Remained in Wisconsin (as did his father Johann) when his siblings moved west to Dakota in 1878-79. In 1863 moved to Madison, WI, eventually became a businessman of some standing. Buried with wifeAmanda at Holy Cross Cemetary of Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Madison.His eldest son, William Engelbert Schlimgen, became a prominent architect in Chicago and New York.His second son, Frederick Mathias Schlimgen, established a successful granite and marble memorials business in Madison.------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- --------------------------------------------------REMINISCENCES by John Schlimgen We came from Germany in the fall of 1854. I was then about 13 years old. We came from near the University of Bonn. We had no relatives in America, but decided to come to Milwaukee on recommendation of a tailor whom we had known. My father Johann Schimgen was a widower, my mother having died two years before. Engelbricht, my oldest brother, was already married. In our party going was my father, my two brothers Engelbricht and Mathias, my sister Louisa and myself, my brother's wife and my other sister Sybilla (later Mrs Lorenz Bowar) came later. We were six weeks on the ocean, but had a fairly good voyage. From New York we came via the lakes to Detroit and at Detroit ourboat ran aground and we left Engelbricht to take care of our baggage while we went on by trian to Chicago in some dirty immigrant cars. When we got to Chicago my father was induced by a hotel runnerto go and seea hotel nearby. My brother Matt was in a car further ahead. The first thing my sister and I knew we were put out of the train on a bridge. There we were alone with both father and Matt missing. We had no money, knew nobody and could not talk English. We could only stay there and cry until finally father came back. He had hardly any money either, as Engelbricht was the treasurer of our party. Coming to Milwaukee we stayed that winter with a family named Laufenberg south of the city. They had relatives at Pine Bluff west of Madison and the next spring we came by ox team to Madisonand went to Pine Bluff. After a while we went to the town of Perry where we lived a while on the so called "Leathercap" farm, near August Goebel's place where a Norwegian named Ole Olson had lived. Michael Gobel called this Norwegian Leathercap, because he wore a cap made of leather, hence the Leathercap farm. This farm had a log house built into hole in the hill side and was roofed with dirt. Parlor, kitchen, dining-room, etc., were all in one. It was a one-room cabin. While here I used to play with Olson's boy Syver as he was Norwegian and I German, each tried to teach the other English. andin the meantime we made up a language of our own which must have been a wonderful one and which nobody else probably could have understood. After a year or so we moved from this place to the farm inPrimrose near the Perry line which is still known as the Schlimgen farm, part of which my nephew George now owns and occupies.Later my brother Matt bought the Hall Chandler farm near John Tascher's. Engelbricht and Matt and their families moved to Dakota where my brothers died. My father died in Madison, but is buried in the Catholic cemetery in Perry. I have lived in Madison since 1863. About allmy English schooling was obtained in the Britts school house in Primrose. When I went by there a while ago and saw the nice new school house I said "There is the University of Primrose where I obtained my education." But not in that building. I think my first teacher was Mary Thomas, daughter of David Thomas of Primrose. We had a log school house then. One night in the winter it burned. This was probably due to our having placed our bottles of ink on the stove to keep from freezing and putting chips around them which probably caught fire, of course that stopped the school. The next summerI think Miss Thomas taught school (or 1856) on the upstairs floor of the Britts granery which is still standing (1918) on the Konle farm.....-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- -----------------TRIBUTE to John Schlimgen, byAlbert O. Barton from 1918 Primrose newspaper The passing of John Schlimgen severs another bond connecting the present with the pioneer past of Dane County and, what is more, removes oneof the most loyal of the adopted sons of Primrose, that picturesque outpost of southwestern Dane. There was a fine vein of sentiment in Mr Schlimgen's make-up and he loved the old townof his boyhood to the end. The Schlimgen family came to Primrose in the early 50's, about ten years after the town was first settled, and a fine stone house, still standing, marks the old homestead. Several of the brothers became substantial farmers, but nearly all removed long ago to South Dakota when that territory was booming. John Schlimgen attended school in District #2, the present Britts Valley school, and was fond of saying that he was a graduate of the University of Primrose. As he was 12 years old when he came to America, he was far behind the pupils of his own age, so to speed up his education he arranged with his teachers, among them Julia Barron, sister of the late Judge H.D. Barron, to give them dancing lessons after school in exchange for instructions in English and other branches. Who says there were not jolly sides to pioneer life? Evidently the school boards at the time were not too straight-laced, as they do not seem to havedisciplined their teachers for this commendable frivolity of combining play with education. Indeed they must have been generous for it is recorded that Joel Britts....once brought a wagon load of watermelons to the school for a "last day" celebration. Mr Schlimgen never forgot his old schoolmates and neighbors and early teachers, and one of the fine and unusual thingshe did was carry on an extensive correspondence with them up to the very end of his life, frequently sending little gifts to them. Gradually this circle----which included the children of the Britts, Ketchum, La Folette, Chandler and other families----narrowed, until scarecely more than a few widows remained, and these, no doubt, will now miss his cheery epistles of greeting, which came so regularly. This fine spirit of loyalty and devotion to old friends and loved ones was exemplified in the Schlimgen home while his own children were growing up. This home was a center of happy family life, marked by the charms of music and culture, a picture one might well wish that we could more often present as typical of our domestic life. For the virtues of heart thus exemplified in the moreintimate relations of life, all who knew him will pay tribute to the memory of John Schlimgen.