USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume II > Part 24
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RUDOLPH WALTER ROETHKE, M. D.
Dr. Rudolph Walter Roethke, physician and surgeon, was one of the first in the state cf Wisconsin to confine his practice to obstetrical cases. He now enjoys a large and lucrative practice among the best families of Milwaukee and is a man of recognized prominence in his chosen calling. Born in Mayville, Dodge county, Wisconsin, on the 25th of June, 1884, he is a son of August Carl Roethke, who is a native of Germany and came to the United States immediately after the close of the Franco-Prussian war, in which he served as a soldier with the German army. For some time he engaged in the furniture business but is now living retired at Chilton, Wisconsin, at the age of seventy-three years. He married Dora Doerfler, who was born in Milwaukee and is now sixty-eight years of age. Their family numbered two sons, one of whom, Adolph Herman, died June 2, 1919. He was a well known lawyer of Milwaukee and filled the office of assistant district attorney of the city. The two daughters of the family, Louisa and Ella, are teachers in the public schools of Milwaukee.
When six years of age Dr. Rudolph Walter Roethke, the only surviving son of the family, accompanied his parents on their removal to Chilton, Wisconsin; and was there gradnated from the high school with the class of 1902. He was honored by election to the presidency of his class and when his school days were over he engaged with his father in the furniture business for two and a half years. He later spent a year and a half as a student in the University of Wisconsin, preparing for medical college, after which he matriculated in the University of Pennsylvania, there spending four years as a medical student, winning his professional degree upon his graduation with the class of 1910. During his medical course he was vice president of his class in the junior year and class treasurer in the senior year. He also took an active part in athletics while a student in the University of Pennsylvania and was a member of the Octopede rowing crew for two years. He rowed in the American Henley races in 1907 and again in 1908 and during his college days he became a member of the Kappa Phi and also of the Omega Upsilon Phi and the Stille Medical Society.
Following his graduation he was appointed interne at the Lock Haven General Hospital of Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, where he remained for a year, gaining that broad and valuable experience which one secures in hospital practice. He was after- ward connected with the New York Lying-In Hospital for ten months, acting as assist- ant house surgeon for four months and house surgeon for six months.
On the expiration of that period Dr. Roethke came to Milwaukee, where he opened an office and began practice on the 5th of June, 1912. He continued in general practice for five years, although to some extent in that period he specialized in obstetrics. Since 1917 he has given his attention exclusively to obstetrical practice and is recog- nized as one of the eminent specialists in this field in the state. He was formerly chief of the department of gynecology and obstetrics in the Marquette Medical College for six years and during one year of that period he was an instructor in obstetrics in that school. He is now serving on the staffs of Mount Sinai, St. Mary's and Emergency Hospitals and in addition has an extensive private practice of an important character. He belongs to the Milwaukee Medical Society, the Milwaukee County Medical Society, the Wisconsin State Medical Society, the American Medical Association and also to the Alumni Society of the New York Lying-In Hospital. He is the author of treatises on Medical topics and is well known through his contributions to the literature of the profession.
On the 25th of June, 1918, Dr. Roethke was married to Miss Agnes Doris Stein- hagen, who was born and reared in this city and is a daughter of Gustave Steinhagen, who was formerly city surveyor of Milwaukee and still makes his home here. Mrs.
DR. RUDOLPH W. ROETHKE
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Roethke is a graduate of the North Side high school and the Milwaukee Normal School and prior to her marriage was a teacher in the West Milwaukee public schools. Dr. and Mrs. Roethke have two danghters: Doris Ruth, born April 19, 1919; and Margaret Ann, born December 28, 1920. Dr. Roethke greatly enjoys hunting and fishing trips when leisure permits hut allows nothing to interfere with the faithful performance of his professional duties and by reason of his highly developed skill and efficiency is today ranked with the eminent obstetricings of the st. te.
FRANK M. McENIRY.
