USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume II > Part 85
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Their son Edward Whiton Spencer, who was born in Milwaukee, December 24, 1865, pursued his early education in the schools of Milwaukee and received his com- mercial and academic training in Cleveland, Ohio. He afterward took up the study of law, and after thorough preparation was admitted to the bar in 1892. About the same time he hecame a teacher of business law in the Spencerian Business College, founded and promoted hy his father, and of which he is now the president. In the year 1893 he hecame a lecturer before the old Milwaukee law class, which was afterward reorganized
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by its students into the Milwaukee Law School. Mr. Spencer continued a member of the faculty until the school was taken over by Marquette University, at which time he became associate dean of the institution, under Judge James G. Jenkins. Remaining in that position he taught various branches of law, particularly contract law, until the close of the school year in 1919. At the time of his withdrawal the Marqnette Law Review said of him: "It is well-nigh impossible to detail the various benefits which Mr. Spencer has conferred upon the various students who received instruction from him. But we who have been so fortunate and who have had the opportunity to witness the achievements of those who preceded us, regret exceedingly the fact that his increasing law practice now compels him to devote his entire future time to it. However, we shall always endeavor to live up to the high ideals which he at all times sought to inculcate and to maintain the lofty standard of personal honesty and integrity which he at all times maintains. We miss his infectious smiles, his keen witticisms, his learned lectures, but the lessons that he taught will ever remain with us. Our sincere thanks go out to him for the favors we have received at his hands, our best wishes go to him in his practice; that the rich measure of success that has crowned his efforts in the past will continue to crown them in the future, we are confident."
Mr. Spencer is a lawyer in active practice, and is now head of the Spencerian Business College of Milwaukee as its president and is holding to the highest standards of educational training and service in conducting this institution. Moreover, he is well known in the field of authorship as well as through his educational activity and has made valuable contribution to the literature of the legal profession. He is the anthor of a volume entitled Manual of Commercial Law, which is now used in many of the leading universities in connection with commercial courses. He also wrote a volume on Domestic Relations, and a treatise on Suretyship. For many years he was a close student of handwriting and has frequently been called upon to render critical opinions concerning the anthorship of documents and of writings. He con- tributed an exhaustive article on that subject to the Marquette Law Review.
On the 21st of February, 1897, Mr. Spencer was united in marriage to Miss Eva L. Wheeler, daughter of the late Charles L. Wheeler and a niece of Colonel Cornelius Wheeler, who for a quarter of a century was governor of the Soldiers' Home at Mil- waukee. His father was William Wheeler, one of the first job printers of this city. He was born in Massachusetts and came to Wisconsin about 1840, establishing his home in Milwaukee five years later. He married Eveline Lewis, a daughter of Captain Martin Lewis of Martinsville, New York, who was a soldier of the Revolutionary war. His birth occurred in Connecticut and he was but sixteen years of age when he en- listed in defense of the cause of American Independence. His daughter, Eveline, became one of the early members of the Daughters of the American Revolution and she passed away in Milwaukee in 1914 at the notable age of ninety-six years. To Mr. and Mrs. Spencer were born two children: Mildred and Catherine, the latter now the wife of Chester F. Colley of Milwaukee, and the mother of one child, Catherine.
In his political views Mr. Spencer has always been a republican, but has never been a candidate for office or active in seeking political preferment. In 1915, however, he was honored with the presidency of the Milwaukee Bar Association. He has always preferred to give his attention and his time to business and professional interests and aside from managing the Spencerian Business College as its president he is now the secretary of the Dever Brothers Paper Company of Milwaukee. Both he and his wife are consistent members of the Congregational church and Mrs. Spencer was very active in Red Cross work during the period of the World war. Mr. Spencer belongs to the Milwaukee Yacht Club, of which he is one of the directors. His pro- fessional and social connections have brought him prominently before the public. He is today an honored representative of one of the old and distinguished families not only of the city but of the country and his entire career reflects credit upon an ancestral record of which he has every reason to be proud.
RUDOLPH M. J. TALSKY.
