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 87
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called to the chair of Anatomy in the medical department of Mar- quette University, and has since resided in Milwaukee, his special line of work being surgery. In politics Dr. Doern is independent, and his church affiliations are with the Methodist organization. In social and fraternal circles he is a member of the order of Free Masons, and of the Athletic Club of Milwaukee; his professional associations are with the American Medical Association, and with the Wisconsin State, the Milwaukee County, and the Fox River Medical societies, and the International Congress on Tuberculosis, of Washington, D. C. Although young, Dr. Doern has taken an enviable position in his profession, and has before him a career of large usefulness and brilliant success.
Gustave Adolph Kletzsch, M. D., who has been a prominent physician of Milwaukee, and whose reputation has become na- tional, was born in Newburgh, Washington county, Wis., Nov. 9, 1857. He is the son of Charles F. Kletzsch, a short review of whose career appears elsewhere in this volume in the sketch of Alvin P. Kletzsch, another son. Dr. Kletzsch received limited early educational advantages in the district schools in the vicinity of his home, limited because of having to leave school to assist his father in the conduct of his mill. Subsequently he assisted his father in the hotel business, but the labor was not congenial and he severed his connection to enter the hardware business. This industry furnished him a livelihood for three years. At the end of that period he began the study of medicine, entering the Bellevue Hospital Medical College in New York city. In 1882 he received from the trustees of that institution the degree of Doctor of Medi- cine, and he began his professional career by serving a full term in Randall's Island Hospital and in the Woman's Hospital of the state of New York, after which he began a general practice in New York city. In 1888 he studied in Berlin, Germany, under the emi- nent Prof. Rudolph Virchow, of the university of that city. On his return to New York the following year he was tendered and accepted an appointment as assistant-surgeon in the Woman's Hospital. Since that time he has devoted himself to the study and treatment of the diseases of women, and has won a wide reputa- tion as a specialist in that branch of his profession. In the fall of 1896 Dr. Kletzsch again went to Euorpe to study pathology and bacteriology under Professors Virchow and Gunther, and he has since continued these studies in his own laboratory. He returned to Milwaukee in 1894, after the death of his father, and has since made this city his home, practicing as a consulting physician. Professionally Dr. Kletzsch is a corresponding member of the New York Obstetrical Society ; a non-resident member of the New York Academy of Medicine; a non-resident active member of the Chicago Gynecological Society ; and of the Milwaukee Medical Society. Socially he is identified with the Milwaukee and the Deutscher clubs and other organizations. On Ang. 29, 1890, Dr. Kletzsch was united in marriage to Miss Alma Blatz, a daugh- ter of Valentine Blatz, of Milwaukee. To this union have been
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born five children, four of whom survive. The names of the chil- dren are as follows: Alma Louisa, Louisa Ida, Gustav A., Jr., and Marie Johanna. Dr. Kletzsch has given up his professional work and is devoting his entire time to the introduction of Nutricia Nursing Milk-made after the process of Prof. Backhaus, of Berlin, Germany-into the United States, Canada, and Mexico. He, with his brothers, own the sole rights for these territories, In order to produce this milk in as perfect a condition as possible he has established the Nutricia Farm at Thiensville, Wis, where milk is produced under the most sanitary conditions and hygienic surroundings. It is his purpose to also influence his neighbors in such a way that they will produce milk under similar conditions. James S. O'Brien, M. D., of 331 Oakland avenue, Milwaukee, was born at Cold Spring, Jefferson county, Wis., on May 20, 1859. His parents, Patrick and Catherine (Kelley) O'Brien, were both natives of Ireland, the former born in 1820 and the latter in 1825. The father came to the United States as a young man, living for a time in Ohio, where he was employed by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company, and he was personally acquainted with the late President Garfield when the latter was a boy. Both parents came to Wisconsin in the early forties and settled on a farm in Jeffer- son county, where the father became an extensive farmer and a prominent man in the county. He was always actively interested in politics and held the office of county treasurer for several years. He now lives retired, his wife having died in 1905. Of their family of seven-five sons and two daughters-all except one son are liv- ing. Dr. O'Brien acquired his early education ,in the public schools, and later entered the Whitewater Normal School, in which he was graduated in 1881, and for several years succeeding he was engaged in teaching. He later became a student at Rush Medical College, Chicago, taking his degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1884, and he immediately began the practice of medicine in Milwaukee, where he has continued in his profesion ever since. The exacting nature of his practice does not leave him leisure for social life, and most of his associations are connected with the duties of his pro- fession. He belongs to the American Medical Association, the Wisconsin State Medical Society, and the Milwaukee County Med- ical Society. In 1895 he was united in marriage to Miss Julia Carroll, daughter of Thomas Carroll, of Milwaukee. Both of her parents are now deceased. To the marriage two children have been born, namely: Ruth Marie and Carroll J. Both the family of Dr. O'Brien and that of his parents are members of the Catholic church.