Frank M. McEniry, general commercial superintendent of the Wisconsin Tele- phone Company at Milwaukee, has advanced to his present position through the steps of an orderly progression that have brought him up from a humble position in telephone service to one of large responsibility. Mr. McEniry is a native of Iowa, his birth having occurred in Lenox, November 27, 1880, his parents being M. F. and Catherine (Fitzharris) McEniry. In the acquirement of his education he attended the high school of his native city, from which he was in due time graduated, and later he became a student in St. Benedict's College of Atchison, Kansas. He made his initial step in the business world as a lineman in connection with telephone interests in Illinois in 1900, and through the intervening years he has closely studied every phase of the business, and thus by reason of his thoroughness and knowledge he has qualified for advancement, which has come to him from time to time. His second position was that of local exchange manager in different towns in Illinois and Wisconsin and in 1906 he was promoted to the position of district manager at Racine. Wisconsin, and located at Green Bay. There he continued for five years, or until 1911, when he was appointed commercial superintendent of the Wisconsin Telephone Company, with offices in Milwaukee, and here he has remained through the inter- vening period of ten years, having been appointed general commercial superintendent in 1920.
On the 30th of May, 1916, Mr. McEniry was married to Miss Mary Elizabeth Brown, a daughter of John R. Brown of 576 Cramer street, Milwaukee. They have one child, Robert Francis, three years of age. The religious faith of the parents is that of the Catholic church and Mr. McEniry belongs to the Knights of Columbus. He has held various offices in this order in the different cities in which he has lived, serving as deputy grand knight, as chancellor, as lecturer and director. In politics he maintains a conservative course, voting rather for measures than for party. He be- longs to the Milwaukee Athletic Club, to the City Club, to the Press Club, and the Blue Mound Country Club, all of Milwaukee, and is widely known socially as well as through business relations, his genial qualities gaining him popularity among many friends.
FRED C. BEST.
One of the strong financial enterprises of Milwaukee is that conducted under the name of the First Wisconsin Trust Company, of which Fred C. Best is the vice presi- dent. The story of his life is the record of earnest endeavor intelligently directed, leading ultimately to success and prominence in the financial field. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, June 19, 1874, and is a son of Charles and Helena (Taddiken ) Best, who were natives of Milwaukee and of Germany, respectively. The father was the secretary of the Philip Best Brewing Company and later became vice president of the Wisconsin National Bank, serving in that position from 1893 until his death in August, 1899. He also held several positions of public trust in Milwaukee and for a time was a member of the board of trustees of the Emergency Hospital. His father, Charles Best, had come to this city in the '40s and was register of deeds in the '70s.
Fred C. Best obtained his education in the schools of Milwaukee and of Wies- baden, Germany, receiving private instruction for a year and then attending the Real Schule from 1890 until 1892. In June of the latter year he returned to America and in 1894 was graduated from the Milwaukee Academy. His initial experience in the banking business came to him when in February, 1895, he entered the Wisconsin National Bank as a messenger, remaining with that institution for nine years or until 1904, when he resigned to become assistant secretary of what was then known as the Wisconsin Trust & Security Company. Later the name of the corporation was changed to the Wisconsin Trust Company and on the 23d of August, 1919, it became the First Wisconsin Trust Company, owing to the merging of two banking interests of this character. In December, 1915. Mr. Best was elected vice president of the First Wisconsin Trust Company and has since held that position. Thus from messenger
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boy he has steadily risen, climbing gradually to his present place of responsibility as vice president of one of the large and important financial interests of Milwaukee. Before America's advent into the World war Mr. Best was in the Federal service from June 8, 1916, until January 19, 1917, and was on duty with the Wisconsin Brigade at San Antonio, Texas, during the Mexican border trouble, serving as aide on the staff of the brigade commander.
