USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume II > Part 6
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86
GEORGE ZIEGLER
Vol. 11-4
51
HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE
that then frontier town? Did he hear the hum of half a million dollars' worth of machinery and the voices of half a thousand workers as they turned out sixty thou- sand pounds of candy a day in those buildings? Did he glimpse his own name in gilded letters over the proudest door of that noble pile? Surely he did, for this tavern hoy was George Ziegler, founder of the candy house of Ziegler, one of the old and great houses of this country. If this boy had not been a dreamer of dreams and a seer of visions he could not have builded so greatly and so well.
"Really and truly, this story of the founding of the Ziegler candy business is a romance, nothing less. It is a brave and strange tale. It is a part of the history of the candy industry of Milwaukee, and should not be told apart as the achievement of an individual firm. The tavern boy served his three years of apprenticeship, and the industrial instinct being stronger than that of playing host to the public, he got a job in a shoe factory. He married at the age of twenty-one and stuck to the shce business closer than the wax stuck to the thread with which he sewed the shoes. He saved a little money out of his salary. Mark this well, he saved some money! This is the first and the imperative step in a successful business career. All the talent and energy in the world will not avail to start a boy in a big business unless he has the saving habit to begin with.
"In 1860 the Boll boys, John and Andrew, brothers-in-law of George Ziegler and candy workers in Chicago, were thrown out of work and came to Milwaukee to stay with their folks until business opened up again and they could resume work at their trade. But business showed no signs of resumption and time hung heavy on the hands of the two candy workers. Then it was that George Ziegler suggested to the Boll boys that since they could not make candy in a factory for some one else, they make it at home for themselves. They were more than willing, so George (who had saved his money) bought a barrel of sugar and started the boys to work making candy in the former home of Peter Boll on the corner of Thirteenth and Vliet streets, which had the partitions taken out and turned into a small factory. The fire they lighted that day under that little stove in that little kitchen was the first spark of a flame of industry that now gleams in that great factory on Florida street and occupies one hundred and eighty-four thousand square feet of floor space and makes a product known and sold in every state in the Union.
"Now, the Boll boys had a father who was a tailor, and he peddled the candy they made. He was probably the first candy salesman in Milwaukee. The boys made good candy and their father was a good salesman, so the business grew apace. George Ziegler furnished more capital and the Boll boys more energy over the kettle and very soon the business reached a point where a business manager was an imperative neces- sity. The candy workers persuaded the shoe worker to quit his job and handle the candy business, and so it was that on January 11, 1861, the firm of Boll Brothers & Company was established, George Ziegler looking after the business end and the Boll boys making the candy. After four years, the quarters on Thirteenth street being too small, the factory was moved in the Lutz building on Third street, which was located where the south end of the present Steinmeyer building is located. From there, after the quarters became too small, the business was moved to Nos. 3 and 5 Spring street, where Gimbels are now located on Grand avenue. In 1882, after a disastrous fire, the property at Nos. 233 to 239 East Water street was acquired, where the factory re- mained until April, 1908, when it was moved to its present location at Nos. 362 to 386 Florida street.
"After seven years of steady progress the firm name was changed to Boll & Ziegler, one of the brothers, Andrew, dropping out. Then six years later, which is to say in 1874. George Ziegler took over the entire business and conducted it in his name alone. Thirteen years passed over this candy house, and every year was kind. The farmer's son who would not be a farmer and who left the tavern after three years' apprentice- ship, had a genius for business and under his guiding hand the business prospered. And as his business grew so did his sons, each one of them a chip off the old block and born and bred to the candy game. In 1887 the father took the sons in with him in the busi- ness and the firm name was changed to the George Ziegler Company, a name that it bears to this day. George P., Frank P. and H. T. Ziegler became associated with their father at this time. A year later Charles I. and Andrew I. Ziegler entered the firm." The father, George Ziegler, remained the executive head and directing spirit of the business to the time of his demise. In the interim he had carefully trained his sons, so that they were able to continue the business without a break and now the third generation of the family is represented in the active conduct and management of the business. The biographer continued: "George Ziegler, the founder, builded well. He built up a great candy business and he raised a great family of candy makers. A house of steel and stone shall not endure unless there be hands and minds to keep it against the attacks of time and changing conditions and the offensive of the years. The first Ziegler laid down business principles in his office and installed manufacturing methods in his plant that were fundamental of success. These were carried forward by the second generation."
