History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume III, Part 69

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 69

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recognized something of the opportunities of the business. His vision was broad, his determination unfaltering and his energy indefatigable. He believed that people desired better milk, handled under more sanitary conditions and with greater effi- ciency. In his boyhood he had frequently visited dairy farms near the city where milk was produced under ideal conditions and he recognized the fact that milk from the cows on these farms was better than the average and he also understood the fact that in supplying customers with superior milk he would have no difficulty in securing trade. The correctness of his judgment was soon manifest in the result that followed his labors when he became part owner in a dairy plant. Into the en- terprise he infused his ideas, his industry and his energy. He held to the highest

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TRAPP BROS. DAIRY CO.

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standards and from the beginning the company has made it its purpose to know that conditions on the farms where milk is secured are the best possible. There is care- ful inspection of the cows and conditions of the premises and the most advanced standards of sanitation are maintained. The same law holds good in the plant in Milwaukee. Every department receives personal attention from individual mem- bers of the firm and evidence of the practical results of this policy is abundantly found in the offices of the company in the form of diplomas and numerous prize ribbons. The Milwaukee Department of Health recently awarded a "Diploma of Merit in official recognition of the superior merit in quality and distribution of pasteurized milk."

The plant of the Trapp Brothers Dairy Company is a daylight building which houses the retail store, general offices and mechanical departments, and near by stands a commodious garage. At the side and rear of the main plant are spacious covered driveways for the accommodation of the trucks that bring the milk from the country and for the loading of the delivery wagons. There is a schoolroom supplied for new delivery salesmen and here are discussed all of the problems that arise between salesmen and customers. The policy of the house is here worked out and the highest standards of service are maintained. One of the attractive features of the place is the laboratory and here it is found that the bacteria count has been reduced to an almost negligible quantity when ganged by the standards set by the state law. There is adequate space and equipment for the clarifying and pasteuriz- ing of the milk and all bottles are thoroughly washed, cleansed and sterilized, after which they are carried on an automatic conveyor into the filling room, a segregated room of white tile with two sides of plate glass and a glass enclosed balcony at one end. In this room two evenly timed filling and capping machines receive the empty bottles from the cases and place them one by one in position under the filling tanks, where each bottle is automatically raised to a valve and held there while it travels around with the tank, filling very gradually all the time. The striking thing about the entire plant is the fact that from the time the milk is poured from the cans in which it was shipped from the farms, through the processes of clarifying, pasteuriz- ing, cooling, bottling and capping, it is never exposed to the air nor does the human hand come in contact with it. The company not only handles milk but also cream and buttermilk and special grades of milk and engages in the manufacture of butter, where the equipment is equivalent to that previously described. Cottage cheese is also one of the products of milk which is in ever-growing demand and the plant has large facilities for producing this in quantity. One of the local papers has said that "the triumph of merit" might well be selected by the Trapp Brothers Dairy Company as a slogan. There is no smoking in the Trapp Brothers plant, which today covers an entire block. Another sanitary feature of the Trapp dairy and a thing that demonstrates its foresight in this regard is the fact that its stable is located away from the main plant, so that there is no chance of contamination. More than one hundred horses are needed to deliver the Trapp products. The plant is always open for the inspection of the public and it is visited by people from all parts of the country. Robert Trapp remains as president of the corporation, while his brother Paul is associated with him as vice president and superintendent of the mechanical departments, Theodore as secretary and treasurer and Walter as assistant to Paul, having supervision of the delivery salesmen. It will readily be appreciated that an organization of experienced men functioning as the respon- sible directors of every detail of operation insures a degree of service and quality that is impossible under the usual condition of only remote connection with details by the owners. Nor should the employes in general, whether serving in the plant or offices or as delivery salesmen on the outside, be overlooked in this connection. Many of them have been with the business for years, most of the foremen have risen from the ranks and developed with the expanding business. The content- ment and hearty cooperation of the entire force are the daily concern of the execu- tives. To the end that their comfort and welfare be conserved, rest rooms, shower baths, individual lockers and many other conveniences have been provided. The rapid growth of the business may well be attributed to the personal interest of the owners in the welfare of their employes as well as their customers-homely qualities of honest purpose to serve, that have drawn from the public the inevitable response that has expanded the business so rapidly.

