USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume III > Part 71
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In addition to the demand for appraisal work covering properties on the ground, the company has developed a special department for the valuation of property in the ground. This work lies mainly in connection with the valuation of natural deposits and requires the special training of an engineering appraiser. Such a department is organized and has had extensive experience in the valuation of all types of deposits, such as oil fields, coal, iron and copper mines, lime stone, trap rock, shale and clay de- posits. The valuation of timber holdings and water rights is also conducted by this department.
With the passing of the federal income and excess profits tax laws in 1913 another important field for appraisal service developed. This work involves many special conditions never before covered in an appraisal report. It must furthermore be com- piled in accordance with the requirements of the treasury department. To handle this retrospective appraisal service, as it is called, a further specialized personnel had to be trained. There are four general usages for which appraisal reports can be used in this connection. These are for the determination of invested capital, the basis of de- preciation or depletion, the basis of amortization of war equipment, and for the determination of taxable profit or loss on sale.
In the compilation of the old Doomsday Book the values were employed for tax assessment purposes. Modern political science has become aware of the need for dis- interested valuation service for the equalization of taxes. Such equalization has always
N
A. L. GEBHARDT
A. L .. GERHARDT & Co.
Leather
Established 1900
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HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE
been attempted by the various assessors but due to the establishment of "opinion values," and political corruption, injustice has been done and unfair taxes levied. The company has served in many cases of litigation in this connection both for the corporations and for the governmental bodies. The most forward step in this direction was recently made by a city in the east, who had this company compile a complete valuation of all taxable property, so that assessment could be made fair to all tax payers.
In the early experience of the company it was believed that occasional revisions of appraisals were sufficient to keep them up-to-date. With the rapid growth of business institutions and the increase in the speed of communication, this position by the com- pany was proven inadequate. It then devised a system whereby its appraisal could be maintained up-to-date, and reflect present conditions at all times. After several ex- periments this new service was developed in 1914 and the department known as the continuous service department organized. Through the continuous service all actual changes in the property as well as any fluctuations in property values are recorded and the client advised of them through a supplementary report.
A great deal of the success of the company is due to the inspiration and perspira- tion of the founders, the late Mr. John Leonard Moon and Mr. William Monroe Young, with their associates Messrs. W. V. Young, O. F. Hiemke, L. H. Olson, F. S. Olson, and A. F. Bailey.
Mr. Moon was born in a log house at Rosendale, Wisconsin, in the year 1867. He attended the district school of his days and helped his father with his duties as county assessor, thus obtaining a fundamental knowledge of valuation work at an early age. After finishing his training in the district school, he went to boarding school in northern New York, from which he later graduated. He then returned to Wisconsin, where for two terms he was a pedagogue in a district school. Later he went to St. Paul, entered a law office and remained there for some nine years. It was in this city that he met Mr. W. M. Young and together they conceived the idea which was to develop into the appraisal ,business.
As the late president of the company Mr. Moon was a tireless worker, deep student and inspiration to all who came in contact with him. His was the gift of making friends instantly wherever he went and of being a natural leader of men. With his sudden death on January 1, 1922, the company lost a man who had been its president for seventeen years and one who had been a dominant force in the growth and de- velopment of the organization.
Mr. Young also was a product of a Wisconsin log house. During his younger days he worked at the customary chores of a farmer lad. He served as a private during the Civil war and after he was mustered out he hired out as a farmer. Finding this life monotonons he sought adventure in California. It was quite the thing in those days for a young man to go west to seek his fortune. He next went to Nevada, where at Pioche he learned the methods of mining in use at that time and he soon became a shift hoss. Returning to Wisconsin, he spent seven years in the milling business and later-in 1880-went to St. Paul to represent a lime and cement company. Next he started in business for himself as vice president of the Northwestern Lime Company. This con- cern did a general contracting business though mainly railroad work and the laying of water mains. The business prospered and while so engaged he obtained a wide experi- ence in construction costs, which stood him well in hand in his later experience in the appraisal field. In the early days of the company it was his function to explain this newly developed service to property owners and the rapid strides which have been made are in no small way attributable to his hard work in the contract department. For many years he has been the financial watch dog of the company, the position of treasurer heing one he still holds.