John McKean Niven, lawyer, with offices in the Free Press building, Milwaukee, is a native of Wisconsin, having been born in New London, Waupaca county, Nov. 14, 1879. His parents were James K. and Laura (Jeffers) Niven. The former, born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1855, died in May, 1902, and the latter, a native of New York state, died in 1880. The maternal grandpar- ents were George and Belinda (Cadwell) Jeffers. George Jeffers
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came to Wisconsin from New York in 1855. He was a son of Thomas Jeffers, a native of Connecticut, and a descendant of Judge Jefferys, of England, who was the founder of the family in America and who changed the name to its present spelling. Be- linda (Cadwell) Jeffers was born in 1806, in Connecticut. She was the daughter of Phineas Cadwell, who served through the Revolu- tionary war. The Cadwell family is traced to Edward Cadwell, who, with his brother Matthew, came over from England on the Mayflower. The paternal grandparents, John and Jeanie (Mc- Kean) Niven, came to this country in 1870 and settled in Wau- paca county. Both families have been in Scotland many genera- tions. The grandmother died in August, 1908, and the grandfather still lives in Waupaca. James K. Niven came to the United States with his parents in 1870, living first in Waupaca county. He taught school several years, and later graduated at Rush Medical College and practiced as a physician and surgeon at Ironwood, Mich., which place was his residence at the time of his death. John M. was educated in the common schools of Sheridan, Wis., and the high school of Ironwood, Mich., and later became a student at the University of Wisconsin, where he graduated in the College of Letters and Science in 1900 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. His legal training was obtained in the college of law, University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, in which he received the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1903. He at once began the practice of his profession in Milwaukee and was associated with Edwin S. Mack for a year. He then practiced alone until the fall of 1907, when he became a member of the firm of Aarons & Niven, successors to the firm of Roemer & Aarons. They follow a general practice. In politics he is a Republican. While a student he was a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity and also of the Phi Beta Kappa honorary scholarship fraternity, and while in the University of Michigan was one of the editors of the Michigan Law Review, the legal journal published by the Department of Law of that institu- tion. On April 20, 1904, Mr. Niven was married to Miss Ethel Dean Evans, daughter of Alfred D. and Mattie Isabel (Hender- son) Evans, of Milwaukee. They have one son, James Kirkwook Niven, born on Dec. 10, 1907.
William H. Churchill, attorney, of Milwaukee, is a native of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and was born on Nov. 10, 1866. His parents are George M. and Agnes (Blackstock) Churchill, the former a native of New Brunswick and the latter of Ireland. They never resided in the United States. William H. Churchill was educated in the public schools of Canada, was graduated in the high school of Paris, Brant county, Ontario, and in 1886 in the Model School of Brantford in the same county. The latter dis- tinctions gave him a teacher's certificate, and he followed that profession for two years, coming to Sheboygan, Wis., in 1889. On Jan. I, of that year he entered the law office of Seaman & Williams at Sheboygan, and remained until the following autumn, when he went to Ann Arbor, Mich., where he entered the college of law
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at the University of Michigan, and was graduated in 1891 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. After graduating he went to Mil- waukee and entered the law office of Joshua Stark, remaining with him about eighteen months and then forming a partnership with WV. H. Bennett. In 1895 Mr. Bennett became assistant district- attorney, and the firm became Kleist & Churchill, so existing until 1898. At that date the old partnership was dissolved and a new one, Churchill & Donavan, was formed, which existed until 1905, when the present firm of Churchill, Bennett & Churchill was organ- ized, the individual members being W. H. and Thomas T. Church- ill and W. H. Bennett. In 1903 W. H. Churchill was appointed special assistant district-attorney of Milwaukee county to investi- gate charges of graft in connection with the building and manage- ment of the county hospital and other county institutions, to assist in the grand jury work of 1903 and 1904 and the prosecution of the graft and bribery cases. The grand jury brought in about 100 indictments against officials for bribery and malfeasance in office, and Mr. Churchill was employed in the trial of these cases during the remainder of the year 1904. In politics he is a Republican, but has held no office except that above referred to, of special assistant-attorney in 1903-04. In 1892, soon after locating in Mil- waukee, Mr. Churchill was one of the organizers of the Milwaukee Law School, now the college of law of Marquette University. He is still a member of the faculty of the college of law, teaching pleading and practice, evidence, real property, Wisconsin statutes,
