USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume III > Part 92
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him to overcome all obstacles and difficulties in his path and to climb steadily to the plane of affluence.
In young manhood Mr. Gutenkunst was united in marriage to Miss Hattie Weide of Milwaukee, who passed away in 1886, leaving a son and a daughter: Hugo A. and Paula. On the 15th of October, 1892, Mr. Gutenkunst wedded Miss Ida Bub, a native of this city, who completed her education in St. Mary's Convent at Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana. She is a daughter of Joseph Bub, long a distinguished figure in business circles here. Mr. and Mrs. Gutenkunst have become parents of three daughters and two sons: Freida, Erma, Eleanor, Charles and Joseph, who are with their parents in an attractive home at 3100 Grand ave- nue. Through his social relations, as well as in business connections, Mr. Guten- kunst has gained a wide acquaintance. He belongs to the National Union, the Deutscher and Calumet Clubs, the South Side Casino and the Old Settlers Club of Milwaukee county. For five years he was a valued member of the South Side Rifles, afterward known as the Pabst Guards and at one time was affiliated with the Wisconsin National Guard. His political allegiance has been given to the republican party since age conferred upon him the right of franchise but he has never sought nor desired political preferment as a reward for party fealty. On the contrary, he has preferred to concentrate his efforts and attention upon his busi- ness affairs and his thoroughness, discrimination and progressiveness have made him an important factor in the commercial and industrial upbuilding of the Cream city. His strength of purpose, his fidelity to every trust, his loyalty in matters of public concern have all combined to make him one of the prominent business men and residents of Milwaukee.
JOEL L. ISAACS.
Joel L. Isaacs has figured actively in the business circles of Milwaukee since 1908, in which year he came to this city to accept the position of manager with the Milwaukee Chair Company, one of the oldest chair and furniture manufacturing establishments in the northwest. He has since been active in the direction of the business here and his enterprise and progressiveness have constituted important assets in the continued growth of the concern. Mr. Isaacs was born in New York city, August 22, 1868. His father, Levi J. Isaacs, also a native of the eastern metropolis, was reared and educated there and after putting aside his textbooks turned his attention to the real estate busi- ness, in which he engaged throughout his entire life. He was a representative of one of the old families of New York, his ancestors having lived there through several gen- erations. He served in the Civil war on the Union side, enlisting in New York and became a provost marshal with the rank of major. He married Pauline Freeman, who was born and reared in Baltimore, Maryland, and belonged to one of the old families of the south.
Joel L. Isaacs obtained his education in the public schools of New York city and made his initial step in the business world as an errand boy in a wholesale house de- voted to the sale of silks and satins. As he acquainted himself with business methods he made constant advance in his career. His second position was in a wholesale furni- ture business and he eventually became a commission sales representative for manu- facturers. This however constituted but another step in his progress and later he was general sales manager for all eastern territory for the Simmons Company of Kenosha, Wisconsin. He occupied that position of responsibility for fifteen years and still con- tinues in active connection with the house. In 1908 he came to Milwaukee to accept the position of manager of the Milwaukee Chair Company, which has been in existence for fifty-one years. Their products are regarded as the standard makes for all United States government offices and as the years have passed they have filled large orders for the government. After a few years' connection with the business Mr. Isaacs was made vice president of the company and in 1917 was elected to the presidency. Since reaching an official position he has done much to establish the policy of the house and direct its destinies, concentrating his efforts upon administrative direction and executive man- agement. Under his guidance the business has continued to grow and develop, thus establishing Mr. Isaacs' right to rank with the foremost manufacturers and merchants of the city.
In 1901 Mr. Isaacs was married to Miss Helen B. Brislin of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a daughter of James and Hannah Brislin, of that city, whose ancestors were pioneer residents there. Mr. and Mrs. Isaacs now have two children: Joel L., who is engaged in the automobile business in Milwaukee; and Ruth C., who lives in Orange, New Jersey. The son served in the World war, being assigned for active duty in the United States navy, Brooklyn navy yard. He entered the service as an able seaman and during the war through good service, was promoted to the extent that he was honorably dis- charged as a chief petty officer.
