USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume III > Part 85
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Dr. Purtell, having completed his preliminary education, devoted five years to teach- ing and then became a student in Rush Medical College, from which he was graduated with the class of 1891. He at once began practice and throughout the intervening period - has continued in general practice, although he specializes in surgery and is particularly skillful in that branch. As the years have passed he has taken many postgraduate courses and at all times has kept abreast with the trend of modern professional thought and progress. He is quick to adopt the latest improved methods which his judgment sanctions as of worth in professional work, yet he does not hastily discard the old and time-tried metbods the value of which has been proven in years of successful achieve- ment. He belongs to the Milwaukee Academy of Medicine, the Milwaukee County Medical Society, the Wisconsin State Medical Society, the Tri-State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. Dr. Purtell is not unknown in the educational field, for he is a member of the faculty of the Marquette Medical College and imparts readily and clearly to others the knowledge that he has acquired. He is serving on the staff of Trinity Hospital; has also been on staff of other hospitals in Milwaukee; and was county physician in 1892-1893.
Dr. Purtell has been married twice. In 1897 he wedded Miss Ellen Rice, who de- parted this life in 1915, leaving six children, three sons and three daughters, namely: Lucile, Marion, Regina, Edward, Paul and Joseph. The son Edward served at Base Hos- pital No. 22 in France during the World war. In 1917 Dr. Purtell wedded Miss Antonio Krubsack, a graduate nurse of Milwaukee.
Dr. Purtell is a Roman Catholic in religious faith, having membership in St. John's cathedral, and he is also identified with the Knights of Columbus. He finds his recrea- tion largely in travel, in which he indulges when professional duties permit, but his practice makes very large demand upon his time and energies. He is keenly inter- ested in everything that tends to bring to man a key to the complex mystery which we call life and his marked capability is widely acknowledged by his colleagues and con- temporaries in the profession.
WILLIAM CLYDE MOREHEAD.
William Clyde Morehead is numbered among the prominent and successful business men of Milwaukee, being president of the Great Lakes Boat Building Corporation and the W. C. Morehead Company. He is a native of Glasgow, Missouri, born on the 22d of February, 1885, and is a son of William W. and Nancy (Drake) Morehead. His father was also born in Glasgow, Missouri, and passed away in 1888. Charles Morehead, the progenitor of the family in this country, came to the United States from England in 1630 and settled in Virginia. His grandson was Charles Morehead (II), who was a captain in the colonial wars. The latter's son was Colonel Turner Morehead, who was born in 1757 and moved to Kentucky in 1811 from Virginia. He was in Washington's army during the Revolutionary war and served gallantly in defense of his country. Two of his immediate descendants were governors of Kentucky and another branch of the family furnished North Carolina a governor in 1895. The grandfather of our subject was
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Thomas W. Morehead, who was a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He removed to Missouri when sixteen years of age and acquired agricultural interests, maintaining his home in Glasgow. During the Civil war he served in the Confederate army under General Sterling Price. The father of Nancy Drake, who was born in Carrollton, Mis- souri, was Judge James E. Drake, a man of prominence in civic and professional circles. He was active in Masonic affairs and was a stanch supporter of the democratic party. His father was William Drake, a native of Virginia, who removed to Missouri some time after 1830. The great-grandfather of Mrs. Morehead was William Drake, who served throughout the Revolutionary war in the Seventh Virginia Regiment.
In the acquirement of an education William Clyde Morehead attended the public schools of Carrollton, Missouri, and after graduating from the high school there enrolled in the University of Missouri. There he pursued an electrical engineering course and was graduated in 1908 with the degree of E. E. During his college days he was active in all campus affairs and was a member of Tau Beta Phi fraternity.
The output of pleasure boats by the Great Lakes Boat Building Corporation is in- creasing each year and the corporation is recognized as the largest builder of express cruisers in America. The boats, which are from forty to one hundred and twenty-five feet in length, are sold throughout the world and are noted for the excellent service they give. Mr. Morehead is also president of the W. C. Morehead Company, which is devoted to the manufacture of golf clubs.
