"A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of the City of Seattle and County of King, Washington." New York and Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1903. p. 278. WILLIAM BREMER So composite is the social fabric of our republic that we can as yet scarcely be said to have developed a national type, and among the many elements that have entered into the makeup of our populace there is none which has been of more vital and valuable order than the German, from which America has had much to gain and nothing to lose. From the great German empire have come many of our most progressive citizens, men of sterling worth of character and endowed with that pragmatic ability which has promoted advancement along all lines of material industry and has ever stood for social stability. Among the representative young men of German birth who have attained distinction in connection with the industrial life of the state of Washington is Mr. Bremer, who has maintained his home in the Puget Sound district for the past fourteen years and who has attained marked precedence as an able and enterprising business man, one who has contributed in no small degree to the work of development and improvement through legitimate lines of endeavor. He is well deserving of representation in this publication as one of that progressive type of men who have made the Evergreen state what it is to-day. He is the owner of the town site of Bremerton, was one of the founders of the village of Sidney and through his real-estate operations and well directed enterprise has done much to forward the material development of this section of the state, maintaining his home and business headquarters in the city of Seattle, where he commands unequivocal confidence and esteem. William Bremer was born in the town of Seesen, duchy of Brunswick, Germany, on the 12th of June, 1863, being a son of Edward and Matilda (Mader) Bremer, representatives of stanch old families of the German fatherland. Edward Bremer was a man of prominence in his locality, having been engaged in the banking business and having attained considerable wealth and exercised notable influence in local affairs. He passed his entire life in his native land. He and his wife became the parents of eight children, of whom the subject of this review was the fifth in order of birth. He received his educational discipline in his native land, having completed a course in the Jacobson Institute, at Seesen, the same being an institution of more than national reputation. In his youth Mr. Bremer became identified with the banking business, which he learned in all its details, this training having proved of inestimable value to him in his subsequent business career. After serving what may be termed as apprenticeship in a banking house in his native town he went to the city of Hamburg, where he was identified with a similar line of enterprise for a period of two years. When in his twentieth year Mr. Bremer bade adieu to home and native land and came to America, whither his elder brother, Charles E., had preceded him, being now a prominent capitalist and business man of Aberdeen, South Dakota. Our subject passed about one year in Minnesota and the following three years were spent in South Dakota. When but twenty-one years of age he was appointed state agent for the Jon Gund Brewing Company, of La Crosse, Wisconsin, and was incumbent of this responsible position for a term of two years, and since that time he has never worked on salary, having attained a position of independence and conducted operations on his own responsibility, a fact that is significant, as indicatory of his exceptional business and executive ability, and the more notable by reason of the circumstance that when he came to the United States he had but slight knowledge of the English language. He was for a year engaged in agricultural operations in South Dakota, and at the expiration of that period, in January, 1888, he came to Washington. Here, associated with three others, he purchased the land upon which the town of Sidney, Kitsap county, is now located, and they became the founders of the town, platting the same and placing the lots upon the market. The village is now in a prosperous and thriving condition and its further advancement is assured. It should be noted in this connection that Mr. Bremer has bought and sold land in nearly every section of Kitsap county, being one of the prime factors in its development and his straightforward and honorable course is shown by the fact that he has never been compelled to enter into litigation with any person to whom he thus sold property. Ever since his arrival in Washington Mr. Bremer's principal field of business operations has been in Kitsap county, which is one the western shore of the Sound, and he has been conspicuously identified with the development of its resources, the building up of its towns and the advancing of its material interests. It is a recognized fact that in his real-estate transactions in that county he had done more business than that representing the aggregate of all other operators in this line, and he is well entitled to the distinction of being designated as one of the founders and builders of that section of our great commonwealth, while the statement made affords an idea of the great scope and importance of his work. In 1891 Mr. Bremer platted the town of Bremerton, in the county mentioned, and through his energy, discrimination and far-sighted policy the development of this attractive village was brought about, while the town has as assuredly bright future before it, since he continued to be actively identified with its interests. At that point he sold to the federal government eighty-six acres of land at a sacrifice to himself of fifty dollars an acre, in order to insure the location of the naval station there, thus indicating his public spirit and showing his confidence that the future would justify his course, for a more eligible location for the navy yard on Puget Sound could not be found, and while he lost forty-three hundred dollars on the immediate transaction he firmly believed that his action was politic from a personal as well as general standpoint, and time is proving the wisdom of his attitude. This station has the only dry dock on the Pacific coast that will accommodate the largest type of war vessels, and the significance of this statement can not fail of appreciation even at a cursory glance. Mr. Bremer has not only thus brought about the development of town property, but he has also been extensively engaged in the handling of farming and timber lands in the county, usually buying the property outright and then placing it upon the market, while in numerous instances he has made valuable improvements before selling. He passes Wednesday and Saturday of each week in Bremerton, but maintains his home in the city of Seattle and has his office headquarters in the Bailey building, suite 404. In politics Mr. Bremer gives a stanch support to the Republican party, but he has never had personal ambition in a political way and has taken no active part in public affairs of this nature. His success has been of pronounced type and he is known as one of the representative young business men of the state, in whose future and greater precedence he has the utmost confidence, while a more loyal and enthusiastic citizen of the commonwealth cannot be found. On the 25th of March, 1891, in the city of Seattle, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Bremer to Miss Sophia Hensel, who was born in Portage, Wisconsin, a daughter of William Hensel, a well known business man of Seattle, and of this union three children have been born, namely: Matilda, William and Edward. * * * * Submitted to the WA. Bios Project in November 2006 by Diana Smith. Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Washington Biographies Project. Unless otherwise stated, no further information is available on the individual featured in the biographies.