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 57

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 57

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BIOGRAPHICAL

courteous and affable in his intercourse with his fellowmen, and pop- ular with all who have the pleasure of his acquaintance. Possessed of many of the attributes of a scholar, and with a decided bent for the medical profession, he is rapidly forging to the front, and has already met with his full share of patronage.

Dr. Joseph H. Wallis, of No. 330 Grove street, Milwaukee, though still a young man and a comparatively recent member of the medical profession, has already made a name for himself as one of the most skillful surgical operators in the city. He is of Scotch-English extraction, and was born in the city of Neosho, Dodge county, Wis., June 14, 1873, the son of Charles William and Sarah (Ramsay) Wallis. His father is a native of Wisbeach, county of Cambridge, England,-and his mother is the descendant of a fine old Scotch family and a native of New York. The Wallis family also has a large admixture of Scotch blood. Our subject's father came to America about 1847, when a young man, and lived in New York for ten years. There he met and married his wife. In 1857 he came west to Wis- consin and settled at Neosho, where he did the hard pioneer work of an early settler in what was then a sparsely settled region, cleared a farm for himself and eventually became a prosperous farmer. He now resides at Hartford, Wis., and has served as justice of the peace for over forty years. He is one of the most respected and substantial citizens of that section of the state, has held the office of deputy- sheriff of Dodge county, and has been treasurer of Rubicon town- ship for many years past. He was allied with the Democratic party up to President's Cleveland's time, but since then has been affiliated with the Republican party. William Ramsay, the maternal great- grandfather of Dr. Wallis, was born in Scotland, came to America before the Revolution, and fought in the war on the side of the colonies. The father of William Ramsay was a Scotch nobleman, who possessed large ship-building interests at Glasgow. Dr. Wallis received his early education in the common schools and the Hartford high school, and then attended the Milwaukee Medical College, where he graduated in 1898 with the degree of M. D. He has been engaged in active general practice in Milwaukee for the past ten years. He was an instructor in the Milwaukee Medical College for five years, and is now clinical surgeon in the same institution; he has also been an instructor in the Milwaukee School of Dentistry, and health com- missioner of Wauwatosa. The above honors are a tribute to his proficiency and scholarship in his profession. He has met with splen- did success in his practice, and is highly esteemed both as a physician and as a man. He is affiliated with the Republican party, though he has never taken an active part in politics. In religious matters he conforms to the Presbyterian faith, and is a zealous member of that denomination. The doctor is a member of both the county and state medical associations. He is also a member of the following fraternal societies : Knights of Pythias. Royal Arcanum, Modern Woodmen of America, and Woodmen of the World, and acts as medical examiner for all these orders. Such is the brief record of one of the repre- sentative young professional men of Milwaukee, who has attained his

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present enviable position by the exercise of perseverance, energy and close application to the details of his exacting profession. In private life he is a man of blameless character, and is highly esteemed by both his professional brethren and a wide circle of friends. He is still in the prime of early manhood, possessed of a vigorous constitution, and many future honors should be in store for him.

Dr. Thomas C. Malone, of Milwaukee, Wis., with offices at No. 935 National avenue, is one of the well established and highly suc- cessful medical practitioners of the city, and is possessed of a large and lucrative practice. He was born in Taunton, Mass., on Dec. 5, 1851, the son of Andrew and Mary ( Coleman) Malone, both of whom are natives of Dublin, Ireland. His parents came to America and settled in Massachusetts in 1844, and eleven years later came west and settled at Rochester, Racine county, Wis., where they continued to reside most of the time while living. His mother died in Rochester on Feb. 3, 1888, and his father died in Milwaukee in 1896. The father was a stone mason by trade. Dr. Malone is one of six children, five of whom are still living. He received his education in the public schools of Racine county and at Rochester Academy ; he then pursued a medical course at Rush Medical College, Chicago, and was grad- uated in that institution with the degree of M. D. in 1877. He first located for the practice of his profession at Saint Martins, Milwaukee county, twelve miles southwest of Milwaukee, and moved to the city in 1894. There he has since been engaged in general practice. Dr. Malone is affiliated with the Democratic party in politics, but does not mix much in political affairs. He was born and reared a Roman Catholic, and is still a zealous adherent of that church. He is a mem- ber of the county and state medical associations, and also of the national association. Dr. Malone was married on June 10, 1879, to Miss Mary McShane, of Waukesha county, Wis., and three children are the fruit of this union: Edward, Florence, and Eugene. The doctor has all the native wit and genialty of his race, is a fine con- versationalist, and a courteous and most entertaining gentleman.