ROBERT P. BERGWALL, M. D.

Dr. Robert P. Bergwall. one of the younger representatives of the medical pro- fession in Milwaukee who is fast forging to the front by reason of his comprehensive knowledge of the principals of medicine and surgery and his ability in applying these principles to the needs of his patients, was born on the south side of the city on the

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HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE

13th of February, 1893, and is the only living son of Edward Bergwall, who is of Swedish descent. He is a prominent wholesale merchant of Milwaukee and the family home is maintained at Hartland, twenty-five miles from the city.

Dr. Bergwall was reared at Hartland, pursuing his high school course in the Howe Military School of Indiana, where he spent four years. Following his return home he devoted four years to an academic course of study in Marquette University, from which he was graduated with the Bachelor of Science degree in 1915. He likewise took a pre- medical course in Marquette University and afterward continued his medical studies in St. Louis, attending the St. Louis University Medical College, from which he was graduated with the M. D. degree in 1920. He then served as an interne in the Alexian Brothers Hospital of St. Louis and afterward in the Alexian Brothers Hospital of New York. Subsequently he became assistant to Dr. J. H. Voje of the Waldheim Park Sanitarium at Oconomowoc, where he spent six months, after which he opened his office in Milwaukee and through the intervening period has enjoyed a good practice. He is now on the staffs of the Marquette Dispensary and Milwaukee Children's Hos- pital, also the Hanover General Hospital and in addition he has a large and gratifying private practice. He belongs to the Milwaukee County Medical Society, the Wisconsin State Medical Society, the Tri-State Medical Society and the American Medical Association.

Dr. Bergwall is a communicant of the Roman Catholic church and belongs to the Knights of Columbus. He also has membership with the Modern Woodmen and he finds his chief recreation in music, being one of the well known tenor singers of the city, possessing an excellent voice which adds to the pleasure of many social and public occasions.

ALFRED H. EGGERT.

Alfred H. Eggert is of the third generation of the Eggert family connected with the furniture trade of Milwaukee and at all times their business activity has been the expression of enterprise, indefatigable energy and integrity. Alfred H. Eggert was born in this city March 4, 1879, his parents being Henry and Anna (Buening) Eggert, who are mentioned elsewhere in this work. His education was acquired in the parochial and public schools of the city and he also attended the Spencerian Business College, acquainting himself with commercial methods and gaining knowledge of large value to him in the conduct of his business affairs in later years. In 1894, when a youth of fifteen, he entered the furniture house of E. Eggert & Sons, the senior partner being his grandfather, while the two sons were his father and his uncle, Henry and Herman Eggert. The grandfather withdrew in 1900 and in 1912 Alfred H. Eggert and his brother Richard purchased the business, which they have since successfully con- ducted. Theirs is not only one of the oldest commercial establishments of the city but has always maintained a place of leadership in trade circles. They have ever en- deavored to hold to the highest standards in the personnel of the house, in the line of goods carried and in the treatment accorded patrons and thus their business has grown year by year.

In 1912 Mr. Eggert was united in marriage to Miss Anna Schultz, a daughter of John Schultz, one of the pioneer settlers and business men of Milwaukee. They have become parents of one child, Lorraine. Mr. Eggert and his family are members of the Trinity Lutheran church and they are well known throughout the city, where the family has long occupied an enviable social as well as prominent commercial position.

THOMAS CHARLES PHILLIPS, M. D.