52
HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE
In 1851 George Ziegler was united in marriage to Miss Barbara Boll, also a native of Germany, and their family numbered nine children, as follows: George P., Frank P., Charles I., Andrew I., Mrs. Joseph L. Gottschalk, Mrs. Joseph L. Ripple, Mrs. Anna B. Verhalen, Mrs. Margaret Rolfs and H. T. Ziegler. The last two named are deceased.
In his political views Mr. Ziegler was always an earnest democrat and for two years he filled the position of alderman, while for a period of similar length he served as school commissioner. Mr. and Mrs. Ziegler were members of the Catholic church and in that faith reared their children. The family has long been prominently known in Milwaukee, enterprise and business honor being at all times associated with the family name. The great candy manufactory today stands as a monument to the un- daunted spirit and progressiveness of its founder and promoter, and the life story of George Ziegler is one that should serve as a stimulating example to the youth of the present who must start out, as he did, empty-handed.
FRANK P. ZIEGLER.
The history of business enterprise in Milwaukee would be incomplete were there failure to make reference to Frank P. Ziegler, who is the president of the George Ziegler Company, manufacturing confections, and who in the development of his trade has established a business that is notable among the interests of the kind in the middle west. Mr. Ziegler is a native of Milwaukee, his birth having here occurred on the 9th of October, 1856, his parents being George and Barbara (Boll) Ziegler, both of whom were natives of Germany and are mentioned elsewhere in this work. Frank P. Ziegler was their second son and third child and was reared at the family home on the west side of the city, acquiring his education in parochial and public schools. He entered the factory of Boll & Ziegler in 1871, when only fifteen years of age, as an apprentice and applied himself so closely to the business that he soon acquainted himself with the various methods of manufacturing candy and steadily worked his way upward, stimu- lated by a desire to one day engage in business on his own account. One of his early experiences was that of selling candy from a wagon from store to store. Inside of three years he had acquired such knowledge and efficiency in the work that he was able to assume control of his father's factory and it was not long before he was able to teach those who had previously instructed him. He had acquainted himself with every practical phase of the business and his initiative enabled him to bring forth new and valuable ideas in connection with candy manufacturing. Associated with his father, he was active in developing the factory until the small establishment, which had orig- inally forty employes when Frank P. Ziegler became connected therewith, had become one of the foremost establishments of the kind in this section of the country. On the 30th of June, 1882, disaster overtook the business, a fire entirely destroying the plant, but with characteristic energy the firm sought new and larger quarters and the factory at Nos. 233 to 239 East Water street was then established. It was a difficult task to get the factory in operation by the time of the fall trade, but with determined purpose this was accomplished, although the health of Frank P. Ziegler was greatly impaired by the nervous strain which he put upon it and he was finally forced to seek a change, going on a trip abroad in 1887. When the business was incorporated in 1887, he was elected vice president of the company and continued to act in that capacity and as superintendent until the time of his father's death, which occurred on the 24th of Feb- ruary, 1904. Frank P. Ziegler was then elected to the presidency and has continued to act in that capacity, the business being now carried on under the name of George Ziegler Company, manufacturing confectioners.