Dr. Frank S. Wasielewski, No. 480 Mitchell street, Milwaukee, is one of the best and most favorably known among the younger mem- bers of the medical profession in the Cream City. He was born at Bay City, Mich., on May 30, 1874, the son of Frank and Angeline (Piasecki) Wasielewski, both of whom are natives of Zerkow, in the province of Posen, Germany. His father came to the United States in 1872, settling in Bay City, Mich., where he still resides, and where he was married. He is a prominent dry goods and clothing merchant of that city. Dr. Wasielewski received his education in the public schools of his native city, and is a graduate of the high school there and of St. Cyril and Methodius Seminary, of Detroit, Mich. He then prepared himself for his profession in the medical department of the University of Michigan, in which he graduated in 1899 with the degree of M. D. In the fall of the same year he came to Milwaukee and here entered upon the practice of medicine ; and he has since been engaged in the successful prosecution of the same. He has a large and con- stantly increasing business, and has met with a most gratifying suc-

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cess. As a doctor he ranks among the best of the younger members of the profession, as a man and citizen he is of high character and sterling probity, and he is esteemed by a wide circle of friends as well as by his professional brethren. He is accustomed to form his own judgment of events and men, and votes independently in political matters. He was born and reared a Roman Catholic, and is a zealous adherent of that denomination. Dr. Wasielewski was married in January, 1904, to a popular and highly esteemed young lady of Mil- waukee, Miss Felice, daughter of Anton and Constance Baranowski, his father-in-law being now deceased. Dr. and Mrs. Wasielewski have two sons, Thaddeus and Stanley.

Dr. John A. Birkl, No. 579 Sixth avenue, Milwaukee, one of the able and successful practitioners of the Cream City, was born at Milwaukee, Sept. 29, 1876, the son of John and Margaret ( Bittner) Birkl. His parents were both natives of Bavaria, and came to Mil- waukee county in 1872. The father was a miller by trade and died on Nov. 24, 1895, being survived by his wife only a few years, the latter having died in April, 1904. They were the parents of two sons and three daughters, but only two daughters and one son, the subject of this sketch, are now living. Dr. Birkl attended the public schools of Milwaukee, the East Side high school and the Spencerian Busi- ness College; he then fitted himself for the practice of medicine at the Milwaukee College of Physicians and Surgeons, in which institu- tion he was graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1898. He is thus Milwaukee born and educated, and his scholarly attainments and high technical skill attest the worth of the city's splendid educational facil- ities. In addition to his other training Dr. Birkl served for some time on the staff of the Emergency Hospital. Ever since his graduation he has been engaged in the active practice of his profession, and is already widely and favorably known, not only in professional circles, where he is frequently called into consultation, but among the com- munity at large. He is affable and genial in disposition, makes friends readily, is a close and diligent student of medicine, and keeps well abreast of the latest developments and discoveries in medical science. He has never taken an active part in politics, but adheres to the prin- ciples of the Republican party. He was reared a Lutheran and is a member of that religious denomination, being a liberal supporter of his church. Dr. Birkl is a member of both the county and state medical associations ; he also belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Masonic order, the Knights of Pythias, and the Knights of the Maccabees. He was most happily married in 1904 to one of the popular young women of Milwaukee, Miss Hattie Linkman, the daughter of George and Mary Linkman, well known residents of the city of Milwaukee.

Dr. K. Wagner, of 625 Fourth avenue, Milwaukee, is a leading member of the medical fraternity in the Cream City, where he has been engaged in the successful practice of his pro- fession for the past twelve or thirteen years. He was born in Poland on Sept. 27, 1865, and is the son of Albert and B. (Dembowski) Wagner, both of whom were also born in Po-

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land. His mother is now deceased, but his father is still liv- ing in the old country. Dr. Wagner was educated in the schools of Germany, and is a graduate in medicine, of both the universities of Berlin and Wuertzburg, in the former in 1890 and the latter in 1892. He then came to the United States and began the practice of medicine in Milwaukee, meeting with a prompt and most gratifying success from the very start. His business has grown steadily with the years, and he has already taken rank among the most scholarly and skillful members of the profession. His methods are painstaking, thorough and exhaustive, and he displays rare skill in diagnosis. He is a man of great push and energy, and endowed as he is with a splendid educa- tional equipment and inspired with great enthusiasm for his calling, he seems surely destined to attain an even greater eminence. His suc- cess has been such that he is frequently called into consultation by his profesional brethren, with whom he is most popular. Though for- eign born, he is an intelligent student of American politics, but he has never taken an active part in the political game. His views are in accord with the fundamental principles of the Republican party. He was born and reared a Roman Catholic and is a devoted and zealous adherent of that faith. Dr. Wagner belongs to both the county and state medical associations, and is also a member of the Polish National Alliance of America, which has a membership of 60,000 in this coun- try. He was married on Oct. 12, 1899, to Miss Clementine Owocka, a daughter of a prominent Polish family in Milwaukee. Both she and her parents, Ignatz and Julia Owocka, are natives of Poland. Dr. and Mrs. Wagner have two children : a daughter, Alexandra ; and a son, Henryk.

