USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume II > Part 21
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On the 18th of October, 1892, occurred the marriage of Mr. Hume and Miss Julia Cracraft of Wheeling, West Virginia, and they became the parents of two children, Rosemary and John Paul, Jr. Mrs. Hume was very active in all local war work, served as a member of the executive committee of the National Woman's Service and was well known in state and national D. A. R. circles. She was also chairman of the national flag committee. She passed away November 15, 1920, her death being a matter of the deepest regret to many friends as well as to her immediate family, for she had a wide acquaintance in social circles and through her war work and church work, and her many splendid qualities of heart and mind had made her extremely popular and gained for her the friendship of all.
Mr. Hume belongs to the Milwaukee Athletic Club and he is also identified with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and with the Masons. He loyally follows the teachings and purposes of the craft and is prompted thereby to extend a helping hand on many occasions. His business is of a nature that allows of assistance to others at many times and Mr. Hume does not hesitate to make his services of avail in this con- nection.
CYRUS D. BOOTH.
Among those whose names are associated with the commercial development of Milwaukee was Cyrus D. Booth, who for many years was identified with the hat and cap business in this city, conducting a wholesale and retail establishment. In the later years of his life he lived retired and he had attained the very venerable age of eighty-six years when he passed away on the 7th of August, 1912. He was born in Maryland, Otsego county, New York, August 22, 1826, and was a son of Selah and Sophia (Fuller) Booth, the former born in New Britain, Connecticut, in 1792, while the latter. also representative of one of the old families of New England, was born in Vermont in 1799. Attracted by the opportunities of the then new and growing west, Selah Booth came to Wisconsin in 1849, settling in Dodge county, where he purchased a farm near Fox Lake. Thereon he resided until he was appointed deputy warden of the state prison, at which time he removed to Waupun, Wisconsin. His first wife died in 1849 and he later married her sister, Sophia Fuller. There were three children of the first marriage and seven of the second. The recognition of his
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ability and public spirit led to the father receiving several important appointments and at all times he was most loyal to the duties devolving upon him. He passed away in Waupun, Wisconsin, in the year 1863.
Cyrus D. Booth pursued his education at South Hill, Otsego county, New York, in the Hartwick Seminary and in the schools of Fergusonville, Delaware county, New York. In 1849 he came west to join his father, who had located in Dodge county, Wisconsin, and worked with him upon the home farm until 1851. In that year he came to Milwaukee to take the position of city editor of the Free Democrat, of which his brother, Sherman M., was the proprietor. He continued with that paper until 1856, at which time he turned his attention to the wholesale and retail hat business and in this was associated with T. J. Salsman and later G. H. Heinemann also he- came a member of the firm. Subsequently Mr. Heinemann purchased the interest of Mr. Salsman and finally also bought that of Mr. Booth in 1879, in which year the latter retired. He had thus long been identified with the commercial interests of the city and the continued growth and development of the business, commensurate with Mil- waukee's substantial growth, brought to him a very satisfactory measure of success. On the 25th of December, 1855, Mr. Booth was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Maria Bacon of Otsego county, New York, who passed away August 29, 1904. They were the parents of four children, of whom one died in infancy.
In his political views Mr. Booth was always an earnest republican and at all times was actuated by a public spirit. He died August 7, 1912, having attained a venerable age. For sixty-one years he had been a resident of Milwaukee, witnessing its growth and development and bearing his part in the work of public progress and improvement. His mind formed a connecting link between the primitive past and the progressive present and his name deserves prominent place with those of the honored pioneers of the city.
ROBERT WHITELY PATTERSON.
Robert Whitely Patterson reached the notable age of ninety years when at last "the weary wheels of life at length stood still" and his spirit passed on, His was a triumphant career-triumphant in its victory over the material, over the wrongs and the temptations of life. He fought a good fight and finished the course aud left be- hind him a memory that is a blessing and a benediction to all who knew him.
