USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume III > Part 11
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On the 12th of October, 1910, Mr. Vilter was married to Miss Elfriede Best, who was born and reared in Milwaukee, a daughter of Emil Best, one of the pioneer residents of the city. Mr. and Mrs. Vilter have a son, William B., born March 16, 1912.
While Mr. Vilter has always maintained an independent course in politics, he has nevertheless been an active supporter of many worthy civic enterprises leading to the development and upbuilding of the city and to the promotion of its business interests. In the Association of Commerce, of which he is a valued member, he has served with capability on the committee on manufacturers and for several years has acted as its chairman. He is a member of the entertainment committee. He has also been a
WILLIAM O. VILTER
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director of the Citizens' Business League for many years and this organization is now merged with the Association of Commerce as one of its departments. He has likewise served as president of the Milwaukee Manufacturers & Dealers Club, but his attention has been by no means confined to those things which have to do only with the material development of Milwaukee. For a third of a century he has been identified with the Milwaukee Musical Society, belongs to the Milwaukee Gymnastic Association and is a charter member and one of the incorporators of the Pine Lake Yacht Club. He is also a popular member of the Milwaukee Art Institute, the Wisconsin Club, the Mil- waukee Athletic Club, the City Club and the Town Club. His friends-and they are legion-bear testimony to a genial disposition, a pleasing personality and many sterling traits of character and account him one of the popular residents of the city. His position as a representative business man has long been established and he is one who never fails to reach his objective.
SAMUEL BERNHARD JACOBSON,
One of the best known men of the city, respected and honored for his conservative methods and sound business judgment, is Samuel Bernhard Jacobson, resident manager of the National Bond & Investment Company. He was born in Russia on the 1st of May, 1892. a son of Julius and Lottie ( Max) Jacobson. In 1896 they came to America and made their home in Chicago, where the father won success as a shoemaker. His death occurred in that city in 1900. Mrs. Jacobson passed away in 1903. Her father, Jacob Max, was also born in Russia and came to this country, locating in Durham, North Carolina, where he lived until his demise. He was a successful farmer and merchant.
In the acquirement of an education Samuel Bernhard Jacobson attended the Jewish Training School in Chicago and upon the death of his mother, being left an orphan, he removed to Durham. North Carolina. He later enrolled in the schools of Norfolk, Virginia, and after putting his textbooks aside became office boy for the New York, Pennsylvania & Norfolk Railroad. For three years he was connected with that road and when he severed his connections he had been serving as chief rate clerk for some time. In 1910 he went to Chicago and studied law in the office of his brother. Lewis F. Jacob. Subsequently he became traffic manager of the Lord & Bushnell Lumber Company, with headquarters in Chicago, and at the end of one and one-half years he turned to the insurance business as sub-agent for his brother, A. I., who was a representative of the New York Life Insurance Company. He was active along that line for a year and in 1915 obtained a position as salesman for the Great Northern Manufacturing Company, selling aluminum products, His territory was the state of Missouri and during the year in which he was so employed he built up a large trade for the house. Finally he became an employe of the National Bond & Investment Company and in 1917 he was placed in charge of their automobile securities depart- ment in Chicago. Later he removed to Detroit, Michigan, where he established offices for the company. On the 1st of May, 1918, he put all personal interests aside and enlisted in the United States navy, serving until February, 1919. As petty officer and yeoman he had charge of the officer's mess hall of the Twelfth Regiment at the Great Lakes Naval Station. After receiving his honorable discharge he returned to Detroit and resumed his duties with the National Bond and Investment Company's branch office, which he had established there. In February of the following year he was transferred to Milwaukee and given his present position as resident manager. The National Bond and Investment Company was founded in 1906 and handles com- mercial paper. It has eight branch offices in the principal cities of the United States, with the home office in Chicago. Mr. Jacobson has become one of the representative and valued employes of the firm and his business record indicates what may be accomplished when, with a will to dare and to do, the individual sets himself resolutely to the tasks of life and lets no opportunity pass by unheeded. The Wisconsin office has developed a business of three million dollars a year. M. M. Rothschild, a grandson of Nelson Morris of Chicago, is president of the National Bond & Investment Company and he is one of the most democratic and hard working millionaires in the country. Jolin L. Little, the secretary, is one of the able financiers of the United States and he has made an international study of the financial field in which this company is engaged. His knowledge and ability have won him widespread recognition as the dean of all discount houses.