The present secretary, Mr. Oscar F. Hiemke, began with the company as a book- keeper in 1903. Born in Milwaukee he received his early schooling here, which was followed by courses in accountancy and law. His first business experience came during the six years he was connected with the Milwaukee Harvester Company. In 1905 he was elected secretary of the American Appraisal Company, an office which he has successfully held for many years.
Mr. William Victor Young, first vice president, was born in St. Paul. His educa- tional training was received in Milwaukee schools. Having a natural mechanical inclination, he associated himself with the. P. B. Yates Machine Company until 1906, when he joined the American Appraisal Company. A year later he was placed in charge of the St. Louis branch office and later transferred to Chicago, now one of the most important branch offices. As an officer he has general supervision of the entire contract department. Mr. L. H. Olson, like most of the other officers, is a Wisconsin man by birth. He attended school at Berlin, Wisconsin, which was followed by em- ployment in Superior. Soon after he was engaged as an architect in Milwaukee by Bueming & Dick. While so engaged, the work of the American Appraisal Company on a large hotel here. came to his notice. The possibilities and opportunities attracted him and he immediately joined the architectural staff. Later he organized the architec-
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HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE
tural pricing department and in a few years was given full authority as manager in charge of operations. His imagination and construction thought have resulted in some of the most progressive steps in the company's history.
Mr. F. S. Olson experienced the same early training as his brother, Mr. L. H. Olson. Being partially guided by his older brother, he did not desire outside training before associating himself with the company. He joined the staff in 1898 as a field ap- praiser and rose rapidly through many positions in the field and office, until 1909, when he became superintendent in charge of the field staff. His work as an intensive thinker and an able handler of men won him further promotion in 1914 to general superin- tendent, and recently, upon the death of Mr. J. L. Moon he was elected president of the company.
Mr. A. F. Bailey, vice president, was born in Sommerville, Massachusetts, in 1881. Nine years later the family moved to Illinois, where he received his training in the schools and colleges of that state. Early after graduation, upon learning of the in- teresting work of an appraiser, he was attracted to the American Appraisal Company and joined the staff in 1899. His early travels and hard work as an appraiser were rewarded in 1909, when he was made office manager. In 1914 he became superintendent. He has recently won further promotion with his election as vice president in general charge of production.
Under the guidance and work of these pioneers the company has enjoyed a steady and rapid growth until today it is the largest organization devoted exclusively to valuation work. Over seventeen thousand properties, having a total value of over four billion dollars, have been appraised hy the company and an "American Appraisal" is today recognized as a standard authority on physical values.
EDWARD UHRIG DEMMER.
Edward Uhrig Demmer, vice president, and treasurer of the Milwaukee Western Fuel Company, was born in Milwaukee, October 24, 1887. His father, Lawrence Dem- mer, a native of Darmstadt, Germany, came to the United States in childhood with his parents. He was engaged in the fuel business in Milwaukee during the greater part of his life and for some time conducted his interests under the name of the B. Uhrig Fuel Company, which was afterward merged into the Milwaukee Western Fuel Company. Mr. Demmer was a prominent figure in Masonic circles, attaining the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite, and was also a member of the Mystic Shriue. He held nearly all of the offices in the Odd Fellow's lodge, was a member of the Knights of Pythias and one of the charter members of the Calumet Club, proving an active member thereof from the beginning. In fact he exerted a widely felt influence in the various organizations with which he was identified and his progressiveness was one of the marked features of his life. He passed away May 9, 1903. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Emma Uhrig, is still living in Milwaukee, where her birth occurred. She is a daughter of Bernhard Uhrig, of the firm of Uhrig & Davel, prominent in con- nection with the fuel trade of Milwaukee for many years. Bernhard Uhrig was born in Ottesdorf, Germany, and came to this city at an early day.
