USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume III > Part 12
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Philip Angus Fox, nephew and namesake of Dr. Philip Fox above mentioned, fol- lowed not only in his professional but also in his military footsteps and rendered serv- ice as a captain in the Medical Corps during the World war. In the acquirement of his education he had attended the University of Wisconsin for three years and thus in broad literary training laid the foundation upon which has been built the superstruc- ture of professional knowledge. His medical studies were pursned in Rush Medical College of Chicago, from which he was graduated in 1902. Immediately afterward hie went to Manila in the Philippine Islands and there practiced his profession for three vears, after which he spent a year in study in Berlin and Vienna. With his return to his native country he located in Milwaukee in 1906 and through the intervening years has successfully practiced in this city.
In 1908 Dr. Fox was married in Milwaukee to Miss Kate Burlock, who was born in Chicago, October 28, 1883, a daughter of William E. and Fannie ( Allen) Burlock, the latter born in Milwaukee in 1854 and now a resident of this city, making her home with Dr. and Mrs. Fox. She was a daughter of William Allen, who came to Milwaukee from the state of New York in 1832, making the trip on foot, and the Allen family is today one of the oldest represented in Milwaukee. Dr. Fox and his wife have three children : William Burlock, ten years of age; Frederick Allen, aged seven; and Jane Curtis, a little maiden of four summers.
Dr. Fox is very fond of reading and possesses an excellent private library. Ile be-
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longs to the Roman Catholic church and socially is connected with the Milwaukee Ath- letic Club. Along strictly professional lines his membership is with the Milwaukee Medical Society, the Milwaukee County Medical Society, the Wisconsin State Medical Society and the Tri-State Medical Society and he is likewise a fellow of the American Medical Association. He has constantly developed his powers in the line of his pro- lessien and that the public has confidence in his skill and ability is indicated in the extensive practice accorded him.
WILLIAM A. WING.
William A. Wing, president of the Brunlieb & Wing Company, Incorporated, auto- mobile experts of Milwaukee, was born in Rochester, New York, September 7, 1888, and is a son of Walter A. and Anna Wing. The mother died in 1891 and the father came to this city in 1901.
William A. Wing pursued his early education in the district schools of the Empire state and later continued his studies in Milwaukee, being a youth of thirteen years at the tinie of the removal of the family to this city. When his textbooks were put aside he learned the trade of a machinist and toolmaker and has since been active along these lines, working his way steadily upward as his knowledge and experience have increased. In May, 1919, he began the erection of the present building for the firm of Brunlich & Wing and in August of the same year organized the Bruenlieb & Wing Company, Incorporated. They are antomobile experts and do all kinds of paint- ing and enameling and also overhauling of machines. They likewise handle gasoline and oils, all kinds of accessories, and have a storage department in connection there- with. In this enterprise Mr. Wing is associated with W. J. Beinert, who is secretary of the company, and F. W. Brunlieb, who is the treasurer. The plant has a floor space of twenty-six thousand square feet and is capitalized for one hundred thousand dollars. The steady growth of their trade is due to their thoroughly reliable dealings, their superior workmanship and the unfaltering energy and enterprise of the men who are at the head. This is recognized as one of the growing business concerns of Milwaukee and throughout the entire year they give employment to twenty-five people.
in July, 1910, Mr. Wing was married to Miss Elsa Andres. Fraternally he is con- nected with the Masons, having attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite, and he is a member of Tripoli Shrine and also of the Modern Woodmen of America. His interests and activities. however, center upon his business, and as the result of his close application he stands today as a prominent representative of those connected with the automobile industry in Milwaukee.
ALEXANDER CHARLES GRANT.
A native of Scotland, Alexander Charles Grant, superintendent of agencies of the Prudential Insurance Company of America, with offices at 425 E. Water street, Mil- waukee, was born at the Braes of Gight, Fyvie Aberdeenshire, on the 28th of March, 1865. His father, Peter Grant, was also born there and passed away in 1874. He had been reared for the ministry but in early life developed tendencies along another line and became a prominent contractor and builder. This branch of the family belongs to the celebrated Grant Clan. The mother of Alexander Charles Grant was Margaret M. Stephen, who passed away in 1918. She was a native of the same place as her husband and son and was a daughter of Alexander Stephen.
