USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume II > Part 26
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William Todd, vice president of the Badger Screw Products Company and one of the founders of the business, has been actively identified therewith since October, 1919, and has contributed in large measure to the success, growth and expansion of the enterprise. Mr. Todd comes to Wisconsin from Indiana, his birth having occurred in La Fayette, that state, in 1882. There he acquired his education as a public school pupil and afterward learned the machinist's trade, which business he has followed throughout his entire life. Year by year his knowledge, skill and efficiency have increased in this regard and he has advanced step by step.
In October, 1919, in company with H. H. Minniear and J. H. Warring, he organized the Badger Screw Products Company, which erected a plant at No. 502 Twenty-fifth street. Mr. Minniear is also a native of La Fayette, Indiana, born in 1884, and he, too, has devoted his life to the machinist's trade. He was made president of the company, while Mr. Todd became vice president. They manu- facture everything in spark plug products, including bolts and nuts, and they also do assembling. Mr. Minniear is now owner of the plant. The company has a splendidly equipped plant, supplied with all the latest improved machinery and everything necessary for carrying on the work, and they maintain the highest standards of excellence in their output. Their business is now in thriving condi- tion and is fast becoming one of the representative industries of Milwaukee.
GEORGE H. CHASE.
George H. Chase, of Milwaukee, is now living retired but for many years was closely connected with activities and interests of the city. He was born July 27, 1838, in the town of Lake, Milwaukee county, and has therefore passed the eighty-third mile- stone on life's journey. He is a son of Enoch and Nancy M. (Brumley) Chase, who were natives of Vermont and of Plattsburg, New York, respectively. The father came to Milwaukee about the year 1833 and was the first practicing physician of the city and one of the first white men to locate on the present site of Milwaukee. On account of the condition of his own health, however, he soon gave up the practice of medicine and entered a claim, turning his attention to farming. The land which he secured is now included within the city limits.
George H. Chase acquired his early education in the district schools and after- ward attended the seventh ward high school of Milwaukee. His youth was spent upon the farm which his father obtained from the government in pioneer times. In 1860, however, attracted by the discovery of gold in the west, he made his way to Colorado and was engaged in mining at Central City for some time. In 1861, however, he enlisted in Company H of the First Cavalry Regiment of Colorado troops and spent four and a half years in military service. He was promoted to sergeant, afterward became sergeant major and later won a lieutenancy. He joined the army in 1861, attendant upon the movement of Colonel H. H. Sibley, renegade West Pointer, who headed twenty-three hundred Texas rangers in the invasion of New Mexiso. This mili- tary organization, which afterward became the First Colorado Cavalry, deserves special mention as a matter of history as it was one of the bravest, most efficient and dis- interested commands in the service of the United States. Mr. Chase was mustered out on the 3d of November, 1865, with the rank of second lieutenant of Company H. He afterward resumed mining, which he followed for several years, meeting with marked success in his undertakings.
Returning to Milwaukee Mr. Chase engaged in the manufacture of bricks for sev-
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eral years and in 1876 the firm of E. Chase & Sons was formed, the business being founded by Mr. Chase and his father. His has been an active and useful life. His enterprise has brought him prominently to the front, and his persistency of purpose has enabled him to accomplish what, he has undertaken.
On the 28th of July, 1867, Mr. Chase was united in marriage in Money Creek, Colorado, to Miss Anna Rebecca Keeler, a daughter of Hiram and Salome ( Burk- stresser) Keeler. They have become parents of five children: Enoch; Mary; Horace, deceased; Helen; and Ruth, who has also passed away.