Dr. Thomas Charles Phillips, specializing in the treatment of diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, has devoted his attention to this field of practice in Milwaukee since 1888 and previous thereto had spent a year as assistant to the chair of ophthal- mology and otology in the University of Michigan. A native of Wisconsin, he was born on a farm at Boise Prairie, near Lancaster, the youngest in a family of six children whose parents were Thomas and Mary Ann (Kent) Phillips, both of whom were natives of Penzance, England. In that country they were reared, educated and married and their eldest children were born ere they left England for the new world. The voyage across the Atlantic was made about 1850 and for several years they resided in Canada before coming to the United States. On crossing the border they located in Wisconsin. This was in the year 1855 and they took up their abode upon a homestead at Boise Prairie. There the father, with the assistance of his eldest son, developed a farm in the midst of the forest and in the cultivation of his crops provided for the support of his household. His wife passed away in the year 1888, while the death of Mr. Phillips

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occurred the following year. Three of their six children survive, Dr. Phillips being the only living son, while his two sisters are: Mrs. Elizabeth Penhallegon of Detroit; and Mrs. Mary Soddy, living at Calumet, Michigan.

Dr. Phillips was very young when his parents removed from Boise Prairie to Calumet, Michigan, where he was reared from the age of five years. His early educa- tion was acquired in the schools of that place and in young manhood he took up the profession of teaching, which he followed for three years. He prepared for collegiate work by study in the high school at Ann Arbor and subsequently became a student in the University of Michigan, in which he continued his studies for six years, spending four years in academic work and two years as a medical student. He was accorded the Bachelor of Science degree in 1885 and his professional degree in 1887.

The following year Dr. Phillips came to Milwaukee and for five and a half years was the assistant of Dr. Joseph Schneider, the famous oculist, who is still practicing his profession in this city. On the 1st of January, 1894, he discontinued his professional relationship with Dr. Schneider and since that time has practiced his specialty in- dependently. In 1894 he went abroad, spending a year and a half in Europe, studying in London, Paris, Berlin and Vienna, where he did postgraduate work along the line of his specialty. He has made two trips to Europe since that time but for pleasure only. He was professor of ophthalmology and otology in the Wisconsin College of Physicians and Surgeons for several years and later was dean of the same school. He belongs to the Milwaukee County Medical Society, the Wisconsin State Medical Society and the . American Medical Association and at all times he keeps fully abreast with the work of the profession along the lines of scientific research, investigation and discovery. During the World war he served as a volunteer on the local examining board.

On the 10th of Jannary, 1889. Dr. Phillips was married to Miss May Wheedon and they have one daughter, Helen Mary, who is a graduate of Mount Vernon Seminary of Washington, D. C., completing her course there with the class of 1921. Dr. Phillips belongs to the Congregational church and he has membership in the Milwaukee Club, the Milwaukee Country Club and the Fox Point Country Club, finding his chief recrea- tion in a game of golf.

HON. JOHN J. GREGORY.

Hon. John J. Gregory, circuit judge of Milwaukee, presiding over branch No. 3. was born December 1, 1872. in the city which is still his home, his parents being George K. and Mary ( Halloran ) Gregory. The father was a native of Ireland and the mother of the Empire state, and the year 1855 witnessed their arrival in Milwaukee. The father was a civil engineer, who engaged in the practice of his profession here and also took active part in public affairs, serving during the Civil war period as justice of the peace and also at one time as a member of the state legislature. He died in the year 1890, but the mother is still living.

Judge Gregory pursued his early education in the public schools of Milwaukee and studied law at night in the Milwaukee Law school, now a part of the Marquette Uni- versity. He was admitted to practice in 1895 and entered upon the active work of the profession alone. Later he formed a partnership with Thomas H. Dorr under the firm style of Dorr & Gregory and enjoyed a constantly increasing clientage until elected judge of the civil court in 1910, sitting upon that bench until his election to the cir- cuit bench in 1915. He has tried many important cases, and his decisions are charac- terized by the utmost fairness and impartiality. The ideal judge is the one who can submerge all personal feelings, prejudice or opinion as displayed only by the evidence and the law applicable thereto. Such a judge is John J. Gregory as manifest in all of his reported opinions. He passed through the struggle which must precede ascendancy. He acted as secretary of the fire police commission from 1899 until 1910 and worked in the Milwaukee post office prior to that time, securing a position there when a youth of but fifteen years. He continued to serve in the Milwaukee post office until admitted to the bar and thus provided the expenses of his law education. Previous to this he had sold newspapers at the postoffice corner when a boy. He is indeed a self made man and one who deserves great credit for what he has accomplished as he has always used his time and talents wisely and well. He belongs to the Mil- waukee County. the Wisconsin State and the American Bar Associations and enjoys the high regard of his contemporaries and colleagues in the profession.