Dr. Patrick Henry McGovern, physician and surgeon, No. 2036 Grand avenue, Milwaukee, Wis., is one of the prominent members of the medical profession of the Cream City. He was born at Elkhart, Sheboygan county, Wis., on April 24, 1862, the son of Lawrence McGovern, who is elsewhere mentioned in this work in connection with the sketch of J. J. McGovern, where further details relating to the ancestry of our subject may also be found. Dr. McGovern was accorded the best of educational facilities, graduating first at the high school, Madison, Wis., and then entering the University of Wiscon- sin, in which institution he was graduated in 1888. He had now deter- mined to thoroughly prepare himself for the practice of medicine, but was largely dependent on his own resources in this regard, and there- fore engaged in teaching for a number of years. He served as prin- cipal of the high school at Chilton, Wis., for a period of three years, and then matriculated as a student in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He was graduated in the medical department of this institution in 1894 with the degree of M. D., and later pursued a post- graduate course for a year in the medical department of the Johns Hopkins University. He first entered upon the practice of his pro- fession in Ozaukee county, Wis., and four years later came to Milwau- kee, where he has since been engaged in general practice. His prac- tice has steadily increased until it is now quite large. He is a skillful operator and makes a specialty of surgery. He is a thorough student,

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keeps well abreast of the latest developments in his exacting profes- sion, is deeply engrossed in his work, and has splendid educational equipment. He is a firm believer in the principles of the Republican party, but is not a self-seeker nor an aspirant for public preferment. He is broad-minded and liberal in his religious views. Dr. McGov- ern is a member of the Milwaukee county, city and state branches of the American Medical Association. He was married on Oct. 21, 1896, to Miss Abigail Margaret, daughter of William and Elizabeth (Jacky) Bothmann, of Chilton, Wis.

James E. Mahoney, M. D., of Milwaukee, Wis., was born on March 30, 1871, at Ridgeway, Iowa county, Wis. Dr. Mahoncy was educated first in the public schools of Wisconsin and his normal and scientific courses were completed at Dixon, III. He was a teacher in the public schools of Lee county, Ill., for two years, after which he attended the Rush Medical College of Chicago, Ill., and graduated in that institution in 1897. He practiced medicine at Highland, Wis., from June, 1897, to Sept. 15, 1901, and then removed to Spring Green and practiced there from Nov. 1, 1901, to May 1, 1906. He moved to Milwaukee on May 5, 1906, and is engaged in special practice in this city.

Rev. Judson Titsworth, one of the noted clergymen of Wisconsin, and for the past twenty-five years pastor of Plymouth Congregational church at Milwaukee, was born at Shiloh, N. J., on Oct. 23, 1845. He is the son of Isaac D. and Hannah Ann (Sheppard) Titsworth, the former of whom was born in Piscataway township, Middlesex county, N. J., in 1805, and died in 1897; the latter was born in Cumberland county, N. J., in May, 1813, and died in May, 1895. Isaac D. was a tanner and banker, and for some time served as president of the First National Bank of Plainfield, N. J. The paternal ancestors of Mr. Tits- worth came to America from England before the Revolution and set- tled in New York, when that colony was still controlled by the Dutch; what is known as the Dunham branch of the family arrived with the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, and some of them were after- wards in the ministry at Piscataway as Seventh-Day Baptists. Most of Rev. Titsworth's paternal ancestors were farmers, though his grand- father was a schoolmaster. He is of Irish extraction on his mother's side, and this branch of his family also came to America prior to the Revolution. During the Revolutionary war the Titsworths in New Jersey were prominent Loyalists, as all their interests naturally lcd them to espouse the side of England: one of them, Isaac Titsworth, was executed by order of General Washington, for his activity in guerrila operations. Whatever the family lacked in loyalty at the birth of the Republic was more than compensated for during the dark days of the Civil war, when, not only Mr. Titsworth, but several of his brothers and brothers-in-law were gallant Federal soldiers. Our sub- ject and his three brothers-AAbel Sheppard, Thomas Brown and Benjamin Franklin-all enlisted as privates in August, 1862, in Com- pany D, of the Eleventh New Jersey infantry under Col. Robert Mc- Allister. Mr. Titsworth was only sixteen years of age when he entered the service. They all saw plenty of hard service and remained in the