Mr. Chase is a member of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to the lodge, chapter, council, commandery and consistory and also to the Mystic Shrine. He is also an active working member of the Grand Army of the Republic, belonging to E. B. Wolcott Post, of which he has served as commander. He is likewise a member of the Loyal Legion and in 1890 he served on the staff of General Alger, then national commander of the G. A. R. He likewise belongs to the Juneau Club and other political and social organizations. He is a member of the Old Settlers Club, of which he has been presi- dent. He was a very popular man in his generation, his lively temperament and marked characteristics as a gentleman of birth and breeding making him a valued friend and companion. He is now one of the venerable citizens of Milwaukee and has practically spent his entire life in this city and section of the state, where he has a very wide acquaintance, enjoying the good will. confidence and honor of all who know him.
DUDLEY CRAFTS WATSON.
Dudley Crafts Watson, artist, art lecturer and director of the Milwaukee Art Insti- tute, was born in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, in 1885, a son of William Weldon and Augusta (Tolman) Watson, the former a native of Springfield, Illinois, and the latter of Portland, Maine. The father came to Wisconsin in 1881, settling in Lake Geneva, and Dudley C. Watson spent the first fifteen years of his life on his father's farm, acquiring his education in the schools of Lake Geneva until he reached high school. On the 1st of January, 1900, the family removed to Chicago and he continued his education in the South Division high school, being graduated with the class of 1903. He afterward attended the Armour Institute of Technology for a year and through the suggestion of his various teachers, who had recognized his artistic talent, he entered the Art Institute of Chicago, where he remained a student for two and a half years. He subsequently went abroad, studying in Spain under Sorolla and in London, England, under Sir Alfred East. In 1908 he returned to America and became a member of the faculty of the Chicago Art Institute, being made head teacher of water color painting, a position which he occupied for five years. While a member of the faculty he lectured and painted throughout Illinois and in the fall of 1913 he was invited to become director of the Milwaukee Art Society of Milwaukee. He accordingly resigned his position in the Art Institute of Chicago and came to Milwaukee, where he has since remained. Under his direction the Milwaukee Art Institute has been developed from a small art enterprise until it is the thirteenth in size in the United States, and during the eight years which he has spent in this city Mr. Watson has lectured to over seventy- eight thousand children each year and has given fifty free lectures to adults. While in Chicago, in 1909, he was assistant director of the Pageant of The Renaissance and it was in the following year that he delivered his first public lectures and sent a rotary exhibit of his paintings throughout the middle west. In 1916 he directed the Shakes- perian pageant for the city of Milwaukee and in 1917 and 1918 pageants in the ten city parks for the Milwaukee Sane Fourth Commission. He also organized the art students biennial European "Caravan." and since that time has been continuously connected with the educational activities which have been promoted to bring about a wider and keener appreciation of American art. He belongs to the Wisconsin Painters and Sculptors Society, the Chicago Society of Artists, the Society of Painters of the Middle West and the California Water Color Club. In addition to his work ps director of the Milwaukee Art Institute he acts as director of extension work in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and as art director of the Springfield ( Ill.) Art Association. He is educational director of the Rockford Art Club and director of art education for the Minnesota State Fair, which position he has filled for the last seven years. He has been secretary of the Chicago Water Color Club, a member of the advisory board of Chicago Chapter of the Drama League, is a member of the American Pageant Asso- ciation and stands as a dominant figure in connection with the development of American art not only as an exhibitor but as a lecturer.
Mr. Watson was married in 1909 to Miss Laura Hale, daughter of Frank Hale of Chicago, and they are now parents of three children: Augusta, Emily and Marjorie. Along social lines Mr. Watson has membership in the Walrus Club and in the Athletic Club. His friends-and they are many-throughout the entire country find him a most
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genial and companionable gentleman and he possesses that ready adaptability which enables him to wisely and tactfully meet every situation and upon the lecture platform to readily determine the nature of his audience, addressing art students from the standpoint of technique and workmanship and the popular audience from the standpoint of appreciative understanding of the message which all art must convey to the public.
FRANCIS J. SCHUTTLER.