In 1896 Judge Gregory was married to Miss Josephine Whitehead, a native of Mil- waukee and a daughter of R. D. Whitehead, of the Humane Society.

Judge Gregory belongs to the Milwaukee Athletic Club and to various fraternal organizations. He took a most active interest in' all war work, doing everything in his power to support the Federal government and promote the welfare of the soldiers in camp and overseas. In 1911 Marquette University conferred upon him the LL. B. degree. His political allegiance has always been given to the democratic party, and for

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six years he was a member of the democratic county central committee. Since going upon the bench, however, he has not taken an active part in politics, although still a student of all vital political problems and questions of the day as well as of the science of government.

AUGUST F. GALLUN.

August F. Gallun, who was the senior partner of the firm of A. F. Gallun & Sons almost to the time of his demise, belonged to that class of citizens who owe their success to individual efforts, business ability and indefatigable energy. He was a native of Ger- many, born May 30, 1834, at Osterwieck A Harz, where his forefathers for several gen- erations had been engaged in the tanning business and he also became a disciple of the same industry. During his boyhood the German revolution of 1848 took place, which for a time created in the hearts of his countrymen the hope and expectation of a free and liberal government. In this they were soon disappointed but the young man, during his travels as a journeyman, learned much of America and its institutions. This so fired bis imagination that he determined to make his future home in this land and at the first opportunity, which was created with difficulty, departed. Arriving at New York in bis twentieth year, he made his way to Yonkers, where he found employment at his trade until the spring of 1855. Then he moved westward to Chicago and after a brief period came to Milwaukee, where he completed his education and was engaged in various employments until the fall of 1858. By this time, through industry and thrift, he had accumulated sufficient capital to enable him to establish a modest business of bis own. Year by year he developed and enlarged his interests until the business became one of extensive proportions. Through ability combined with painstaking effort and originality he achieved the reputation of being one of the foremost leather men of the country. Toward the end of the century he relinquished the leadership of the business to his son, Albert, who has been at the helm until the present time, following the tradi- tions established by the father. In this be was ably assisted by his younger brother, Arthur, whose untimely death occurred in 1921.

In 1864 August F. Gallun was united in marriage to Miss Julia Kraus, who came to America with her parents in 1849, when but a young girl. Four children were born of this marriage: Albert F., Ella, Edwin A. and Arthur H. Of this family Edwin met with accidental death at the age of twenty-two years.

The appreciation felt by August F. Gallun for the blessings of a government giving liberty and opportunity to all was shown constantly by his efforts at Americanization of all employes and others of foreign origin, and this during times when such effort was not so general nor so much appreciated as it has become these latter days. He was also deeply interested in having his employes acquire homes of their own and spent much time and effort in assisting them in such ambition.

In his political views Mr. Gallun was a republican where national questions and issues were involved but at local elections cast an independent ballot, supporting the men whom he regarded as best qualified to care for the business interests of city and state. He belonged to the Masonic fraternity, having membership in Wisconsin Lodge, No. 13, A. F. & A. M., and at all times was a loyal follower of the teachings and pur- poses of the craft. He passed away in 1912, and in his death Milwaukee lost an eminent citizen, one who had figured prominently in her manufacturing and financial circles and who by reason of the worth of his work and his great activity through many years had left an indelible impress upon the history of the city.

SILAS HENRY KORTMEYER.

