In the 1840’s, seeking the American Dream, the first Klessigs set sail to escape a Germany in upheaval: Master Blacksmiths, Carpenters, Brewers, and Farmers. They had lived in Saxony, the region that contains the cities of Leipzig and Dresden, jewels of German culture. It’s finest sons and daughters, they sailed for freedom, for a brighter future, and for economic justice.

Ed Klessig, who passed in 2006, was a man whose life was so much more than his own considerable accomplishments. He inspired his children(whom he adored), cajoled and harangued those who he felt shirked their responsibility to good stewardship (from neighboring farmers to gubernatorial candidates), felt deeply about and acted on the obligation of the ordinary citizen to participate in the business of his community and country, and savored simple pleasures making maple syrup with his grandchildren, sitting in the shade of the walnut trees his Saxon ancestors planted in the 1850s.