The schools of his native town afforded Alexander Charles Grant an education until he reached the age of ten years, when he put his textbooks aside and went to work on a farm. He remained in that employment until he was eighteen, when for four years he served as an apprentice in the mercantile and drug business. The fol- lowing three years he was a journeyman and then, hearing of the wonderful opportu- mities offered in the United States, he determined to come to this country and as a result of his decision arrived here in 1889. He first located in Springfield, Illinois, where he was connected with the Boston Store until August, 1891, when he became associated with the Prudential Life Insurance Company and was stationed at Middle- town. New York. In November of the following year he was transferred to Milwaukee as assistant superintendent of Milwaukee district, No. 1. He has filled all of the official positions in Milwaukee and since 1904 has acted as superintendent. He has opened up seventeen offices in the state of Wisconsin and from 1904 to 1907 was in Brooklyn, New York, in charge of Districts Nos. 10 and 3, that state, as general agent. What he has accomplished represents the fit utilization of his time, his talents and his opportunities and his Milwaukee district is the second largest in the country.
On the 28th of March, 1905, occurred the marriage of Mr. Grant and Miss Charlotte
WILLIAM A. WING
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Falk, a daughter of Frederick Falk, a farmer of Bayfield, Wisconsin. The Falk family were originally from Norway, Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Grant: Frederick Alexander, Millerd Stephen, and Dorothy Charlotte. Mrs. Grant is prominent and active in the club and social circles of the city.
The political allegiance of Mr. Grant is given to the republican party, although he has never been actively interested and he neither seeks nor desires public office. His religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Calvary Presbyterian church and he is president of the board of trustees. He is a Mason, belonging to Oshkosh Lodge, No. 27, R. A. M .; Kilbourn Chapter, No. 1 of Milwaukee; and Wisconsin Commandery, No. 1, Knights Templars. He has attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottishi Rite and is a member of Tripoli Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He is also a Knight of Pythias, having membership in Oshkosh Lodge, No. 9. He is a prominent member of the Association of Commerce, St. Andrew's Society and the Tripoli Patrol, and is active in his identification with the Milwaukee Athletic, City, Tripoli Motor, Milwaukee "Bowling on the Green," Milwaukee Curling, and Tripoli Golf Clubs, also the Stickney Club of Wauwatosa, the Stickney Curling Club and the Ozaukee Golf Club. Mrs. Grant is a member of the Beta Club. Mr. Grant possesses those qualities which make for personal popularity and he is deeply interested in everything that tends to promote civic progress and development, his influence at all times being on the side of advancement and improvement. During the World war he was active in all war drives and gave generously of his time and money. Mr. and Mrs. Grant reside at Fifty-seventh and Grand avenue, Wauwatosa.
HUGO KOEFFLER.
Prominent among the business men of Milwaukee is Hugo Koeffler, dealer in real estate and loans, with offices in the Trust Company building. A native of Milwaukee, his birth occurred on the 18th of June, 1862, a son of Charles A. and Sophie ( Herrmann) Koeffler, both deceased. The father was born in Dietz, Germany, in 1827 and at the age of twenty-two years came to the United States and located in Mil- waukee. He was first employed by the Pfister & Vogel Leather Company and also worked for the first brewer in Milwaukee, a man by the name of Melms, who was the originator of the Pabst Brewery. Later Mr. Koeffler started in the distillery busi- ness on his own account under the name of Charles A. Koeffler. About 1870 he retired from the liquor business and thereafter devoted his time to managing his own estate. He passed away on the 27th of March, 1897. His wife preceded him in death, her demise having occurred on the 12th of February, 1880. She was likewise a native of Dietz, Germany, where her marriage occurred. Four children survive them, the eldest being Louise, who is the widow of Theodore Luebben, formerly of the Meinecke Com- pany of Milwaukee, with which firm he was associated many years. In 1881 Mr. and Mrs. Leubben went to Germany, where his death occurred and she is now residing in Hanover, Germany; Hermine was the second in order of birth. She is the wife of Francis M. Baumgarten of Milwaukee, a retired chemist; Charles A. Koeffler, Jr., was for many years numbered among the prominent attorneys of Milwaukee but he is now living retired; Hugo, whose name initiates this review, was the fourth in order of birth.