Robert Whitely Patterson was born in Cobourg, Ontario, Canada, July 4, 1831, and was a son of Robert and Almyra (Bates) Patterson. The father was a native of County Cavan, Ireland, and was educated in Trinity College at Dublin. The mother was born in Cobourg, Ontario, and her parents were of Scotch lineage. Robert W. Patterson was reared in a home of Christian culture and surroundings, His people were of the Wesleyan Methodist faith, and the teachings of his early life were never forgotten. His parents gave five acres for the cemetery and ground for the church on the outskirts of Cobourg, one of the earliest Methodist churches built in that part of the country.
In December, 1855, the family home was established in Milwaukee and from that time until his death Robert W. Patterson was a resident of this city. He engaged in the business of making daguerreotype pictures in early manhood, becoming the first photographer of Milwaukee and maintaining his studio until 1868, when he retired from that line to take up the undertaking business. This he conducted under his own name until 1901, when he admitted Charles A. Brigden to a partnership, the associa- tion being thus continued until failing health necessitated the retirement of Mr. Patterson in 1910. The business was then carried on under the name of the Patterson, Brigden Company, Mr. Brigden becoming president thereof. As a business man he ever displayed the most thorough reliability, and in a calling which demands tact, kindliness and consideration he was never found wanting in those qualities.
Mr. Patterson was first married in 1860, when Miss Nina C. Conger of Picton, Outario, became his wife. She passed away four years later, leaving a daughter, Amelia A. In 1872 Mr. Patterson was married to Mathilda A. McMullen, also of Picton, Ontario, and for many years they maintained their home in Milwaukee, occupying a prominent position in those social circles where true worth and intelligence are ac- cepted as the passports to good society. She and her husband were actively identified with many civic interests and philanthropic projects here. It was Mrs. Patterson who founded and promoted the Protestant Home for the Aged. She made this her deepest interest and was a member of the board of directors to the time of her death, which occurred December 26, 1913.
In his political views Mr. Patterson was long a stalwart republican and always took a deep interest in politics and the progress of his party, yet never aspired to office. He felt it a matter of personal concern to promote all plans for the city's upbuilding and improvement and always gave his cooperation to those measures which upheld civic virtue and civic pride. For thirty-two years he resided at No. 459 Marshall street and
ROBERT W. PATTERSON
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for sixty years he was an active member of the Summerfield Methodist Episcopal church, with which he united on its organization, serving as one of its officials the greater part of the time until his death. He was a firm supporter of the government throughout the entire period of the Civil war and gave liberally of his time and means to aid the Union cause and cheerfully complied with every demand made upon him throughout the entire conflict. He belonged to the Masonic fraternity as a member of Kilbourn lodge for more than fifty years, and he was also identified with the Old Settlers Club.
Mr. Patterson had been a resident of Milwaukee for sixty-six years when death called him on the 20th of July, 1921. The funeral service was conducted by Dr. Anderson, who said in part: "In the days of the French Revolution, a mob swept through the streets of Paris carrying everything before it, only to be stopped by a whiteheaded man, who lifted his hand and asked to speak. The leader of the mob turned and said: 'Comrades, a pure life of ninety years wishes to speak to you.' Friends, it is a good life, of only ten years less than a century, that speaks to us today. I must be permitted to transgress a little that delicate reserve that ordinarily we observe in our public speech. You will the more willingly permit it I am sure as we are a company of personal friends, mutually wishing to express our love. No man, whom it has been my privilege to know, developed and maintained such tender personal relationships as did Brother Patterson. No one whom I have known had so many friends into whose lives he came in such an intimate personal way. Personal interest in folks was his fine point. Institutions were always secondary to persons with him. Only last week friends of thirty years ago, visiting in the state, stopped over a day to call on him. The gentleman said: 'I can never forget how he helped me ont when I was in a tight place.' He was always helping somebody out of a tight place. This incident is typical of scores. If those who received his substantial help were to speak it would be a very extended company. And the sacred principle he proceeded upon was not to let his right hand know what his left hand did. Not only the quality of his friendships, but their range was remarkable. If one could visualize that stream of people that came and went at the old home at 459 Marshall street, it would include all classes, rich and poor, mostly poor, old and young, learned and ignorant. All 'claimed kindred there nor had their claims denied.' The pastors of Summerfield church for half a century, cannot think of the Patterson home without a feeling of tenderness stealing over their hearts. We went depressed. We came away cheered. We went in perplexity. We came away, having found the path out. For eleven years I have gone in and out of his home only to be a better man. I speak an appreciative word for all my brethren, when I say 'we shall not find his like again.' I do not know, because I have not tried it, but I think that growing old gracefully, sweetly, and courageously, is one of the hardest and finest of achievements. But it has been my privilege to see it done. From the day he welcomed me as his pastor to last Wednesday night when I held his hand and saw him breathe his last, he has been a benediction to me.