The success that Mr. Morehead has attained in conducting both enterprises is the result of his own determined effort and keen business ability. His connection with any undertaking insures a prosperous outcome of the same, for it is his nature to carry forward to successful completion whatever he is associated with. He bas earned for himself an enviable reputation as a careful business man and in his dealings is known for his prompt and honorable methods, which have won him the deserved and unbounded confidence of his fellowmen. Mr. Morehead is a member of the University Club, the Milwaukee Country Club, the Fox Point Country Club, the Milwaukee Athletic Club, the Town Club, the City Club, the New York Club and the Lawyers Club of New York. He was married on the 29th of April, 1922, to Miss Katherine Patterson Boyd.
HARRY T. LUND.
While there is a large percentage in Milwaukee of people of German birth or lineage, other nationalities also are here represented and have contributed in substantial measure to the growth, progress and upbuilding of the city. In this connection mention should be made of Harry T. Lund, a progressive merchant, who is conducting a haberdashery on the second floor of the Merchants & Manufacturers Bank building and an establish- ment of similar character at No. 462 Twelfth street. A native of Norway, he was born in the capital city of Christiania, November 17, 1890. His father, Halfdan C. Lund, is still living in Christiania, near which city he was born, and is engaged in the clothing busi- ness. He married Thea Halvorsen, who also survives.
Harry T. Lund obtained his early education in the public schools of his native city, passing through consecutive grades until he had acquired a high school education, after which he attended the Otto Treider College and the University of Christiania. He was then associated with his father in business until 1914, during which time he gained intimate knowledge of progressive commercial methods and factors of value in the con- duct of the mercantile trade. He had also established an independent side line in carrying imported goods. In 1914 he determined to try his fortune in the new world, and crossing the Atlantic to the United Stites, settled at Blair, Wisconsin, where he became assistant manager in the stores of G. L. Solberg, with whom he remained for about two years. On the expiration of that period he came to Milwaukee and accepted a position in the clothing department of the Espenhain Dry Goods Company. Later he went to Minneapolis, where he remained for a year or more with the Chicago Store, owned by the Holtzerman interests. With his return to Milwaukee he organized the Lion Clothing Company and established business at No. 209 Third street, where he re- mained until May, 1921, when he removed to his present location on Twelfth street. Here he carries on a growing and profitable business under his own name, having a large general line of men's clothing and haberdashery. In December, 1921, he began confining his attention almost exclusively to haberdashery, being engaged in the manu- facture of shirts and underwear, but also makes men's clothing to order. His business is steadily increasing and already has assumed gratifying proportions.
On the 20th of November, 1919, Mr. Lund was married to Miss Edna Seefeld, a daughter of G. A. Seefeld of Milwaukee. In politics he is a republican but not an active party worker. His religions faith is that of the Methodist church and fraternally he is connected with Wisconsin Lodge No. 13. A. F. & A. M., and the Milwaukee Lodge of Elks. He also belongs to the Retail Clothiers Association and is thus active in promoting the general interests of trade. He loves yachting and in Norway sailed his own racing
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boat. He now belongs to the Pewaukee Yacht Club. He likewise derives great enjoy- ment from music, his recreational interests being wisely chosen. He has a military record, for during the war he served with the Sixth Division in the Fifty-fourth Machine Gun Battalion and was mustered out at Camp Wadsworth in South Carolina. He has never had occasion to regret his determination to come to the new world. Leaving his native land when in the twenty-fourth year of his age, he has steadily worked his way upward during the eight years in which he has lived in the United States. Here he has wisely nsed his opportunities and, being still a young man, there is every reason to believe that his future will be one of steady progress.
SIDNEY M. COHEN.
The growth of the city does not depend upon the machinery of government or even upon the men who occupy its public offices as much as it does upon those men who are at the head of its business affairs. Their progress and enterprise are reflected in the constant development of the city, and prominent in this class stands Sidney M. Cohen, president of the Monarch Manufacturing Company. He was born in Milwaukee, May 9, 1872, and is a son of Marcus and Gertrude (Walter) Cohen, the former a native of Germany, while the latter was born in Virginia.
