11 Facts About Wilhelm Sauer

Wilhelm Carl Friedrich Sauer was a German pipe organ builder.

Wilhelm Sauer was born in Schonbeck, in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the son of blacksmith and self-educated organ builder Ernst Sauer from Karlsburg in Pomerania, and his wife Johanna Christine, nee Sumke.

Wilhelm Sauer was the brother of Johann Ernst Sauer.

When Wilhelm was seven years old, the family moved to the neighboring town of Friedland, where his father built a factory and started the commercial organ business.

Wilhelm Sauer spent his youth there, attending school, with the idea that he would transfer to the Berlin Academy.

However, when his older brother Johann died in December 1842, it was decided that Wilhelm Sauer would be the one to inherit his father's business and continue the work he had started building organs.

Wilhelm Sauer received an early education about organ building from his father.

In 1855, Wilhelm Sauer took over the management of the German crown branch in his father's factory, which had been opened there for the Prussian market in order to avoid customs duties.

In 1883, Wilhelm Sauer was awarded the Distinction of Akademischer Kunstler and the following year, on 18 April 1884, he was named by the cabinet as "Royal Organ Builder".

Wilhelm Sauer married Minna Auguste Penske in 1859, the daughter of a cantor, and the couple had a daughter named Johanna.

Wilhelm Sauer was the daughter of a brewery owner and member of the city council in Potsdam.