and extraordinary remedies. More than one hundred students have been admitted to the bar from this college, and the class now pursuing legal studies numbers about one hundred. Mr. Churchill is not a member of any fraternal or secret societies, his church membership, that of the Methodist Episcopal, being the only organization to which he belongs, outside of those connected with his profession. On June 2, 1896, he was united in marriage to Miss Marie Hough, daughter of Henry and Anne (Saunders) Hough, of Paris, Ontario, and their two daughters are Agnes Blackstock and Ruth Hough. Mr. Churchill is recognized as a keen, logical, and honorable member of his profession, and in his seventeen years of residence in Milwaukee has thoroughly identified himself with the city which he selected as his home. The cases to which reference is made above, involving many officials, and his thorough work in connection with the same, gave him a wide reputation and brought him into notice especially throughout the state of Wis- consin.
John T. Kelly, the present efficient city attorney of Milwau- kee, was born at Corning, Steuben county, N. Y., on Sept. 12, 1854. He is a son of John and Margaret (Ryan) Kelly, both of whom were born in Ireland, the former in County Kerry and the latter at Whitehall, County Tipperary. After completing his preparatory education Mr. Kelly studied law and was admitted to practice. He was exceptionally successful, and in April, 1906, was elected city attorney for a period of four years. This latter position he
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has filled with eminent satisfaction to everybody concerned. He was reared in the Catholic faith and is to-day a devout communi- cant of the church of that denomination. Professionally and fraternally he is very prominent, being identified with the Milwau- kee Bar Association, the Milwaukee Athletic Club, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the Catholic Order of Foresters, the Knights of Columbus, and the Merchants' and Manufacturers' Association. On July 28, 1892, Mr. Kelly was united in marriage to Miss Jane McMillan, a daughter of John and Mary (Lavin) ) McMillan, of Madison. To this union have been born two children, Esther E. and John T., Jr.
Eberhard John William Notz, D. D. S., one of the younger gen- eration of dentists in Milwaukee, was born in this city on Oct. 22, 1880, and traces his ancestry back to an old German family, whose coat-of-arms consisted of the conventional shield, with four moun- tain-peaks arranged in the form of a cross, with two stars above the two horizontal peaks; a knight's helmet is above the shield, which is in turn surmounted by a crown, and above that the half length of a man, holding in the one hand a start, and in the other a sheaf of grain. Dr. Notz is the son of Rev. Eugene Adolph and Dorothy (Bading) Notz. The father was born in Haberschlacht, Wurtemburg, Germany, received his classical education at Geiss- lingen, and his philological and philosophical course at the sem- inary of Blaubeuren. In 1870 he came to the United States and entered Northwestern University, at Watertown, Wis., at which he graduated in 1873. The same year he entered Concordia seminary of St. Louis and was graduated in 1877, meantime having taught a year at the Northwestern University of Watertown. On July 15, 1877, he was ordained a minister of the gospel of the Lutheran faith and for a year held the charge at Menominee, Wis. In the fall of 1878 he received a call to become professor of symbolic theology and exegesis of the Old Testament and inspector of the Lutheran Theological Seminary of Wisconsin, and he then removed to Mil- waukee, where he lived until his death on Feb. 5, 1903. The mother, who was born in Dodge county, Wis., is a daughter of Rev. John Bading, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work, and her marriage occurred in December, 1879. Four children-a son and three daughters, Eugenie, Natalie and Helen-were born to the parents. The father was a member of the first library board of Wauwatosa, and was appointed by the first mayor, Emerson D. Hoyt. Dr. Notz received his preliminary education in St. John's Lutheran parochial school in this city, the public schools of Wau- watosa, and completed a four years' course in Northwestern Uni- versity at Watertown, Wis. He then entered the dental depart- ment of Marquette University, and, on May 1, 1903, the trustees of that institution granted him the degree of Doctor of Dental Sur- gery. Since that time he has been most successfully engaged in his practice. On June 10, 1904, Dr. Notz became a member of the hospital corps attached to Troop A, First cavalry, Wisconsin Na-
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tional Guard, with the rank of sergeant, a position he still holds. In his political relations he is allied with the Republican party, but business affairs have never allowed him to become a candidate for public office of any nature. Reared in the Lutheran faith, he is to- day a coinmunicant of St. John's Lutheran church. Professionally and fraternally Dr. Notz is identified with the Milwaukee County Dental Society, the Psi Omega dental fraternity, the Wisconsin Archæalogical Society, and the Schlaraffia Milwaukia. Dr. Notz is unmarried.
