USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume III > Part 95
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105
Frederick J. Oeflein, whose name introduces this review, was educated in the public schools of North Milwaukee and the high school of Wauwatosa. He also entered the University of Wisconsin but after a brief period there spent put aside his textbooks in order to start out in the business world. He engaged in structural engineering at Waukesha, Wisconsin, with the Modern Steel Structural Company, by which he was employed for about four years. He afterward became connected with the Wisconsin Bridge Company, with which he continued for two years and was then with the Coddington Engineering Company for a year. In 1908 he became connected with the Milwaukee County Hospital under Dr. Ferdinand M. Schultz and acted as assistant until January 1, 1914, when he was appointed by the board of trustees of Milwaukee county to the position of superintendent of what was then the Milwaukee County Almshouse. The name, however, was changed in 1918 to the Milwaukee County Infirmary, which now has an average of four hundred and fifty inmates. Mr. Oeflein takes care of all the county institutions so far as fire equip- ment and protection and public works are concerned. He has proved a very efficient official and has the endorsement and gratitude of all concerned. The Milwaukee County Infirmary is conducted under civil service rules.
On the 27th of June, 1907, Mr. Oeffein was married to Miss Anje VanRoo of North Milwaukee, and they have become parents of four children. Rose; Alice and Ruth, twins; and Dorothy. Mr. Oeflein is well known in club and fraternal circles. He holds membership in the Wisconsin Club of Milwaukee, in the Elks Club and is a Mason, belonging to both the York and Scottish Rites. He has become a Knight Templar in Ivanhoe Commandery, No. 1, and has attained the thirty-second degree in Milwaukee Consistory. He is likewise identified with Tripoli Temple of the Mystic Shrine and he finds recreation and diversion in hunting and fishing, greatly enjoying a trip into the open.
CARL LOUIS NETZOW.
Carl Louis Netzow, vice president of the Milwaukee Piano Manufacturing Com- pany, is thus associated with one of the important productive industries that have contributed to the steady commercial and financial growth of the city. Moreover, he is one of the representative young men here and is a native son of Milwaukee, his birth having occurred on the 11th of July, 1891. His father, Charles F. Netzow, was born in Germany and came to the United States when a youth in his teens, settling in Milwaukee, where he sold sewing machines, organs and musical instruments. He continued in this line of work until his interest developed into the extensive busi- ness now carried on under the name of the Milwaukee Piano Manufacturing Com- pany. In 1880 his interests were organized under the Netzow Manufacturing Company, conducting a mail order business until about 1906, when they broadened the scope of their activities to include the manufacture of pianos and piano players. They have an output of ten thousand instruments per year and give employment to about two hundred and fifty men. Charles F. Netzow remained as president of the business and he is also the president of the Waltham Piano Company and of the Milwaukee Piano Manufacturing Company, which does the retail business for the two manufacturing concerns, their store being located at No. 270 West Water street. Their business extends into every state of the Union and they also make shipments to Alaska, South America and Australia. The father of Charles Netzow was Louis Netzow, who came to the United States to make his home with his son, Charles, and spent his last days in this country. Charles F. Netzow was united in marriage to Helen Cusch, who is also living. She was born in Milwaukee and is a daughter of Carl Cusch, who died during the early girlhood of Mrs. Netzow.
At the usual age Carl Louis Netzow became a pupil in the public schools of his native city, passing through consecutive grades to his graduation from the North Division high school as a member of the class of 1914. He then became connected with his father's business, worked his way upward through the various departments and gained intimate and thorough knowledge of the trade. In 1917, however, he put aside all business and personal considerations and entered the army in the Aviation Service Training School at the University of Illinois and became a second lieutenant in the reserve. He completed his flying training at Scott Field, Belleville, Illinois, was at Dallas, Texas, for three months and was discharged at Scott Field in November, 1918, following the signing of the armistice. When the country no
828
HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE
longer needed his aid he returned home and resumed his connection with the busi- ness established by his father, becoming the vice president of the Milwaukee Piano Manufacturing Company and the Waltham Piano Company. He has continued in both positions and is also the general manager of the Milwaukee Piano Mannfac- turing Company. For ten years he has studied piano playing and is a performer of real merit.