During the World war Mr. Best entered the Federal service on the 15th of July, 1917, as captain of infantry and was made adjutant of the Fifth Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. He was stationed first at Milwaukee, then in Camp Douglas, Wisconsin, and afterward sent to Waco, Texas, where the regiment was broken up in the process of organizing the Thirty-second Division. He commanded Company D, of the One Hundred and Nineteenth Machine Gun Battalion, from December 21, 1917, until April 3, 1918, when the whole company was transferred to the One Hundred and Twenty-first Machine Gun Battalion. Mr. Best attended the machine gun course at the First Corps School at Gondrecourt, France, during the month of May, 1918, and the Army General Staff College at Langres, France, from June 17, 1918, until the 15th of September, following. He was then assigned as assistant operations officer to the headquarters of the Thirty-second Division and was on duty with the division during the Argonne-Meuse offensive and the march to the Rhine, after which he was with the Army of Occupation on duty at the Coblenz Bridge Head. He afterward returned with his division, arriving in New York on the 5th of May, 1919, and was discharged at Camp Grant, Illinois, on the 30th of May. He immediately resumed his business connections in Milwaukee and is now a director of the First Wisconsin National Bank and also of the First Wisconsin Trust Company, of which latter firm he is also vice president. He is likewise the secretary, treasurer and manager of the Milwaukee Clearing House Association.
On the 26th of June, 1902, Mr. Best was married to Miss Sophia B. Kemper of Milwaukee, and they have become parents of four children: Gertrude, Margaret, Elizabeth and Charles F.
Mr. Best is well known in club and social circles. He belongs to the Milwaukee and the Town and The University Clubs, also to the Nashotah Club and other organ- izations. His activity along many lines has made him widely known and the worth of his work, his sterling qualities and his patriotic citizenship have made him one of the valued and highly respected residents of Wisconsin.
GEORGE F. STAAL.
George F. Staal, city engineer of Milwaukee, was born in Peize, Holland, September 10, 1868, his parents being Floris and Grietje (Ebbinge) Staal, who were also natives of Holland. The father was the owner of a windmill there and engaged in the manu- facture of linseed cakes and in merchandising. He is deceased but the mother sur- vives and makes her home in the Argentine Republic, South America.
George F. Staal pursued his education in the schools of his native country and in the Argentine Republic, being a graduate of the Engineering College of Buenos Aires, where he completed his course in 1894. Following his graduation he followed his profession for a time in the state of Mendazo and also in Patagonia. He afterward went to South Africa for the Transvaal government and worked for some time in Swaziland. He later took part in the war between the Boers and the British and was captured in the Transvaal in 1900, but succeeded in making his escape to the United States assisted by the consul of the Argentine Republic, who gave him a passport. Accordingly, Mr. Staal sailed from Capetown to London, proceeded by train from Lon- don to Liverpool and thence crossed the Atlantic to Philadelphia. He was an entire stranger in this country, having no acquaintances on the North American continent. He eagerly accepted any employment that would enable him to earn a living until he could gain a start. When the Buffalo Bill wild west show was appearing in Buffalo, New York, at the time the Pan-American Exposition was being held there and at the time that President Mckinley was assassinated, Mr. Staal saw some of the names of his comrades from the Boer war, who were appearing with the show. He joined the show with his friends and became a rough rider, having had training in daring riding in South America. He remained with the organization, travelng through the country, and as he did so was constantly on the lockout for a favorable location in which to practice his profession.
In 1901 Mr. Staal arrived in Milwaukee and went to work at the second ward school as a laborer. In April, 1902, however, he joined the Milwaukee Electric Com- pany, working for a dollar and seventy-five cents per day as a laborer in the yard. When six months had passed he was transferred to the engineering department of the company under Fred Simmons and this was the initial step that led to his later appointment to the position of chief engineer of maintenance and way. On the 4th
GEORGE F. STAAL
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of June, 1912, he was appointed by Fred Simmons, the commissioner of public works, as special assistant city engineer and in April, 1914, he was made city engineer and is now acting in this capacity. He has been connected with the department altogether for nine years and has given excellent satisfaction to the city in all of his municipal service. He has planned many things for the benefit and welfare of Milwaukee, has been instrumental in fixing all of the grades of the city and in improving Grand avenue. He has also instituted much other improvement work along other lines, one thing being the separation of grades on the Madison division on the south side and the St. Paul division on the west side. He completed forty-five hundred feet of the twelve-foot tunnel and he also designed and located the submerged crib which is in sixty-six feet of water and sixty-five hundred feet from the shore in Lake Michigan. He has closely studied engineering problems and has developed marked skill and ability along these lines, thoroughly understanding the great scientific principles which underlie his work and at the same time having intimate and accurate knowledge of every practical phase of the business.
