USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume II > Part 71
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Edward Bulfin obtained a public school education in Milwaukee, and was errand boy in McNaughton's shoe store opposite the post office for a year or more in early boyhood. He afterward acted as messenger for the Western Union Telegraph Company for a year and on the expiration of that period hecame general helper on the Evening Wisconsin, remaining with the paper for twenty-two years, during which period he thoroughly learned every phase of the printing trade and won promotion after pro- motion until he rose to the position of foreman of the job department, which position he held during the last four years of his connection with that company. He was later associated with Ed Keogh for two years and in 1889 he purchased the plant and
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business of the Schlinski Printing Company and thus established business on his own account at his present location. Here he has remained through the intervening period of thirty-three years and in 1910 his son, George T. Bulfin, entered the business, at which time the firm style was changed to Edward Bulfin & Son. They do general commercial printing, specializing in corporation work for the railroads, insurance companies and banks. Their business is chiefly local, yet their trade comes from various points and among their patrons are some Chicago houses. They maintain high standards in service and workmanship and enjoy the confidence and respect of all.
On the 25th of April, 1881, Mr. Bulfin was married to Miss Jane Slocum, a daughter of Edward Slocum of Milwaukee, who was a native of Wisconsin and who passed away April 11, 1916. Mr. and Mrs. Bulfin have two children: Gertrude, the wife of Jeremiah A. Keogh, who is with the Allis-Chalmers Company of Milwaukee, as cost accountant. By this marriage she has become the mother of two children, Jane and Ruth Keogh; and George T. Bulfin. The son is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin of the class of 1910 and is now associated with his father in business. He married Miss Hertha Kerwer, of Milwaukee.
Mr. Bulfin votes with the democratic party but has never sought nor desired public office. He is a Catholic, belonging to St. Rose's parish in Wauwatosa and he has membership with the Knights of Columbus, the Catholic Order of Foresters, the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Pythias. He likewise belongs to the Milwaukee Athletic Club and to the Association of Commerce. He has ever taken an interest in outdoor sports and enjoys fishing, motoring and travel. He visited Panama in February, 1921, with the Milwaukee Athletic Club and as oppor- tunity has offered has taken trips into other sections of the country. His life, however, has largely been one of intense activity along business lines. Starting out in a humble capacity he has steadily worked his way upward, thoroughly mastering every phase of the printing business, and eventually as the result of his thrift and diligence, has established an enterprise of his own which is now one of the important printing houses of the city.
GEORGE LEROY THOMAS.
Proudly wearing the little bronze button that proclaims him a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, living the life that indicates his loyal following of the teachings of Masonry and manifesting the utmost progressiveness in his business career, George Leroy Thomas has become one of the best known citizens of Milwaukee. He is an outstanding figure in the city. His lodge connections have brought him warm friendships among his brethren of the fraternity. In his business he has been more than a successful follower of the calling. He has held to the highest standards of service and has been largely instrumental in bringing about legislation beneficial to the profession. Associated with him in his work is his wife, whose kindly spirit and gentleness, whose tact and sympathetic understanding have constituted most valuable assets to their work.
Mr. Thomas was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, January 7, 1843, and is a son of William R. and Christiania Simms (Knight) Thomas. The father was born at Hagerstown, Maryland, while his parents were en route from Staunton, Virginia, to Philadelphia, and in the latter city he spent the first ten years of his life, after which the family returned to the Old Dominion. In early manhood William R. Thomas learned the machinist's trade. Ahout the year 1820 he became a resident of Champaign county, Ohio, and seven years later removed to Cincinnati, where he engaged in the manufac- ture of tinware. It was in that city in the year 1835 that he wedded Christiania Simms Knight, whose birth occurred in Louisiana. They were the parents of nine children.
The fourth in order of birth in that family was George Leroy Thomas of this review, who attended the public schools of his native city to the age of thirteen years, when in 1856 he entered upon an apprenticeship to the printing trade. With the out- break of the Civil war he was among the first to enlist, joining the army in April, 1861, when the smoke from Fort Sumter's guns had scarcely cleared away. He went to the front with the Boys in Blue of Company D, Second Kentucky Volunteer Infantry, but was discharged on account of physical disability in March, 1863, his company in the meantime participating in a number of skirmishes in Virginia and Kentucky, together with the battle of Shiloh, the siege of Corinth and the battles of Stone River and Chickamauga. The two years of his active service had shown him every phase of warfare as practiced at that day, and he gave strong evidence of his valor and his loyalty to his country.