The story of the development of this business reads almost like a romance. It was founded by George Ziegler, a farm boy, who, tired of the work of the fields, went to Milwaukee, where he was bound out to an innkeeper for three years and then obtained a position in a shoe factory. Thrift and economy were among the marked character- istics of his early years and he carefully saved something from his earnings week by week, until when his brothers-in-law, Johu and Andrew Boll, candy makers, were thrown out of work in Chicago and came to Milwaukee, Mr. Ziegler was able to start them in business, the brothers manufacturing candy in the former home of Peter Boll at Thirteenth and Vliet streets. This constituted the nucleus of the present mammoth establishment which has since developed. George Ziegler continued to furnish the capi- tal for some time while the business was carried on under the firm name of Boll Brothers & Company, the practical candy makers caring for that end of the business. After seven years the firm name was changed to Boll & Ziegler and in 1874 Mr. Ziegler took over the entire business. As his sons attained sufficient age to take up business responsibilities they became associated with him in the enterprise. George Ziegler remained at the head of the business until his death, at which time Frank P. Ziegler became the president, with Andrew I. Ziegler as vice president and Charles I. Ziegler as secretary and treasurer. A third generation of the family has now hecome connected
FRANK P. ZIEGLER
55
HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE
with the business, which is today one of the most important productive industries of Milwaukee. The present plant was erected in 1907-a seven-story and basement building containing one hundred and twelve thousand feet of floor space. It was be- lieved that this would be adequate to the growth of the business for many years, but in 1920 an addition was made in the erection of a building eighty by one hundred and twelve and a half feet, seven stories and basement, containing seventy-two thou- sand square feet. Frank P. Ziegler is today at the head of a mammoth enterprise, to the success and continued growth of which he has made valnable contribution as the years have passed.
On the 22d of January, 1878, Frank P. Ziegler was united in marriage to Miss Mary Klein of Milwaukee, a daughter of Joseph and Madeline Klein, and they have become parents of six children: Margaret. who was born in 1880; George, born in 1881; Josephine, born in 1883; Clara, born in 1885; Lillia, born in 1886; and J. Edmund, born in 1890. The religious faith of the family is that of the Catholic church, they being communicants of St. Joseph's church. Mr. Ziegler is also identified with the Catholic Order cf Foresters and St. Joseph's Sodality. His political support is given to the democratic party and he keeps thoroughly informed concerning the vital questions and issues of the day but does not seek nor desire office. He is a member of the Merchants & Manufacturers Association and he concentrates the greater part of his time and attention upon his business affairs. He has always continued in the line in which he embarked on starting out in the business world, his enterprise and determination have carried him to the goal of success and today he enjoys a well earned reputation as being one of the foremost confectioners of the upper Mississippi valley.
WILLIAM A. CONKLIN.
William A. Conklin, proprietor and founder of the William A. Conklin Piano Company, was born in Milwaukee, November 18, 1862, and is a son of John Wesley and Mary (Ennis) Conklin, hoth of whom have passed away. The father was born in New York city, while the mother was a native of England. They were married in the eastern metropolis and became residents of Milwaukee prior to the Civil war. The father, who was a brick mason and contractor, devoting his life to that business, died in 1873, while the mother long survived him, her death occurring in 1915, when she was eighty-four years of age.
William A. Conklin has spent his life in Milwaukee and was educated in the old Roche School, a private institution conducted by two sisters of the name of Roche. Later he attended the public schools of the first ward and also a private college on Grove street. Entering the husiness field, he concentrated his efforts and attention upon the retail furniture trade and upholstering, continuing actively in that line from 1885 until 1891. Since that time he has been connected with the piano trade, conducting business first on Kinnickinnic avenue for several years, while for eight years he owned and conducted a piano business in the Boston Store. For the past twelve years he has heen engaged in business on the south side and for the last seven years his establishment has been on Eleventh avenue. His business career has never recorded failure in any way. His energy and determination have enabled him to carry his interests steadily forward and he is today at the head of a large piano establishment, enjoying a gratifying patronage as the result of his diligence and able management.
On the 5th of August, 1895, Mr. Conklin was united in marriage to Miss May E. Momblow, who was born in Fond du Lac but was reared in Milwaukee, She passed away June 13, 1917, leaving a daughter, Wildredth M., who is fifteen years of age and is now a high school student. Mrs. Conklin was during her lifetime a great help to her husband, aiding him in his business and frequently staying in the store, so that by reason of her assistance in business and her companionship her death was a great blow to him. Mr. Conklin is a member of St. Paul's Episcopal church and is highly esteemed in Milwaukee and wherever known.
