educator, b. Pfalz, Rhenish Prussia. He attended Heidelberg and Berlin universities. He became identified with the German republican movement, and was for a time in 1849 editor of the Free Democrat, a Prussian revolutionary journal. Compelled to flee, he migrated to the U.S. in 1849, and engaged in "Latin farming" near Marshall, Mich. In 1851 he moved, via Oshkosh, to Milwaukee, where he was employed by the Milwaukee Schulverein as principal of the German-English Academy. Engelmann served in this capacity until his death. At the academy, he introduced the first kindergarten in Milwaukee (1873), and instituted instruction in singing, gymnastics, and drawing. He was a founder of the Wisconsin Natural History Society (1857), the collections of which were transferred to the new Milwaukee Public Museum in 1882. Engelmann was also a founder of the People's Literary Society, and was active in various organizations of freethinkers. He wrote numerous articles, and was a frequent lecturer before liberal and scientific societies. R. A. Koss, Milwaukee (Milwaukee, 1871); [Natl. Germ.-Amer. Teachers . . . Alumni Assoc.], Engelmann Heritage [Milwaukee, 1951]; B. Still, Milwaukee (Madison, 1948); Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci 3 (1875-1876), pp. 258-263; Milwaukee Sentinel, May 19, 21, 1874; WPA field notes.

View newspaper clippings at Wisconsin Local History and Biography Articles.

Learn More

Dictionary of Wisconsin History

Explore more than 1,600 people, places and events in Wisconsin history.

[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]