"His interest in folks extended to a living interest in what folks were doing. The failures of his friends were his personal griefs, their successes his uncommon delight. Though he has not been able to attend meetings except infrequently, for several years, no man among us knew so many other people in the church as he. He knew their names, their business and their fine points. He kept young to the last. And he did it, as everybody must do it, by keeping in vital touch with young and living things. He was tenacious of the old but hospitable to the new. He could talk of 'the good old days' but he loved best to talk of the good new days, he always saw just a little in the distance. Like Simeon of old he was always 'looking for the consolation of Israel.' Politics, the industrial situation, Ireland, Peking, Singapore, as well as remote mission- ary points at home, were all familiar to him. Eternal life our Lord says is to know God and Jesus whom he has sent. He kept on knowing and trying to know to the last. I do not think he has just come to eternal life. There were so many elements of the undying life in him, developed slowly through the years, that they simply could not die. He lay down and went to sleep at last as sweetly as a babe lies down and falls asleep in its mother's arms. As he breathed his last, one standing at his side, who has been eyes and understanding to him for years, said simply: 'Well done good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things I will make thee ruler over many things, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.' Nothing fitter could be said. He was not an easy talker about the things of the inner life. But it was very real to him. I have come upon him often, especially since his blindness, fondling 'those mighty hopes that make us men' and in moments of confidence those hopes got positive ex- pression. There was in him an unusual combination of tenderness and strength. He seemed to have caught the spirit of 'Thy gentleness hath made me great.' He was like a building I saw lately, white granite with beautiful flowers in every window. Beneath his gentleness' lay the granite of immovable principle. None of us who knew him would talk long about him, without thinking of his wit and humor. A person is humorous when he makes fun of himself. He is tarty when he gets the joke on the other fellow. He was chiefly humorous. He had the largest fund of expressive collo- quialisms I have ever known. Of the hundreds of times I have visited him I do not
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remember of one conversation in which some remark of his did not provoke a smile. He did not embrace the larger hopes because he had proved or had tried to prove them. The foundations of faith lie too deep for logic. We do not hold our beliefs because we have proved them, we try to prove them because we hold them. 'In my Father's house are many mansions,' 'The Lord is my shepherd,' 'They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them nor any heat,' are not logic but the soul's assertion 'I believe.' Scores of times as I have been leaving him, he would say: 'Well be good.' And that I think is his word to us all here today. When we come down to the last accounting that is about all that is worth while.
" 'Through such souls alone God stooping shows sufficient of his light For us in the dark to rise by.'"
HAROLD MEAD STRATTON.
Harold Mead Stratton, one of the successful and prominent grain merchants of Milwaukee, conducting business as a member of the Donohue Stratton Company, was born in Troy Center, Wisconsin, November 12, 1879, and is a son of Prescott B. and Martha E. Stratton. He pursued his early education in the graded schools and passed on to the high school at North Greenfield, Wisconsin, while later he studied for a time in the Milwaukee Business College, thus receiving thorough training along lines which qualified him for his entrance into the commercial world. He first became con- nected with the grain trade as an employe of Charles R. Lull and gradually mastered the different phases and principles of the business and worked his way upward until in 1907 he was admitted to a partnership under the firm style of Charles R. Lull & Company and so continued until 1910. In that year he became one of the organizers of the firm known as the Donohue Stratton Company, a Wisconsin corporation, which was formed on the 1st of June, for the purpose of conducting a grain business and since 1909 he has been identified with the Briggs & Stratton Company. He is today a prominent figure in grain trade circles because of the importance of the business which he has developed, now one of the extensive enterprises of the city, progressive- ness having guided him at all times.