Rudolph M. J. Talsky, who is engaged in the real estate, loan and insurance busi- ness in Milwaukee, was born in Bohemia, August 17, 1881, his parents being Rudolph and Victoria (Jurmann) Talsky, who were also natives of that country, in which the mother spent her life. The father, with the family, afterward came to America, crossing the Atlantic in 1893 and at once making his way to Milwaukee, where he still resides.
Rudolph M. J. Talsky was a pupil in the schools of Croatia, then a section of Austria, and he afterward attended school following the arrival of the family in this city. He became a pupil in the English schools, thus learning to speak the language in a year's time. He early took up the bakery business, in which he continued to engage for seventeen years, and in order more capably to direct his business affairs he
RUDOLPH M. J. TALSKY
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attended the Cream City Business College. As the years passed he learned many valuable lessons in the school of experience and in 1909 he established himself in the real estate, loan and insurance business, in which he has since engaged. For about seven years he was associated with J. M. Schneider and since that time has conducted business independently. At first he was located in a small building at 742 Mitchell street, but his business outgrew his quarters there and he removed to his present location in 1920, having now splendid offices in which he is conducting a constantly growing business. He negotiates many important realty transfers and is thoroughly familiar with property values. He has also built up a good clientage in the loan and insurance departments of his business. In 1919 he organized the Mitchell Street Building & Loan Association, of which he has been secretary from the beginning and which has enjoyed steady and substantial success since its inception. He also organized the Ideal Investment Company, of which he is the secretary and treasurer.
On the 27th of May, 1902, Mr. Talsky was married to Miss Anna Rouhik of LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and they have become parents of seven children: Marie, Elizabeth, Rudolph, Victoria, Joseph, Valerian and Edward.
Politically Mr. Talsky maintains an independent course. During the World war he was chairman of the eleventh ward Council of Defense and was very active in many lines of war work. He is now a director of the Mitchell Street Advancement Associa- tion, the Milwaukee Real Estate Board and the Milwaukee Board of Fire Underwriters, and his activity is a forceful element in promoting various projects of civic worth. He belongs to the Knights of Columbus and to the South Division Association and he has a wide and favorable acquaintance in Milwaukee, where he has made his home for almost three decades. Steadily he has worked his way upward through his own merit and capability and is truly a self-made man, while as the architect of his own fortunes he has builded wisely and well.
ERNEST WALTER VAN DYKE.
Ernest Walter Van Dyke, who is engaged in the general practice of law in Mil- waukee and also specializes in corporation law and trust work, was born in Berlin, Germany, May 25, 1882. His father, Robert Van Dyke, was a native of Saxony and was engaged in the coal business in Germany until 1883, when he came with his family to the United States, making his way at once to Milwaukee, where he engaged in the hardware business. He finally purchased a farm in the town of Lake and resided thereon until his death, making a specialty of raising poultry. His father was Robert Van Dyke and the family was of Holland lineage but representatives of the name were driven into or fled to Germany at the time of the Spanish inquisition. There the family was represented for many years and the first of the family to come to America was Robert Van Dyke, who, crossing the Atlantic in 1883, continued a resident of this city to the time of his death in 1912. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Eliza- beth Schultz, is still living on the old home farm. She was born in Berlin and be- longed to an old and numerous family of that city.
Ernest Walter Van Dyke obtained a public school education in the town of Lake, pursuing his studies to the age of sixteen years, when he quit to help his father in the poultry business. When twenty years of age he became a pupil in the Tippecanoe School in the town of Lake and afterward attended the South Division high school of Milwaukee, from which he was graduated in 1905. He afterward spent two years in connection with his father's business and later he attended the University of Chat- tanooga in Tennessee, there pursuing a law course as well as an academic course, winning the LL. B. degree upon his graduation from that institution. Later he be- came a student in the Yale Law School, from which he was graduated in 1909 with the LL. B. degree, receiving this degree for the second time. He afterward spent a year and a half in looking over the country in search of a favorable location and in travel and when he had passed the bar examination at Milwaukee he decided to continue in this city and entered upon the practice of law alone. He has never had a partner and through his individual effort has made steady progress in the profession. He specializes in corporation and trust work, in which he has been most successful and he also con- tinues in the general practice of law, trying all kinds of cases and trying them well.
