History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume III, Part 17

Author: Bruce, William George, 1856-1949; Currey, J. Seymour (Josiah Seymour), b. 1844
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 912

USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume III > Part 17

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On the 23d of June. 1909, Mr. Blatz was married to Miss Ellen Loraine Hinners of Milwaukee. At the time of the World war he was vice chairman of group No. 3 of the war finance committee, which group oversubscribed each issue on the first day of the drive. Mr. Blatz was also a member of the advisory board for the United States fuel administration. He belongs to the Milwaukee Engineers Society and also has membership in the City Club, the Milwaukee Athletic Club and the University Club. His entire life has been passed in Milwaukee and among his stanchest friends are those who havo known him from his boyhood to the present time.

JOSEPH E. NOBLE.

Joseph E. Noble, vice president of Packman, Noble & Company, Incorporated, public accountants of Milwaukee and Chicago, is numbered among Milwaukee's representa- tive business men. He was born on the 5th of February, 1889, at St. James, Minnesota, a son of George J. and Anna (Swenson) Noble, the latter of whom is deceased. The father is a native of Nova Scotia, and is still living, making his home at Great Falls, Montana, where he has won prominence and success as a merehant and rancher. His wife passed away in 1907. She was born in Keokuk, lowa, a daughter of John Swenson, prominent in the agricultural circles of that vicinity.

Joseph E. Noble pursued a public school education in Swift county, Minnesota, and then entered a college at Grand Forks, North Dakota, from which he was graduated in 1909. Already he had determined to specialize in accountancy and, therefore, graduated from Concordia College at Moorhead, Minnesota, class of 1910. He con- tinned studies at St. Paul, Minnesota, and Marquette University and subsequently mastered every phase of the science. The following four years he spent in teaching at Eveleth high school in his native state and at the Central Wisconsin College in Waupaca county, Wisconsin. In 1916, thinking to find other pursuits more congenial than teaching, he located in Milwaukee and there, in association with William King- man Packman, of whom further mention is made elsewhere in this work, he founded the Cream City Accounting Company, which business was conducted under that name until the 1st of January, 1920, when it was changed to Packman, Noble & Company, being reorganized and incorporated with Mr. Packman as president and Mr. Noble as vice president. The business, which is capitalized for twenty-five thousand dollars, has at least a hundred regular clients and many other calls for special work. The firm handles audits of every description, opens, closes and keeps monthly accounts and does a regular system of general accounting work. In order to give efficient and quick service the company has in its employ over twenty expert accountants. In addition to the accounting business both Mr. Noble and Mr. Packman have purchased the business of the Winter Piano Company, dealers in pianos and musical instruments, in which

ALBERT BLAATZ, JR.

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venture they have been so successful that they have recently acquired ownership of another store on Grand avenue. They have incorporated their interests under the name of the Winter Piano Company, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, and of this concern Mr. Noble is chief executive.

On the 17th of September, 1913, Mr. Noble was united in marriage to Miss Florence Anderson, a daughter of Charles H. Anderson, a prominent and well known citizen of Waupaca county, Wisconsin. He is a native of that county, where he has won more than substantial success as a dealer in farm products and not only has he gained prominence in agricultural circles but has held many public offices. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Noble: Leland Woodrow, Nolan Vincent and Walter Kenneth.

The political allegiance of Mr. Noble is given to the republican party, he being a firm believer in the principles of that party as factors in good government. He has, however, neither sought nor desired political preferment as a reward for party fealty. His religious faith is that of the Presbyterian church, as is that of his wife, and he holds membership in the South Division Civic Association and the Milwaukee Asso- ciation of Commerce. In musical circles Mr. Noble is likewise well known, having at varions times been director of orchestras and brass bands. While at Central Wis- consin College be directed the choruses and also sang with different campus musical organizations. Mr. Noble has made good use of his opportunities. He has been per- sistent in the pursuit of a worth-while purpose and has gained a most satisfactory reward. Mr. Noble maintains a home at 613 Fifty-eighth street, where he surrounds his family with such influences as are found in a cultured and refined home.

WILLIAM WATSON PERRY.

