In 1849, Adam Grimm (1824-1876) fled repression in his native Bavaria and ended up in Jefferson County. He and his young wife carved a family farm out of the prairie where, besides the usual crops, Grimm took to raising bees.

He 'd been fascinated by them since childhood and established several colonies of American black bees as soon as he could. When the Civil War drove up the price of honey, he expanded his collection and modernized equipment. One year, when all his other crops failed, the bees saved his farm.

The black bees were nasty creatures, though, prone to stinging and never producing much honey beyond what they needed for themselves. When Grimm learned of a gentler and more productive golden Italian species, he traveled to Europe and returned with 60 Italian queen bees.

Once his colonies became Italianized, Grimm began shipping honey by the boxcar. He loved his apiary better than farming, increased his collection to more than 2,000 hives, and eventually found himself giving lectures, writing articles and wholesaling queens for $20 apiece.

With his profits from beekeeping, Grimm founded the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Jefferson County, serving as its president until his death in 1876.

His family carved on his headstone an old-fashioned, dome-shaped hive. His son, George, then sold his 100,000,000 bees to keepers across the U.S. and Canada, helping to establish the North American honey industry with the best Wisconsin stock.

-- Wisconsin Historical Society, www.wisconsinhistory.org 

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