Memoirs of Milwaukee County : from the earliest historical times down to the present, including a genealogical and biographical record of representative families in Milwaukee County, Volume II, Part 102

Author: Watrous, Jerome Anthony, 1840- ed
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Madison : Western Historical Association
Number of Pages: 1072

USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Memoirs of Milwaukee County : from the earliest historical times down to the present, including a genealogical and biographical record of representative families in Milwaukee County, Volume II > Part 102

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MEMOIRS OF MILWAUKEE COUNTY

states in the Union up to 1901, when he settled in Milwaukee and organized the Wisconsin Cement Construction Company, of which he has been sole proprietor since 1902. He erected the South Side Pumping Station, also the stock house, the malt house, the boiler house, the brew house, and other buildings for the Blatz Brewing Company. He also did all the cement work at Wonderland, and he built the foundations and floorings for the Pfister & Vogel tan- nery. He, furthermore, constructed all the foundations and floors for the West Side Manufacturing Company and for many other large structures, costing from $10,000 upward. On Nov. 10, 1904, he married Miss Ella, daughter of Henry and Mathilda (Fuchs) Bauman, of Milwaukee, the issue being one daughter, Elsa. Mr. Kroeck is a member of the Milwaukee Builders' Club and of the Merchants' and Manufacturers' Association. In politics he is a Republican. Since coming to Milwaukee he has been very much interested in the National Guard of Wisconsin, and at present is a member of Battery A. His father held the rank of major in the German regular army, being in the service over forty years. Mr. Kroeck attended the Engineers' School at St. Paul, Minn., and also a similar institution at St. Louis, Mo., taking one term's course in each school. He is at present engaged in much practical civil engineering, doing all of his own work. He is a patriotic Amer- ican citizen, thoroughly in love with the land of his adoption, which has afforded him such great opportunities to develop his natural abilities, and enabled him to secure a fortune and honor- able position in life, which he could never hope to secure in Ger- many, the land of his birth.

Constantine J. M. Malek is one of the prominent and well- known Polish residents of Milwaukee. He is a native of Germany, born at Waldowo, West Prussia, Aug. 26, 1855, the son of Stanis- laus and Anna (Dobek) Malek. His father was a professional organist and followed this vocation in Waldowo. Constantine was educated in his native village and then went to the Royal Gymna- sium at Conitz until he was sixteen years of age, when he came to America and located at Chicago, in 1871. He soon went to St. Mary's, Marion county, Ky., to attend St. Mary's Catholic college to acquire the English language, and after studying there for one year he came to Milwaukee. He did not remain long in the city before he left to enter Pio Nono College at St. Francis, Wis., and from there went to Chicago in 1875 and taught school for five years. In 1880 he was offered an excellent position in Manitowoc county to combine the two professions of teaching and musician, and he taught at Nordheim for two years, meeting with well- earned success. In the fall of 1882 he returned to Milwaukee to accept a position in the schools, and for five years held that posi- tion, at the same time acting as organist at St. Hyacinth's Polish Catholic church with great credit to himself and the entire satis- faction of the congregation. In the fall of 1885 Mr. Malek was appointed United States store-keeper, and the following spring received an appointment as United States gauger under Cleve-

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land's first administration, which position he held four years. Mr. Malek is a staunch adherent of the principles and policies of the Democratic party and one of its staunch supporters. When Peck was elected governor he received an appointment as clerk in the land office at Madison, and he held this responsible position four years. Shortly before going to Madison he had been elected a member of the Milwaukee school board, and he served in that capacity five years, altogether. Mr. Malek had proved so efficient a teacher and organist in Milwaukee that he resumed his position at St. Hyacinth's church at the expiration of his term of office in Madison, in 1895, and he continued teaching for two years. His long service as a teacher eminently fitted him for the position he was appointed to on Oct. 7, 1907, that of probation officer of the county of Milwaukee, and he still retains this trying position to the entire satisfaction of the county and school authorities. On Jan. 25, 1881, Mr. Malek was united in marriage with Florentine, the daughter of Wojciech and Veronica (Taczynski) Kolanczyk, residents of Newton, Manitowoc county, Wis. Three children have been made welcome in the Malek home: Clementine, Charlie and Alex. The family are loyal Catholics and members of St. Hyacinth's Polish Catholic church. Mr. Malek is a member of the Polish National Alliance; the Polish Singers' Alliance, of which he and his brother, Anton, were the founders; and he is the organizer and founder of the Polish Singing Society of Milwaukee. In 1890 Mr. Malek had the honor of being elected alderman of the Fourteenth ward for a term of three years to represent his ward in the municipal government, but his services were shortened to two years, as he received a state appointment which called him to Madison. Mr. Malek has long been recognized as one of the progressive thinkers among the Polish residents of Milwaukee, and he is one of her honored and influential citizens.