William Watson Perry, Masonic grand secretary of the state of Wisconsin and for many years a most active worker in the organization, was born July 28, 1853, in Mil- waukee, the family home standing on the lot adjoining his present residence. His parents were James and Ellen (Smith) Perry, the former a native of Manchester, England, born November 30, 1804, while the latter was born in Burnley, England, April 22. 1813. James Perry arrived in Wisconsin in the year 1848 and for a considerable period was identified with the lumber business of Benjamin Bagnall & Company. He was a stanch supporter of the Union cause and of Abraham Lincoln and he was carried on a sickbed to the polls on the 9th of November, 1864, that he might cast his vote for the martyred president, then for the second time a candidate for office. Mr. Perry passed away on the following day. His widow survived him for two decades and died in Jericho, Wisconsin, January 19, 1885.

In his youthful days William W. Perry attended the district schools of Wisconsin and afterward matriculated in the Ohio State College, now the Ohio State University, from which he was graduated with the Bachelor of Arts degree. He afterward studied law and was admitted to the bar but has never engaged in practice. He received the LL. D. degree from Carroll College. After his graduation from the Ohio State College he was regularly ordained to the ministry of the Presbyterian church and he has devoted much of his time during the succeeding years to the ministry. One of the most marked activities of Mr. Perry has been in connection with the Masonic organization. He was initiated into the order in Lake Lodge No. 189, F. & A. M., of Milwaukee, receiv- ing the Master Mason degree on the 24th of July, 1876. He later became a member of Waukesha Chapter No. 37, R. A. M., and of Waukesha Council, R. & S. M. He attained the Knights Templar degree in St. John's Commandery No. 21 at Reedsburg, Wisconsin, and demitting from the various Masonic bodies with which he first became affiliated, he transferred his membership to Madison Lodge No. 5, Madison Chapter No. 4 and Robert Macoy Commandery No. 3 at Madison, Wisconsin. He took the Scottish Rite degrees in 1889, becoming a member of Wisconsin Consistory of Milwaukee, and in 1904 the honorary thirty-third degree was conferred upon him in Boston in recognition of valuable service rendered to the fraternity. He likewise belongs to Tripoli Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. Almost from the beginning of his connection with Masonry he has held office in the order. He served as senior deacon of the grand lodge of Wisconsin and was afterward senior warden. He was made deputy grand master in 1894 and at the next meeting of the grand lodge was chosen most worshipful grand master. He was also made most illustrious grand master of the Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters and in September, 1900, was appointed grand secretary of the Masonic grand bodies in Wisconsin, in which position he has since continued. His contribution to the growth and progress of the order in Wisconsin has been real and valuable, his labors doing much to inculcate the high principles upon which the fraternity is founded -the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.

Mr. Perry was united in marriage on the 19th of August, 1879, to Miss Emma G. LaBarre, a daughter of Darius W. and Ann (Stark) LaBarre of Mukwonago, Wis-

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consin. To them have been born five children: Jessie Ellen, who is now the wife of Thomas Scott of Wauwatosa; Ralph Emerson, a lawyer for the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, who married Miss Genevieve Madden and has a son William Watson Perry (11); Faye M., now the wife of Harry Ricker of Milwaukee and the mother of two children, Robert and Ruth Mary; Helen M., who is the wife of William H. Strickler of Rockford, Illinois, and has two children, William Perry and Patricia Strickler; and Ruth J., who is now connected with the Masonic Service Bureau. The family residence is at No. 642 Marshall street and in addition Mr. Perry has four acres of land on Eagle lake, coming to him as an inheritance from his isther. In the work of the ministry and the Masonic fraternity he has given his life to the :ask of instilling those principles which make for upright manhood, for high ideals in citizenship and devotion to the most advanced standards. "Not the good that comes to us, but the good that comes to the world through us, is the measure of our success."

FRANK GEORGE RAMSTHAL.