Mr. Thomas dates his residence in Milwaukee from 1868, in which year he entered the employ of the Grover & Baker Sewing Machine Company, as bookkeeper, thus con- tinuing to serve until April, 1875, when he resigned and turned his attention to the livery business, becoming senior partner in the firm of Thomas & Sivyer. In 1884 Mr.
MR. AND MRS. GEORGE L. THOMAS
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Sivyer retired and Mr. Thomas continued alone until August, 1899, when he gave up the livery business to devote all of his time to the undertaking business, in which he had become interested in January, 1877, cr seven years prior to the dissolution of the partnership. In 1883 he opened an undertaking establishment on Milwaukee street. Great changes in the care of the dead have been brought about since that time, the only preservative used at that early day by the profession being ice. In March, 1882, anxious to advance in his chosen calling, Mr. Thomas pursued a course in the Cincinnati School of Embalming and later took postgraduate courses in the Chicago College of Embalming and with the Egyptian Chemical Company. He is today at the head of one of the finest undertaking establishments in the United States, employing the most scientific methods in the care of the dead and his kindliness and tact, as well as his reliability, make his service greatly appreciated by those who give him their patronage. He is known from one end of the United States to the other as one of the most progressive men in this calling. He has always been one of the leaders in support of any movement that would in any measure benefit the profession and add to the security of the public. He was the leader in having Wisconsin pass the embalm- ing license law and was the first undertaker to pass the required examination, receiving the first license under that law. He served for one year as president of the Wisconsin Undertakers' Association and for eight years as secretary of that organization. It
was but a logical sequence that he should take an active part in the National Funeral Directors Association and at the annual convention held at Portland, Oregon, in November, 1909, he was elected president for the ensuing year.
In 1911 the Wisconsin Mausoleum Construction Company was organized with Mr. Thomas as its president. Soon afterward he began the construction of the Fairview Mausoleum and subsequently acquired title to the interests of the Wisconsin Mausoleum Construction Company in its realty, after which he organized the Fairview Mausoleum Company, of which he is the president, with his wife, Mrs. Julia N. Thomas, as vice president, and Edwin F. Pierce, as secretary and treasurer.
It was on the 18th of November, 1871, that Mr. Thomas was married to Miss Julia N. Sivyer, a daughter of Joseph and Dorothy Sivyer. Her father was one of the pioneer residents of Milwaukee, taking up his abode here in 1840. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas have one child, Lillian,-now the wife of E. F. Pierce, the secretary of the Fair- view Mausoleum Company, and mentioned elsewhere in this work. Mrs. Thomas has been closely associated with her husband in business. She has for years been an authorized embalmer and her work has been a great worth in upbuilding and develop- ing the business. As it was almost impossible to obtain any female assistance, Mrs. Thomas took up the work to aid her husband and when in 1883 Professor Clarke and Dr. Lukens of the Cincinnati College of Embalming made a tour of the country in order to arouse public interest in the new methods of the business, they held classes in the various large cities and Mrs. Thomas pursued the course of study, becoming the first woman in the United States to receive a certificate of attendance, as it was then called. Her gentle manner and her natural tenderness have certainly been a great asset to the business and of great comfort to the afflicted. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas have advanced together in their chosen field of labor, honored, respected and beloved by all with whom they have been associated.