Sidney M. Cohen was educated in the public schools of the Cream city and after his course of study was completed he was employed in his father's mercantile establish- ment for a period of about ten years. In 1907 he became one of the organizers of the Monarch Manufacturing Company in connection with the late Paul Asch. The business was established on a small scale but has grown to be one of the largest of its kind in the country. The building occupied by the company was built by them and is located at No. 80 Chicago street, being a three story and basement structure, two hundred and five by one hundred and eighty-five feet. They manufacture working men's clothing, speci- fied as sheep and blanket lined coats, also mackinaw coats and leather lined garments, selling only to the jobbing trade and to catalogue houses. During the World war they had a large government contract for the manufacture of sheep lined coats for the Siberian expedition and also leather jerkins for general use in the army. This is the only house of the kind in the United States that sells exclusively to jobbers. The busi- ness has steadily grown, their facilities being increased to meet the developing demands of the trade, and the continued expansion of their patronage has made theirs one of the important commercial interests of Milwaukee.
On the 16th of October, 1910, Mr. Cohen was married to Miss Sophia Ballenberg, of Chicago, and they have one daughter, Ruth. They reside at No. 424 Kane place. Mr. Cohen is a member of the Milwaukee Athletic Club, the Wisconsin Club. the Rotary Club, the Elks Club and the Woodlawn Country Club. He finds his recreation in motor- ing and all outdoor sports. His life has been one of intense and intelligently directed activity, which has brought him to the goal of success.
JULIUS PECK.
For almost a third of a century Julius Peck has been identified with the Espenhain Dry Goods Company, of which he is now buyer and department manager. He has been associated with this business throughout the entire period of his residence in Milwaukee, having come to this city on the 4th of March, 1890, while on the 1st of May following he entered the employ of Espenhain & Bartels. He was at that time a youth of sixteen years, his hirth having occurred in Lukawetz, Bohemia, on the 25th of November, 1873, his parents being Bernhard and Emma Peck, who in the year 1888 came to Milwaukee, where the father afterward engaged in the wholesale butchering business.
Julius Peck obtained his education in the schools of his native country and remained in that land until he had reached the age of sixteen years, when he crossed the Atlantic, making his way direct to this city, in which he has since lived and labored. Entering the employ of Espenhain & Bartels, he recognized the fact that in America, just as in other lands, industry wins and he made it his purpose to devote himself closely to the business and gain promotion through fidelity and diligence. The store was at that time located on Third and Prairie streets, while later a removal was made to 407 East Water street. The business was established a number of years before and had been re- organized under the name of the Espenhain & Bartels Dry Goods Company. After the death of John L. Bartels the firm style was changed to the Espenhain Dry Goods Com- pany, this heing adopted in 190S, and a removal was made to Fourth street and Grand avenue, which is the present location of the business. The building now occupied con- sists of five selling floors and basement, while the sixth floor is used for workrooms. For nineteen years Mr. Peck has been buyer and department manager with this house.
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There is no phase of the business with which he is not thoroughly familiar and his promotion has been won by faithfulness, industry and thorough reliability. The present officers of the company are: Theodore Kronshage, Jr., president; Mrs. Flora Ellinger, vice president and general manager; and Frederick M. Hayden, secretary and treasurer. Mrs. Ellinger is the widow of Albert Ellinger, who at one time was one of the heaviest stockholders in the business and who has now passed away. The store has enjoyed a continuous existence and growing success since its doors were first opened by John L. Bartels. It has kept pace with the development of the city and the trend of the times, always employing progressive methods and displaying the latest and best goods that the markets afford. It has long been one of the recognized mercantile establishments of the city, maintaining high standards of service for its patrons, and no history of Milwaukee's commercial development would be complete without reference to the establishment of the Espenhain Dry Goods Company.
JULIUS P. HEIL.
Julius P. Heil, well known and popular in both business and social circles of Mil- waukee, has long been a prominent factor in the industrial activity of the city as the vice president of The Heil Company and also as chief executive officer of the Hydro- Hoist Company. He was born at Duesmond-on-the-Mosel, Germany, July 24, 1876, a son of Frank and Barbara Heil, who were also natives of that place and who came to America in the year 1881. They took up their abode at Prospect Hill, Waukesha county, Wisconsin, where the father successfully devoted his attention to general agri- cultural pursuits until called to his final rest about a quarter of a century ago. The mother passed away about the same time.