Through a thorough preliminary training, acquainting him with every phase and detail of the printing business, Frank George Ramsthal has steadily advanced until he is now president of the Broadway Press, a large enterprise engaged in catalogue and commercial printing. He took up the printing business after completing his edu- cation in the common schools. his boyhood and youth having been passed upon a farm. He was born on his father's farm at Pickering, Missouri, April 18, 1877, his parents being August and Paulina (Haentze) Ramsthal. The father, now living, retired, in Milwaukee, was born in Saxony, Germany, and came to the United States in 1852 with his parents, who settled on a farm at Mequon, Wisconsin, where they lived for two years. On the expiration of that period they removed to Fillmore, Wisconsin, thence to Pickering, Missouri, and in 1880 to Clark county, Wisconsin. In 1885, leaving the farm, August Ramsthal came to Milwaukee, where he was for many years engaged in merchandising on Upper Third street but is now living retired from active business. He is a son of William Ramsthal, who was of German birth and came to the United States with his family in 1852, passing away in Fillmore, Wisconsin, in 1867, Thus the fourth generation of the family is now represented on American soil. The mother, who in her maidenhood was Paulina Haentze, is a native of Saxony and was brought to Wisconsin by her parents in the same year in which her future husband accom- panied his parents to the United States.

Having pursued a course of study in the common schools of Clark county, Wis- consin, and of Milwaukee, without further educational training, Frank G. Ramsthal made his initial step in the business world, taking up the printing trade as an employe of the Meyer-Rotier Printing Company, with which he was associated for twenty- seven years. He entered their establishment as an apprentice and won advancement from time to time until he became superintendent and general efficiency expert, serv- ing in the dual position when in 1919 he severed his connection with the house and organized the company of which he is now the head, purchasing a controlling interest in the Broadway Press, which had operated under different names for a quarter of a century. Mr. Ramsthal became the president and has so continued to this time, directing the conduct and further development of the business, which is that of catalogue and commercial printing. with an extensive patronage in Milwaukee. They have ex- cellent equipment for carrying on the work and maintain the highest standards in their output. Mr. Ramsthal is also well known in Milwaukee real estate circles and is president of the Ramsthal Investment Company, a family corporation which owns and controls some staple Milwaukee real estate and Wisconsin lands.

On the 29th of October, 1903, Mr. Ramsthal was married to Miss Adie M. Jahn, a daughter of Henry Jahn of Milwaukee, who was born in this city of German parentage. He has been a well known barber here for many years, conducting the shop in the Railway Exchange building. Mr. and Mrs. Ramsthal have three children: Noel H., who is studying architecture; Mildred A., attending the public schools; and Ellen.

Mr. Ramsthal has never been active in politics save for the support which he has given to his friends seeking office. He is of the Episcopalian faith and attends St. Paul's church. Fraternally he is connected with Milwaukee Lodge, No. 261, F. & A. M .; Calumet Chapter, No. 73, R. A. M .; and Garfield Lodge No. 83, K. P. He also belongs to the Milwaukee Typothetae and to the Graphic Arts Craftsmen. He has written what is regarded a standard article on stone work, in which line of business he is a recog- nized authority. Hunting is his hobby, but he also enjoys boating and fishing, and he has hunted all over the state. Outdoor life has always made strong appeal to him and whenever the demands of business permit he may be found at his summer home, He loves music and plays the piano for his own pleasure, while deriving great enjoy- ment from the performances of professionals. He deserves great credit for what he has accomplished and may truly be called a self-made man, for he started out in life

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with no special advantages and by sheer merit and force of character has worked his way steadily upward to the creditable place which he now fills in the business circles of the city.

HERBERT FRED GRUNDMANN.

A typical business man of the present day, alert and enterprising, determined and therefore prosperous, is Herbert Fred Grundmann, president of the Bartels-Grund- mann Dental Manufacturing Company, located at Room 43, 121 Wisconsin street. He is a native son of Milwaukee, his birth having occurred on the 7th of October, 1887. He is a son of Phillip and Margaret (Kuemmerlein) Grundmann, of German descent. Phillip Grundmann was born in Milwaukee and was for forty years a coal and wood dealer on the south side of the city, achieving prominence and more than substantial success in that connection. His son, Walter, is now conducting the business. In 1909 Mr. Grundmann passed away and in his passing Milwaukee lost a representative citizen. The mother is still living in Milwaukee. Her birth occurred here and her father was Andrew Kuemmerlein, a native of Germany. Her parents lived to the advanced age of ninety years.