Since 1887 Mr. Thomas has been a member of E. B. Wolcott Post No. 1, G. A. R., and in 1892 served as senior vice commander, becoming commander in 1893, while by virtue of the latter office he became a permanent member of the Department Encamp- ment. He was elected a trustee of the Wisconsin Veterans' Home at Waupaca for a three years' term at the Department Encampment held at Eau Claire in May, 1897, and following the reorganization the following month was elected president and continues to fill that position. He belongs to the Old Settlers Club of Milwaukee, to Milwaukee Lodge, No. 1, K. P., and Milwaukee Division, No. 2, of the Uniformed Rank of that order. He is an exemplary representative of the Masonic fraternity, having member- ship in Wisconsin Lodge, No. 13, A. F. & A. M., of Milwaukee since 1876. The fol- lowing year and again in 1883 he served as senior deacon of the lodge, while in 1884 he was junior warden, senior warden in 1885 and worshipful master from 1886 until 1888 inclusive. He became secretary of the lodge in 1890 and for more than a decade has heen one of its trustees. He is also a member of Wisconsin Chapter, No. 7, R. A. M., his identification therewith dating from 1885 and on the 23d of November, 1889, he became a member of Wisconsin Council, R. & S. M. He attained the Knights Templar degree in Ivanhoe Commandery, No. 24, in 1899, that of the Red Cross August 3, 1899, and the degrees of the order of the Temple and Knight of Malta were conferred upon him on the 28th of September of the same year. He is a charter member of Milwaukee Chapter, No. 2, O. E. S., and was its worthy patron in 1893. He is a trustee of the Grand Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star and he took the degrees of Scottish Rite Masonry in Wisconsin Consistory in the fall of 1918, while with the Nobles of Tripoli Temple of the Mystic Shrine he has crossed the sands of the desert. Thus identified with the various York and Scottish Rites bodies he is well known in the fraternity and has always been a most loyal follower of its teachings and purposes. Vol. 11-44
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His life has been one of sterling usefulness and honor and the many admirable traits of his character have won for him a legion of warm friends. He and his wife have passed the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage and on the 18th of November, 1921, celebrated their golden wedding. Both enjoy good health and are now able to take life easy. They travel to a considerable extent, usually spending the severe winter months in southern California or other sunny ciimes, and wherever they go they soon become established filmiy in the warm regard of all with whom they come into contact.
JOHN HENRY KOPMEIER.
John Henry Kopmeier is one of Milwaukee's representative business men and is well known throughout the city where he has resided since his birth on the 16th of February, 1854. He is now president of the Wisconsin Ice & Coal Company, in which line of business his father, John Theodore Kopmeier, was a pioneer. The latter was a native of Germany and came to the United States when a young man, locating in Milwaukee in 1848. He resided in the city until his demise and became one of its prominent and successful business men.
John Henry Kopmeier received his education in the public schools of his native city until he reached the age of thirteen years, when he enrolled as a student in St. Golls school and after completing a course there entered the Spencerian Business College. On putting his textbooks aside he entered into business with his father, working for him until he was twenty-four years of age when he married and took over his father's business. In the same year he bought out his father's partners and be- came president of the company, a position he still maintains. He is thus active in controlling a business of substantial proportions and one which is classed as an important industrial enterprise in Milwaukee. Mr. Kopmeier is likewise president and director of the Upper Milwaukee River Improvement Company. . All matters of public concern are of deep interest to him, and his cooperation can at all times be found to further measures and plans for the general good.
On Thanksgiving day of 1878 Mr. Kopmeier was united in marriage to Miss Dora M. Germershonsen, a native of Baltimore, Maryland, and to them four children have been horn: Norman J .; Waldemar S. J .; Camilla, who passed away at the age of nineteen years; and John, who died in infancy.
Mr. Kopmeier follows an independent course in politics, supporting the man with- out regard to party. For three years he was alderman from the sixth ward, and at his election was the only one on the democratic ticket that was elected. The family are communicants of the Catholic church and attend St. Francis church. Fraternally he is a member of the Knights of Columbus and is a past grand knight of Pere Marquette Council. He is prominent in the affairs of the Association of Commerce, being a mem- ber of the entertainment committee, and in the club circles of Milwaukee he is well known as a member of the Calumet Club, the Milwaukee Athletic Club, and the Old Settlers Club, being chief executive of the last named for some years. Mr. Kopmeier is director and treasurer of the Provident Loan Society and has been an important factor in the development of various other business interests of importance. There have heen no spectacular phases in his career, and his life is that of an eminently successful business man whose progress has resulted from close application, thorough- ness and intelligence. He and his family occupy a beautiful home at 307 Seventh ave- nue, Wauwatosa, and there most graciously entertain their many friends.
CHARLES AUGUST WENDT.
The largest exclusive billiard and pocket hilliard tahle factory in the United States is known as The Wendt Billiard Manufacturing Company and is located at 765-79 Thirtieth street, and Charles A. Wendt is president of this company. He is also presi- dent of one of the few factories in the United States building bowling alleys, which is known as the Bowling Alley Builders Company, and is located at 1195-99 Thirtieth street. The largest wholesale grain business in Milwaukee is known as F. Wendt Grain Company, and is located at 775-79 Thirtieth street. He is secretary of this company and is widely known as a representative business man and citizen.