In politics Carl L. Netzow is a republican but not an active party worker nor an aspirant for political preferment. He belongs to the Lutheran church and in club circles is well known as a representative of the Milwaukee Athletic, Wisconsin and Milwaukee Yacht Clubs. He is fond of sailing and golf, of hunting and fishing and to these turns for recreation when leisure permits.
Paul F. Netzow. an elder brother of Carl L. Netzow, is the treasurer and general manager of the Waltham Piano Company, the business being largely a family affair. He married Myrtle Bucholz of Milwaukee, and they have two children: Bern and Earl. Paul F. Netzow is the president of the Milwaukee Association of Music In- dustries. He is interested in factory welfare work and has labored most effectively in promoting the interest and welfare not only of those employed in the Netzow factories but along other lines as well. Moreover, he possesses great ability as an organizer and has been a valuable contributing factor to the organization and development of the business which is carried on by the family.
Edgar Netzow, a younger brother of Carl L. Netzow, is the secretary of the Milwaukee Piano Manufacturing Company and is displaying business qualifications equal to those of other members of the family in the development and enlargement of the interests controlled by the different corporations in which the family are interested. He is a graduate of the Riverside high school, took a course in the University of Wisconsin and was in the Students' Training School at Madison during the World war.
Elmer and Earl, younger brothers of the family, are high school graduates, who are now learning the business and working up in the various departments.
The daughters of the Netzow family are: Helen, now the wife of John Alberts, a lawyer of Milwaukee; Olive, the wife of E. J. Dolimen, the vice president of the Dohmen Drug Company of Milwaukee; Lillian, now attending the University of Wisconsin; and Norma, a public school pupil. The family is indeed a prominent one in this city, where for many years the father has figured most actively in manu- facturing and commercial circles, while the sons, following his creditable example, have made for themselves an enviable place as business nien.
GEORGE W. YOUNG.
George W. Young is the secretary of the Old Settlers' Club of Milwaukee and is a man whose name is indicative of his character and of his spirit. There are few men who retain an active interest in the affairs of life to so great an extent as does Mr. Young, who has now passed the seventy-fourth milestone on life's journey and yet in his varied interests seems still in his prime. He was born in Albany, New York, August 1, 1847, and is a son of Robert and Sophia (Devoe) Young. The father's birth occurred near Glasgow, Scotland, while the mother's family was from France. There were three brothers of the Young family who came to America about 1820, settling in Albany, New York, where they established a grocery store under the firm style of George Young & Company. In 1848 Robert Young removed westward, reaching Milwaukee on the 20th of October of that year. He remained in the city for about twelve months and then took up his abode upon a farm, which continued to be his home for five years, at the end of which time he again became a resident of Milwaukee and was employed by the St. Paul & Milwaukee Railroad Company to the time of his death, which occurred in 1874. His widow lived to an advanced age, her death occurring in Milwaukee in 1904, having survived her nus- band for three decades. They were the parents of eleven children, of whom four are yet living : Sarah J .; Stephen A. D .; Eliza Jane; and George W.
The last named obtained his education in the public schools of Milwaukee, hav- ing been brought to this city in his infancy. He was a student in the old Milwaukee high school and university and in his early boyhood was a carrier of The Evening Wisconsin in the days prior to the Civil war. He afterward obtained a position in a grocery store, where he worked for two years, and next entered the employ of the Chicago & St. Paul Railroad Company. In 1865 he became connected with the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company and rounded out a period of fifty-one consecutive years in the employ of that corporation. He started in a minor capacity but filled various positions and for forty-eight years of the time had charge of the issuing policies department. The occasion of his fiftieth anniversary with this com- pany was made a most memorable one. His fellow employes in the office surrounded
829
HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE
him with a mass of floral offerings and presented him with a Masonic emblem suit- ably engraved. When he entered the employ of the company there were but three clerks and within a half century he saw the business grow from four hundred and forty-nine policies, covering five million, nine hundred and seventy-nine thousand nine hundred and two dollars, to fifty-one thousand, eight hundred and ninety-three policies, covering one hundred and forty-three million, nine hundred and nine thousand, three hundred and ninety-six dollars. Writing of this fiftieth anniversary, one of the local papers said: "While faithful to the company's interests, Mr. Young has been popular with his fellow employes, and their appreciation was attested Saturday when they loaded his desk with floral tributes. He is a typical old-time Milwaukeean, widely known and greatly esteemed because of his person- ality-a man whose geniality of disposition spreads sunshine where he goes and whose integrity and steadfastness command admiration." When he had completed his fifty-first year of service with the company he was retired on a pension in 1916. During his long period with the insurance company he was made a delegate to nearly all the insurance conventions and was widely known to the insurance fraternity throughout the country.