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army until the close of the war, except Mr. Titsworth who was trans- ferred to the navy and was honorably discharged from the service at New Orleans in September, 1865. His three brothers took part in the great battles of Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, and Spottsylvania, besides numerous lesser engagements, including the oper- ations before Petersburg. On the termination of hostilities they marched with their regiment to Washington, where they participated in the grand review, and were finally discharged from the service at Trenton, N. J., on June 15, 1865. Mr. Titsworth took part in the blockade of Galveston, Tex., and witnessed the final surrender of the Confederate forces there on June 2, 1865. A sister of Mr. Titsworth, Rebecca J., married William A. Rogers, and her husband left the chair of mathematics in Alford University to enlist in the navy, serving throughout the war; another sister, Keziah D., married William R. Potter, and the latter also enlisted in the navy and served as captain's clerk for two years, being discharged from the service in 1864. Mr. Titsworth received his early education in the public schools, and at the age of thirteen entered the academy at Alfred, New York, which he left to enter the Federal service in 1862. After the war he attended Amherst College and was graduated in that institution with the degree of B. A. in 1870. He then became a student in Union Theological Seminary, graduating with the degree of B. D. in 1873. Beloit (Wis.) College offered him the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1885, and Amherst College the same degree in 1908, both of which he de- clined to accept. He was ordained to the ministry in June, 1873, and held his first pastorate in the Congregational church at Westfield, Mass., where he remained for five years. In 1878 he became pastor of the First Congregational church at Chelsea, Mass., and five years later came to Milwaukee to assume the pastorate of Plymouth Congrega- tional church. During the twenty-five years Mr. Titsworth has held this important charge his church has greatly expanded its field of use- fulness. Through the able and beneficent efforts of its talented min- ister, Plymouth church has become a tremendous power for good in the community at large, and Mr. Titsworth has gained and held the love and sincere esteem of all his parishioners. He has grown and broad- ened too with the years, until he has become one of the ripest exponents of modern Christianity. In politics he is affiliated with the Republican party, and was appointed by Governor Rusk, chaplain of the Fourth battalion, Wisconsin National Guard, with the rank of captain. He served for many years as one of the trustees of Beloit College; is a trustee of Milwaukee-Downer College, Milwaukee; president of Roch- ester Academy, Racine county, Wis., but does no teaching, and he was the first president of the Wisconsin Home and Farm School for Boys, at Dousman, Wis. He is a member of the Amherst chapter of the D. K. E., Greek letter fraternity : is a member of the University Club of Milwaukee ; the Blue Mound Country Club, and of the Grand Army of the Republic. He was married on Sept. 23, 1873, to Miss Julia Ellen Van Duzer, a daughter of William Henry and Susan (Sayre) Van Duzer, of New York. Mr. and Mrs. Titsworth have had five children, all of whom are living. The eldest, Susan Sayre, graduated at Smith

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College in 1897 with the degree of B. A., later at Columbia University with the degree of M. A. and is now teaching in New York ; Henry Hopkins, the second child, secured his B. A. degree at Amherst in 1897 and is now married to Frances C. Wheeler; they have no children ; he is president of the Clay Product Co., in Brazil, Ind. Julia, the third child, was a student at the Art Institute of Chicago for four years and spent two years as an art student in Paris; she is now a teacher of art. The fourth child, Godfrey Van Duzer, graduated from Amherst in 1902 with the degree of B. A. and is in business in New York; he is married to Miss Mary Edith Dayton, and they have no children. Jud- son, Jr., the fifth child, was a student at Amherst College for three and one-half years, when he was obliged to leave college on account of his health, and he is now in business in Washington, D. C.

