Edward H. Roethe was born in Leipzig, Saxony, Germany, the son of a carpenter.  His parents and siblings emigrated to America in 1851 through New York and settled in Jefferson County, Wisconsin.  He met and married fellow emigre Therese Jacobs there in 1852.

At some time before 1859, he started a brewery in the town of Cold Spring, which he ran for an unknown period of time.  By 1870 he had removed to Boscobel and become a cabinet-maker.

Edward H. Roethe died on May 29th of 1891, at the age of 67 years.