On the 16th of October, 1915, Mr. Van Dyke was married to Miss Dorothy Chase. a daughter of Sylvester Chase of the Times Leader of New Haven, Connecticut, whose descendants trace their ancestry to the Mayflower. They have one child, Walter Chase, born August 7, 1918.
In his political views Mr. Van Dyke is a republican but has never heen an active party worker. He belongs to U. S. Burns Lodge, No. 178, K. P., of Cudahy and his wife is connected with The Maccabees. Mr. Van Dyke has membership in the First Church of Christ, Scientist, of Milwaukee and both he and his wife are held in the highest esteem, enjoying the warm friendship of many with whom they have come into con-
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tact. Their home is in the town of Lake. Professionally Mr. Van Dyke is connected with the Milwaukee Bar Association and his colleagues and contemporaries in the profession speak of him in terms of high respect.
MURDOCH FARQUHAR MACRAE, M. D.
It is doubtful if any city of equal size can show a list on which appear the names of more prominent physicians and surgeons than can Milwaukee, and in the ten years of his practice here Dr. Murdoch Farquhar MacRae has demonstrated his ability to rank with the leaders of the profession. He was born in Saginaw, Michigan, May 4, 1878, and is a son of Peter MacRae, a lumberman, who was born in Canada of Scotch parents, his birth occurring at Apple Hill, in Glengarry, Ontario, June 24, 1840. He was a son of Farquhar MacRae, a native of Scotland. Having arrived at years of maturity, Peter MacRae was married to Elizabeth MacRae, who did not change her name with her marriage. She was born in Glengarry, Canada, April 18, 1841, and is now making her home with her son, Dr. MacRae, at the advanced age of eighty-one years. Peter MacRae also spent his last years in the home of the Doctor, departing this life March 15, 1919.
The youthful days of Dr. MacRae were largely passed in Escanaba, Michigan, where he acquired his early education. Before attaining his majority he entered upon the study of medicine, but ere he had completed the course he turned to the study of dentistry and was graduated from a Chicago dental college with the class of 1902. For a time he acted as instructor in the dental department of Marquette University, with which he was thus connected for seven years, having become a resident of Milwaukee in 1908. He also practiced dentistry in Escanaba, Michigan, for three years. Later he resumed the study of medicine in the Marquette Medical College and won his M. D. degree in 1912. Since then he has practiced in Milwaukee, largely specializing in surgery. He is now serving on the surgical staff of the Johnson Emergency Hospital and the Deaconess Hospital, is also surgeon for the Milwaukee Gas Light Company and for the city of Milwaukee.
On the 25th of April, 1914, Dr. MacRae was married to Miss Elizabeth Ann Rudolf, a native of Ashippun, Wisconsin, born August 5, 1884. They have become parents of : three children: Elizabeth Jane, Marian and Donald Peter, aged respectively six, five and three years.
Dr. MacRae belongs to the Milwaukee Athletic Club and fraternally is connected with Masonry, while his religious views are expressed in his membership in the Presbyterian church. During the World war he served on Medical Advisory Board No. 1 in Milwaukee and helonged to the Volunteer Medical Service Corps, relieving men who were in active service. His association in professional lines is with the Milwaukee Academy of Medicine, the Milwaukee County Medical Society, the Brainard Medical Society, the Wisconsin State Medical Society, the Tri-State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. His pronounced ability is recognized by his fellow practitioners, who always find in him a consistently loyal supporter of the most ad- vanced ethics of the profession.
ELMER LLEWELLYN CARSON.
Elmer Llewellyn Carson, agency manager for Wisconsin for the Equitable Life Assurance Society, displays those qualities which show him to he thoroughly con- versant with modern-day business conditions and enterprises. He is actuated by a spirit of enterprise and progressiveness that accomplishes results, and success is attending his well defined efforts.