On the 20th of October, 1870, Mr. Young was married to Miss Emma J. Bonni- well, of Ozaukee county, Wisconsin, and to them were born three children, but only one is now living, William W., an architect of Milwaukee.
In his political views Mr. Young has long been a republican and in the days of conventions was a member of many district, city and state conventions of the party. In 1872 he became a member of the Masonic fraternity and has taken all of the degrees up to and including the thirty-second. For fifty-five years he has been a member of the board of the Grand Avenue Methodist Episcopal church and is now serving as secretary of the board of trustees. In 1906 he was called to the office of secretary and treasurer of the Old Settlers' Club and yet continues in this posi- tion. Practically his entire life has been passed in Milwaukee, for he was but an infant when brought to this city by his parents. He has seen the city grow from a small place of comparatively little commercial and industrial importance and his activities have at various times been a potent influence for public progress, for public good and for successful achievement in civic affairs and interests.
LEE M. POWELL.
Lee M. Powell, president of the Ladish Milling Company at Bay View, was horn May 18, 1883, in Aurelia, lowa. His father, M. M. Powell, was born in Chillicothe, Illinois, and is a son of Cassius Powell, a native of New York, who in an early day removed to Chillicothe, Illinois, where he conducted a general store and also engaged in farming. It was there that M. M. Powell was reared. He took up the milling business and tarming pursuits, to which the family had largely given their attention. He is now living in Minot, North Dakota, and has retired from active business. He married Miss Margaret Quirk, a daughter of Thomas Quirk, a sea captain. Mrs. Powell was born on the Isle of Man, where the family lived for several generations, being seafaring people. The death of Mrs. Powell occurred in the year 1899.
Lee M. Powell acquired a public school education in Minneapolis and later attended the Minneapolis Academy and the University of Minnesota. He was gradu- ated from the latter with the class of 1904, at which time the Bachelor of Arts degree was conferred upon him. At that date he turned his attention to the milling business in Minnesota, in which he engaged with the Russell Miller Milling Company for a period of six years, gradually working his way upward and occupying a position in the sales department at the time he severed his connection with the house. He afterward spent a year as manager of a flour mill in Red Wing, Minnesota, and in 1912 he came to Milwaukee, where he was associated with Bernhard Stern & Sons until December, 1920, acting as manager of the business. At that date he became associated with the Ladish Milling Company as president and has so continued. His long experience in connection with milling covers the entire period of his active business life and he is splendidly qualified for the duties and responsibilities which he carries as president of the company. He regards no detail of the business as too unimportant to claim his attention and at the same time he recognizes the salient features which contribute most to the success and growth of the enterprise.
On the 24th of June, 1911, Mr. Powell was married to Miss Charlotte C. Hansen, a daughter of Ferdinand Hansen, who is engaged in the wholesale paint and oil business at Sioux City, lowa. He was born in Bremen, Germany, and died in 1914. Mr. and Mrs. Powell have one daughter, Margaret Lee, who is a student in the Milwaukee public schools.