On the 18th of September, 1921, occurred the marriage of Mr. Jacobson to Miss Alpha Betty Wirth, daughter of Henry Wirth. Mr. Wirth was born in Germany and is now living retired in Milwaukee. Since attaining his majority Mr. Jacobson has given his political allegiance to the republican party. although he has never been prominent in its activities. lle is a member of the Temple B'Ne Jeshurun of Milwaukee and fraternally he is identified with the Masons, having membership in Bee Hive Lodge, No.
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909, of Chicago, and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. In the latter order he be- longs to Milwaukee Lodge, No. 46. As a veteran of the World war he holds member- ship in the American Legion, Charles A. Larned Post, No. 1, of Detroit, Michigan, and he is a men ber of the Milwaukee Y. M. C. A. He is a great lover of athletics and he is particular.y fond of baseball, football and track events. Mr. Jacobson is one of Mil- waukee's estimable citizens, who can always be depended upon to meet his obligations in both public and private life, as has been manifested during the period of his resi- dence. Mr. and Mrs. Jacobson reside at 360 North Park Front.
GEORGE MARTIN, JR.
George Martin. Jr., whose name is indelibly engraved upon the pages of Mil- waukee s commercial history, was born October 29, 1844, in the Village of Horn, near Simmern, ( Hunsruck ) in the Rhine province of Germany, and was the eldest son of George and Marie Katherine (Martin) Martin. He came to this country with his parents, the family making their way direct to Milwaukee in 1852, and here George Martin, Jr., continued to reside uninterruptedly to the time of his death. He acquired his education in the parochial school connected with Grace Lutheran church, better known to old settlers as Muehlhacuser's church. He also attended the public schools and was graduated from Larabee's Commercial College. At the age of fourteen years he was sent to Burlington, Wisconsin, to learn the carpenter's trade, but owing to the death of the uncle with whom he lived, he remained in Burlington for but six months and then returned to Milwaukee. He next entered the employ of Daniel Chapman, to learn the tanner's trade and continued in that connection for three years, when he left his position to become an employe of William R. Taylor, well known as a sheepskin tanner on the Rock River canal, now Commerce street.
In 1865 Mr. Martin erected a tannery of his own and conducted the tanning busi- ness under the firm name of George Martin & Son, taking his father, George Martin, Sr., into partnership. This relation was continued until 1885, when the father retired, and the business was then conducted under the name of George Martin, Jr., until I891. when, together with his four sons, he organized the George Martin Leather Company, of which corporation he was the president from the day of its inception until the day of his death, managing the business with skill and rare good judgment and with sub- stantial success, leaving his heirs a well established business with a splendid reputa- tion for honesty and fair dealing. For years the George Martin Leather Company had a widespread reputation for making high-grade calf leather, but later the company devoted its attention to tanning and finishing side leathers according to the high reputation associated with the Martin product. While George Martin, Jr., began tanning in a small way when be started business on his own account, he soon made friends and invited confidence which enabled him to borrow needed capital, which, how- ever, he was soon able to repay, owing to the constant increase of his business. The leather which he manufactured was of excellent quality, his courage was enduring and he was aided by degrees by his four stalwart sons.
On the 19th of October, 1865, Mr. Martin was married to Miss Laura Geissel, a daughter of Edward and Louise (Gieselmann) Geissel. Thirteen children were born to this happy couple, of whom three daughters and two sons died in infancy. There are living four sons-George E., William A., Albert P. and Charles A .; and four daughters: Henrietta Laura, who is the wife of Charles E. Beck of Oak Park, Illinois; Ella Louise, the wife of William J. Knecker of Oak Park; Ida Marie; and Laur Elizabeth, the wife of Jerome H. Zimmermann of Milwaukee.