A native of Canada, Mr. Carson was born near Toronto, in the province of Ontario, on the 14th of March, 1881. His father, Samuel Carson, who passed away in 1900, was also born in Ontario near the place where his son's birth occurred, and there he resided the greater part of his life. The grandfather, Robert Carson, was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, and emigrated to Canada at an early date. Samuel Carson was prominently known in the community in which he resided and he won substantial success as a wheelwright and a manufacturer of wagons and buggies. He married Esther Farr, the mother of our subject, and she is still living, making her home in Regina, Canada. She is a daughter of Elisha Farr of the township of Vaughan, Ontario, her father being one of the representative agriculturists of that vicinity. He was descended from pioneer stock and was buried from the church which stood upon land he had cleared as a young man.
Elmer L. Carson attended the public schools of Ontario until he was fifteen years of age, when he put his textbooks aside and became chore boy on a farm. For some time he was active in that connection but being anxious to enter the business world he
ELMER L. CARSON
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removed to Midland, Ontario, and there engaged as an apprentice in the drug business until 1900. In that year he was sent on the road, selling drugs for Newton H. Brown, and after traveling for two and one-half years, he came to the United States in 1903, as sole representative of Allenberys Limited, druggists specialties, with headquarters in New York city. Keen insight and untiring energy characterized his work and, being a man who was quick to grasp every opportunity offered him, he severed his connec- tion with the drug business in 1906 and became associated with James J. Craig & Company, selling their business correspondence course until 1915. In 1915, as an employe of the National Association of Merchants, Mr. Carson had his headquarters at Des Moines, Iowa, but the following year he entered the life insurance business, in which line he has since been active. He was connected with the Bankers Life of Des Moines, Jowa, until April, 1918, when he became a member of the Equitable force as district manager, covering a number of counties in middle western Wisconsin with offices at Milwaukee. Conscientious performance of every duty assigned him soon won for him promotion and in May, 1919, he was made agency manager for the state of Wisconsin, outside of the county and city of Milwaukee. His spirit of initiative and enterprise soon won him promotion and on the 1st of March, 1921, he was given charge of the entire state. The record established by Mr. Carson since his connection with the company has been attained by few and may be attributed to his inherent business sagacity, backed by keen perception, honesty of purpose and a genius for devising the right thing at the right time.
On the 16th of December, 1907, occurred the marriage of Mr. Carson and Miss Elsa W. Brunke, a daughter of Robert Brunke, who was a prominent and successful grocer of Appleton, Wisconsin. He was a native of Germany and came to this country at an early day. His death occurred when Mrs. Carson was a child. To Mr. and Mrs. Carson two children have been born: Robert and John, both attending the public schools of Milwaukee. Mrs. Carson is a devoted housewife and is widely known throughout the city as a woman of charming and magnetic personality.
Mr. Carson follows an independent course in politics, giving his support to the man he thinks best fitted for the office without regard for party politics. Fraternally he is identified with the Masons, helonging to Lafayette Lodge, No. 265, and socially he is prominently known as a member of the Milwaukee Athletic Club. As a man of progressive and liberal ideas he takes an active interest in the development and im- provement of the city and to that end has membership in the Association of Com- merce. Baseball holds much interest for Mr. Carson, and while residing in Canada he proved his ability as a player of lacrosse and hockey. Mr. and Mrs. Carson and family reside at 997 Hackett avenue.
MAURICE L. HENDERSON, M. D.
This is an age of specialization. The entire tendency of scientific effort and achieve- ment is toward the attainment of perfection along a given line without attempt to cover an entire broad field of labor. Following this tendency, Dr. Maurice L. Hender- son, now of Milwaukee, is giving his attention particularly to diseases of women, and his success in this field has been pronounced. Most creditable is the record that he has made and by reason of his many friends here his life history cannot fail to prove of interest to the readers of this volume.