His paternal grandparents and great-grandparents emigrated from Germany about 1840. In a straw-thatched log cabin, surrounded by great forest trees, was horn the father of the subject of our sketch. The grandfather showed a most progressive spirit. which developed so vigorously in his descendants. After making a garden of the wilderness, he built and operated a grist mill at Mayfield, Wisconsin. This mill later developed into the present water-power driven Mayfield Roller Mills. After the grand- father retired, the father operated the mill. Here within hearing of the rumbling of
JOHN H. KOPMEIER
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the millstones and the splashing of the water on the over-shot wheel, which now is only seen in pictures, Charles August Wendt was born on the 29th day of September, 1878.
In 1881 his father, disposing of the mill at Mayfield, moved to Milwaukee, then a city of about one hundred thousand inhabitants, and established himself in the grain business. His capital consisted of boundless energy and Indomitable will, high ideals, a frugal, loving wife, and a family of small boys. The business venture prospered and has grown into the present F. Wendt Grain Company, still conducted at 775-79 Thirtieth street, which is being conducted by his three sons, Fred, Jr., Charles A. and Henry C. Ile was a member of the Milwaukee Board of Trade for twenty-four years, was a life- long republican but never sought nor desired political preferment as a reward for party fealty. He passed away April 19, 1921, mourned by all who knew him and most by those who knew him best.
The maternal grandparents and great-grandparents also emigrated from Germany about 1837 and located in Washington county. Joseph Katz, the grandfather, was in love with his adopted country and to show his loyalty and allegiance named his five sons after former United States presidents and statesmen. He conducted a general store at Mayfield for a number of years and had the pictures of the different United States presidents from Washington down to the time of his discontinuing the store on his walls. Besides the five sons there were two daughters, the older one being the mother of the subject of this sketch. She died March 8, 1891.
At the time the family moved to Milwaukee, they located in the tenth ward, and Charles A. Wendt graduated from John Diedrichsen's school in 1894, Miss J. Birming- ham having been his eighth grade teacher. He then attended the West Side high school, this school having started that year in what was then known as the library building on the northwest corner of Fourth and Grand avenue.
After this he clerked in a grocery store for about one and one-half years, and then entered the employ of a concern manufacturing billiard tables, and when he severed his connections with that corporation he was secretary and treasurer and had occupied every position of trust in the establishment. This covered a period of nineteen years. In 1916 he established The Wendt Billiard Manufacturing Company at 2220 Lisbon avenue, but soon outgrowing the capacity of this plant bought and moved to the present quarters on Thirtieth street, where he employs scores of skilled mechanics and where his high grade productions are sought by customers throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. They are also large jobbers and importers of ivory, cues and all other hilliard table accessories. In 1921 Mr. Wendt, looking for more vent of his energy, organized the Bowling Alley Builders Company. This is also a closed corporation and the stockholders are the same as those of the billiard company. Only established a short time, their product is already known from coast to coast and they employ more than a score of men. Having been a stockholder in the F. Wendt Grain Company for some time, Charles A. Wendt became secretary after the death of his father.
On September 18, 1901, he was united in marriage to Miss Hattie Boeck, daughter of a Milwaukee ship builder, to which happy union were born two daughters, Mildred and Jeannette. Besides inheriting their mother's many accomplishments, dainty femininity and domesticity, they also have their father's buoyancy of spirit, which is a great comfort and inspiration to him.
His family join all his sports and recreations, which consist of fishing and other outdoor sports, particularly motoring, skating and tobogganing, the last two being his favorites. On crisp winter afternoons and evenings you can see him with his family and friends on the tohoggan slides at Washington park or on the ice. His aim in athletics as in business always has been to excel, and he now has one of the speediest toboggans on the slides and prefers the speed skating to the fancy.
In politics, Mr. Wendt is a stanch republican, as his father before him, and like- wise has never sought nor held public office. Here is a man not yet middle aged, paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in wages, his products standard, a courteous, capable, business man, useful to the community, a good neighbor, a kind husband, and indulgent father. His past success argues well for his future.
PIUS JOHN MATT.