Peter Sievers, a prominent citizen of North Milwaukee. and one of the owners of the light and power plant of that place, was born in the town of Schleswig, Manitowoc county. Wis., on Aug. II, 1868, the son of Claus and Margaret (Harder) Sievers, natives of the province of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. His father came to the United States with his parents in the year 1850, when he was a lad of only nine years of age. Peter Sievers, our subject's grandfather, located at New Holstein, Wis., where he bought a tract of eighty acres of wooded land, which he cleared and farmed for many years. Quite late in life he and his wife retired from the farm with a comfortable competence, and they spent their declin- ing years in the village of New Holstein, where they both died and are buried. Of their large family of nine children, six are still living, to-wit: Claus, the father of our subject; Dora Harder; Lena Bonifas; Kathrine Lueneburg; Margaret Lindeman, and Anna Schildhauer. Claus remained at home, assisting on the farm until he was nineteen years of age, and was then engaged in farm- ing on his own account for a period of two years. When he was twenty-one years of age the Civil war broke out and he enlisted as

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a private from Chilton, Wis., in the Twenty-first Wisconsin in- fantry, in the late summer of 1862. He was mustered into the United States service with his regiment at Camp Bragg, Oshkosh, Wis., Sept. 5, 1862, for three years' service, and left the state on Sept. II, preceding first to Covington, Ky. His command sus- tained a disastrous loss in its first engagement at Perryville, Ky., Oct. 8, 1862, when 179 of its members were killed, wounded, or missing. He was subsequently engaged with his command in a skirmish with Wheeler's cavalry at Jefferson, Tenn., and in the later bloody battles of Stone's River and Chickamauga, Tenn .; was in reserve at the battle of Missionary Ridge, Nov. 25, 1863, and was then stationed with the regiment on the summit of Look- out Mountain until the spring of 1864. He moved with Sherman on the celebrated Atlanta campaign through the heart of the Con- federacy, engaging at Resaca, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, Jones- boro, Siege of Atlanta, etc. Next, attached to the First division, Fourteenth corps, he participated in the pursuit of Hood through Georgia, then marched to Savannah with Sherman's forces and took part in the siege of that city. Finally, in January, 1865, he moved on Sherman's final campaign through the Carolinas, was seriously wounded by a musket ball in the leg during the engage- ment at Goldsboro, N. C., and was invalided in hospital for several weeks. He was honorably discharged from the service and mus- tered out while in hospital. After the close of the war he re- turned to his home in Wisconsin and worked on a farm until he was twenty-seven years of age. He then married and bought a farm of his own in the town of Schleswig, Manitowoc county, Wis. He lived on his farm until 1903, when he retired to the vil- lage of New Holstein, where he still resides. He has always been regarded as one of the best and most substantial citizens of that locality, is an independent in political matters, and is a man of influence. Our subject, Peter, is the oldest of his three children : Peter, George and Dora. As a boy Peter attended the district school at Schleswig, and afterward was a student, successively, in the State Normal schools of Oshkosh, Whitewater and Milwaukee, graduating at the last-named institution. Upon leaving school he was engaged in teaching for a period of eighteen years in all; he taught near Cedarburg, Ozaukee county, and was for ten years principal of the schools at North Milwaukee. He pursued a thor- ough business course in Stell's Business College of Milwaukee, and in January, 1906, in company with Messrs. Waech and the Schissler brothers, he purchased the North Milwaukee Light and Power Plant. In March, 1907, Messrs. Sievers & Waech bought out the interest of Schissler brothers and have been successfully operating the plant alone since that time. Mr. Sievers has always been allied with the Republican party in politics, though he has never sought public preferment on his own behalf. In the matter of religion he conforms to the Lutheran faith. His wife was formerly Lilly Vollmer, of the town of Lake, Milwaukee county. a daughter of Fred Vollmer, and Mr. and Mrs. Sievers are the parents of two children, Lenora and Lawrence.