Dr. Henderson was born in Moscow, Iowa, October 28, 1879, and is a son of Charles and Mary (Moriarity) Henderson, who are still living in that state. The Doctor was reared upon his father's farm in Iowa and attended the district schools during his early boyhood. He was ambitious to advance his education, however, and eagerly availed himself of the opportunity to attend a German and English college at Wilton, Iowa, from which he won his Bachelor of Science degree when a youth of eighteen years. He afterward attended the University of Illinois, becoming a student in the medical department at Chicago. He entered that institution in 1898 and after four years was graduated with the M. D. degree in 1902. He initiated his professional experi- ence as an interne in the Milwaukee County Hospital, with which he was thus identified for a year. Since that time he has continuously practiced in Milwaukee, and for a considerable period engaged in general practice but through the past five years has specialized on diseases of women and has made steady progress in that field. He is now a member of the teaching staff of Marquette University and is also a member of the staff of the Milwaukee County Hospital, the Trinity Hospital, St. Joseph's Hospital, the Emergency Hospital and Misericordia Hospital, all of Milwaukee. He is widely known in professional circles throughout the country as the author of many treatises of value and his ability has steadily brought him prominently to the front. He belongs to the Milwaukee Academy of Medicine, the Milwaukee County Medical Society, the Wisconsin State Medical Society, the Wisconsin Surgical Society and the American Medical Association.
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In 1908 Dr. Henderson was married to Miss Odile Sanger, a native of Milwaukee and a representative of one of the old families of this city. They have become parents of two children, Mary and Marcia, aged respectively five and two years.
Dr. Henderson is a Mason of high rank, having attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite and become a member of the Mystic Shrine. He is also identified with the Knights of Pythias. He is fond of hunting and fishing and enjoys all manly outdoor sports. He likewise helongs to the Milwaukee Athletic Club, but though he maintains sufficient interest in all these activities to make his a well-rounded character, nevertheless the real purpose of his life is to render valuable service to his fellowmen through his professional activity and in 1913 he took postgraduate work in Vienna and in Berlin in order to broaden his knowledge and make his labors of still greater efficiency in checking the ravages of disease.
WILLIAM C. SPINDLER.
William C. Spindler, superintendent of the poor of Milwaukee county, was horn in Saxony, Germany, September 22, 1859, and is a son of William and Christina Spindler, who were also natives of that country. They came to America with their family in 1861 and settled in Waukesha county, Wisconsin, where the father, who was a trades- man, died when fifty-two years of age.
William C. Spindler was but two years old when brought to the new world and his education was acquired in the public schools and under private tutorship. His opportunities in that direction, however, were somewhat limited, owing to the necessity of providing for his own support at an early age. He worked on a farm in his youthful days, being thus employed until he reached the age of twenty-eight, when he came to Milwaukee and here engaged in confectionery manufacturing for a period of five years. He then became interested in the Waukesha Milk Company as secretary and was active in the dual position of secretary and manager of the company for about fifteen years, continuously serving as secretary since its incorporation. His labors have been a large contributing element to the success of the business and his sound judgment and enterprise have done much in guiding the company to its present point of prosperity.
In January, 1898, Mr. Spindler was appointed superintendent of the Milwaukee county poor and has held the office continuously since, or for a period of twenty-three years, the appointment being made biennially. This office is now under civil service rule and the duties of the position are of wide scope. The commitments are for the County Almshouse, County Hospital and Milwaukee County Home for Children, all this being done through the office of the superintendent. There are few men in Mil- waukee county who have held office for a longer period and faithfulness and merit have been the qualities which have led to his continuance in the position through almost a quarter of a century. This department also takes care of family relief for the city and county.
In November, 1895, Mr. Spindler was married to Miss Susan Hartkopf, who died September 10, 1920, leaving two children: Lucy and Edna. The family home is at No. 385 Kenwood boulevard. Mr. Spindler belongs to the Elks Club, also to the Knights of Pythias and the "Dokeys," as the members of the Dramatic Order of the Knights of Khorassan are sometimes called. His deep interest in welfare work is shown in the fact that he is president of the Association of Superintendents of the Poor for the state of Wisconsin. His interest in progressiveness along the lines of his business is manifest in the fact that he is president of the Milwaukee Milk Bottle Exchange. A spirit of advancement actuates him in everything that he undertakes and each year has found him in advance of the position which he occupied the previous year. He studies closely all questions that have to do with any of the activities which claim his attention and his sound judgment has been a helpful element in public progress.
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