Edward U. Demmer was educated in the public schools of Milwaukee and in the East Side high school, from which he was graduated with the class of 1908. He after- ward attended the University of Wisconsin, pursuing a course in general science, aud during his college days became a member of the Beta Theta Pi. He also attended the Spencerian Business College and in January, 1911, became identified with the fuel business, starting to work in the Cherry Street yards of the Milwaukee Western Fuel Company, where he remained for a year or more, while later he was connected with the Canal Street yard in the machine shop for a time. He was also in the office of the Canal Street yard and learned the business in all its details. In 1914 he entered the general offices of the company as a clerk, working in different departments and thoroughly acquainting himself with every phase of the business. He worked upward to the position of assistant cashier, after which he left that department and took charge of the insurance of the company. In 1916 he was chosen secretary and in December, 1919. became vice president and treasurer.
On the 22d of October, 1919, Mr. Demmer was married to Miss Mae F. Ehlert. a daughter of Fred Ehlert of Milwaukee, and they have one child, Lawrence E., who was born July 11. 1921.
On the 30th of June, 1918, Mr. Demmer left Milwaukee for Fort Riley, Kansas, attached to the Medical Corps of the United States army, and was discharged as a corporal on the 12th of January, 1919. His religious faith is that of the Presbyterian church and he is well known in Masonic circles, belonging to Lafayette Lodge No. 265, F. & A. M .: Calumet Chapter No. 73, R. A. M .; Kilbourn Council, R. & S. M .; Ivanhoe Commandery No. 24. K. T .; Wisconsin Consistory, A. A. S. R .; and Tripoli Temple of
EDWARD U. DEMMER
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HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE
the Mystic Shrine. He is keenly interested in Masonry and the success of its basic principles and has ever been found a worthy exemplar of the teachings of the craft. Mr. Demmer belongs to the Wisconsin Club, to the Association of Commerce, to the Milwaukee Athletic Club and to the Lions Club. He is much interested in athletics and is especially a lover of nature and outdoor life. He has a wide acquaintance in Milwaukee, where bis entire life has been passed.
JOSEPH AMSEL, M. D.
Dr. Joseph Amsel, a physician and surgeon still actively engaged in practice, al- though he has passed the seventy-fifth milestone on life's journey, was born in Warsaw, Poland, February 9, 1847. He was reared and educated in his native country, liberal advantages in the way of college training being accorded him. In 1867 he was gradu- ated from the Imperial University of Warsaw after completing a medical course and he has now practiced his profession successfully for more than a half century, first in Warsaw, Poland, until 1896 and since that time in Milwaukee. For twenty-five years he has practiced on the south side of this city and those who have employed his services have found him a most thoroughly conscientious and capable physician who at all times has kept abreast with the trend of modern professional thought and progress. He is a remarkably well preserved man, and although now seventy-five years of age, would readily pass for a man of sixty.
In Warsaw, Poland, in 1867, Dr. Amsel was married but his wife died in 1914, leav- ing a daughter, who is now Mrs. Maurice Michel of Milwaukee, her husband being a well known merchant on Mitchell street in this city. Dr. Amsel has five grandsons: Harry and John Shanberg; and Bernard, LeRoy and Seymour Michel. The two eldest of the five grandsons are the children of a deceased daughter, Mrs. Helen Shanberg, who passed away in 1914. All of the grandsons are in Milwaukee, the two Shanberg brothers, having completed their school work, being now young men in business in this city.
Dr. Amsel is of the Hebrew faith and one of his marked characteristics is his loyalty to any cause which he espouses. He belongs to the Milwaukee County Medical Society and to the Wisconsin State Medical Society and his course has ever commanded for him the respect and confidence of his professional colleagues and contemporaries.
ARTHUR G. ROETHE.