On the 21st of October, 1903, Mr. Stratton was married to Miss Bessie Adell Frantz, a daughter of Captain H. B. Frantz. The three children of this marriage are: John, Elizabeth Mary and Frederick Frantz. The religious faith of the family is that of the Episcopal church. Mr. Stratton belongs to the Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce and has been an active representative thereof, serving from 1913 until 1919 as one of the directors, while in the latter year he was elected to the presidency, occupying the position for two years from April 1, 1919, to April 1, 1921, during which time sub- stantial advance was made in the work undertaken by the organization. He is likewise well known in club circles, belonging to the Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Athletic, Mil- waukee Country and the Blue Mound Country Clubs and in outdoor life he finds his recreation and diversion from the onerous duties which devolve upon him in the up- building and further development of the important interests now carried on by the grain trade firm known as the Donohue Stratton Company. At the outset of his career he realized that application is what counts and that every man has it in him to work if he wants to. Close application and enterprise, therefore, have carried him steadily forward and today he is one of the prominent figures in the business circles of his adopted city.
WILLIAM F. COERPER.
A name that stands for progressiveness, for enterprise and for successful accom- plishment in business circles in Milwaukee is that of William F. Coerper, the president of the North Avenue State Bank and also of Coerper Brothers Lumber Company. His plans are always well defined and carefully executed and his energy and enter- prise never permit him to stop short of the successful accomplishment of his purpose. The methods that he has followed will bear the closest investigation and- scrutiny and his record is well worthy of study, showing what can be accomplished when there is a will to dare and to do. Mr. Coerper was born in Hartford, Wisconsin, April 8, 1866, a son of Christopher and Magdalena (Gross) Coerper, both of whom were natives of Germany, whence they came to the United States in the '50s, settling in Milwaukee. They afterward removed to Hartford, Wisconsin, and the father, who was a black- smith by trade, there carried on business for many years. He was also a member of the volunteer fire department of Milwaukee for a number of years in the early days,
HAROLD M. STRATTON
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in which he was associated with such men as Phillip Gross and Buening, who was then fire chief, together with others who became very prominent in the business life and public interest of Milwaukee. The death of Christopher Coerper occurred in 1906. His wife is still living and makes her home in Hartford. They were the parents of seven children, six sons and a daughter and six of the number are living.
William F. Coerper was educated in the public schools of his native city and after completing his course he engaged in general merchandising with the firm of Stark & Liver of Hartford, remaining with that house for about a decade. At the expiration of that period he and his brother, George, established a general store in Hancock, Wisconsin, where they conducted business for three years. In 1901 they came to Milwaukee and here turned their attention to the lumber trade under the firm name of Coerper Brothers, at the same location which they now occupy. They handle all kinds of lumber and building materials and conduct a general retail husi- ness, enjoying a liberal patronage which has steadily grown as the years have passed. William F. Coerper also organized the North Avenue State Bank, of which he became the first president and after the consolidation of this bank with the Wisconsin State Bank he was elected president of the new institution, which retained the officers of the North Avenue State Bank. He is likewise the president of the Coerper Motor Company, president of the Milwaukee Lumber & Supply Company and a director of the Germantown Insurance Company and of the Merrill Agency of Milwaukee. These important business interests establish his position as one of the representative financiers and business men of the city. He is a man of sound judgment, readily discriminat- ing between the essential and the non-essential in all commercial transactions and his enterprise has carried him to the goal of success, enabling him to pass on life's journey many a man of less resolute spirit who has been afraid to venture where fate and opportunity has pointed the way,
On the 3d of June, 1889, Mr. Coerper was married to Miss Ida Schott of Her- mann, Dodge county, Wisconsin, and they have become parents of three children: Ray, who married Miss Lillie Kunkel, and is now vice president and general manager of the Coerper Motor Company of this city; Esther, who is now Mrs. Otto Lentz of this city; and Irma, who married Irving Jaeger of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Mr. Coerper belongs to the North Avenue Advancement Association and also to the Mit- waukee Association of Commerce. Fraternatly he is a Mason, having membership in Independence Lodge, A. F. & A. M .; Wisconsin chapter, commandery and consistory. He also belongs to Tripoli Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He has been a very active worker for the upbuilding of the North avenue district and has been instrumental in bringing many progressive business houses into this section. In fact, his labors have been a most vital element in the improvement of the city and his name is an honored one here wherever he is known.