JOEL L. ISAACS
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Politically Mr. Isaacs maintains an absolutely independent attitude, his support of any candidate or measure resulting from his belief in the course which he pursues. He belongs to the Lambs Club of New York city, to the Milwaukee Athletic Club, the Wis- consin Club, the Old Town Club of Chicago and is a life member of the Benevolent Pro- tective Order of Elks. His pleasing personality and his strength of character have gained him friends all over the United States, as he makes his business trips from coast to coast, but in manner he is quiet and retiring, never seeking to win public admiration or applause.
HENRY WOODLAND.
There are a few names that are synonymous with the business development and commercial enterprise of Milwaukee and prominent among these is that of the Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company. To be an official in this company at once establishes the high position of an individual in connection with the busi- ness affairs of the Cream city and no other introduction is needed for Henry Wood- land than to say that he is the secretary and treasurer of the corporation. A native of Utica, New York, he is a son of George and Hannah ( Stevens) Woodland. Spend- ing his youthful days under the parental roof he pursued his education in the public schools of his native city. Throughout his business life he has been iden- tified with the iron and steel industry and his course has been marked by that steady progression which has brought him from a humble place in business circles to one of dominating power and influence. His connection with the Allis-Chalmers Company covers a period of years and steady advancement in recognition of his developing capability has brought him to a place among the chief executives of the corporation as secretary and treasurer. He has also extended the scope of his activities to the Hanna Engineering Works of Chicago, of which he is vice president and one of the directors.
11. was in Chicago, in 1888, that Mr. Woodland was united in marriage to Miss Grace Ottaway, a daughter of Thomas P. and Caroline C. Ottaway. They are parents of one child, Ralph Henry Woodland, who married Azalyn Adams of Chicago.
Mr. Woodland has always been a republican in his political views, voting with the party since age conferred upon him the right of franchise. Appreciative of the social amenities of life and finding keen joy in warm friendship he has become identified with the Milwaukee Club, the Milwaukee Athletic Club, the Chicago Ath- letic Club and the Midday Club of Chicago, for he is almost as well and widely known in the business circles of the latter city as of the former.
WILLIAM ALFRED BOWERS.
William Alfred Bowers is a representative of one of Milwaukee's leading busi- noss interests as proprietor of the W. A. Bowers Heating Company, located at 484 Market street. In this connection Mr. Bowers has become well known throughout this section of the country, for he has installed steam heating and ventilating equip- ment in many public buildings. He was born on the 21st of January, 1872, at Wooster, Ohio, a son of William Henry and Anna Lydia (Cross) Bowers. The father was born in Wagmore, England, on the Welsh border, and came to the United States in 1850, settling in Ohio. He was a heating engineer by trade and won prominence along that line. In 1892 he removed to Milwaukee and there carried on his trade until his demise in 1916. His father was Salter Bowers. Mrs. Bowers, who survives her husband and is making her home with her son in Mil- wankee, was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a daughter of William Cross, a well known merchant of that place. He was a native of England and came to this country at an early day, his death occurring while in service in the Union army during the Civil war.
William Alfred Bowers received his education in the public schools of Akron, Ohio, and after graduating from the high school there made his initial step into the business world as an employe of a steamfitting concern. He had determined to become thoroughly familiar with every phase of the business and continued working for different steam heating contractors after removing to Milwaukee with his parents. lle was but twenty years of age when he located in Milwaukee. In 1899 he established a business on his own account under the name of the W. A. Bowers lleating Company and he has always been sole owner. He installs steam heating and ventilating equipment in public buildings and is responsible for the heating systems in many of the school buildings in Milwaukee and throughout sur- rounding states. Hle installed the steam heating plant in the Milwaukee Auditorium
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and has put in power plants for various municipal and other buildings in the vicinity. His work extends over a large territory outside of Wisconsin.