Hugo Koeffler received his preliminary education in the German and English Academy, then known as Englemann's, which school he attended until he reached the age of fifteen years, when he entered the Spencerian Business College, where he took a commercial course. Upon putting his textbooks aside he entered the business world. his initial step being made as correspondent of Ramien Brothers & Company, importers of yarns and notions, which association he maintained from 1879 to 1883. He then served that firm in the position of bookkeeper for some time and resigned to go to Europe, where he remained for about a year and then returncd to Milwaukee. For the next two years he was bookkeeper for the Wisconsin Glass Company and in 1887, upon deciding to enter business on his own account, he opened up offices and became a real estate and loan dealer. He handles down-town property and estates for the most part and his untiring energy and quick perception have been dominant factors in his success.
On the 7th of August, 1920, Mr. Koeffler was united in marriage to Louise Wich- mann, a native of Hamburg, Germany, who came to this country when just a child. Mrs. Koeffler is well known in the club and social circles of Milwaukee, in which city she has made her home for many years.
Since age conferred upon Mr. Koeffler the right of franchise he has been a stanch supporter of the republican party, although he has never taken an active part in its interests, nor has he desired political preferment as a reward for party fealty. Socially he belongs to the Milwaukee Athletic Club and as a man always interested in the de- velopment and improvement of the general welfare, he is associated with the Associa-
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tion of Commerce. Along the line of his business he is a member of the Milwaukee Real Estate Board, in the founding of which he had a prominent part and of which he has been vice president and a director. Mr. Koeffler is a great lover of athletics and during his school and college days was considered a fine baseball player, a form of sport in which he is now particularly interested. He has a summer home on Nago- wicka Lake in Waukesha county, built on a fifteen-acre tract which he takes great pleasure in improving, being a landscape gardener of no mean ability. The town home of the Koeffiers is at Delafield. The dominant characteristics of Mr. Koeifler are pluck, energy, and perseverance and he has won the confidence and respect of all with whom he has come into contact, winning for himself a host of friends. He is loyal and enter- prising, possessing the progressive spirit of the times and accomplishing all that he undertakes.
MACKEY WELLS.
Mackey Wells, president of the Kerner Incinerator Company of Milwaukee, was born in this city January 10, 1886, his parents being Helmus and Louise ( Button) Wells, the former a native of New York city and the latter of Milwaukee. The father is a descendant of an old Scotch family, while the mother is of English lineage. Helmus Wells came to Milwaukee in 1875 and for a time was employed by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company. Subsequently he aided in organizing the Northwestern Malleable Iron Company; one of the largest concerns of the kind in the United States. Of this he was secretary and treasurer to the time of his death, which occurred in 1890. His widow survived for several years, passing away in 189S. Mr. Wells was one of the early members of the Milwaukee Club and for some years served on its board of directors. The Button family came to Milwaukee in 1848 and Henry H. Button, maternal grandfather of Mackey Wells, was a member of the firm of Greene & Button, wholesale druggists. He was a very popular man in both social and business circles and at one time was president of the Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce, while for many years he was president of the Milwaukee Merchants & Manufacturers Asso- ciation. He was likewise one of the early directors of the Milwaukee Gas Company and was president of that corporation at the time of his death, which occurred Febru- ary 14, 1890. His name was also on the directorate of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company and thus in many important fields of business he figured promi- nently, his labors constituting a contributing element to the commercial and financial growth and development of the city. He was called to leadership in almost every organization with which he became identified. For twenty years he served as one of the trustees of the Unitarian Society of the city and he was for one term president of the American Drug Club. He belonged also to the Milwaukee Club and there were few residents of Milwaukee who were more widely known or more highly esteemed.