Mr. Martin and his family were members of Grace Lutheran church, where for forty-eight years he was active as a deacon, and for twenty-five years he served as president of the congregation. He was one of the most earnest and conscientious workers in the church. "Wherever a service was to be performed he was the first one to offer aid," said his pastor, Rev. Carl Gausewitz, who paid fitting tribute to his memory. For many years he was a member of the Arminia male choir of this church He represented Grace Lutheran church on the board of trustees of the Union cemetery from January, 1899, and served as its president from January, 1914. He was there honored for his sturdiness of character, his wise and just counsel and his diligent efforts to promote the welfare of the organization. The Old Settlers Club of Mil- waukee county numbered him among its members and during the days of the old volunteer fire department he was a member of Oregon Fire Company, No. 3. whose fire engine house was located on Third, near Vliet. Later on this was Fire Com- pany, No. 2. A lifelong supporter of the republican party, he was active as a mem- ber of the ward committee of the first ward, in which he lived the greater part of his life, removing to the eighteenth ward in 1900. Isaac W. Van Schaick, R. C. Spencer, William P. Mclaren, Judge George H. Noyes, August F. Gallun, Chris Dexheimer,
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GEORGE MARTIN, JR.
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Julius Goldschmidt and other old-timers were his associates on the first ward com- mittee.
Mr. Martin is survived by his widow, four sons and four daughters, four daughters- in-law, three sons-in-law, nineteen grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, these being ten granddaughters, nine grandsons, four grandsons-in-law and one grand- daughter-in-law. There are also four great-grandsons and one great-granddaughter. He also is survived by two brothers, Paul and Henry Martin of St. Paul, Minnesota, and three sisters: Margaret, who is the wife of William Berlandi; Nettie, the wife of Philip Kloman of St. Paul, Minnesota; and Katherine, who gave her hand in marriage to Joseph Thorp of Milwaukee. He left to his family the most precious heritage a man can confer-a priceless name and the impress of his splendid character, enriching them with the example and memory of a useful carcer and with the value of an honorable name. His death is a great loss to his family, his many friends and to the community in which he passed his long and usetul life. His friends knew him as a genial, whole- souled companion who was the sunshine of any assembly in which he moved. His personal qualities, his genial and happy disposition, commanded for him the friend- ship as well as the respect of all who came into contact with him. He was
a just and generous employer and never had a serious misunderstanding or disagree- ment with anyone who was so fortunate as to be in his employ. He did much for charity and for benevolent institutions in a very quiet way and the poor and needy always found in him a friend. Such was his business and social career. There was nothing spectacular in it or in his nature, for his entire career was that of a quiet, respectable, honorable, dignified and useful character. His life record covered a period of seventy-six years-years full of activities and usefulness, difficult to excel. His family and friends will find the greatest consolation in the consciousness that death came to him after he had rounded out the Psalniist's allotted span of threescore years and ten, each day marking off work successfully accomplished and good deeds performed. A modern philosopher has said: "Not the good that comes to us, but the good that comes to the world through us, is the measure of our success," and judged by this standard George Martin, Jr., was a most successful man.
FRANK ARTHUR CUSHING SMITH.
Frank Arthur Cushing Smith, a landscape architect of high professional capability and well earned reputation, is now located in Milwaukee, where he has won a liberal and extensive patronage and much of the attractive beauty of the city is attributable to his planning and skill in the line of his chosen profession. He comes of English ancestry, his grandfather having heen Isaac B. Smith, a native of England, who was the founder of the family in the new world, having at an early day established his home in Wisconsin. His son, Albert William Smith, was born in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, and is now living in Wauwatosa, having charge over eastern Wisconsin for the Pillsbury Flour Mills Company. He wedded Mary E. Cushing, who was born on her father's farm in Brookfield county, Wisconsin, being a daughter of John H. Cushing, whose birth also occurred in Brookfield county.
