WI BIO - Dane Co - SIMONS, John
Biographical Review of Dane County, WI. Chicago: Biographical Review Pub. Co. 
1893, Vol II, pp 499-501

John SIMONS devotes his life to the supplying of the wants of the inner man, 
and has the reputation of a landlord who supplies toothsome [p 500] viands 
that have no touch of dyspepsia in them. He is proprietor of the hotel that 
bears his name [the Simons Hotel] at Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin; a 
comfortable, homelike place, with accommodations for about fifty guests. The 
hotel is centrally located at the corner of Maine and Butler Streets, and has 
a large barn for feeding and caring for horses. Mr. SIMONS began as a hotel 
keeper in 1873, spending the first ten years at the Northwestern railroad 
depot. He has resided at Madison since 17 August 1847, with the exception of 
a year or so; beginning work as a boy at anything he could turn his hand; as 
early as 1850 earning his bread in a brickyard; later he entered the employ 
of the John Roderman Brewing Company, with which he remained about eighteen 
and a half years; it being destroyed in November 1873, he in the same year, 
03 December [1873], became proprietor of the Germania Hotel, at the 
Northwestern depot.

Mr. SIMONS began life as a poor boy, but by unflagging industry has acquired 
a fine property. The Simons Hotel was built by him in 1883 and enlarged in 
1888; he having besides this other valuable property, which proves his 
industry and economy. For many years he has been recognized as one of the 
very live men of Madison, and is the oldest German settler now living here. 
His old friend and former employer, Mr. RODERMAN, to whom he was greatly 
attached, has passed away.

Our subject [John SIMONS] was born at Neuesied [means Neuwied near Koblenz?], 
Rhine province, Germany, 24 April 1834, being yet a boy when he came with his 
maternal grandfather [Henry ECKER] to this country; starting from Havre de 
Grace, France, in the good sailing ship, "Albany," an American vessel, and 
landing in New York after a passage of thirty-five days; going thence up the 
Hudson River to Albany, by canal to Buffalo [Erie County], by the lakes to 
Milwaukee [Milwaukee County created the same year, 1834, in the Territory of 
Wisconsin], and then spent three days in a lumber wagon before reaching 
Madison. [The territorial county of Dane, which contains Madison, was not 
created until 1836.] The parents of our subject and his maternal grandmother 
joined them the following year, taking the same route, when all settled in 
the town of Springfield [also contained in the territorial county of Dane, 
not yet in existence at the time] upon a new farm, but second-hand land, 
buying some Government land with it. Here the older members of the family, 
including the father, mother and [maternal] grandparents, continued to live 
until their death; the father, Ludwig SIMONS, dying at the age of 
seventy-six; the mother, Catharine (ECKER) SIMONS, only child of Henry and 
Catharine ECKER, died at the age of seventy-eight; the grandfather dying at 
the age of ninety-three and the grandmother at age eighty-five; all the 
family, for many generations, being Roman Catholics.

The father, Ludwig [SIMONS], was a baker in Germany, where for several years 
he served his country as a soldier. A brother of his, a seventh son, named 
Napoleon [SIMONS], in honor of the great Emperor, was to have been educated 
by the mighty man, but he was destroyed, while yet a boy, in the great fire 
at the burning of Moscow, when it was taken by the French.

Our subject [John SIMONS] is the eldest of a family of seven, five sons being 
born in Germany, and one son and one daughter, deceased, born in this 
country. One, Wilhelm, lives on the old home place in Springfield Township, 
Dane County [WI]; Christian, the youngest, also is a farmer living in the 
same township, Dane County; Antoine is a farmer in Wisconsin; the living all 
being married. Jacob, another brother, died 30 October 1891, leaving a 
family. [The sons of Ludwig and Catharine (ECKER) SIMONS mentioned above are 
John, Wilhelm, Christian, Antoine, and Jacob.]

Our subject [John SIMONS] was married at Madison [Dane County, WI] to Helena 
LUMBARDY [note the biographer does not state whether LUMBARDY is a maiden 
name or a married name from a former marriage; names of Helena's parents are 
not given], a native of Prussia, Germany, who came with her parents to the 
United States, settling at Springfield [Dane County, State of Wisconsin] in 
1849, and has since resided in Dane County [WI], in Roxbury Township, where 
her parents died. Her father was a farmer, and he and the other members of 
the family were Roman Catholics. Mr. and Mrs. SIMONS [John and Helena] are 
members of the Church of the Holy Redeemer (Roman Catholic), and Mr. [John] 
SIMONS is a member of the building committee of parish schools. He is a 
member of a number of social and benevolent orders, among which is the 
Catholic Benevolent Society.

Mr. and Mrs. SIMONS [John and Helena] are the parents of nine children, five 
of them dead, including the firstborn: Sarah, Herbert, August, Henry, and 
Anna. The living are: Fred A., clerk for his father, married Maggie DOYLEN, 
a resident of this city [Madison, Dane County, WI]; Mary, helping at home; 
John A., at home; and Josephine, a successful young artist, at home.

Submitted to Cathy Kubly