It has often been said that death loves a shining mark and thus it seemed when Francis J. Schuttler was called from this life. A young man, he had scarcely yet reached the zenith of his powers, but nevertheless he ranked with the prominent and able members of the Milwaukee bar. His high character, his sterling worth and the noble principles which animated him at all times commanded for him the confidence, regard and warm esteem of all who knew him. He was born in Chicago on the 15th of December, 1890, and was a son of Henry and Maria B. (Kenkel) Schuttler, who were early residents of Chicago and members of prominent families of that city. In the year 1878 they removed to Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, where they purchased the estate of General Starkweather, the family residing thereon until 1921. The father, Henry Schuttler, however, passed away in Europe in 1901, while making an extended tour abroad. In the family there were two children, a daughter living at home.
Francis J. Schuttler was but two years of age when the family residence was established at Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, and there in the heart of the beantiful Wauke- sha County lake region, ofttimes called the Killarney of America, he spent his boyhood days. There he developed that fervent love of nature and its beauties which remained with him throughout his life. After the completion of his grammar school course and the classical high school course at Marquette Academy, he entered the College of Arts and Sciences of Marquette University in the autumn of 1909. So excellent an account of his life has been prepared by the Milwaukee County Bar Association as a memorial that we quote from it the following: "From the very beginning of his college course, he distinguished himself as a scholar, an orator and a debater, winning the highest respect of both the faculty and the undergraduates of that institution. His extensive reading of the best literature, both modern and ancient, was remarkable. The sincere and keen interest which he took in all political, social and economic problems and the remarkable insight which he displayed in such matters was surprising in one of his years. These characteristics, coupled with a most pleasing personality and an elo- quent and convincing manner of expression, made him the most powerful orator and debater at the university. During his sophomore year, and likewise during each suc- ceeding year of his college career, he won first place in the annual oratorical contests. It was also during his sophomore year that he was chosen to uphold the honor of his alma mater against representatives of every Wisconsin college and university in the Wisconsin Inter-collegiate Oratorical Contest for the Carnegie Peace Prize, and won second place therein, losing first place by the narrow margin of only one-half of a point. Upon graduating from his college course with the highest honors of his class, he entered Marquette College of Law and, after two years of legal study at that in- stitution, he entered the law school of the University of St. Louis, where he completed his law course. Returning to this state, he was here admitted to the bar in 1918.
"For a short time after his admission to the bar, he was associated in the practice of the law with Edward Spencer of this city. In October, 1918, he entered the military service of the United States and served as a member of Battery C of the Ninth Trench Mortar Battalion. Upon his honorable discharge from the service, he returned to Milwaukee and here opened an office for the practice of the law in April, 1919. Shortly after he had again resumed the practice of his chosen profession and while spending his summer vacation at the old homestead at Oconomowoc, amid the beloved scenes of his boyhood days, a most lamentable accident caused his sudden death at the very threshold of a most promising and useful career.
"It is frequently remarked that the American youth of today seems lacking in that seriousness of purpose and that sense of moral, political and social duty possessed by past generations of Americans. This, however, cannot be truthfully said of Francis J. Schuttler. His ideals were the highest. He possessed none of the flippancy so often noted in the young men of his generation, but, on the contrary, his profound respect and admiration for the distinguished lawyers, jurists and statesmen of both his own time and of the past almost amounted to veneration. His uniform unswerving in- tegrity was a marked feature of his character, not alone in the more restricted sense of fidelity to his pecuniary obligations, but with reference to all his duties to society and his fellowmen. If anywhere in his character there might be found a fault, it was his unbounded generosity. No one in need of aid, whether financial or otherwise, was . ever turned away empty-handed. He gave what he could under the circumstances and did so without ostentation, quietly, almost secretively. So far from indulging in
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expressions of malice or unkindness to anyone, it was his uniform habit to speak well of all and, if that could not be done with conscientious regard for the truth, to give them the charity of his silence. His unswerving devotion and loyalty to his friends and his hospitality, reminiscent of other days, endeared him to all who were fortunate enough to be numbered among his friends.