Frank A. C. Smith, whose name introduces this review, obtained his education in the Wauwatosa public schools until graduated from the high school, with the class of 1904. He then continued his studies in the Milwaukee Normal School, from which he was graduated in 1906 and through the two succeeding years he was employed in the Wisconsin National Bank, first as a messenger and afterward as a bookkeeper. In 1908 he entered Cornell University and was graduated in 1912 with the Bachelor of Science degree. He there received a scholarship for Harvard University and in 1914 he completed his studies at the classic old institution in Cambridge, with the degree of Master of Landscape Architecture. in the meantime, however, or in 1913, he was called to the University of Illinois as instructor in landscape architecture and was associated with that institution of learning until January, 1916, when he accepted a call from Massachusetts to take charge of extension work in civic improvement for the commonwealth, with headquarters at the Massachusetts Agricultural College at Amherst. There he continued until, feeling that he owed his greatest duty to his country, he enlisted in the air service in October, 1917, at Springfield, Massachusetts, and was called to active duty in December, being sent to Kelly Field at San Antonio, Texas. He was afterward in the Air Service Training School at Columbus, Ohio, where in March, 1918, he received a commission as second lieutenant. He was then sent to Carlstrom Field at Arcadia, Florida, and was afterward transferred to Camp Gorden near Atlanta, Georgia, a school for personnel officers. After a month he was returned to Carlstrom Field as personnel adjutant of the field and was recommended tor a captaincy in the air service by the adjutant general's department, but the armistice was signed before the commission was issued. He remained at ('arlstrom until September, 1918, and was then transferred to the Air Service School for radio
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operators at Austin, Texas, and at that point acted as personnel adjutant for the school. He was likewise paymaster and commanding officer of the various squadrons on the field and was honorably discharged at Austin, Texas, January 20, 1919. While at Carlstrom Field he was trained in flying and did a great deal of actual flying there.
When the country no longer needed his military aid Mr. Smith returned to Wis- consin and on the 1st of April, 1919, opened offices in Milwaukee and Chicago for the practice of landscape architecture and town and city planning. The Chicago office is located at 166 West Jackson boulevard, and the Milwaukee office is in the Colby-Abbot building. Mr. Smith is now in charge of a town planning project for the Kimberly- Clark Company, paper manufacturers of Kimberly, Wisconsin, including a new hun- dred-acre addition to the village, a large park, a complete sanitary sewage disposal system, water supply system and other improvements for the village of Kimberly. He has also been placed in charge of the architectural work at Kimberly, including housing accommodations for three hundred additional families, also the erection of a large com- munity building, public school building, park buildings and other public buildings. He is also designing an extension of eighty acres to the village of Niagara, Wisconsin, including public utilities and regrading and resurfacing of streets in the older sections of the village.
Mr. Smith's professional activities have altogether been of a most important as well as extensive character. He was retained by the city of Manitowoc as city planner in charge of the development of Lincoln Park, a public park of one hundred acres, also the fifth ward athletic field, and the seventh ward children's playground. At Saginaw, Michigan, he has been retained by a group of people constituting a private corporation to develop a tract of one hundred and twenty-five acres into acre tracts or larger to be used for high grade residential development. His well earned reputation also brought to him a contract from Traverse City, Michigan, where as representative of a corporation he is laying out a complete summer resort, including residential and park development, together with a golf course of eighteen holes and public gardens with about two miles of water front park. His professional services have been retained at Kapuskasing, Ontario, as consultant upon a new townsite for a paper mill town for the Spruce Falls Company, Ltd. This will cover about six hundred acres, supplied with all the public utilities, parks and playgrounds. In 1914 Mr. Smith received a medal and honorable mention as the only American competitor in an international town planning competition for the city of Dublin, Ireland, prizes for which were offered by Lord and Lady Aberdeen. His fame has thus gone abroad and his name stands as a synonym for the most advanced standards in city planning throughout the United States.
In October, 1921, Mr. Cushing Smith was invited by the Art Institute of Chicago to deliver a series of lectures and demonstrations in various large cities of the United States, in connection with the Better Homes Institute conducted by the extension de- partment of the Art Institute.
In each of the cities visited, Mr. Cushing Smith showed by means of colored slides taken from cities both in the United States and abroad, practical suggestions which applied to the city planning problems of the city in question and outlined for the citizens what details make up a comprehensive city plan. These recommendations followed extensive trips about the city with interested citizens, members of city planning commissions, and other influential men and women, and were the result in every case of a careful study of the existing plan in comparison with the plans and accomplishments of many other cities.
The following cities were visited: Chicago, Cleveland, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Youngstown, Dayton, Louisville, Milwaukee, Detroit, South Bend, Indianapolis, Cin- cinnati, Columbus, St. Louis, Des Moines and Denver, Colorado.