Silas Henry Kortmeyer, secretary of the Hammersmith-Kortmeyer Company, photo engravers and printers of Milwaukee and Chicago, is an alert, energetic business man, who has proven himself a dynamic force in the conduct of the enterprise with which he is now associated. A native of Wisconsin, he was born in Sharon, March 17, 1875. His father, the late Rev. Simon Kortmeyer, was of German birth and emigrated to the United States when but a hoy of eighteen, studied for the clergy at the Northwestern College, Naperville, Illinois, and was ordained a minister of the German Evangelical Association. His life was one of great usefulness and benefit to his fellowmen in establishing higher moral standards and in securing the adoption of those principles of right and justice which must constitute the basic foundation of character. He married Katherine Funk, who was born in Richland, Wisconsin, the daughter of William Funk, a Dakota farmer, who lived to the ripe old age of ninety-five years. She was a true Christian mother, a homebuilder, belpmate and church worker. Mrs. Simon Kort- meyer has also passed away, her death occurring at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1906.

AUGUST F. GALLEN

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Silas H. Kortmeyer pursued his early education in the schools of Neenah, Sheboygan and Oshkosh, Wisconsin, as his parents removed from place to place that his father might accept pastorates in various towns. He attended the Oshkosh Business College and his first situation was an appointment that came to him through Governor Scofield, making him a member of the commissary department of the Wisconsin state institutions. He served as storekeeper at the Northern Hospital at Oshkosh for a period of four years, after which he was the chief accountant for the William Steinmeyer Grocery Company of Milwaukee for five years. The various experiences which came to him as he occupied these positions well qualified him to assume the duties of manager in the printing business.

In 1901, together with his brother, Benjamin Kortmeyer, and Paul Hammersmith, he became associated with the Dawe Brothers Printing Company, operating under the name of the Kortmeyer Printing Company for a time and then merging with the Hammersmith Engraving Company, which was reorganized and incorporated as the Hammersmith-Kortmeyer Company, the present firm style. Mr. Kortmeyer has always been the secretary of both Milwaukee and Chicago companies and the success of the undertakings of these concerns is attributable in large measure to his executive ability, administrative powers, and thorough understanding of every phase of the business. He' is a most ardent promoter and advocate of the open shop movement in the printing industry, and his activities in this direction were recognized during the recent strike when the master printers elected him secretary and treasurer of the printing and allied industries division of the Milwaukee Employers' Council. He is an active member of the Milwaukee Typothetae, a master printers' organization, and the Milwaukee Association of Com- merce. He believes in justice and opportunity for all and is just as strongly opposed to oppressive measures of capital as he is to the domination of labor unions. In his own establishment every individual has a fair chance to make good and each employe recog- nizes the fact that capability and fidelity on his part means promotion as opportunity offers.

On the 18th of May, 1909, Mr. Kortmeyer was united in marriage to Miss Julia Mand of Milwaukee, a daughter of Conrad Mand, who was born in New York city. Mr. and Mrs. Kortmeyer are members of the Immanuel Presbyterian church, and in political belief he is a republican but has never been an active party worker. He is a Mason and a Pythian, being a member of Kenwood Lodge. No. 303, F. & A. M., and the Wis- consin Lodge, No. 1, Knights of Pythias. He belongs to a number of social and civic clubs and is interested in all that has to do with high civic standards, general progress and improvement.

He received a certificate from the government for his participation in all the Loan drives during the World war in 1916, doing everything in his power to advance American interests and promote the cause of the Allied forces in the fields. He is a lover of out- door sports, especially baseball and motoring, but he finds his greatest happiness and contentment at his own fireside.

HUBERT J. LEAR.

Hubert J. Lear, president of the Lear-Diel Droegkamp Company, started out to pro- vide for his own support by selling newspapers. Not by leaps and bounds has he reached his present creditable position in the business world but by a steady progres- sion that has resulted from indefatigable industry and perseverance. He has spent his entire life in Milwaukee, and his record is as an open book which all may read. He was born June 16, 1889, his parents being Joseph and Mary ( Konrath) Lear, who were also natives of this state, where the father engaged in the contracting and building business for a number of years. He died in 1915 and is still survived by his widow.

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History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume III, Part 69

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