"Gifted with a philosophical and analytical mind, an orator of marked ability, earnest and industrious, Francis J. Schuttler seemed fitted by nature for a long and successful career in the profession which he chose for his life's work. But as he stood at the very threshold of that career, an All-Wise Providence saw fit to take him from our midst. Years were not given him to achieve success nor to attain the honors that his abilities promised. Only his intimate friends can fully appreciate that in the untimely death of Francis J. Schuttler the Milwaukee Bar Association lost one of its most brilliant and promising young members and we ask that in tribute to and in memory of this loyal and true friend this memorial be spread upon the record."
One cannot but feel that Francis J. Schuttler must have entered into a broader and fuller existence when the gates of eternity opened to him. While he had made his life connt for great good in the world, while he had gained for himself a notable position in professional circles and while his influence had been a potent force for progress, it must seem that there shall be for him still broader development and growth.
"Where we write ended, The angels write begun."
FRANK W. BLODGETT.
Frank W. Blodgett, a street paving contractor, with large business interests and wide experience, is a native son of Milwaukee, his birth having here occurred November 8, 1868. His ancestors in the paternal line can be traced back to the Mayflower and he is a direct descendant of John Alden and Priscilla Mullens. His parents were Francis S. and Helen (Wright) Blodgett, natives of the state of New York, where they were reared and married. About 1858 they came to Milwaukee and Mr. Blodgett was the first city engineer here, filling the office for about two years. He then became identified with Lem Elsworth in building the first street car line in the city and for nine years he served as one of the commissioners of public works. He afterward engaged in sewer construction as a contractor and continued in that line of business to the time of his death, which occurred in 1892.
His son, Frank W. Blodgett, acquired his education in the public schools of Mil- waukee and in the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where he completed his course in 1888. He was afterward in the employ of the city, filling a position in the office of the city engineer, and for six years held the position of park engineer, thus continuing from 1892 until 1898. Later he became division engineer on the Wisconsin Central Railroad, serving in that capacity for five years, at the end of which time he engaged in consulting engineering work on his own account, with offices in Milwaukee, his time being thus occu- pied until 1912. He was next made superintendent of street construction, filling that posi- tion until 1918, since which time he has been conducting business as a contractor in street paving, his work carrying him into all parts of the state. Broad experience in finding correct solution for important engineering problems has well qualified him for the work that he has undertaken and his success is assured. In fact, his patronage is increasing year by year and his business is now one of substantial proportions.
In 1896 Mr. Blodgett was united in marriage to Miss Mary Lauburg, a daughter of Fred Lauburg, one of the pioneer residents of Milwaukee. They have one daughter, Phyllis, who resides with her parents.
In his political views Mr. Blodgett is a republican, supporting the party since age conferred upon him the right of franchise. He belongs to St. John's Episcopal church and he is also a member of the Old Settlers Club. A resident of Milwaukee for more than a half century, he has been an interested witness of the growth and development of the city throughout the entire period and in many ways has contributed to the work of progress and public improvement.
EDGAR L. WOOD.
Edgar L. Wood, attorney at law of Milwaukee, with a large clientele of a distinc- tively representative character, was born in Davenport, lowa, September 23, 1869, his parents being Harrison R. and Mary Jane ( Hilton) Wood, who were natives of Massa- chusetts and of Maine, respectively. The father came to the west in 1866, settling in Davenport, Iowa, and there became well known as a business man. He had previously
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served as a soldier of the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts Infantry during the Civil war and had thus loyally defended the interests of the Union. On leaving Davenport he came to Milwaukee in 1883 and continued a resident of this city to the time of his death, which occurred May 23, 1920.
Edgar L. Wood obtained his education in the public schools of Davenport, attending the high school of Milwaukee and afterward the University of Wisconsin, from which he was graduated in 1892 on completing a course in law. The same year he was admitted to practice and entered upon the active work of his profession in Milwaukee. He has been alone throughout his professional career and has built up an extensive practice of a most desirable character. The court records and public opinion both bear testimony to his ability and show his close connection with much important litigation.
