The collection richly documents Gansser’s experiences in the Michigan National Guard and veterans associations, as well as lists of Michigan soldiers killed in actions and troop rosters. The collection has a wide variety of photographs of encampments, officers, and units (group) photographs.
Michigan National Guard troops documented in this collection include: the 63rd Infantry; 125th Infantry; 32nd Division; 1st Battalion, 33rd Infantry, Company B; 119th and 120th Field Artillery, 32nd Division Band; and the 3rd Battalion, 125th Infantry. Camp MacArthur; Waco, Texas; the Division Headquarters for the 125th-128th infantries is also documented, as well as some general orders and circulars.
Gansser’s political career is documented in his Political Correspondence, 1905-1915, Correspondence and “Letters to the Editor,” 1911, and Correspondence from his Constituents, 1929. There is also Correspondence from Michigan Governor Fred M. Warner and Michigan Representative George A. Loud. A few drafts of his political Addresses (Speeches), 1911-1915, are also included in the collection.
Gansser’s activities in veterans groups, his non-political business interests, family correspondence, and two scrapbooks that belonged to his brother, Emil B. Gansser, complete the collection.
Biography:
Augustus Herbert Gansser was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, on July 5, 1872, the son of Augustus Gansser and Johanna Bauer. The Ganssers had four children, Emma (1870-), Augustus (1872-1951), Eugenia (1873-), and Emil B. (1875-). The couple and Emma moved to Bay City, Michigan, in 1872, leaving Augustus with his maternal grandparents. When his grandparents both died in 1880, within months of each other, Augustus finally joined his family in Bay City. He attended school and quickly learned English. After graduating from eighth grade Augustus left school to support his mother and siblings. His father was presumably dead by then.
Augustus worked a variety of jobs including selling newspaper, working as a collector and clerk in a saw mill, as the manager of a carpet store, a newspaper correspondent, an insurance agent, and as a census enumerator.
Gansser joined the Michigan National Guard and held the rank of sergeant by 1891. He participated in the siege of Santiago during the Spanish-American War, in 1898, and served in the Mexican border duty, 1916-1918, and World War I, 1917-1918. Gansser was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel of the 125th Infantry, 32nd Division, of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF). In the 1920s he commanded the 340th Infantry, 85th Division. He retired from the Guard in 1934.
From 1911 through 1912, Gansser served as a Michigan Representative from the First District (Bay City). He also served as a Michigan Senator, 1915-1931, from the 24th District (Bay and Midland counties). Gansser was defeated in the 1932 election. He was a Republican. In 1927 and 1929 Gansser served as President Pro Tem of the Senate.
Active in many fraternal, veteran, and patriotic organizations, Gansser was a member of the Elks, Masons, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, etc. He also served on the Michigan Child Welfare Conference Executive Committee.
In 1905 Gansser compiled and edited the History of Bay County, Michigan and Representative Citizens, a copy of which is available in the Clarke Historical Library.
On April 25, 1896, Gansser married Elizabeth Richardson, born on July 26, 1876. Together they had four sons: Emil A. (1898-1979); Webster H. (1900-1963); Victor L. (1902-1971); and Virgil Richardson (born and died March 7, 1904).
Augustus H. Gansser died on April 25, 1951. (This information is from the collection, some of which was copied from the vertical files of the Bay City Public Library.)