Mackey Wells was educated in the Milwaukee Academy and also attended Williams College for one year, while later he matriculated in Harvard University, where he won the degree of Bachelor of Arts, while in 1911 the LL. B. degree was conferred upon him. In the same year he was admitted to practice at the Wisconsin bar and for four years was in the law office of Quarles, Spence & Quarles. In 1915, however, he with- drew from law practice to become actively associated with the Kerner Incinerator Company and after four months was made general manager, while in 1915 he was also elected to the presidency and has since been at the head of the concern. He has most carefully directed the business, which is that of the manufacture of incinerators that are sold all over the country. With characteristic thoroughness he has studied every phase and detail of the business and bending his efforts to administrative direction and executive control he has largely developed the enterprise of which he is the head. He is also a prominent figure in connection with other important business interests which have profited by the stimulus of his energy and sound judgment. He is now the secretary and treasurer of the Oliver & Barth Jack Company, a director of the Joliet Railway Supply Company of Chicago and a director and treasurer of the Milwaukee Day School.
On the 28th of June, 1908, Mr. Wells was married to Miss Alida Marian Carter of New York city, and their three children are: Mackey, Carter and Natalie. During the World war Mr. Wells was on active duty in Washington, D. C., for a period of eight months, being captain in the Quartermaster Corps. He is justly regarded as one of the prominent young men of his native city and his labors have been effective elements for progress, not only along material and commercial lines, but also in connection with cultural and social progress. He is a member and a director of the University Club of Milwaukee, president of the Harvard Club, a member of the Milwaukee Athletic Club, the Town Club, the Rotary Club, the Milwaukee Country Club and Stickney Field Club of Wauwatosa and the Milwaukee Art Institute. These associations are indicative of the nature of his interests outside of the field of business. Well trained in the law,
MACKEY WELLS
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his knowledge of the principles of jurisprudence is of great value to him in the con- duct of his other interests and his activities have largely been of a character con- tributory to the welfare and improvement of the city.
LOUIS G. BOHMRICH.
Louis G. Bohmrich, senior member of the firm Bohmrich & Gabel, is a man of fine intellectual and professional attainments. He has been influential in connection with political affairs in Wisconsin and his sterling character and genial personality have gained him unqualified popularity. Mr. Bohmrich was born in the province of the Rhine, Germany, on the 26th of October, 1855, a son of Joseph and Amalia ( LeClair ) Bohmrich, both natives of that country in which they passed their lives. The father won success as a manufacturer of furniture and passed away in 1895. His wife died in 1897.
Louis G. Bohmrich was afforded excellent educational advantages in his native country and after completing his preliminary training he entered college, giving special attention to the study of physics and political economy. During the years 1875 to 1878, inclusive, he was a student in a college at Koenigsberg, Prussia, and there made par- ticular research and investigation concerning the anatomy of grain, its chemistry and the practical handling of its products. In 1879, at the age of twenty-four years, Mr. Bohmrich came to America and located in Cincinnati, Ohio, where in 1885 he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. His personality, splendid educational attain- ments and ability won for him immediate employment and from 1880 until 1885 he held the position of superintendent of the Cincinnati Warehouse & Malting Company. In the latter year he established residence in New York city where he was representative for the eastern states of the M. H. Pettit Malting Company of Kenosha, Wisconsin, and was active in that connection until 1892, when he was made superintendent of the company's business at its headquarters in Kenosha. In 1895 he severed his position with the malting company and engaged in active business as a general expert in grain and its products until June, 1897, continuing his residence in Kenosha. For some time ne read law under effective private preceptorship and entering the Chicago College of Law was graduated from that institution in 1897, receiving his LL. B. degree. In that same year he was admitted to the Wisconsin bar and has since been engaged in the active and successful practice of his profession. Until April, 1901, Mr. Bohmrich maintained offices in both Kenosha and Milwaukee but in the spring of that year re- moved to Milwaukee where he has since resided. For over twenty years he has been one of the essentially representative members of the Wisconsin bar, where he lias been concerned with much important litigation in the various courts and where he is legal representative for various corporations and prominent individual interests. Mr. Bohmrich is now senior partner of the firm of Bohmrich & Gabel, with offices at 425 East Water street. As a successful and prominent attorney he was soon an important figure in public life and while a resident of Kenosha served as city attorney in 1897-8 and by reelection continued the incumbent of that office during 1899-1900. In 1897 he was appointed by Governor Fairchild, a member of the committee of one hundred, which had in charge the arrangements for the Wisconsin semi-centennial and he was a most dominant factor in the success of that project. After taking up residence in Milwaukee he was from 1903 to 1906 a member of the directorate of the Merchants' & Manufacturers' Association and he is recognized throughout the state as an essentially broad-minded man who is ever ready to lend his influence and cooperation in the furtherance of measures, enterprises and policies which he believes necessary for the best interests of his home city, county and state.