On the 2d of June, 1903, Mr. Staal was married to Miss Cornelia Guequierre of Milwaukee, whose parents were born in this city, and whose ancestral line can be traced back to France. Mr. Staal took a helpful part in war work, doing everything in his power to uphold American interests during that period. There were nineteen boys that went from the city engineer's office into the service and every one returned with some kind of a commission, although each joined the army as a private. All that de- sired to return to their old positions were taken back by Mr. Staal as soon as they re- ported for duty, this being in accord with the promise which he had made them as they left for the front. His office took part in all the drives for the sale of Liberty bonds and in the Red Cross, War Savings and united campaign fund drives, all this work being under the supervision of the city engineer.
Mr. Staal is a member of the Wisconsin Engineers Society and also of the Milwau- kee Engineers Society, of which at one time he was the president. He is likewise an honorary member of the Milwaukee Yacht Club and the Milwaukee Chamber of Com- merce and he belongs to the Milwaukee Athletic Club. Mr. Staal is a thirty-second degree Mason, belonging to Wisconsin Consistory, Ivanhoe Commandery, Knights Templar and to Tripoli Shrine. He certainly deserves great credit for what he has accomplished during the years of his residence on the North American continent. He could speak very little English when he came to this country and had to study the language in order to develop efficiency in his work. He speaks Spanish, German, Holland and English and his life experiences have indeed been broad and varied. Born in the land of the dikes, partially reared in the Argentine Republic fighting with the Boers for independence in the war with England, fleeing as an escaped prisoner from the Transvaal to the new world, working as a laborer until he could gain a start along the line of his profession, he is today a prominent figure in engineering circles and in his life story are many chapters which if written in detail would read like a romance. Difficulties and obstacles have at times barred his way but with persistent purpose he has followed the course which he has marked out for himself and has made a creditable name and place as a representative of engineering interests in Milwaukee.
GEORGE L. ALEXANDER, M. D.
Dr. George L. Alexander, who for a considerable period engaged successfully in the practice of medicine and surgery in Milwaukee, his pronounced ability winning him a liberal patronage, was born January 13, 1865, in Raymond, Racine county, Wisconsin, his parents being Newell W. and Caroline ( Ferris) Alexander, the former a native of North Hartland, Vermont, while the latter was born in Toronto, Canada. Newell W. Alexander came to Wisconsin in the year 1852 and settled on a farm in Racine county. It was there that Dr. Alexander was reared and in the public schools of Raymond he pursued his early education, while later he continued his studies in a high school at Delavan, Wisconsin. He also took up the study of medicine in young manhood under the direction of Dr. Webster of Delavan, pursuing his reading there while attending high school. Later he matriculated in the Hahnemann Medical Col- lege of Chicago and was graduated with the class of 1887, at which time the M. D. degree was conferred upon him. Returning to his native state, he located for prac- tice at Rochester, where he remained for several years, and in 1892 he came to Milwaukee, where he opened an office and continued to engage in the practice of medicine and surgery to the time of his demise.
In 1887 Dr. Alexander was married to Miss Estelle Stewart, who passed away in 1894, leaving one son, who was born in 1889. In April, 1898, Dr. Alexander was again married, his second union heing with Amalia Pfaender, a daughter of John and Mary ( Mans) Pfaender. Her father came to Milwaukee in 1853 on crossing the
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Atlantic from Wurtemberg, Germany, where his birth occurred. His wife was a native of Nassau, Germany.
Dr. Alexander was a thirty-second degree Mason and member of Tripoli Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., and was ever a most loyal and faithful follower of the teachings and purposes of the craft. He also belonged to the Knights of Pythias and to the United Order of Foresters, to the Royal Arcannm, to the Royal League, to the Equitable Fraternal Union, to the Modern Brotherhood of America and was also well known in club circles, having membership in the Milwaukee Athletic Club, the Milwaukee Automobile Club and the Excelsior Bowling Club. He was a prom- inent and popular figure in all of these societies and clubs, for he possessed sterling worth of character and a genial, kindly nature. He likewise held membership in the Homeopathic Society, the Milwaukee County Medical Society, Wisconsin State Medical Society, Wisconsin Homeopathic Medical Society, American Institute of Homeopathy and American Medical Association. He was a most charitable man, contributing in many ways to the good of others, and was most highly respected by reason of his pro- fessional attainments and his genuine personal worth. Death called him on the 13th of February, 1920, and his passing was the occasion of deep and widespread regret to all with whom he had become associated.