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Henry J. Wasserberger, a popular hotel keeper and business man of North Milwaukee, and one of the oldest pioneers of that section of the county, was born in Prussia on the Rhine, March 31, 1841, the son of Henry and Margaret (Meyer) Wasserberger, of the same place. Before leaving the old country the elder Mr. Wasserberger had served as a musician in the cavalry branch of the army. He came to the United States in 1848 with his wife and family, landing at New York City on July 4, and immediately came on to Milwaukee, whence he proceeded to Germantown, Wis. He later returned to Milwaukee, where he spent the remainder of his life, dying on April 7, 1891 ; he had previously lost his wife in February, 1872. Our subject's mother was twice married; her first husband was Jacob Collenbach, a native of Prussia, by whom she had two children, Jacob and Christina, both of whom are now deceased. She was the mother of three children by her second marriage: Annie, wife of Peter Kirsch, both of whom are now deceased : Elizabeth, wife of Nicholas Meyer, both of whom are also dead, and Henry J., the subject of this sketch. Henry J. was only a little lad of seven years when he first came to America with his parents, and he was given only a very limited opportu- nity to obtain an education before going to work. He started out in life to make his own living when very young, and was em- ployed in various occupations at Milwaukee until 1870. He then located in what is now the region of North Milwaukee, but which was then known as Schwartzburg, Wis. Here he first rented a farm and at the same time engaged in the butchering business. He served as postmaster for a total period of thirty-one years. In 1893 he built his present hotel building, and he maintains a fine bar in connection with the same; he also deals extensively in coal and wood. He is widely known throughout the region in which he has made his home for so many years, and is regarded as one of the most popular and substantial citizens of North Milwaukee. Though starting in life in a humble capacity, he has worked hard, and by dint of great industry and good common sense, he has now attained to success by his own unaided efforts, has obtained a handsome competence and is in comfortable circumstances. He has always been a Democrat in politics and has served the public in numerous important capacities ; he was chosen treasurer of the town of Granville for two terms; served as a member of the county board of supervisors for a period of twelve years, was school director for the same length of time, and was one of the first trustees of the village of North Milwaukee, besides acting as justice of the peace for a two years' term. Mr. Wasserberger was married in 1874, his bride being a resident of Plymouth, Sheboygan county, Wis., and ten children have been the fruit of this union, to-wit: Tena, who makes her home in Milwaukee, and is the wife of Henry Castenholz; Margaret, deceased; Annie, who resides at home with her father; Joseph, a railway conductor living at Los Angeles, Cal., and married to Miss Agnes Meyers: Henry G., Jr., married to Miss Annie Becker, and living at North Milwaukec :

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Katie, Andrew, John and Clara, living at home, and Nicholas, who died in early life. Our subject is a faithful member of the Roman Catholic church, of which he is a most liberal supporter. He is a most genial and affable man, well liked by all who know him, and he has a large circle of warm friends.

Martin Davelaar, senior member of the prosperous firm of M. Davelaar & Son, manufacturers of cream-colored brick, Pryor avenue, Milwaukee, Wis., is of Dutch descent, and was born in the city of Utrecht, Holland, Dec. 14, 1839, the son of Garrett Jacob and Wilhelmina Davelaar, both natives of the same place. His father was a blacksmith by trade and emigrated to the United States with his family in 1847. On his arrival he continued to follow his trade as a blacksmith, and was first located for three years in Pittsburg, Pa .; he then moved west to Cedar Grove, Wis., where he kept a blacksmith shop for some four years, and then moved to Milwaukee and conducted a shop for quite a number of years on the Fox Point road. He was a respected and hard-work- ing man, a faithful member of the Dutch Reformed church, and an excellent husband and father. His death took place in 1895, and his wife survived him four years longer. They reared a large family of six children: John, the oldest, was a veteran of the Civil war, having served in the First Missouri light artillery ; Martin, our subject, was the second son; Hannah, the third child, is the wife of Peter Delcke and resides in Milwaukee; Bart Gar- rett, the fourth child, is a painter residing in Sioux City, Iowa; Mary, the fifth, is living in Milwaukee, and William, the youngest, also makes his home in Milwaukee. Our subject was educated in the public schools and lived at home until he was twenty-one years of age. He learned the trade of a mason, and followed the same with success for a period of about twenty years. He was thus employed at the time of the Civil war, of which he is an honored veteran. In December, 1864, he enlisted as a recruit for the Third Wisconsin infantry, and was assigned to Company G. He joined Sherman's victorious army near Charleston, S. C., early in 1865, and participated with his command in an engagement at Mill Springs, near Goldsboro, N. C. After ten months of active service he was honorably discharged with the regiment at Louisville, Ky., July 18, 1865. Upon leaving the army he returned to his home in Milwaukee and continued to work at his trade for some nine years longer. In 1875 he branched out into a general contracting and building business, which he conducted successfully until 1880. He then embarked in his present business, that of a brick manufact- urer ; his first yard was located at Chase's Valley, and five years later he established his present yard at the corner of Ellen and Pryor avenues. In this business he has achieved an honorable and worthy success. Starting out in life as a poor boy, by his own industry and unaided efforts, Mr. Davelaar has now acquired a comfortable fortune, and his reputation as an unright business man is without stain or blemish. He has taken his son, George H., into business with him, and the firm is known as M. Davelaar &