STREISSGUTH-PETRAN ENGRAVING COMPANY.
The Streissguth-Petran Engraving Company, better known as The S-P Com- pany of Milwaukee, is engaged in the manufacture of everything in the process engraving line used for newspapers, catalogues and periodicals, also wood engrav- ings and electrotypes. A large staff of artists is employed to make illustrations. The company makes copper plate engravings used for business and calling cards,
56
HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE
wedding announcements and invitations, private and society stationery and in fact everything in the engraving line.
The materials that enter into the making of engravings, such as zinc and copper, must be of the very finest quality. They are accurately rolled to sheets, measuring twenty-four by twenty-eight inches, on sixteen gauge thickness, highly polished, and must come in the very best condition. The chemicals that also enter into the S-P product are of the highest grade.
The engraving business requires skilled labor that cannot be obtained locally. The workmen must display the highest proficiency in their line and put in five years at the bench before they become experts. The engravers have recently adopted a standard computing scale, which enables the consumer to very easily check up the invoices for the engravings by consulting this scale, which heretofore was mere guess work.
The equipment of an engraving plant must be of superior order, too the best machinery obtainable. The S-P Engraving Company is always on the alert for new devices, giving the consumer the very best engravings possible.
The utmost care is exercised, no matter whether it is a minimum zinc or the very largest process plates. The officers, therefore, tell the public that if quality and courtesy are desired, their company qualifies in all of the branches.
The company started in business April 13, 1908, with a force of eight persons, which included both Mr. Streissguth and Mr. Petran. The floor space then was twenty-five by one hundred feet; today, fifty-two persons are employed and the floor space is one hundred by one hundred and twenty-five feet. The officers of the company are: Herman Streissguth, president; Otto Streissguth, vice president; and Henry Petran, secretary and treasurer. They attribute their growth entirely to quality and service. Their plant is situated at West Water and Wells streets, occupying the entire second floor of the building, and the success of the enterprise, as they claim, is due to the high standards which they have always maintained in the character of work turned out.
SAMUEL W. FRENCH, M. D.
Dr. Samuel W. French, founder of the Emergency Hospital and Nurses Training School of Milwaukee and long recognized as one of the distinguished representatives of the medical profession in this city, was born in Bennington, Vermont, in 1850, a son of Samuel and Sophia B. French, who were likewise natives of the Green Mountain state. The parents early removed with their family to Boston, Massachusetts, there taking up their abode in 1851, and in that city Dr. French acquired his early education. He attended Nobles private school in Boston and afterward prepared for his profession by matriculating in the medical department of Harvard University when a youth of nineteen years. He there remained a student for four years, closely applying himself to the mastery of the course, and was graduated in 1873. The following year was spent in the study of medicine abroad and he gained much valuable knowledge along professional lines in the old world. He also traveled through various sections of Europe and learned much concerning the past history and the modern conditions of the countries which he visited. With his return to his native land he became a Harvard student and in 1877 he was appointed house surgeon of the Boston City Hospital. It was the following year that he was graduated from the medical depart- ment of Harvard University, his professional degree being conferred upon him on the 26th of June, 1878. He continued with the Boston City Hospital for two years, the second year as house physician in charge of nervous and renal diseases.
Subsequently Dr. French came to the west, settling in Milwaukee in November, 1879. Through the period of his professional connection with this city he devoted his attention largely to surgery, although he continued in general practice and had many patients. He belonged to the Massachusetts State Medical Society and always kept in touch with the trend of modern professional thought and investigation through the proceedings of that body. He long ranked among the most prominent physicians of Milwaukee, where he practiced to the time of his death, and he deserved special mention as the founder of the Emergency Hospital and the Nurses Training School of this city.
In 1880 Dr. French was united in marriage to Miss Minnie I. Bordman, a daughter of Israel and Caroline Bordman, natives of Danvers, Massachusetts. Three children were born of this marriage: Louis, a patent attorney, who was graduated from the Massachusetts School of Technology at Boston and is now a resident of Milwaukee; Inez, the wife of Louis Quarles, of Milwaukee; and Samuel L., who is a graduate of Harvard University and is now engaged in the leather business in Chicago. He was a lieutenant in the Aviation Corps during the World war.