On the 2d of July, 1918, occurred the marriage of Mr. Bowers and Miss Lois Richardson, a daughter of Wade H. Richardson, a prominent real estate dealer of Milwaukee. Her father was born in Alabama and upon the outbreak of the Civil war, his sympathies being with the north, he enlisted in the Union army and served throughout the conflict. For fifty years he has made Milwaukee his home and he has won the confidence and respect of all with whom he has come into contact. Mrs. Bowers is the possessor of a splendid contralto voice and she often appears in public recitals and concerts. She is prominent in the club circles of Milwaukee as treas- urer of the McDowell Club and she is conceded by her many friends to be a woman of charming and magnetic personality.
Mr. Bowers gives his political allegiance to the democratic party, having firm belief in the principles of that party as factors in good government. His religious faith is that of the Episcopal church and he is fraternally identified with the Elks, belonging to Lodge No. 46 of Milwaukee. As a man interested in any movement for the promotion of the general welfare; Mr. Bowers holds membership with the Association of Commerce and socially he is a member of the Milwaukee Yacht Club. He is likewise a member of the National, State and City Associations of Heating & Piping Contractors. For recreation Mr. Bowers turns to the great outdoors and is particularly fond of motoring. In the conduct of his business he has used progres- sive methods and his executive ability, together with the genius for devising the right thing at the right time, has resulted in his continued advance.
LOUIS EDWARD TREVETT.
One of the enterprising citizens' of Milwaukee is Louis Edward Trevett, who since 1910 has engaged in business for himself under the name of the Milwaukee. Knitting Company. A descendant of a prominent famlly he was born on the 29th of April, 1881, in Trevett, New York, a town named in honor of his ancestors. His parents, Edward T. and Caroline ( Lewis) Trevett, are both deceased. The father, who was born in New York state, was a son of Tillotson Trevett and they were pioneer manufacturers in their locality. Tillotson Trevett was a native of France and came to this country as a child with his parents. He founded the furniture manufacturing business which is still carried on by the family and won prominence throughout the country in that connection. He died in 1907 as the result of a railroad accident. Mrs. Caroline Trevett was born in Johnston, New York, and passed away in 1909.
Louis Edward Trevett received his education in the public schools of Trevett, New York, and later entered the Gloversville Seminary. On putting aside his studies he became an apprentice in his father's factory, where he remained for three or four years and then enlisted in the United States navy, serving four years. After receiving his discharge he spent four years as an apprentice in textile indus- try and for nine months engaged in that business in Germany. He made a com- plete study of the silk industry in Italy, where he remained for three months, and subsequently returned to the United States. As the result of close application, with but little time for relaxation, Mr. Trevett failed in health and spent two and one-half years recuperating in Mexico and California. He punched cattle the greater part of the time and, on regaining his health, came to Wisconsin and located in Milwaukee, becoming a knitter with the Western Knitting Company. He remained in their employ tor one year, but in 1910 resigned to enter business for himself, which he has since conducted under the name of the Milwaukee Knitting Company. In 1912 the company was incorporated with a substantial capital stock and Mr. Trevett became vice president. He had learned the business from the ground up and with clear brain and willing hands has applied himself to the development of the company's interests.
On the 25th of December, 1916, Mr. Trevett was united in marriage to Miss Lillian Jane Hayden, a daughter of James Hayden of Milwaukee. Her father is a native of this city and is still residing here. One child has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Trevett. Louis Oliver, whose natal day was the 4th of September, 1919. Mrs. Trevett is prominent in musical and social circles of the city and is a woman of magnetic personality. She is a gifted pianist and vocalist and often appears in recitals. After completing her education in the Milwaukee public schools, she enrolled in the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music and is a graduate of that insti- tution.
Mr. Trevett maintains an independent course in politics and takes but little interest in political affairs. His religious faith is that of the Methodist church, while his wife is a Lutheran, and he is identified with no clubs or secret societies.