Arthur G. Roethe, income tax consultant of Milwaukee, was born in Whitewater, Wisconsin, December 7, 1873. His father, Edward Roethe, was born in Leipsic, Ger- many, June 4, 1823, and came to the United States in 1848, settling first at Oakwood, Milwaukee county, Wisconsin. He was an expert cabinet maker by trade. Prior to the Civil war he removed to Boscobel, Wisconsin, where he conducted a general store. After his removal to Whitewater, he engaged in the furniture business and lived there up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1891. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Katherine L. Gottfried, was born in Saarbrücken, Germany, March 18, 1836, and when about twelve years of age came to Wisconsin with her parents, the family home being established in Watertown. Later her parents removed to Jefferson, Wis- consin, where they spent their remaining days. The father was a baker by trade, and both he and his wife lived to the notable old age of more than ninety years. Arthur G. Roethe had two brothers: E. L., deceased, who was at one time superintendent of schools of Milwaukee county; and Edward J., who was mayor of Fennimore, Wiscon- sin; was one of the publishers of the Fennimore Times, and member of the Wisconsin State Fair Board.
Arthur G. Roethe pursued his education in the public schools of Whitewater, pass- ing through consecutive grades to the high school and later becoming a student in the State Normal School at that place. In 1894 he entered the newspaper business and in partnership with H. E. Howe (now publisher of the Prairie du Chien Courier) established the Highland ( Wis.) Weekly Press. He sold his interest in that paper in 1897 and became manager of the Fennimore Times, which was owned by his brother, Hon. Henry E Roethe, now state senator from the Sixteenth district. Arthur G. Roethe continued as manager of the Times until the summer of 1899, at which time he returned to Highland and became president of the Kennedy Brothers & Roethe Com- pany, a mercantile enterprise. He was also associated with the Highland Mining Com- pany, which had control, under lease, of all the carbonate of zinc ore-bearing proper- ties at Highland owned by Richard Kennedy, his father-in-law, who at one time was a member of the general assembly of Wisconsin and who was the largest operator of zinc mines in this state Early in 1914 Mr. Roethe was appointed the first revenue
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HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE
agent in Wisconsin under the federal income tax law of 1913 and removed to his headquarters at Milwaukee. In 1916 he was one of twenty-four revenue agents selected by the government from various sections of the United States to verify income tax re- turns of munition manufacturers. He was then known as a munitions agent, In December. 1918, he resigned from the internal revenue service and opened an office in Milwaukee as an income tax consultant. His clientele comprises some of the largest and most important corporations and prominent business men of the state. His staff is composed of former government officials who are experts in every branch of internal revenue laws.
On the 2d of March, 1897, Mr. Roethe was united in marriage to Miss Mary Gertrude Kennedy of Highland, Wisconsin, a daughter of Richard and Emma ( McCrady ) Kennedy. The mother was a native of lowa county and was the first white woman born in Highland. Richard Kennedy was a native of Minersville, Pennsylvania, and afterward with his parents settled in Wisconsin, where he became prominently identi- fied with the zinc industry. The Kennedy family has long occupied a position of dis- tinction in lowa county and the state. Mr. and Mrs. Roethe became the parents of three children: Frances Emily, a student in the University of Wisconsin; Helen Mag- dalen; and Jean Gertrude, a pupil in the West Side high school.
Mr. Roethe has long been interested in politics as a democrat and was supervisor of Highland for a period of ten years. He was chairman for three years of the county board of supervisors of lowa county and chairman of the democratic county committee for several years. He also was chairman of the third congressional district in 1906. In 1908 he was a delegate to the democratic national convention at Denver and in 1912 an alternate delegate to the Baltimore convention when Woodrow Wilson was nominated. His religious faith is that of the Lutheran church, and fraternally he is connected with Madison Lodge, No. 410, B. P. O. E., and with the Modern Woodmen of America. He is also a member of the Milwaukee Athletic Club. He is fond of fish- ing and, in fact, he enjoys all outdoor sports. He is a lover of music, a taste which is inherited by the members of his family, his children having had excellent musical training, especially in piano, all being talented along that line. In the field of his pro- fession, Mr. Roethe has reached a position of leadership, having become a recognized authority upon income tax problems, while the volume of his business has now reached extensive proportions, his clientele numbering many of the most prominent business men and important corporations of the state.
LOUIS A. LECHER.
Louis A. Lecher, actively engaged in law practice in Milwaukee, being now a member of the firm of Bottum, Hudnall, Lecher & McNamara, with offices in the Trust building, was born in this city, March 17, 1880. His father, Paul G. Lecher, is a native of Ger- many but was brought to the United States by his parents when two years of age. He has lived in this city for sixty-seven years and during the major part of the time has been engaged in photography. His wife, Mrs. Mary (Runge) Lecher, was born in Milwaukee.
