George Strasser, of Milton township, is a Butler county pioneer, although his appearance and age would not indicate that he was entitled to be classified as a pioneer, however. Mr. Strasser came here when a boy, about fifteen years old, in 1871. He was born in Philadelphia, Pa., March 4, 1855. His father, Edward Strasser, was a native of Switzerand, where he was reared and educated and served three years in the Swiss army. He married Louisa Kurtz, a native of Wurtenberg, Germany, and they were the parents of two children: Mrs. M. J. Morgan, and George, the subject of this sketch.

Edward Strasser, the father, was an artist of extraordinary ability, and in connection with his vocation, he did work in the principal cities of the East before coming to Kansas. He painted a number of celeed[sic] pictures including portraits of Generals Grant and Sherman, Abraham Lincoln and a number of other conspicious[sic] men of that period of the country's history. When the Civil war broke put, with true loyalty

to his adopted country, Edward Strasser enlisted in Company B, Ninety-eighth regiment, Pennsylvania infantry, and served three years; he fought under McClellan in the early part of the war, and later served under Grant in the Army of the Potomac. He was severely wounded at the battle of Winchester, which left him a cripple for life. He was a Democrat before the Civil war, but during the latter part of his life his political affiliations were with the Republican party.

In 1871 Edward Strasser and his son George, the subject of this sketch, came to Butler county, Kansas, and homesteaded the southwest quarter of section 12, Milton township, which has been the Strasser home ever since. Here the father engaged in farming and spent the remainder of his life. George Strasser was about fifteen years old at the time they came to Kansas and had spent his life up to that age in the city of Philadelphia, and the new conditions which he found on the plains, after a life in the congested city, gave him a new vision of the world, and the free open life of the prairie appealed to his spirit of liberty. He found hunting and fishing to be a pastime and that interested him much, and he became so wrapt up in hunting that he soon became a professional, and hunted quail and prairie chickens which he killed by the thousands and shipped to St. Louis markets. He soon became an expert horseman also, and hunted antelope, on horseback. When the Strasser family settled here, buffalo meat was a common article of food which was procured periodically by hunting trips, farther west, but Mr. Strasser never hunted buffalo very much.

June 1, 1894, Mr. Strasser was united in marriage to Lizzie Lunenberger, a native of Switzerland and a daughter of John and Marie (Witmer) Lunenberger, natives of Switzerland. Her mother died in her native land, and the father came to America with his children and now resides at Springfield. Mo. To George Strasser and wife have been born the following children: Fred, wire chief for the Lincoln Telephone Company, Davis City, Neb.; Mary, married Earl Furman, Clifford, Kans.; Edward and Elsie, at home. Mr. Strasser is a Republican and is a stanch supporter of that party, and takes a commendable interest in public affairs.

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