In the Better Homes Institute, Mr. Cushing Smith also delivered an address on "What to do with a Fifty-Foot Lot," showing by means of a model and the gradual development of the lot. the house and garage location, the flower gardens, bird gardens, vegetable gardens, lawns, shrubs and trees, the chicken yard and hotbeds. By means of colored slides he left a lasting impression of the close relation between the land- scape architect and the architect in the design of the house and the layout, orientation and views from the lot, and gave much inspiration toward home ownership and im- provement of its setting and surroundings. He was also instrumental in securing excellent architectural exhibitions from the local architects in the cities visited.
On the 12th of September, 1917, Mr. Smith was married to Miss Helen Louise Han- son, a daughter of Jacob Hanson, a wholesale cheese dealer of Neenah, Wisconsin. Her father was born in Denmark and was brought by his parents to the United States when a child. He is now living retired from active business and makes his home in Redlands, California, but is still financially connected with the banks at Neenah. Mrs. Smith is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, in which she completed her course with the Bachelor of Science degree in 1915. She specialized in dietetics and home economics. She possesses much talent as a designer and has done excellent water color work. She is also a pianist and a vocalist of much ability, but does not take
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any public engagements. Mr. Smith is also a lover of music and for years played in orchestras and hands, performing on the flute, piccolo and piano. He studied with Edward Johnston on the pipe organ and has been church organist in Sage Chapel at Cornell University in Mr. Johnston's absence. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have one son, Frank Cushing, born in Milwaukee, July 7, 1920. The parents are members of the Underwood Memorial Baptist church of Wauwatosa, in which subur,, they make their home. Mr. Smith is a republican in politics and is well informed on the questions and issues of the day, but never active as a candidate for office. He belongs to the American Legion. He is a member of the University Landscape Architects Society, belongs to the American Society of Landscape Architects, the American Civic Association, the Rotary Club and the City Club of Milwaukee and the City Club of Chicago. He is fond of all manly outdoor sports and athletics and particularly enjoys hunting and fishing trips but never allows these things to interfere with the faithful performance of his professional duties. Actuated by a most laudable ambition he has steadily worked his way upward in his chosen calling and his work as a city planner has added much to the development in beanty and improvement of various cities of the middle west.
PHILIP ANGUS FOX, M. D.
Dr. Philip Angus Fox, well known as a representative of the medical profession and also as a native son of Milwaukee, was horn April 2, 1879, not far from his present office, which is in the Goldsmith building on Wisconsin street. He is the second son of Dr. William Fox, formerly a prominent physician of this city, where he practiced for many years, or until the time of his death in 1897. He was born in Madison, Wiscon- sin, June 30, 1844, and in preparation for his professional career attended Rush Medi- cel College of Chicago, from which he was graduated in 1869. He then practiced in Madison, this state, until 1878, after which he came to Milwaukee. The family has largely followed medical practice, for the grandfather of Dr. Philip A. Fox was Dr. George Fox, also a successful physician. He was born in County Meath, Ireland, and became a resident of Madison, Wisconsin, in 1840. At least three generations of the family. therefore, have given their attention to this calling, which many regard as the most vital and important professional service that an individual can render to his fellowmen. The mother of Dr. Philip A. Fox bore the maiden name of Narcissa MeDill and was born at New Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, July 30, 1850. She was the daughter of Dr. Alexander Stuart MeDill, also a physician, who practiced medicine at Stevens Point, Wisconsin, for many years and who tor one term represented his district in con- gress. Later he became superintendent of the Wisconsin Insane Asylum at Mendota, a position which he was filling at the time of his demise in 1869. His only son is Dr. John R. McDill. formerly a prominent surgeon of Milwaukee and now a surgeon in the United States army, filling the position of assistant surgeon general of the United States. It will thus be seen that both the grandfathers of Dr. P. A. Fox were physicians. as was his father while his younger brother, Dr. William E. Fox, is likewise devoting his attention to medical and surgical practice, and the only brother of their father, Dr. Philip Fox, is a physician of Madison, Wisconsin, who has reached the age of eighty- two years. He was graduated from the Bellevue Medical College of New York city in 1860 and during the Civil war served with the rank of captain in the Medical Corps of the United States army. Mrs. Narcissa (McDill) Fox, the mother of Dr. Philip A. Fox of this review. passed away in Milwaukee on the 12th of November, 1920.
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