Julius P. Heil, the youngest in a family of four children, obtained his education in the public schools of Waukesha county and then began his industrial career as an apprentice in the Herman W. Falk Company of Milwaukee. His energy and ambition early attracted Mr. Falk's attention and the young apprentice lad was soon given a position of minor responsibility. At the age of twenty-two he was sent by his employer to Buenos Aires to introduce the new process of welding rails, first in that city, and then throughout South America. Years of this work made Mr. Heil a recognized expert, and, as a result, when the company which controls the traction lines of New York city decided to adopt the Milwaukee process of welding rails, Julius P. Heil was put on the job. The next four years he spent supervising the welding of the rail joints in all the principal cities of the United States.
Assured by this time of his own technical knowledge and skill as a rail welder, Mr. Heil determined to embark on an undertaking of his own, and in 1901 returned to Milwaukee and organized the Heil Rail Joint Welding Company, of which he became vice president and general manager. This field, however, was limited, and shortly after the company was reorganized under the name of The Heil Company, and began the manufacture of wagon tanks, also constructing tanks, which the local breweries used in the washing of bottles. Then the city of Milwaukee needed iron garhage bodies. The firm which had made such excellent tanks for the various oil companies and breweries, was given the contract.
From this point on The Heil Company, while taking contracts of different kinds, spent most of its efforts in the development of steel tanks. The little frame building on Poplar street, between Fourth and Fifth, soon became too cramped for the growing industry, and in 1908 the present site in Layton Park was taken. Once in the larger quarters, with better transportation facilities, The Heil Company branched out to develop the fabrication of steel, their first contract being the steel frame work for the Butterfly Theatre. This was quickly followed by a number of other contracts, the most important of which was the Wisconsin Hotel.
Shortly after this the United States had occasion to send its army into Mexico, and The Heil Company was called upon to furnish welded water tanks. The prestige which this government order brought, and the triumph of the welded tank under unusually trying conditions, brought a rush of orders, and the Sterling and Four Wheel Drive Auto Company arranged with the firm to develop and manufacture a suitable body for their trucks. The first bodies were a complete success and attracted the attention of many other truck manufacturers throughout the country.
When the United States entered the World war bodies were needed for ammuni- tion trucks. Wood was not strong enough, steel must be used. The pioneer in the industry of manufacturing steel truck bodies proved to be the Wisconsin firm which had started out so inauspiciously in its little shop on Poplar street, to weld rail joints.
On July 14, 1917, General Crozier, chief of the ordnance department, telegraphed and ordered J. P. Heil to be at his office the following morning. He reported and found that the mission was that ammunition bodies were wanted for France. The Heil Company made the drawings, made a sample body, submitted it and all the
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JULIUS P. HEIL
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bodies that were used by the United States army during the World war were made according to the original sample body furnished by The Heil Company. When General Crozier gave Mr. J. P. Heil the first order, C. M. E. No. 1, he asked him where he was born and the answer was "in Prussia." The General then advised Major Wall to "have a name plate put on each body with the name of The Heil Company so that when we enter Prussia those people will see that their own native-born helped to defeat them."
The first order came with the demand that the bodies be ready in twenty days, as time meant everything. The Heil Company responded by having them ready in ten days. The quickness with which the order had been filled led immediately to reorders, first by hundreds, then by thousands, the last order being for four thousand bodies. In addition the first six hundred and fifty heavy duty truck bodies with which the Engineers of the American Expeditionary Forces were equipped, came from The Heil Company.
In the beginning of the war The Heil Company was the first company in Mil- waukee county to have a public flag-raising at its plant, which flag-raising was con- ducted by the Hon. Carl Runge of Milwaukee civil court, who made the address of the occasion and the flag flew every day during the war and is still on the job.
When the war had been won and the army trucks were distributed to every state in the Union, to aid in the good roads movement, Heil truck bodies received a tre- mendous amount of advertising, and today many of the biggest automobile truck manufacturers have standardized on Heil equipment.
The latest triumph of The Heil Company has been the development of the Hydro- Hoist and its practical application to the Heil steel truck body. For many years engineers had worked on a device for tilting truck bodies so that the contents might be dumped. An inventor named Smythe had experimented for several years with a device that would correct all previous hoist troubles.
Mr. Heil recognized the superiority of this device, the Hydro-Hoist, and although the first models were faulty in construction, he realized that this was simply a matter of mechanical detail. Accordingly, in January, 1919, the Hydro-Hoist Company was made a subsidiary of The Heil Company, Heil engineers perfected the device, and construction on a greatly increased scale was begun. From ten hoists a month, the output was increased to hundreds.