Mr. Wood is equally well known in various other connections. He served for one year as president of the Civil Service Commission and for some time was a member thereof. He is identified with many corporate and other business interests, being now a director of the American Exchange Bank, the Bay View Commercial & Savings Bank, the Chain Belt Company and other well known corporations. His judgment is sound, his business discrimination is keen and thus his opinions are readily sought in con- nection with the conduct of the important interests with which he is identified.
On the 18th of July, 1894, Mr. Wood was married to Miss Loretta Belle Haseltine of Milwaukee, and they have one child, Dorothy Belle, who is with her parents at No. 474 Bradford avenue. Mr. Wood belongs to the Milwaukee Athletic Club and also to Lafayette Lodge, F. & A. M. Along strictly professional lines he is connected with the American Bar Association and the Wisconsin Bar Association, and after all, the major part of his time and attention is concentrated upon his professional interests, his practice being almost wholly corporation law.
DAVID McLAIN.
Milwaukee is considered an important iron and steel foundry center, thus it is quite fitting that a practical course on foundry science should originate there. The evolution of the process of making steel and semi-steel castings is intimately con- nected with the history and development of this system-which is practically the life story of the rare foundry experience, hardly conceivable of one man, David McLain.
David McLain was born in Belfast, Ireland, of Scotch-Irish parents, and quit the "old sod" at the age of five to journey with his parents to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. During the panic of 1873, little David set out to help support the family. He seems to have been destined for the foundry, for at this early age he began to work, twisting hay ropes, in Smith's Pipe Foundry of Pittsburgh, at four and one-fourth cents per hour. He showed much originality even while apprentice and molder, and his ad- vancement was rapid, due to his keen observation and great desire to overcome the vast waste he saw in every foundry he worked. In 1878 he started molding in the first successful crucible steel foundry in America. Thus as a boy he participated in the experiments of the various processes of steel making-first the crucible, then the converter and later the open hearth, all of which he had charge of before he was thirty years of age.
After an extensive experience in both iron and steel foundries, Mr. McLain left the Pittsburgh district in 1898 and came to Milwaukee, where he was superintendent of the Christensen Engineering Company (now the National Brake & Electric Com- pany) for five years. In 1900 he began experimenting in strengthening iron castings by adding steel scrap. Steel had been added to iron in the ladle for fifty years or more preceding Mr. McLain's succeess and even slight amounts were on record as having been charged into the cupola. At that date no records of steel being employed in light castings were available. After leaving the Christensen Engineering Company he engaged in foundry engineering work, systematizing foundries throughout the middle west. Various firms learned of his ability and his services became in demand.
Through his inordinate desire to help brother foundrymen, more than twenty years ago he began teaching his methods to all with whom he came in contact, and the secret of his success in doing this is that he applied the principles of metallurgy of hoth iron and steel directly to the individual. He resigned a good position in 1908 to compile a course of instruction to teach foundrymen hy mail. This course of instruction is known as "McLain's System."
As an apprentice David McLain had ideals. One was to be a good molder, another a good mixer of iron. When he became a leading molder, he studied his various fore- men and was amazed to learn they knew but little of the metallurgy of iron and steel, so his next ideal was to become a foreman who knew every detail of the casting busi- ness. Thus he advanced until he became foundry manager and later systematizer of foundries.
Metallurgical and trade papers have referred to David McLain as the only foundry
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doctor. Instead of treating human patients, he diagnoses and prescribes for ailments of iron and steel. Foundrymen from all the countries of the globe consult him when their castings are too porous or too brittle, cylinders too hard, coke consumption ex- cessive or casting costs too high.
Being the pioneer of the correspondence school of metallurgy, he experienced the hardships that come to all pioneers-no need to enumerate them-but success, the result of work, has also come to David MeLain, as he numbers his students and grad- uates by the thousands and they are scattered all over the world.
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