Christian Wenger was born on December 5, 1815 in Forst, Switzerland to Johannes Wenger and Elizabeth (Gerber) Wenger. He met his future wife Ursula Mueller in Switzerland, and they emigrated to America together. They came up from New Orleans port by way of St. Francois, Missouri. They were married shortly after their arrival in the US, in Fountain City, Buffalo, Wisconsin, in 1853. They settled in the village of Alma, later moving to their farm in Alma township. The farm had a total area of 240 acres, about 125 acres cleared, and the rest woodlands.
Christian Wenger Monument
Christian and Ursula had eleven children, all born in Alma, Buffalo, Wisconsin: Ursula (b. November 12, 1853), Theodore (b. 1853), Robert (b. October 15, 1857), Christian (b. April 20, 1858), Lisbetha (or Lucy) (b. between 1859-1862), Margaretha (b. April 11, 1863), John (b. between 1864-1865), Peter (b. April 19, 1866), Stephen (b. between 1867 and 1868), Louis (b. April 10, 1869), and Anna (b. March 25, 1873).
Christian’s son Christian (Jr.) passed away in a tragic farm accident on September 28, 1921 while preparing a trench in Alma for the laying of a steel culvert to improve the public highway [possibly the reason the above portrait is missing one of the elder sons].