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Son. Mr. Davelaar is affiliated with the Republican party political- ly, and has served as one of the trustees of the village of Bay View. He is an honored member of E. B. Wolcott Post No. I. Grand Army of the Republic, at Milwaukee. He was married on March 17, 1862, to Miss Sophia Geithman, a native of Germany, and they have a family of four children: John, a farmer of West- gate, Iowa, married to Helena Hentes; Wilhelmina, wife of Henry De Mey, of Milwaukee ; George H., married to Margaret Price, and associated in business with his father : and llelen, wife of John B. Julian, of Milwaukee.

Capt. Ingar Olsen, captain of the United States life-saving station at Plum Island, was born at Holmspo, Norway, Aug. 29. 1870. His father, Ole Hanson, and his mother, whose maiden name was Annie Eriksuru, were both born in Holmspo, and are still living in Norway, the father being a retired sea captain. Usually Norwegian names are traceable to the name of the farm upon which the bearer of the name was born or reared, and are not transmitted as are the parental names of other nations. The name Olsen was selected by the subject of this sketch on coming to America, the same being a combination of his father's names. Ingar Olsen received his elementary education in the public schools of Norway, and after coming to Milwaukee, attended the public schools of that city. At the age of thirteen years he began life as a sailor, and for the next two years followed a seafaring life on the great oceans. In 1885 he came to Milwaukee, and until 1888 was employed as a sailor on the lakes. In the spring of 1800 he entered the United States life-saving service as a surfman, and on Feb. 17, 1896, was promoted captain of the Plum Island station. . The crew consists of nine men, equipped with all the modern ap- pliances known to the service, and renders efficient aid of a dis- tance of twenty-five miles from the shore. Captain Olsen is re- quired to remain at his quarters permanently, ready to answer any call for assistance, except that during the active season-from April to December of each year-he has every ninth day off. He is furnished with a house, fuel, etc., and ranks as captain in the revenue service. He was a member of the revenue service for one year, at the end of which time he was honorably discharged. Since entering the life-saving service he has assisted in 260 wrecks, in which he has had many narrow escapes, and he was awarded a gold medal by the United States government for bravery dis- played on the occasion of the crib disaster at North Point. This medal is given only under extraordinary circumstances, and the one held by Captain Olsen is the only one in Wisconsin. Captain Olsen is prominent in Masonic circles, being a member of the Blue Lodge, Excelsion Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, Wisconsin Coun- cil, Commandery No. I. Knights-Templar, a Thirty-second degree member of Milwaukee Consistory. Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, and a noble of the Mystic Shrine. He is a Republican in his political affiliations, and belongs to the Lutheran church. On Aug. 19, 1896, Captain Olsen was united in marriage to Miss Emily.

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daughter of Frederick and Ernestine Tews, of Milwaukee. She was born in Missouri and is of German extraction. To this mar- riage have been born two sons, Ingar and Astrup, both attending school.