Louis A. Lecher, the younger of two sons, was educated in the public and high schools of this city and afterward began preparation for the bar, receiving his legal training in the office of the late James G. Jenkins, then United States circuit judge, while acting as his private secretary. He also attended the Milwaukee Law School, and holds an LL. B. degree from Marquette University of Law. Following his thorough preliminary reading he was admitted to practice in December, 1903, since which time he has devoted his attention to his professional interests. He was alone in business for five years and then became associated with what is now the firm of Bottum, Hudnall, Lecher & MeNamara. The practice of the firm is extensive and of a very important character and their position is that of eminent and capable representatives of the bar. Aside from his professional interests Mr. Lecher has become identified with a number of the important husiness enterprises and corporate interests of the city. He is the secretary and one of the directors of the Combined Locks Paper Company, also of the Lake View Paper Company, the American Automobile Company, the E. P. Bacon Com- pany of Milwaukee and also of the Niagara Smelting Corporation of Niagara Falls, New York. His legal knowledge as well as his sound judgment and keen discrimination is proving of great value in the successful conduct of these important business concerns with which he is now associated.
On the 21st of July, 1915, Mr. Lecher was united in marriage to Miss Antoinette Kleinsteiber, a daughter of Mrs. Anna Kleinsteiber and member of one of the old families of this city. Mr. and Mrs. Lecher now have an interesting little daughter, Sylvia, two years of age.
In religious faith Mr. Lecher is a member of the Lutheran church and in political belief is a republican, well informed on the vital questions and issues of the day but
LOUIS A. LECHER
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HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE
without ambition for the honors and emoluments of political office. During the World war he assisted in the loan drives and in various other ways having to do with the successful prosecution of the war and as a speaker was heard upon many topics wherein the public needed to be enlightened as to the real conditions and issues. He is a member of the Milwaukee Club, of the Milwaukee Athletic Club, the American Con- stitutional League and of the Milwaukee County, Wisconsin State and American Bar Associations. His activities turn to all of those interests which make for the welfare and upbuilding of community, commonwealth and country and he has gained for him- self a creditable position in both professional and business circles.
CARL FRANCIS SCHIEDEL, M. D.
Dr. Carl Francis Schiedel, who has the distinction of being the first graduate of the Wisconsin College of Physicians and Surgeons, has been continuously engaged in the practice of medicine in Milwaukee since completing his course in that institution, or for a period of twenty-eight years, his office heing at No. 227 Eleventh street. He was born in Germany on the 16th of December, 1871, a son of Adolph and Christina ( Grieger) Schiedel, who in 1888 crossed the Atlantic to the United States and estab- lished their home in Milwaukee. The father, a physician by profession, remained an active and successful practitioner of this city until called to his final rest in 1908, while the mother, surviving her husband for twelve years, passed away in 1920. They became well known and highly esteemed during the period of their residence here, so that many friends mourned their loss. Their son, Rev. Father Paul E. Schiedel, whose birth occurred in 1874, is a Catholic priest located at Lannon, Wisconsin.
Carl F. Schiedel was a youth of seventeen years when he accompanied his parents on their emigration to the new world. His more advanced educational training was received in Marquette College, which conferred upon him the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1891 and that of Master of Arts in 1893. In further preparation for a pro- fessional career he matriculated in the Wisconsin College of Physicians and Surgeons, of which institution he was the first graduate and from which he received the degree of M. D. in 1894. Throughout the intervening period of twenty-eight years he has remained a medical practitioner of Milwaukee and has been engaged in every branch of professional work save that of surgery. He has demonstrated his professional skill and ability in the successful treatment of many difficult cases and has been accorded a constantly growing practice, becoming the loved family physician in many a house- hold. The period of his residence in Milwaukee now covers more than a third of a century and he is widely known as a prominent physician of the city and as a thoroughly loyal son of his adopted land. His religious faith is that of the Roman Catholic church.
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