Walburga "Walle" Clara Mors was born in Germany. She came to America with her parents in 1846 when she was just 8 years old. They settled in Milwaukee, where her father had a large cattle ranch. On January 1, 1860, 24-year-old Mors married Carl Muench. Muench had just emigrated from Germany and had months earlier purchased a brewery in Appleton. Their marriage produced five children, three of whom died in infancy.
Carl Muench ran the brewery for 20 years and grew it into a large and profitable business. Upon his death in 1880, Walburga took over the firm and managed it as a sole proprietor with equal success. In 1884 the 48-year-old widow married Matthias Heid, a saloon keeper 22 years her junior Together, they continued the brewery until 1892 when a stock company was formed.
In 1894 the brewery was destroyed by fire and was rebuilt as a state-of-the-art facility. In 1899 the family sold out to a "company of local capitalists" for $38,000. Upon this, the brewery was renamed the Muench Branch of the Appleton Brewing and Malting Company. It continued under this name until 1917, when it was renamed the Geo. Walter Brewing Co. The firm closed due to Prohibition in 1920 but reopened after Repeal as the Appleton Brewing Co., a name it would have until it became Johnny O's, a brewpub, in 2014.
Walburga Mors died on July 3rd, 1921, at the age of 79 years.
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