Clarke Milligan Rosecrantz, a practicing attorney in the city of Milwaukee, was born in Juneau county, Wis., on June 23, 1869, son of Joseph Bell and Adah A. (Johnson) Rosecrantz, the former of whom was born in Herkimer county, N. Y., in 1828, and the latter in New England in 1838. The paternal ancestors were Holland Dutch who migrated to America and settled in the Mohawk valley, N. Y., at a very early date. One of these ancestors was Abram Rosecrantz, a clergy- man of the Dutch Reformed church, and he was a circuit rider from Albany to Syracuse, N. Y., prior to and during Revolutionary times. Other members of the family are prominently mentioned in the legis- lative annals of the state of New York during the early days, and the paternal grandfather was a military man in that commonwealth. The maternal great-grandmother was a Herkimer and a relative of Gen. Nicholas Herkimer, who was engaged in the French and Indian war and commanded Fort Herkimer in 1758, at the time when the French and Indians were active in that neighborhood. In 1775 he was ap- pointed colonel, and in 1776 brigadier-general in command of the militia of Tryon county, N. Y. In 1777, when General St. Leger in- vested Fort Stanwix, afterward called Fort Schuyler, at the head of the Mohawk river, General Herkimer took his militia to the relief of Col. Gansevoort. About six miles from Fort Stanwix, near Oneida creek, Herkimer fell into an ambuscade in which his horse was killed and he was mortally mounded. Although near to death, he is said to have seated himself upon a stump from which he heroically encouraged his men to fight, and calmly lit his pipe with a burning gun-wad. This was the battle of Oriskany, and a monument to General Herkimer has been erected by the Oneida (N. Y.) Historical Society. Joseph B. Rosecrantz, father of the subject of this review, came to Wisconsin in 1868, and, locating at Mauston in Junean county, he became the pro- prietor of a bank, in which business he continued for many years. His wife survived him four years and passed away in 1906. Clarke M. Rosecrantz, whose name introduces this review, attended for a time the public schools of his native place but his carly education was mainly received under private tutors, and after due preparation he entered Carroll College at Waukesha, Wis., in which institution he took an extended course. Then entering the University of Wisconsin, he re- ceived the degree of Bachelor of Letters in 1893 and that of Bachelor

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of Laws in 1894. While in the law department of the University he read law in the office of Senator John C. Spooner at Madison, and thus became doubly equipped for the exacting demands of his profes- sion. In 1894 he went to New York city, where he entered the office of Sullivan & Cromwell, with whom he remained two and one-half years. Then returning to his native state he located in Milwaukee as a member of the firm of Spooner, Rosecrantz & George, which partnership continued until 1898, when that of Spooner, Rosecrantz & Spooner was organized. After a period of but six months, however, Willett Spooner withdrew from the firm, and as Spooner & Rosecrantz, the two remaining members were associated until 1905, since which time Mr. Rosecrantz has been alone. He has a large general practice, although he makes a spe- cialty of corporation law, and he has represented railroad companies in many important cases. He was married on April 6, 1904, to Susan Watkins, daughter of Samuel W. and Julia (Little) Wat- kins, of Milwaukee, and to this union there has been born one son, John Opdyke. Mr. Rosecrantz is a Republican in his political views, but he is not a politician in the generally accepted sense, de- voting his entire attention to his large and increasing law practice, He is a member of the Psi Upsilon college fraternity, the Phi Delta Phi law college fraternity, the Milwaukee and the Milwaukee Coun- try clubs, and the Milwaukee Bar Association.

Arthur Cotzhausen, who is engaged in the practice of law in the city of Milwaukee, with offices in the Metropolitan Block, was born in this city on Nov. 9, 1878, son of Baron Frederick W. and Maria S. (Jacobi) von Cotzhausen, both of whom are natives of Germany, the former born on July 21, 1838, and the latter on Oct. 25, 1842. These parents are prominent residents of the city of Mil- waukee. Arthur Cotzhausen received his early education in the public schools of Milwaukee, then went to Germany, in which country he spent four years, studying under a private tutor from 1888 to 1892. Upon his return to America he entered the Milwau- kee high school, in which he took a course and graduated with the class of 1897. Then deciding upon the legal profession as his life's occupation he matriculated in the law department of the University of Wisconsin, and after a thorough course graduated in 1900 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Soon after his graduation he opened an office in Milwaukee for the practice of his profession and has since been so engaged, meeting with very flattering success from the outset of his career. He was married on July 5, 1902, to Miss Stella E., daughter of Louis G. and Elizabeth (Knauber) Bohmrich, of Milwaukee, and to this union there have been born two children: Louis Frederick and Elsa. Mr. Cotzhausen is inde- pendent in his political views, clinging to no party organization and holding no party name in reverence, but he gives intelligent consideration to public questions as they arise and votes according to the dictates of his enlightened judgment. Professionally he has membership in the Milwaukee Bar Association.

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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 57

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