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As a man always interested in the development and improvement of the city, he holds membership in the Association of Commerce and along the line of his busi- ness he is prominent in the Knit Goods Association of the middle west. Fond of outdoor sports of all kinds, he finds recreation in hunting, fishing and motoring. Playing the clarionet, he has belonged to various bands and has assembled the one of which he is now at the head. Mr. Trevett's career is an example of the intelligent application of modern business principles to the management of a large and growing commercial enterprise whose products, principally sweaters, have national distribution. His success is the results of a thorough knowledge of the details of the business and an active personal supervision of its various branches. He is public-spirited and straightforward, a citizen of whom Milwaukee has every right to be proud.
THOMAS ARTHUR GRIFFITHS.
Thomas Arthur Griffiths is a prominent representative of the insurance interests of Milwaukee as manager of the Casualty Department of the Equitable Life Assurance Association. He was born in Newport, England, a son of Thomas William Griffiths, who is now residing in that country. The father is head of the city department of New- port, England, controlling the public utilities, and is a native of that city, where his family have lived for generations. The mother of Thomas Arthur Griffiths was, before her marriage, Amanda Dowdall, and is residing in Newport, where she was born of a family of seafaring people, her father and three brothers being captains of various sea- going vessels.
Thomas Arthur Griffiths received his early education in Newport, and later enrolled in Clytha College and Longashton College of Bristol, England. Upon putting his text- books aside he became office helper in a steel and coal company, and after remaining two years in that connection he went into the business of buying and selling cattle in London and all over the kingdom for one of the big cattle concerns. For ten years he followed that line of work, receiving constant promotion, but in 1907 sailed for Canada, where for the next two years he was associated with the Crows Nest Pass Coal Mining Com- pany, being stationed at its office in Fernie, British Columbia. Subsequently he came to the United States and located at Marquette, Michigan, where he entered the insurance business as manager for the upper peninsula of Michigan, of the Fidelity Accident Company of Saginaw. In 1913 he removed to Milwaukee as general agent of the Wiscon- sin National Life Insurance Company, severing his relations with that company to be- come a representative of the Equitable Life Insurance Company, of which he is now manager of the health and accident departments. Mr. Griffiths possesses untiring energy, is quick of perception, forms his plans readily and is determined in their execution, and his close application to business and his excellent management have been factors in bringing to the company with which he is associated a high degree of success.
On the 29th of April, 1902, Mr. Griffiths was united in marriage to Edith May Jones, a daughter of John Jones, a member of a very old family of Cardiff, Wales. He is a druggist by trade and a prominent and representative citizen of the community in which he resides. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Griffiths: Jack Henry, Thomas William, Gladys Amanda, Owen Lynn and Arthur Llewellyn.
Since attaining his majority Mr. Griffiths has given his allegiance to the republi- can party but has never taken an active interest in political affairs. Both Mr. and Mrs. Griffiths are members of the Episcopal church and he is identified with no clubs or societies. In the line of his business, however, he is a member of the National State and City Life Underwriters Association. Mr. and Mrs. Griffiths are very fond of music and Mrs. Griffiths is a great reader and is prominent in the literary circles of Milwaukee. For recreation Mr. Griffiths turns to athletics, is particularly fond of baseball and is a fisherman of much ability. His time and energies are concentrated on his business affairs and he has justly won classification with the representative business men of Milwaukee.
ADAM M. THIELEN.
Adam M. Thielen is engaged in the general practice of law and in the conduct of a real estate business as a member of the firm of Matt & Thielen, with offices at 212 Brumder building. A native of Minnesota, he was born at Marystown on the 25th of September, 1876, a son of John M. Thielen, who passed away in 1912. His father was born in Germany and when about twenty years of age came to the United States and located in Minnesota, where he engaged in farming and became a representative agriculturist. He resided in that state throughout his entire life.
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His wife and the mother of Adam M. Thielen was Susan Bieber, who passed away in 1911. At the age of six months she came with her parents to this country from her native land of Germany and was reared in the town of Lake, Wisconsin. Her father, Peter Bieber, was a well known farmer of Milwaukee county.