OTTO C. KNELL.
Opportunity combined with ambition and energy have constituted the foundation upon which Otto C. Kneil has built success. Up to May 1, 1921, he was at the head of the O. C. Knell Company, extensive dealers in coffees, teas, spices and cigars in Milwaukee, and the business methods which he has followed have brought to him prosperity-the legitimate goat of all business endeavor. Milwaukee claims him as a native son, his birth having occurred August 24, 1866, his father being John Kneil. The father was born in Bermersheim, Hessen-Darmstadt, Germany, February 22, 1831, and was the son of a weil-to-do farmer. Reared in his native country, he there mar- ried, and his wife, Katherine Knell, was also born in Bermersheim, October 24, 1829. Because of political conditions in Germany they came to the new world soon after their marriage in 1852 and from New York, where they tarried for only a brief period, they made their way to St. Louis, where they resided for a year. Later they removed to Davenport, Iowa, and subsequently to Chicago, while ultimately they came to Mit- waukce, where they took up their abode in 1855. The father, a man of liberal education, established a private school, which he successfully conducted for some time and later he accepted a position as bookkeeper in a large furniture establishment. He next turned his attention to newspaper work and at different periods was on the staff of the Banner and Volksfreund, the Seebote and the Herold. In the season of 1859-60 he was associated with two others in organizing and managing the first German stock company in Milwaukee, which gave weekly performances in what was then known as the Markt-Halle, dramatic performances which awakened wide interest and were largely attended. In the early '60s Mr. Knell became associated in business with Leopold Rindskopf & Son, distillers and wholesalers of liquor, whom he represented as traveling representative and later as confidential and credit man of the firm. He remained with this house until his death, which occurred May 6, 1873, when he was
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forty-two years of age. He was always greatly interested in public affairs after coming to the United States but never sought nor desired office.
The public school system of Milwaukee afforded the son his educational oppor- tunities to the time of his graduation from the ninth ward school in 1880. He then started out to provide for his own support and was employed in minor positions for three years, or until May, 1883, when he became an employe of the Geuder & Paeschke Manufacturing Company. There his fidelity and ability won him recognition and he secured various promotions from time to time until in January, 1900, when he severed his connection with the house. He had spent four years as a factory clerk and then was made chief clerk in the factory production department and after three years' incumbency in that position had become assistant to William Geuder in superintend- ing the company's large and extensive plant. He was employed in that way for four years and during the succeeding six years was traveling representative of the house, spending two years of the period in Illinois and Indiana and the remaining four years in Wisconsin.
Mr. Knell embarked in business on his own account when in March, 1899, he formed a partnership with Messrs. Prengel and Steltz, organizing the firm known as the Knell, Prengel & Steltz Company, and early in 1900 assumed active charge of the business as its president and secretary. The trade grew from small propor- tions until the business became one of the extensive enterprises of its kind in Milwaukee. On May 1, 1915, Mr. Prengel retired and Mr. Knell assumed virtually the entire control of the business, admitting as a shareholder and director John L. Schaefer, one of his trusted employes, who was associated with him for many years. The firm name was then changed to the O. C. Knell Company and continued to enlarge and do a successful business until May 1, 1921, when on account of a lingering illness and the ultimate death of Mr. Schaefer, Mr. Knell decided to retire from active business, dis- posing of his entire interest to the McInnes-Walker Company, who are now prosecuting this old and well established business.
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