Born in Westphalia, Prussia, Sanger emigrated with his family to the United States in 1840 and settled in Detroit, Michigan.
Sanger learned the tanning business and, in 1862, moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
He continued to work in the tanning business and owned a shoe store.
In 1893, Sanger and his family moved to California as a result of financial problems because of the Panic of 1893.
This article about a Republican Party member of the Wisconsin State Assembly born in the 1830s is a stub.