Legislature. He was renominated in 1864, but lost the general election to Cephas Whipple.

He returned to the Assembly in the 1874 term, with the brief success of the Reform coalition. He did not run for re-election in 1874, but won a third term in 1875. He then ran for Wisconsin Senate in 1877, and won a two-year term representing Wisconsin's 20th Senate district. At the time, the 20th district comprised all of Sheboygan County and the eastern quarter of .

Later years Wolf's business was destroyed in a major fire in 1879. The building was insured, but he lost hundreds of dollars' worth of uninsured merchandise and materials. He did rebuild his business, however, and remained one of the largest boot and shoe dealers in the region.