Mr. Powell votes with the republican party but has never been active in politics. He is well known in Masonic circles, having membership in Kenwood Lodge, A. F. &
830
HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE
A. M .; Kenwood Chapter, R. A. M .; Ivanhoe Commandery, K. T .; Wisconsin Con- sistory, A. A. S. R .; and Tripoli Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. He likewise belongs to the Milwaukee Athletic Club, the University Club, the Blue Mound Country Club, the Association of Commerce and the Chamber of Commerce. He greatly enjoys golf, hunting and fishing and in fact loves all kinds of outdoor sports. He also is a member of the Phi Delta Theta, a fraternity of the University of Minnesota. During the World war he was assistant to the director of the milling division of the food administration for the Wisconsin and the Illinois district, and his practical experi- ence and wide knowledge enabled him to render valuable service in this connection. He stands at all times for that which is of vital worth to the welfare of the com- munity, the state and the nation and has been a cooperant factor in many well defined plans for local advancement and improvement.
EDWIN B. H. TOWER, JR.
Edwin B. H. Tower, Jr., a patent lawyer of Milwaukee, whose practice in the field of his specialty has been of an important character, was born in Freehold, New Jersey, August 2, 1879, his parents being Edwin B. H. and Eleanor H. B. (Bawden) Tower. The father's hirth occurred in Elizabethport, New Jersey, August 19, 1851. He was connected with the United States government at Washington, D. C., devoting the greater part of his life to service of that character, but in recent years has lived retired. He comes of English ancestry. The Tower family was founded in the United States at an early day and settled in Massachusetts, while subsequently a removal was made to New Jersey. Representatives of the Tower family served in the Revolutionary war and the name has figured prominently in connection with events of America's history for many years. Charlemagne Tower of Philadelphia, at one time ambassador to Germany, belongs to one branch of this family.
Edwin B. H. Tower, Jr., completed his education at Columbian University and was gradnated from the law department in 1902 with the LL. B. degree. He was admitted to practice before the supreme court of the District of Columbia in July, 1908, and for a number of years devoted his attention to professional activity in Chicago, Washington and New York, still having an office at No. 115 Broadway, New York. At the present time he is practicing in Milwaukee, New York and Washington, concentrating his attention exclusively upon patent law. He enjoys a well earned reputation in this con- nection that has made him known throughout the entire United States, for he has been associated with some of the most important suits in litigation in the entire country. He is counsel for a number of the leading concerns and firms in all sections of the country and his ability makes him a recognized power in patent law cases in the courts.
On the 4th of May, 1909, Mr. Tower was married to Miss Bessie Mather Applegate of Louisville, Kentucky, and they are now parents of twin daughters, born February 3, 1914. During the war period Mr. Tower served on the military intelligence committee in New York, cooperating with the department of justice, for which he holds a certificate of special service. He is a member of the Milwaukee Club, of the Milwaukee Athletic Club, the Town Club, the Milwaukee Country Club, the Milwaukee University Club, the Chicago University Club, the Washington University Club, the Bankers Club of New York, the Chemists Club of New York, the Mohawk Club of Schenectady, New York, and the Niagara Club of Niagara, New York. His club as well as his professional activities have made him very widely known and his social qualities make for popularity wherever he goes.
AUGUST FREDERICK KELLNER.
Augnst Frederick Kellner, head of the August F. Kellner Company, engaged in the landscape gardening and floral decoration business, was born in Milwankee, February 26, 1876, a son of Herman C. and Katherine (Bloedel) Kellner, both of whom were natives of Germany. The father was a veteran of the Civil war, having served as a member of the Iron Brigade. He died in April, 1910.
In the public schools August F. Kellner pursued his early education and afterward attended the A. Rhendis Business College. He started out in the business world as an apprentice to C. B. Whitnall, a florist doing business at 1200 Humboldt avenue. He began work at the age of fifteen years, remaining with Mr. Whitnall for about fonr years and later working at the Currier Brothers greenhouses for a year. He was also employed at the Wisconsin Flower Exchange for about two years and then opened a flower store in partnership with A. Binzel in the Steinmeyer building. After two years he sold out and entered the employ of A. Klohner, with whom he continned for a year, when he returned to the employ of Mr. Whitnall, with whom he was first associated
AUGUST F. KELLNER
833
HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE
and with whom he continued until Mr. Whitnall retired from business in June, 1902. Mr. Kellner then worked for the Holton & Hunkel Company that had rented the Whit- nall greenhouses, remaining with them until April, 1903, when he established business on his own account, doing landscape gardening with one employe. He built a little greenhonse on land rented from Miss E. Whitnall, south of the Whitnall greenhouses, in the fall of that year. Gradually he has developed a business of large and substantial proportions. On the 1st of July, 1913, he bought ground at No. 1384 Humboldt avenue and built greenhouses there. Steadily he has developed his trade until he is now at the head of an extensive business as the president and manager of the Angust F. Kellner Company and as president of the Fox Point Floral Company at Fox Point. He is also a stockholder in the Thiensville garage at Thiensville, Wisconsin.