Today The Heil Company manufactures the most complete line of motor truck equipment in the United States including truck bodies, truck tanks, power hoists, hand hoists and gravity truck bodies. This taking over of these allied products has meant the saving of shipping and assembling costs to the motor truck manufacturer, greater speed in production, and higher standards. Local motor truck manufacturers now run the chassis of their trucks direct to the lleil plant to be fully equipped. In addition to the motor truck products The Heil Company manufacture welded storage tanks, air tanks, open top tanks, smoke stacks and all kinds of steel plate work.
The Heil Company embodies the true spirit of cooperation and coordination of man and machine, turning out quickly and efficiently vast outputs. It is recognized as one of the best organized and most democratic institutions in the country, and Julius P. Heil, or as he is affectionately known, "J. P.," is entirely responsible for this. The visitor to the plant is introduced to everyone, heads of departments, as well as clerks new to the business. Everyone knows everyone else and greets him by his first name. There is a spirit of teamwork with all. "J. P." is the institutional hero, not a formal, unapproachable, aloof personage, but a fellow worker, who has worked hard and builded strong. Being the oldest employe of the company, he knows his fellow workers by name and often stops simply to chat with them or to offer a friendly suggestion. There is nothing like a "labor problem" at The Heil Company. "J. P." knows from his own experience the value of high wages, a reasonable working day and the best possible factory conditions.
Mr. Heil's business associates are: Clement C. Smith, Herman W. Falk, Howard Greene, Geo, Allison, and C. J. Mullins.
On the 4th of June, 1900, in Milwaukee, Mr. Heil was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Conrad of this city, her parents being the late Joseph B. and Dora Conrad. Extended mention of her father, who was long a prominent contractor of Milwaukee, is made on another page of this work. Mr. and Mrs. Heil have one son, Joseph F .. who is now a student in Cornell University.
Mr. Heil has been very active in politics as a supporter of the republican party, was at one time treasurer of the republican county committee, and for four years served as a member of the Civil Service Commission in Milwaukee,
Fraternally he is well known in Masonie circles throughout the state, belonging to Independent Lodge, No. 80, F. & A. M .; Wisconsin Chapter, R. A. M .; Wisconsin Commandery, K. T .; Wisconsin Consistory. S. P. R. S .: and Tripoli Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of which he was Potentate in 1917.
Through his club connections Mr. Heil has gained a wide and favorable acquaint- ance, being identified with the Wisconsin, Milwaukee Athletic, Rotary, Blue Mound
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Country, Ozaukee Country and Tripoli Country Clubs-a man of marked personality, indomitable energy and contagious enthusiasm, yet modest withal, he occupies a com- manding position in the industrial circles of this city and enjoys the respect and esteem of those with whom he comes into contact in every walk of life.
BENJAMIN MORSE.
Benjamin Morse, a most prominent and successful realtor of Milwaukee, now main- tains his office in the Caswell building and specializes in the handling of commercial property. He is the president of the Quick Purchasing Real Estate Company, secretary and treasurer of the Beacon Realty Company, vice president of the Jacobson & Dieman Realty Company, is also promoting a building and mortgage hond company and is an officer in various other real estate concerns of the city. His birth occurred in the state of Minsk, city of Schwerzna, Russia, on the 16th of April, 1872, his parents being Jacob and Rebecca (Robinson) Morse, who were also natives of that country. The father, who was active as a wholesale grain merchant throughout his entire business career and was recognized as one of the most extensive grain dealers in his part of Russia, was a very charitable man who won the love and respect of people of all nationalities thhoughout the community in which he resided. He served as mayor of his city and did everything in his power to promote civic welfare, also establishing a home for the poor and aged which he maintained with his personal funds. Moreover, he maintained what he called his secret charity, feeding and taking care of people in such an unostentations way that even those who benefited by his bounty did not know whom to thank. He also conducted a loan department in which loans were made upon collateral without any interest being charged, and when the loan was paid all collateral was returned. His demise occurred in 1880 and his funeral was the largest ever held in the community, where his loss was deeply mourned and his memory cherished. His widow emigrated to the United States in 1899, settling in Milwaukee, where she still makes her home and where she enjoys an extensive and favorable acquaintance. Their family numbered two sons and three daughters, the latter now being the wives of prominent rabbis of Europe.
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