Dr. French was ever a republican, giving stalwart allegiance to that party from
DR. SAMUEL W. FRENCH
59
HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE
the time he attained his majority. He belonged to A. M. P. O., a medical order, and he had membership with the Masons and St. James Episcopal church-connections that indicated well the nature that governed his interests and ruled his conduct. He died June 30, 1917, respected and honored by all who knew him and most largely by those who knew him hest, indicating that his life was ever honorable and upright and that his entire course was such as would bear the closest investigation and scrutiny.
ALEX. McD. YOUNG.
Alex. McD. Young, who for over a half century resided in Milwaukee, making his home here to the time of his death, and who for an extended period was known as one of the most prominent and successful grain dealers of this section of the country, was born in Coburg, Canada, October 5, 1840, a son of James and Eliza ( Mair) Young. He acquired his education in the schools of his native country and about 1861 made a tour of the southern states. Me then came to Milwaukee and became associated with his brother William in the grain business, continuing their operations until the firm ranked as the most prominent representatives of the grain trade in this city. Milwaukee at the time was one of the primary wheat markets of the country and Mr. Young was associated in the trade with Alexander Mitchell, Peter McGeoch, Ed Sanderson, Philip Armour, Angus Smith and others prominent at that day. He and his brother operated in Chicago and New York as well as in Milwaukee and the firm became widely known in grain trade circles throughout the country. For some time they conducted a branch house in Chicago.
On the 4th of December, 1867, Mr. Young was united in marriage to Miss Eliza Alice Wall, a daughter of Enoch and Eliza Alice ( Williamson) Wall, the former a native of Maryland, while the latter was born in Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Young became the parents of two children: Mrs. Helen Richmond Morris, residing in New York; and John Mair, who is with the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company of Milwaukee.
Mr. Young made his home at No. 294 Junean avenue for a period of fifty-four years and passed away September 17, 1917. Although he lived in the United States for more than a half century, he remained a thoroughly loyal subject of Great Britain. He was a man of strongly marked characteristics and unfaltering in support of what he believed to be right. Nothing could turn him from his honest convictions, yet he was a man of kindly feelings and those who came within the close circle of his friendship learned to value him for the many sterling traits of his character. In business life he displayed marked efficiency and capability. He seemed to discriminate with notable readiness between the essential and the non-essential in business and his affairs were most wisely, carefully and successfully managed.
MATTHEW SIMPSON DUDGEON.
Matthew Simpson Dudgeon, librarian of the Milwaukee Public Library, has de- voted much of his life to public service and his labors have been far-reaching and beneficial in effect. He is a native of the state capital, his birth having occurred in Madison, June 18, 1871, his parents being Richard and Dilla ( Ball) Dudgeon, the latter of Quaker ancestry, while the former was of Scotch-Irish parentage. He served as a Methodist minister and missionary in Wisconsin and in Minnesota prior to 1850, hecoming one of the pioneer preachers of the middle west.
Matthew S. Dudgeon, receiving liberal education opportunities, won his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1892 from Baker University of Kansas, and four years later his Alma Mater conferred upon him the Master of Arts degree. In the meantime he had taken up the study of law and in 1895 received the LL.B degree from the Law School of the University of Wisconsin. After teaching in the public schools and in college he practiced law for fourteen years in his native city and then became special draftsman for the legislature, having done the drafting work on the present public utility law besides work on the workmen's compensation law, the industrial commission law and others of equal import. From 1898 until 1902 he filled the cffice of district attorney of Dane county and then in 1903 served as a member of the Wisconsin legislature. From 1907 until 1909 he was engaged in special revalua- tion work for the state tax commission and in the latter year hecame secretary of the Wisconsin Free Library Commission, continuing to act in that capacity until 1920, or for a period of eleven years. On the 16th of August, 1920, he assumed the duties of librarian of the Milwaukee Public Library and is giving excellent satis- faction in this position, discharging his duties with marked capability and to the
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.