Edward Sauerhering
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromWisconsin's2nd district
In office March 4, 1895 – March 3, 1899
Preceded by	Charles Barwig
Succeeded by	Herman Dahle
Personal details
Born	(1864-06-24)June 24, 1864 Mayville, Wisconsin, U.S.
Died	March 1, 1924(1924-03-01) (aged 59) Mayville, Wisconsin, U.S.
Resting place	Saint Marys Catholic Cemetery, Mayville
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Eugenia Langenbach ​ ​ (m. 1885⁠–⁠1924)​
Children	Carl E. Sauer (b. 1890; died 1949) Adolph "Pete" Sauer (b. 1892; died 1964) Louise M. (Hartwig) (b. 1899; died 1979)
Parent	Rudolf Sauerhering (father)
Education	Chicago College of Pharmacy
Profession	Pharmacist

Edward Sauerhering (June 24, 1864 – March 1, 1924) was aGerman Americanpharmacist andRepublican politician fromDodge County, Wisconsin. He was a member of theU.S. House of Representatives for two terms, representingWisconsin's 2nd congressional district during the54th and55th congresses (1895–1899). He was author of one of the first significantdairy laws in Congress, placing taxes and regulations on pseudo-dairy products like margarine. His father, Rudolf Sauerhering, was the first village president ofMayville, Wisconsin.

Edward Sauerhering was born inMayville, Wisconsin, on June 24, 1864. He attended public schools in Mayville until age 16, when he went to work at his father's drug store.^[1] He went on to attend theChicago College of Pharmacy, where he graduated in 1885.^[2]

After graduating, he worked in the drug business for three years inChicago before returning to Mayville.^[1]

Around this time, Sauerhering became active in politics with theRepublican Party of Wisconsin. As a German Catholic Republican, Sauerhering was a demographic outlier in 1890s Wisconsin. The German American population was generally split by religious denomination, with Protestants favoring the Republicans and Catholics favoring the Democrats. In the early 1890s, however, the German American population in Wisconsin was mostly unified against the Republican Party due to a compulsory English-language education law, passed as part of a larger education law referred to as the "Bennett Law" in the 1889 legislature. The issue was then exacerbated by some comments from the Republican Governor that were interpreted as xenophobic and anti-Catholic.

In 1891 Sauerhering was nominated on the Republican Party slate for Mayville city council but was not elected.^[3] In 1892, Sauerhering was elected chairman of theDodge County Republican Party. That fall, he was the Republican nominee forWisconsin State Assembly in Dodge County's 1st Assembly district—comprising roughly the northeast quarter of the county. Nominations in 1892 were unusually late due to litigation overredistricting. Sauerhering officially received the nomination on October 22, seventeen days before the election.^[4] Sauerhering faced Democratic incumbentBennett Sampson in the general election, and lost by nearly a 2-to-1 margin.^[5]

Undaunted, the next spring, Sauerhering ran for mayor of Mayville, but lost to Carl A. Barwig, son of congressmanCharles Barwig.^[6]

Sauerhering, as chairman of the Dodge County Republicans, appeared at the 2nd congressional district convention in 1894 to organize a ticket. In the 1890s,Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district comprised Dane, Dodge, Columbia, and Jefferson counties, in south-central Wisconsin. The delegates' preferred candidate, Jefferson County state representativeGeorge Grimm, refused the congressional nomination; the convention eventually chose Sauerhering instead, some newspapers speculated that this was because Sauerhering was from the same city as the Democratic incumbent, Barwig.^[7][8]

Sauerhering faced the incumbent,Charles Barwig, in the general election. The political mood had turned decisively against the Democrats in 1894, due to fallout from thePanic of 1893, which Republicans blamed on Democratic free trade policies. A Republican wave saw Republicans gain 104 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.^[9] Sauerhering prevailed in one of the closest races in the country, defeating Barwig by just 265 votes.^[10] Sauerhering won a second term by a wide margin 1896, defeating former Madison mayorWilliam H. Rogers.^[11] His chief accomplishment in Congress was passage of an act defining cheese as a puredairy product without addition of other animal fats or vegetable oils. The act also placed taxes and regulations onmargarine and other "filled cheese" products.^[1][12]He declined to run again in 1898, returning to his family drug store.^[2]

After leaving office, Sauerhering mostly focused on his drug business, but held local office. He was Mayville's superintendent of public works from 1909 to 1918, during which time he played a role in the construction of a new waterworks in the city. He also served as ajustice of the peace from 1912 to 1920.^[2]

Sauerhering died at his home in Mayvile on March 1, 1924, after five years of illness.^[13] He was interred at Mayville's Graceland Cemetery.^[14]

Edward Sauerhering was one of five children born to Rudolf Sauerhering and his wife Henrietta (née Hartwig). Both parents wereGerman American immigrants fromEast Prussia (present dayPoland). Rudolf Sauerhering was the first village president of Mayville; he and his brother, Adolph Sauerhering, where both pharmacists educated at theUniversity of Königsberg. They came to Wisconsin in the early 1850s and were among the first drug store operators in eastern Dodge County.^[15]

Edward Sauerhering married Eugenia Langenbach on June 29, 1889.^[16] Eugenia was also a first generation American and a child of German emigrants. They had three children together.^[13] Their son, Adolph, served in the United States Army duringWorld War I. Both sons eventually adopted the shortened surname "Sauer".

• Edward Sauerhering atFind a Grave

• United States Congress."Edward Sauerhering (id: S000071)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

• 1864 births
• 1924 deaths
• People from Mayville, Wisconsin
• Politicians from Dodge County, Wisconsin
• Politicians from Chicago
• University of Illinois Chicago alumni
• Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Wisconsin
• Catholic politicians from Wisconsin
• 19th-century American pharmacists
• 20th-century American pharmacists
• 19th-century Wisconsin politicians
• American people of Prussian descent
• 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from March 2020