I shared in a previous post about how one of my great-grandfather's was an award-winning cheese maker. Well, now I have physical proof - actual medals awarded to him for his brick cheese at National Dairy Shows that occurred over 100 years ago.
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| National Dairy Show Awards for Brick Cheesemaking between 1913-1917 |
My Uncle Bud very recently shared that somewhere inside what used to be the summer kitchen at the tavern were his grandfather, Anton Sutter's cheese medals.
There was an old cupboard inside that room that I was clearing out and having received this recent intel about the medals possibly being somewhere in this room, I was on the lookout!
Good thing, because I'm not sure I would've paid that close attention to the small box I discovered buried in the back of this cupboard. If it hadn't been addressed to Anton Sutter, I may have overlooked it. So glad I didn't. What an amazing discovery!
It looks like most of these were awarded to him while they were still living and making cheese in Cambria, WI - before eventually settling in East Bristol, WI. He had several cheese factories in the Bristol/Sun Prairie area, one of which, I was able to confirm through my Uncle Bud, was indeed located in what came to be known as Patches Bar, just down the street from where I currently live.
Unfortunately, he lost all but one of his cheese factories during the depression.
Anton was my grandma's father. He never actually resided at the tavern, so it was obviously my grandmother that acquired and held on to these medals all those years.
Considering they are over 100 years old, they are in amazing condition. Plus, I take great pride in knowing that one of my relatives played a small part in making cheese during a time that built Wisconsin as the cheese state. Thanks for helping build the cheesehead empire!
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| 2nd Highest Scoring, Brick Cheese for Anton Sutter of Cambria, WI |
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| National Dairy Show, Chicago, IL 1913 |
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| Highest Scoring Entry - Brick Cheese - Awarded to Anton Sutter - 1913 |
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| National Dairy Show, Chicago, IL, 1914 |
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| 2nd Highest Scoring Entry for Brick Cheese Awarded to Anton Sutter - 1914 |
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| National Dairy Show, Springfield, 1916 |
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| Highest Scoring Entry - Brick Cheese - Awarded to Anton Sutter - 1916 |
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| National Dairy Show, Columbus, OH, 1917 |
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| 2nd Highest Scoring Entry, Wisconsin, Brick Cheese, Awarded to Anton Sutter |
Hi there! It's Sharon Chastain out here in NM. I chatted with my brother Joe recently and was reminded that there were a couple new posts on this blog since I last read it. I thought I would get alerts in my email when a new post was written but not getting them. Anyway, how fun to read about and see these medals. What a wonderful thing for you to discover and how proud you must be! I also have this thought; since your grandma was named Antonia, I'm wondering if she was named after her father, Anton Sutter?
ReplyDeleteHi Sharon, I will have to look into how one subscribes to the blog to get an email notification when new posts are up. The cheese medals were such a great find and I'm so glad Uncle Bud alerted us to them otherwise I'm not sure we would've known to carefully look through every thing. Yes, I do believe that my grandma was named after her father. Her only brother was also named after him, Anton, Jr. Thanks for reading!
ReplyDeleteHi Sharon, I added a Subscribe to portion to the site now that should work 'hopefully' to get notification of new posts via email. Check it out, add your email, and then you should get an email to verify your email address to get updates going forward.
ReplyDeleteThank you Staci. I have subscribed so hopefully it will work from now on. Blessings to you!
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