Prominent in the real estate circles of Milwaukee is Pius John Matt, senior member of the firm of Matt & Thielen, who was born in Marinette, Wisconsin, on the 10th of November, 1886, a son of Phillip and Mary ( Desmond) Matt. Both parents are residing in Milwaukee, where the father has won prominence as a carpenter contractor and builder. A native of Germany, he came to this country at the age of sixteen and has made Milwaukee his home since 1907. Mrs. Matt was born in Ireland and came to the United States with her parents when twelve years of age. They settled on a farm in
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Menominee county, Wisconsin, and her father became well known in the agricultural circles of that vicinity.
Pius John Matt is indebted to the public schools of Marinette for his education and after graduating from the high school there took up a correspondence course in architecture and building. Subsequently he engaged in the contracting business in Milwaukee from 1909 to 1912, and in the latter year opened an office in connection with George Zagel, operating as Badger Architects. Later he turned his attention to home building, which he carried on until 1918, when he entered the real estate business in connection with Adam M. Thielen as Matt & Thielen, a relation which still exists. The firm does a general real estate business and has built up a reputation as the result of the honorable methods upon which their business is based. They handle their own property and take care of extensive and important interests for others.
On October 15, 1910, the marriage of Mr. Matt and Miss Ethel Alexander occurred. She is the daughter of James Alexander, a violinist and orchestra leader of Milwaukee. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and is now residing in Chicago, where he is well known in musical circles. One child has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Matt: Jack James, whose natal day was the 8th of July, 1916.
Since attaining his majority Mr. Matt has been a stanch supporter of the republican party but has never sought nor desired political preferment as a reward for party fealty. Fraternally he is an Elk and he holds membership in the Milwaukee Associa- tion of Commerce and the Milwaukee Real Estate Board. Mr. Matt is an artist of some ability and has done some creditable work in oil and with the pencil. His wife is a vocalist and violinist, and both take a prominent and active part in the musical affairs of the city. The success attained by Mr. Matt is the result of his own intelligently directed effort and he is widely recognized as a representative business man.
ALOIS LEO KIEFER.
Alois Leo Kiefer. president and treasurer of the A. L. Kiefer Company, Inc., was born on the 20th of June, 1862, in Dodge county, Wisconsin, a son of Michael and Rose (Loebel) Kiefer, both deceased. The father was born in Alsace in 1828 and came to the United States in the early part of 1850, a young man without a family. He secured em- ployment in the woolen mills of New England for a period of two years, after which he removed to Milwaukee and later took up a farm in Dodge county. He was successful in his agricultural pursuits and retired ten years before his death, making his home in Watertown. Previous to coming to the United States, Mr. Kiefer spent some time in the East Indies and there entered the military service, being a soldier for two years. Mrs. Rose Loebel Kiefer passed away in 1876, at the age of fifty-seven years. She was likewise a native of Alsace and came to New England at an early day, where she met and married Mr. Kiefer.
In the acquirement of an education Alois Leo Kiefer attended the common schools of Dodge county until he was twelve years of age, when he entered Sacred Heart College at Watertown, where he completed the course in the required time. He then returned to his father's farm and remained under the parental roof until he was eighteen years of age, when he went to Fond du Lac, there learning the tinner's trade, which he followed for a period of three years, laying the foundation for his life work. In 1883 he removed to Milwaukee, where he established a residence and worked as clerk in hardware stores for fifteen years, his energy and ability winning him steady advancement until he was promoted to the position of manager of the house furnishings department of the William Frankfurth Company. In 1901 he determined to enter the commercial world on his own account and founded his present business on the location where it now stands. In 1904 he incorporated the business, which is today widely known as the A. L. Kiefer Company, with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars, and he is president and general manager. The company engages in the manufacture of hotel kitchen and cooking apparatus and does a general and extensive hardware busi- ness. They specialize in the manufacture. of a coffee percolating urn particularly adapted to hotel use and in the installation of individual ice machines for domestic and commercial use. The trade of the company has grown to extensive proportions and covers the entire United States, shipments being made from Seattle to New York. Their kitchenware is found in the following clubs and hotels of Milwaukee: the Wisconsin, Maryland, Pfister, and New Plankinton Hotels; the University Club; Y. M. C. A .; and St. Joseph's Hospital. Outside of Milwaukee in the Insane Asylum at Waupun, the asylum and hospital at Wauwatosa, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and the Hotel Geneva at Lake Geneva.
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