John C. Pritzlaff (March 8, 1820 – March 18, 1900) was the founder of the John Pritzlaff Hardware Company, the largest wholesale hardware store in the Midwestern United States until its closure in 1958.
Pritzlaff was born in 1820 in Truskolas, a village in the province of Pomerania, Prussia.
In 1839, after the death of his father, Pritzlaff came to America at the age of 19, eventually settling in Milwaukee, Wisconsin Territory in 1841.
In 1843, he was employed as a porter by Shepardson and Farwell, which was later acquired by Henry J. Nazro & Company.
[5] They had eight children: Elizabeth Sophia (1845–1916), who married John C. Koch; Anton (1847–1849); Auguste Emile (1850–1888), who married Franz Wollaeger, the secretary and treasurer of the John Pritzlaff Hardware Company; Mathilda (1855–1857); Louis (1858–1872); Amalia Emma (1851–1926), who married Herman August Luedke, the vice-president of the John Pritzlaff Hardware Company;[6][7] and Fred C. Pritzlaff (1861–1951), who went on to be president of the John Pritzlaff Hardware Company until he died,[8] and one stillborn child.