Charles Thielges, 610 Walker street, is a German-American of sturdy ancestry who has attained success in the industrial life of Milwaukee. His father, John Thielges, was a blacksmith by trade. He was born in Prussia, Germany, in October, 1829, and when ten years of age came to America to seek his destiny by his own hands. His dauntless purpose led him into unusual occupa- tions, and he early found himself engaged in the construction of the great suspension bridge at Niagara, N. Y. At an early date he came to Milwaukee and worked at his trade, but later he embarked in the saloon business. When the Civil war broke out he answered his country's call and joined the Second Wisconsin battery, serving a year and one-half. His enlistment was cut short by a wound in the arm, which incapacitated him for further service. He died in 1901. He was the second child of the family, and had two brothers: Theodore, who formerly was manager of Pabst park, and who is now deceased; and John, who is living. His wife, Rosena Rump, also a native of Prussia, died in 1907. Charles Thielges, the subject of this sketch, was born at West Bend, Wis., May 24, 1858. He received an education in the public schools of West Bend, which was his early home. To fit himself for his chosen occupation, he served an apprenticeship in the Lucas machine shops there, and when he became of age he branched out into larger fields of service by coming to Milwau- kee and allying himself with the great Allis-Chalmers Company, for whom he worked for three years. He spent an equal time with the Dorah Company, and in 1882 became foreman of the Green- slade Foundry Company. With the exception of two years he has been at the head of that business ever since. Mr. Thielges is one of the most companionable of men, and by employes and citizens generally he is held in the highest esteem. In 1882 he was married to Miss Helena Kastlen, of Germantown, Wis. She is the daughter of John Kastlen, a farmer. They have two children, both sons, who have brought honor to their parents by their success in the industrial world. They are Charles W., an electri- cian with the Western Fuel Company, Milwaukee; and Fred, who is with the Wisconsin Central Railway Company in Chicago.

Albert Fuller Leavens, vice-president of the Rauser, Leavens & Kissinger Company, wholesale dealers in men's furnishings and knit goods, was born at Neenah, Wis., March 28, 1863. His father was Henry P. Leavens, a native of Vermont, and his mother was Miss Lucy J. Scofield, a Canadian by birth. The elder Leavens, like so many New Englanders, came west in an early day and settled in Neenah, where he engaged in the hardware business with a Mr. Clark, who had represented Wisconsin in the United States congress. After this partnership had continued for several years Mr. Leavens bought the business outright and conducted it

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alone until 1880, when he desired to go into a larger business and sold the hardware store in Neenah to move to Milwaukee, where he became the founder of the Milwaukee Bag Company, which is still one of the important business concerns of the city. Mr. Leavens was an excellent business man, and his investments were so successful and he prospered to an extent that enabled him to retire from active life some years ago, and he is now enjoying a respite from business cares at Neenah. Ile is a stanch Republican, and has represented his county in the state assembly ; he has also held several important offices in his home town. Albert Leavens is the oldest of four children born to these parents. His educational advantages were received in the public schools of Neenah. After finishing his studies he was engaged in the dry- goods business in his native town, but desired to seek his fortunes in a broader field and went to Chicago, where he was associated with the Storm Hill Dry Goods Company for ten years, filling various positions of trust, and only left that firm to accept a more advantageous position with the John V. Farwell Company. For two years and a half he was one of their trusted and confidential employes, but resigned to come to Milwaukee with the Goll & Frank Company. During the ten years Mr. Leavens was with this firm he became well acquainted with many of the well-known and prominent business men of the city ; he held various positions of trust and was advanced many times, and while the firm lost one of their valued employes, it wished him success when he severed his connections in 1902 and united with Messrs. Rauser & Kiss- inger at their present location. Mr. Leavens is one of the newer type of business men, progressive, and with a watchful eye for the needs and demands of the market. The firm he is associated with handles the largest wholesale stock in its line in the Missis- sippi valley, and is doing an immense amount of business. On April 23, 1898, Mr. Leavens was united in marriage with Mary Alice, the daughter of John Wade, of Chicago. Her parents were both natives of Ireland, who came to America some years ago, first located in Hartford, Conn., but later moved to Chicago, and are still living there. Mr. and Mrs. Leavens have two children, Marie and Albert Wade.

August Stirn, the son of Phillip and Eleonara (Unverzagt) Stirn, was born March 17, 1826, in Biedenkopf, a romantic little city in Hesse-Darmstadt. His father was a state official-revenue collector-and also captain of the 'Landwehr, an organization similar to our state militia. One of his granduncles was a major- general in the Hessian army. His relatives in the old country were high state officials, preachers and doctors. He received a high school education, and, upon reaching his fourteenth year, was in- vited to enter the naval service in Holland by an uncle, who was a captain in the Dutch army. This kind tender was declined at the instance of his mother, who had a mercantile career in view for him. In compliance with her wish, he was apprenticed to the Windecker Brothers, merchants at Giessen, whom he served

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Memoirs of Milwaukee County : from the earliest historical times down to the present, including a genealogical and biographical record of representative families in Milwaukee County, Volume II, Part 102

Author: Watrous, Jerome Anthony, 1840- ed Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Madison : Western Historical Association Number of Pages: 1072

Author: Watrous, Jerome Anthony, 1840- ed
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Madison : Western Historical Association
Number of Pages: 1072