In the acquirement of an education Adam M. Thielen attended the parochial schoo's of his native town and remained on his father's farm until he was nineteen years of age, when he left the parental roof and came to Milwaukee. He entered Pio Nono College at St. Francis and after graduation from that institution in 1898 was bookkeeper for the Frank G. Smith Company for a period of nine months. Ile then went on the road for the company, which was a wholesale paper and stationery concein, and traveled for eight years, at the end of that time becoming vice president of the corporation, in which he had purchased an interest. For four years after becoming a member of the firm he continued in the capacity of travel- ing salesman and subsequently he was sales manager and buyer for the Milwaukee house for six years. Mr. Thielen is still interested in that company but retired from active participation in its interests on the 1st of January, 1920, and imme- diately entered the general practice of law and the real estate business as a partner of P. J. Matt under the name of Matt & Thielen, an association which still exists. While buyer for the Milwaukee branch of the Frank G. Smith Company, Mr. Thielen had taken the night law course at Marquette University and although a member of the bar since 1913 he has been practicing only since 1920. The firm have an extensive and important clientage and their reputation as responsible real estate men has won for them a large business along that line.
On the 27th of June, 1905, occurred the marriage of Mr. Thielen and Miss Ottilie Hummelstein of Milwaukee. She was a daughter of John Hummelstein, a well known saddlery salesman, and she passed away on the ist of June. 1918, leaving two children: Antoinette Marie and Paul Francis, both attending the St. Thomas parochial school. On the 25th of February, 1920, Mr. Thielen married Mrs. Helen Matt Diehl, the widow of August Diehl and a sister of P. J. Matt, senior member of Matt & Thielen.
Since attaining his majority Mr. Thielen has maintained an independent course in politics and has never been particularly active in political affairs. He is a com- municant of the Catholic church, belonging to St. Thomas Aquinas parish, and fraternally he is identified with the Knights of Columbus, holding membership in Pere Marquette Lodge. He is likewise a member of Milwaukee Lodge of Elks. For recreation he turns to outdoor sports and won so much prominence as a semi- professional baseball player as to attract offers from some of the professional leagues. He likewise enjoys fishing and tennis. Mr Thielen is essentially a man of business and applies himself energetically to everything he undertakes, and his ambition and keen business insight have been dominant factors in the success of the firm.
EMANUEL MANDEL.
An energetic business man whose success in life has been on a parity with his well directed endeavors, is Emanuel Mandel, owner and operator of the Mandel Engraving Company & Art Studios, with quarters on the fifth floor of the Cawker building. He was born in New York city, January 31, 1865, a son of Charles and Regina ( Lesserman ) Mandel, both deceased. The father was born in Niedersaulheim in Hesse-Darmstadt, in 1823 and came to the United States in 1857 with his wife and three children. In 1873 the family removed to Chicago and there the death of Mr. Mandel occurred. He won prominence and success as a salesman and at the time of his demise was financially independent. His father, the grandfather of Emanuel, was Emanuel, who was a native of Germany Mrs. Mandel passed away in 1895, just six weeks following the death of her husband. She was born in Juginheim, Hesse-Darmstadt and there her marriage was celebrated. Her father, Max Lesserman, was a well known cattle dealer and landholder.
Emanuel Mandel received his education in the public schools of New York and Chi- cago until he was fifteen years of age, when he put his textbooks aside and went to work for the J. Manz Company, Engravers, at Chicago. In their employ he was quick to grasp every opportunity offered him and soon became familiar with every phase of the business. He then severed his association with that company and after some time spent in the employ of Drant & Hawtin in 1887, entered into the wood engraving busi- ness for himself in Chicago, under the name of the Mandel & Murphy Engraving Com- pany, this association lasting five years. At the end of that time he removed to Milwau- kee, the home of his wife, and there in 1892 founded his present business, at the corner of Michigan and East Water streets. Those quarters consisted of a suite of two rooms which the business soon outgrew and in 1899 he removed to his present location in the Cawker building. The concern occupies the entire fifth floor and furnishes employ-
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ment to more than fifty people. The company specializes in half-tones, zinc etchings and wood engravings and also has a large art department for the creation of designs and illustrations, likewise mechanical drawings. The company handles an extensive business throughout six states and its work, which is of the highest class, is used by the largest corporations and concerns in the United States.
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