On the 12th of September, 1882, occurred the marriage of Mr. Bohmrich and Miss Elizabeth Knauber, the ceremony being performed in Cincinnati. Mrs. Bohmrich was a daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth Knauber, who were for many years well known and representative citizens of Cincinnati. Mr. Knauber was a native of Germany and came to this country in 1848. He became one of the prominent and successful representatives of the pork packing industry in Cincinnati, where he built up an extensive business in which he continued to be actively identified until 1890. In that year he retired and his death in 1911 came as a severe blow to the community in which he had so long re- sided. Mrs. Knauber passed away in 1913 at the age of eighty-nine years. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Bohmrich: Mrs. Stella Kenzy, who has three chil. dren, Louis, Elsa, and John; Mrs. Brunhilda Kellogg, who has two children, Elizabeth and Jean; and Louise, the latter daughter residing with her parents.
Since receiving the right of franchise in his land of adoption Mr. Bohmrich has been a stanch adherent of the democratic party and he has been an active and effective exponent of its principles and policies, in addition to being an influential factor in its councils in Wisconsin. The popularity he gained in the state was indicated by his nomi- nation in 1900 as governor of his adopted state but he was defeated by the Hon. Rohert
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M. La Follette. Mr. Bolumrich made a most excellent showing at the polls but his defeat was compassed by normal political exigencies. In 1892, as a member of the democratic convention, Mr. Bohmrich had made the speech nominating Hon. George W. Peck for governor, and it will be recalled that in the ensuing election Mr. Peck came off victorious. In the primary election of 1906, when Francis E. McGovern was defeated for renomination as district attorney of Milwaukee county, Mr. Bohmrich made, at the Pabst theatre, the opening speech for McGovern in the latter's independent campaign for the office of district attorney, to which he was reelected. In 1911 Mr. Bohmrich was appointed by Governor McGovern a member of the Wisconsin Perry's Victory cen- tennial commission and he has given the most effective service in that position. In November, 1912, he was elected one of the presidential electors at large on the party ticket in Wisconsin, and thus bad the distinctive satisfaction of witnessing the great democratic victory, having the privilege of casting his vote for President Wilson in the electoral college.
Fraternally Mr. Bohmrich is a Mason, belonging to Independence Lodge, No. 80, of Milwaukee, and he is likewise a Knight of Pythias. He is prominent and well known in the club circles of Milwaukee as a member of the Deutscher Club and the Milwaukee Athletic Club. The family attends St. Mark's Episcopal church. Mr. Bohmrich has reached the high position which he now occupies as the result of his own effort, intelligently directed, and Milwaukee honors and esteems him as one who has contributed no small portion to the best activities of the city and state.
INDUSTRIAL CHEMICAL INSTITUTE OF MILWAUKEE.
This scientific Institute, which in the twenty-six years of its existence has built up a nation-wide reputation, was founded in 1895 at the time when the brewing in- dustry was the leading industry in Milwaukee. Its founder, Ernst Hantke, established it under the name "Hantke's Brewers' School & Laboratories" and it catered to the fermentation industry. It was an especial pride of the Institute to have assisted in the wonderful development of the brewing industry, as it was one of the leading factors which changed the production of beer from rule of thumb work to a highly scientific manufacture, so that in years before prohibition became a national law, the American beers had gained world-wide reputation and world-wide trade. In the year 1901 the firm was incorporated under its present name, "Industrial Chemical Institute of Milwaukee," with the officers Ernst Hantke, Frank Kremer and Alfred Fischer, all of whom were connected with the institution since its beginning. The working sphere of the laboratories was broadened to include all industries, especially those of Mil- waukee and west of the Great Lakes. The food industry offered the first large oppor- tunity and the Industrial Chemical Institute of Milwaukee was one of the pioneers in the development of breakfast food manufacture.
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