Herbert Fred Grundmann is indebted to the public schools of his birthplace for his early education and upon its completion he entered the business world as an apprentice in the dental manufacturing company of Bunde & Upmeyer. For seventeen years he remained in their employ, becoming thoroughly familiar with every phase of the work and in 1919 he determined to enter the business on his own account, with the result that in association with William F. Bartels he incorporated the present company, known as the Bartels-Grundmann Dental Manufacturing Company. The company makes all sorts of proscetic work for dentists in Milwaukee and throughout the United States, and Mr. Grundmann is considered an expert on bridge work. The business of the com- pany is steadily increasing and each year sees a great output and a more substantial profit. A large measure of the success which the business is enjoying is attributable to the president, who has heen a persistent, resolute and energetic worker.

On the 7th of May, 1910, occurred the marriage of Mr. Grundmann and Miss Emma Kuemmerlein. a daughter of George Kuemmerlein of Milwaukee. For forty years her father was identified with the Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company but retired in 1921. He is a native of Milwaukee but his parents were German born. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Grundmann: Robert and Paul, both of whom have passed away; and Lillian and Kenneth.

In politics Mr. Grundmann follows an independent course, voting for the man he thinks best fitted for the office, without regard for party principles. His religious faith is that of the Lutheran church and fraternally he is an Elk, having membership in Milwaukee Lodge, No. 46. For recreation Mr. Grundmann turns to the great out- doors and he is particularly fond of hunting, motoring, etc. Mrs. Grundmann is well known in the musical circles of the city, being a pianist of ability. She graduated from the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music and has made many public appearances.

JOHN THOMAS MEREDITH.

For more than four decades John Thomas Meredith was a resident of Milwaukee and throughout practically this entire period occupied a position of leadership in connection with the great industrial interests of the city. He was born in Wolver- hampton, England, on the 5th of July, 1840, and was reared in his native land. coming to the United States in 1867 with his wife and four children. He was an engineer in calorics and at different periods resided at Youngstown, Ohio, at Chicago and at Bay View, Wisconsin, becoming identified with the Milwaukee Iron Company as engineer in calorics. He remained with that company until it was merged with the Chicago Rolling Mill Company, now the United States Steel Corporation, and represented the interests of that business until his death, which occurred February 21, 1911.

Mr. Meredith was also the president of the Meredith Brothers Company, which was organized in 1891 and incorporated in 1901. The company was established for the purpose of conducting a general contracting business and with the incorporation John T. Meredith became president, with Richard Meredith as secretary and George S. Meredith as treasurer. In 1903 George S. Meredith became both secretary and treasurer, and at the time of the death of John T. Meredith, the president, Richard. George S. and H. Samuel Meredith were all identified with the business. They are contractors, huilders and engineers in caloric and fire brick layers, making a specialty of heavy construction for manufacturing plants and erecting blast furnaces, heating furnaces, malleable melting furnaces, open hearth steel furnaces and annealing furnaces. Fol. Ift-11

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John T. Meredith enjoyed the distinction of being the first builder of malleable iron furnaces in Milwaukee and the northwest and he also erected the great steel plant in South Chicago. His labors were a most valuable contributing element to the in- dustrial development and progress of this section of the country and in fact the worth of his work can scarcly be overestimated.

Mr. Meredith was married ere leaving England to Miss Sarah Ann Swain, a native of Wolverhampton, England, and a daughter of Samuel Swain, a mining en- gineer who in his later years located at Bay View, Wisconsin. To Mr. and Mrs. Meredith were born seven sons and three daughters. Richard Meredith, who was, born in 1866, in England, died in 1916. He became president of the Meredith Brothers Company on the death of his father and at his demise he left a widow, who in her maidenhood was Lucy Bartel, and two children, George and Richard, the former now connected with the business as successor to his father, while Richard is in the United States navy. George S. Meredith, the second son of the family, was born at 103 Lincoln avenue in Bay View, December 28, 1870. He acquired his early education there, attending the public schools, and later he entered Marquette College, from which he was gradu- ated in 1887. He then took up the study of caloric engineering under his father and later became identified with the Illinois Steel Company, with which he continued until the present company was organized in 1891. He has been actively interested in the business continuously since and is now the secretary and treasurer. On the 24th of February, 1890, he married Charlotte D. James, a daughter of John Green James, who was of Irish lineage and settled in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, in 1837. His family were connected with the shingle industry. H. Samuel Meredith, the third son of the family, was born April 10, 1874, in Bay View, and having attended the public schools of that place, he continued his education in Beloit College at Beloit, Wisconsin, where he won his Bachelor of Arts degree. He then took up caloric engineering under his father's direction and also worked with the Illinois Steel Company, thus gaining broad and valuable experience that splendidly qualified him for the onerous duties that now devolve upon him as the vice president of the Meredith Brothers Company. He married Isabelle Drake, daughter of Charles P. Drake, a banker of Clinton Junc- tion, Wisconsin.

