Edward Breitung (November 10, 1831 – March 3, 1887) was apolitician from theU.S. state ofMichigan. He served one term in theUnited States House of Representatives from 1883 to 1885.

Breitung, the son of John M. Breitung, aLutheran minister, was born in the city ofSchalkau in the Duchy ofSaxe-Meiningen,Germany (now inSonneberg District,Thuringia). He attended the College of Mining inMeiningen, then one of the celebrated schools in Germany for scientific and classical studies.

In 1849, after therevolution in Germany, he immigrated to theUnited States and settled inKalamazoo County, Michigan. He moved toDetroit in 1851 and became a clerk in a mercantile house. He moved toMarquette and engaged in mercantile pursuits until 1859, when he went toNegaunee. Here he was also engaged in the mercantile business; however, his store burnt in 1860.

After this, he ran the Pioneer Blast Furnace in Negaunee, with Israel Case, under a four-year contract. Subsequently he engaged exclusively in iron-mining operations in 1864, explored for iron deposits inMarquette andMenominee Counties, locating several profitable mines from 1864 to 1867. He later became interested iron mining in Minnesota, and in gold and silver mining inColorado.

On November 28, 1870, Edward married Mary Paulin, who was originally from Belgium, Wisconsin. Mary had been working as a chambermaid at a boarding house in Republic (Smith's Mine), Michigan, where Edward owned the Republic Mine.

Edward and Mary's first child was Edward Jr., born on November 1, 1871, in Negaunee. Their second child, William, was bornc. March 1874 in Negaunee, but became sick soon thereafter. Edward did not make it back from his Lansing duties before William's death, on August 26 of the same year, from cholera.

Breitung was a member of theMichigan State House of Representatives in 1873 and 1874 and a member of theMichigan State Senate in 1877 and 1878. He served as mayor of Negaunee in 1879, 1880, and 1882.

He was elected as aRepublican to theUnited States House of Representatives fromMichigan's 11th congressional district for theForty-eighth Congress, serving from March 4, 1883, to March 3, 1885. He declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1884.

Breitung died in Eastman, Georgia before he was able to move into a winter house he had built. This was also before construction was due to begin on his new house in Marquette, Michigan. He is interred in the Breitung Mausoleum at Park Cemetery in Marquette.

Breitung Township, Minnesota, is named after him^[1] for his work in developing theSoudan Mine there in the 1880s.Breitung Township, Michigan, is also named for him.

Edward Breitung's widow married into the Samuel R. Kaufman family of Marquette, marrying Samuel's son Nathan Kaufman. Mary had in fact placed Nathan in effective charge of several Breitung businesses while Edward was away in Congress.

Breitung's son, Edward N. Breitung Jr., continued his father's successful mining enterprises in theUpper Peninsula of Michigan and much further afield. Edward Jr. also married into the Kaufman family, wedding Nathan's sister Charlotte. Despite his father's political career, Edward Jr.'s loyalties were compromised with the outbreak of World War I. He attempted to profit through the questionable purchase of an impounded German ship. Later, his nephew, and others working in the Breitung New York office, served time for involvement in plots to bomb American factories and merchant ships.^{[citation needed]}

Edward Jr. and Charlotte had one child: Juliet. Although Charlotte was grooming Juliet for New York's high society, she eloped with their Marquette neighbor's gardener, Max. Edward Jr. "gracefully" offered Max a chance to prove himself in a Breitung mine in New Mexico, where over the course of two months he faced nine life-threatening events. Coming back to New York, Max was attacked twice in the same evening, and left for dead.^{[citation needed]}

2. Nyquist, Michael S., Honorable Edward N. Breitung and Son Edward and Granddaughter Juliet, Amazon Books, 2023

• American biographical history of eminent and self-made men ... Michigan volume. Cincinnati, Western biographical publishing co., 1878.
• Biographical record; this volume contains biographical sketches of leading citizens of Houghton, Baraga and Marquette Counties, Michigan ... Chicago, Biographical Publishing Co.,1903.

• United States Congress."Edward Breitung (id: B000795)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

Nyquist, Michael S., Honorable Edward N. Breitung and Son Edward and Granddaughter Juliet, Amazon Books, 2023

• 1831 births
• 1887 deaths
• People from Negaunee, Michigan
• People from Sonneberg (district)
• Mayors of places in Michigan
• Republican Party members of the Michigan House of Representatives
• Republican Party Michigan state senators
• Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Michigan
• People from Saxe-Meiningen
• Immigrants to the United States
• 19th-century members of the Michigan Legislature
• 19th-century United States representatives

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