My other great grandfather was an award winning cheese maker. Respect!

Beer and Cheese Run Deep in my Family

So I have one great grandfather that was the proprietor of Mautz's Tavern and then my other great grandfather on the paternal side of the family tree - my grandma's dad - he was an award-winning cheesemaker. So the roots of beer and cheese run deep and intense on that side of the family! Makes me so proud (sniff, sniff).

That's him in the pic below. He was a good-looking man, his stache was on point, and he looked so familiar to me because of the strong resemblance to my dad.

From left to right - Antonia Sutter (my grandma), Martha Sutter, Caroline Sutter, Anton Sutter, Anton Sutter, Jr., and in the middle is Emma Sutter.

The S. S. Hamburg

My great grandfather, Anton Sutter, came to the U.S. in 1905. According to Ancestry.com, this is a picture of the boat he traveled on to New York. The passenger list shows him arriving in December 1905.

From New York, they went to Milwaukee, WI. They then moved to a cheese factory in Stockton, IL, then to a cheese factory in Darlington, WI (this is where my grandma was born in 1908), and then to a cheese factory in Cambria, WI, and then to a cheese factory in Sun Prairie, WI and FINALLY settling in East Bristol, WI and eventually purchasing the East Bristol Cheese Factory in 1921 so the family could be closer to church and school. They were very involved members of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in East Bristol, WI.

1921 - Anton Sutter buys East Bristol Cheese Factory

I have been told (although I haven't been able to thoroughly verify) that this cheese factory they went to in Sun Prairie was in the building formerly known as Patches Bar - some of you may remember that fine establishment. Funny enough, I now live right down the street from this building - which is currently vacant and for sale in case anyone is interested. Very trippy to think that about 100 years ago, my great grandfather made cheese there.

Award-Winning Cheese

What I find the most fascinating is the awards he won for his cheese making. Just how good was his brick cheese, anyway?!?

Anton Sutter, Gold Medal for Brick Cheese at National Dairy Show in Springfield, MA, 1916

Wisconsin State Fair Cheese Winners 1921

Anton Sutter, Second Prize, Brick Cheese, WI State Fair, 1921

No Clinkers

Anton Sutter giving high praises for the coal used in his cheese factory

Sources: Ancestry.com; Chicago Dairy Product, Google e-book, Butter Cheese & Egg Journal, Volume 11

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Mautz's Tavern- A Historical Commentary

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