On the 22d of March, 1902, Mr. Kellner was married to Miss Martha Preussler, a daughter of Frank and Emma Preussler, who were natives of Germany. Her father died leaving the mother with five children, ranging in age from ten down to two years. Mrs. Prenssler came to the United States in 1888 with the four youngest children and here passed away in 1908. By her marriage Mrs. Kellner has become the mother of two daughters: Ruby C. and Dorothy.
Fraternally Mr. Kellner is connected with the Eagles. He also belongs to the Turn- verein of Milwaukee and is identified with several societies along the chosen line of his business. He is connected with the Society of American Florists, the Milwaukee Florists Club and the Wisconsin State Florists Association, and he has attained a measure of success which is most gratifying.
ARNO W. KRATZSCH, M. D.
The medical profession has many thoroughly trained and capable representatives in Milwaukee, in which number is included Dr. Arno W. Kratzsch, physician and surgeon, devoting his attention to general medical practice, with office in the Berlin Arcade at Third and North avenues. He is a native son of Wisconsin, his birth having occurred at Newburg, December 29, 1859. His father, Herman K. Kratzsch, was a farmer, born in Germany, whence he came to the United States in 1850. He took up government land near Newburg during the pioneer epoch in the history of that section of the state and there he developed a good farm, improving one of the best farm properties in Washington county. He is now deceased.
Dr. Kratzsch of this review was born and reared on the old homestead farm and attended the district schools during his early boyhood. When sixteen years of age hie became a teacher and it was in this way that he earned the money that enabled him to pursue a course in the State Normal School at Whitewater, Wisconsin. He afterward became principal of a school at Thiensville, this state, having charge there for two years, and his salary during that period constituted the fund that enabled him to attend Rush Medical College, for he had determined upon the practice of medicine and surgery as a life work. After a thorough course in the Chicago institution he was graduated with the class of 1884 and returned to Wisconsin for practice. He first settled at Plymouth, where he remained for three years and then removed to Cascade, Wis- consin, where he practiced for twelve years. In 1898 he came to Milwaukee,, where he has since remained, now covering a period of almost a quarter of a century. His resi- dence is located at No. 826 Sherman boulevard. Throughout all the intervening years he has successfully engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery and in addition to his private practice he is serving on the visiting staffs of St. Joseph's Hospital and the Deaconess Hospital. For two years he taught in the old Wisconsin College of Physicians and Surgeons. He helongs to the Milwaukee County Medical Society, the Wisconsin State Medical Society and the American Medical Association and in this way he keeps in touch with the progress that is continually being made in the medical profession. He has always been a most indefatigable worker, applying himself with great earnestness to his professional duties, which he discharges with a sense of con scientious obligation.
On the 7th of September, 1882, Dr. Kratzsch was married to Miss Eva E. Zaun, who was born in Mequon, Wisconsin, a sister of Dr. George F. Zaun, an eye and ear specialist of Milwaukee. Dr. and Mrs. Kratzsch have two children, Althea and Camilla, the former the wife of Martin F. Selle and the latter the wife of Frank C. Meyer, both men being prominent in the business circles of the city. There are now three grand- children: Carl and Helen Selle and Margaret Meyer.
Dr. Kratzsch is a member of the Lutheran church and in politics he is a stalwart republican. He formerly took quite an active part in politics while living at Plymonth. Wisconsin, serving his party in many ways. In 1904 he visited Europe, accompanied hy his family, and on the same trip went to Turkey and Asia Minor. He has traveled extensively on the American continent, visiting various parts of the United States, Canada, Mexico and Cuba, and in this way has gained that broad knowledge and Vol. III-53
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.