The Meredith Brothers Company, in which the three brothers are closely associated in their business interests, has built more than half of the manufacturing and power plants of Milwaukee, including those of the Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company, the Nordberg Manufacturing Company, the Filer & Stowell Company, the Worthington Pump & Machinery Corporation and the Commerce Street power house of the Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light Company. They also built the plant of the Vilter Manu- facturing Company and others of Milwaukee and the Newport Chemical Company at Carrollville, Wisconsin. The business, constantly developing, has now reached mammoth proportions and figures most conspicuously in connection with the industrial develop- ment of the upper Mississippi valley.

In connection with public affairs the family has always occupied a progressive position, for their support is given to all plans and projects for the general good. George S. Meredith served for four years as alderman from the seventeenth ward and was on the public land commission for two years. He exercised his official preroga- tives in support of many projects of benefit to Milwaukee and his cooperation can at all times be counted upon for interests of public benefit. Fraternally he is a Mason of high rank, belonging to Lake Lodge No. 189, F. & A. M .; Lake Chapter, R. A. M .; Galilee Commandery, K. T .; Wisconsin Consistory, A. A. S. R .; and Tripoli Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. His name is also on the membership rolls of the Milwaukee Athletic Club and the Wisconsin Club and his social qualities make for popularity in the circles in which he moves.

VICTOR L. BROWN.

Lawyer, lumberman, manufacturer and traveler-in these few words are summed up the life history of Victor L. Brown, a prominent citizen of Milwaukee, whose success has brought to him that larger leisure that permits of the cultivation of those interests which are of intellectual and cultural worth and value. His life story, most simply and concisely told, is as follows:

"Victor L. Brown was born August 29, 1872, and lived in Racine until he was nineteen years old. He was educated in the University of Wisconsin and Harvard University and admitted to the bar in 1896. Soon thereafter he entered the law office of Charles Barber at Oshkosh, who was then one of the leading lawyers in that part of the state. The following year found him in Milwaukee engaged on his own account in the practice of the law, which he pursued until 1908. While so occupied he be- came interested in the lumber business in Alabama and Florida and a considerable portion of his time from 1898 to 1908 was devoted to that industry. The years from

VICTOR L. BROWN

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1908 to 1911 were spent in study and travel covering various parts of the world. In 1911 he became interested in the Sterling Motor Truck Company of Milwaukee and was later made its president, which position he held until 1920, when he retired to devote his time to private and professional interests which continued to lay greater claims upon his time. Mr. Brown is a member of the Milwaukee Club and the Milwaukee Athletic Club and a number of civic, fraternal and charitable organizations. During the war he served in the capacity of legal adviser of the Selective Service System. He was married in 1908 to Harriet Katherine Zens and is the father of two daughters, Victoria Frances Brown and Nancy Harriet Brown."

One may read between the lines of this brief summary and gain a clear insight into the qualities which have made Victor L. Brown what he is. He entered upon a profession in which advancement depends entirely upon individual merit and ability and made for himself a most creditable position as a member of the bar. He proved equally forceful and resourceful in his operations as a lumberman and in the manage- ment and control of one of the important motor car industries of the country. He has never allowed business affairs, however, so to monopolize his time as to exclude opportunity for acquaintance with those interests which are of intellectual and cultural worth. He has fully met every duty and every obligation of life, and study and experience have constantly broadened his vision and enlarged his field of appreciation and of purpose.

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History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume III, Part 17

Author: Bruce, William George, 1856-1949; Currey, J. Seymour (Josiah Seymour), b. 1844 Publication date: 1922 Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 912

Author: Bruce, William George, 1856-1949; Currey, J. Seymour (Josiah Seymour), b. 1844
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 912