EDWARD E. PLAUM.
Edward E. Plaum, president, founder and principal owner of the business con- ducted under the name of the Plaum Clothing Company at Nos. 491 and 493 Eleventh avenue, in Milwaukee, is one of the pioneer merchants of the south side, having been continuously engaged in mercantile pursuits on Eleventh avenue since 1892. In that year he established business at No. 475, opening a hat and men's furnishing goods store on the 8th of October. In 1895 he removed to his present location at No. 491 Eleventh avenue and in 1903 extended the scope of his business to include a clothing department and incorporated his interests under the name of the Plaum Clothing Com- pany. Diligence, enterprise and progressiveness have characterized his entire con- nection with the commercial interests of the city and his success is the merited out- come of his earnest and intelligently directed lahors.
Mr. Plaum has been a lifelong resident of this section of the state. His birth occurred in Washington county, Wisconsin, on a farm near the town of Farmington and about forty miles from Milwaukee, October 8, 1867, his parents being Jacob and Mary (Pitzer) Plaum, both of whom were natives of Germany, where they were acquainted but their marriage was not celebrated until after they had become resi- dents of Washington county, Wisconsin. There they began their domestic life and spent their remaining days. The father had attained the advanced age of eighty-four years at the time of his death, which occurred December 15, 1917, while his wife reached the age of eighty-six years ere called to her final rest on the 17th of Septem- her, 1919. When death separated them they had been married for about fifty-eight years, it being accorded few couples to travel life's journey together for so extended a period. They were the parents of eight children, six sons and two daughters, all of whom are residents of Wisconsin, with the exception of one son, Louis, who now makes his home in Los Angeles, California.
Edward E. Plaum obtained a common school education and afterward attended a Milwaukee business college, thus receiving training that has well qualified him for his activities in later life. He came to this city in 1884 to pursue his commercial studies and following his graduation from the business college he accepted a position at a wage of a dollar per week in addition to his board. In this way he familiarized himself with the clothing trade and on the 8th of October, 1891, while still working in the clothing store, his salary at the time heing eleven dollars per week, he was united in marriage to Miss Frederica Boers, who came to Milwaukee with her parents from Germany, when hnt three years of age. This was in 1871. She is a daughter of Carl and Mary (Dedlow) Boers, both of whom have departed this life. Mr. and Mrs. Plaum have become parents of two daughters: Laura, who is now the wife of Edwin Neuman; and Della, who is bookkeeper and cashier with the Plaum Clothing Com- pany. The business is a close corporation, Mrs. Plaum being vice president, while the stock is all owned by the family save for a few shares. It was after working for a number of years in the employ of others that Mr. Plaum started in business indepen- dently and established the store which he has since conducted with growing success. Today the Plaum Clothing Company owns its quarters at Nos. 491 and 493 Eleventh avenue, having there a two-story brick and brick veneer building, sixty by one hundred feet. Mr. Plaum also became one of the founders and originators of the Wisconsin State Bank, situated at the corner of Greenfield and Eleventh avenues. The bank was capitalized for seventy-five thousand dollars and Mr. Plaum individually sold stock to the amount of forty-three thousand dollars, thus showing his activity in the organiza-
EDWARD E. PLAUM
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tion. He is today one of the largest stockholders in the bank, which has prospered from the beginning. The date October 8 figures prominently in his career. He was born on that day, was married on that day and began business on the 8th of October, 1892. He removed to large quarters on the 8th of October, 1895, and incorporated the business on the 8th of October, 1903. He also took his entered apprentice degree in Masonry on the Sth of October, 1906, and has since been a loyal and faithful follower of the teachings 'and purposes of the craft, exemplifying its high principles in his life. He has attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite in the Consistory, the Knights Templar degree of the York Rite in the Commandery and is also a mem- ber of the Mystic Shrine. He likewise holds membership with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks.
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