Henry Franklin Whitcomb, 265 Martin street, Milawukee, was born in St. Lawrence county, N. Y., on June 26, 1848. He is the son of Henry Franklin and Maria Lydia (Torrey) Whitcomb, both of whom were born in Jefferson county, N. Y., the former on Oct. I, 1820, and the latter on Sept. 3, 1818. On July 7, 1871, Mr. Whit- comb was united in marriage to Miss Lovisa Margaret Clock, daughter of James B. and Eliza Jane (Simmons) Clock, of Fond du Lac, Wis. The children of this union in the order of birth are as follows : Jennie Lovisa, Frank Eliza, Claire Louise, Jessie Maria, Anna, Edwin Reynolds, Henry Franklin, Martha Lillian, and Mar- garet.
Kenneth W. Jacobs, one of the prosperous business men of the Cream City and the owner of a large brass foundry, is a native of Wisconsin, born at Sauk City, Nov. 8, 1861. He is the son of Burley and Margaret Jacobs, the father having been born at Mid- dlebury, N. Y., April 7, 1839, and the mother at Castle Polis, Ire- land. Burley Jacobs was a miller by trade, who came to Wiscon- sin when a boy, with his father, who was a shipbuilder on the Erie canal. He started in as a cabin boy on the canal boats, but when his father bought a farm in Wisconsin at North Freedom, he ac- companied him to that locality and assisted him in the development of that property. When he grew to manhood he invested his earn- ings in the milling business, and as this proved a success he bought a grain and produce warehouse at Sauk City and conducted this until 1865, when he sold out and went to Prairie du Chien, and there went into the tin-smith business with a brother-in-law, E. Morrison, who was located there. At that time Prairie du Chien was still one of the important Indian trading posts, and Mr. Jacobs, with keen business foresight, engaged in buying furs. His ven- ture prospered, and in a short time he had accumulated a sufficient competence in that line to return to the east-central part of the state, where he bought grain for the Thompson Milling Company at Mazomanie for a number of years. From there he went to Platteville, Wis., where he bought out a mill and conducted it for twelve years, but as he desired to increase his field of activities he moved to Milwaukee in 1881, and was associated with the W. M. Brigham Company for three years. He soon saw the excellent business opportunities offered in the handling of cooperage stock and engaged in that vocation on West Water street. His business increased and he rented larger quarters at Fifteenth and North Canal streets. At the same time he engaged in the manufacture of
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barrels, establishing a plant at Nineteenth and St. Paul avenues, a second at the cement mills, and he also ran a third branch at Yankton, S. D., where large quantities of Portland cement were manufactured. In this branch of his business he was supported by William Plankinton. Mr. Jacobs continued to carry on his vari- ous business enterprises until his death, July 4, 1893. He was deep- ly mourned by his family and his demise was a great loss to the community and his business associates. Kenneth W. Jacobs re- ceived an excellent education in the public schools of Platteville, Wis., and after finishing the common schools attended the State Normal school of that city. While a student in the State Normal he obtained an insight in the milling business, being associated with his father, which association continued until he came to Milawukee, where he entered the wholesale house of Dewey & Davis. Thirteen months later he became associated with the W. M. Brigham Com- pany, commission merchants, in which company his father was a partner. He continued with this firm for three years, and then went to Sidney, Neb., with a company that was engaged in buy- ing Western cattle for the Eastern market. A year later he re- turned to Milwaukee and became a partner in his father's varied interests, and upon the latter's death bought out the entire busi- ness. He was appointed administrator of the estate, disposed of the plant at the cement works, and nine years later, in 1902, em- barked in his present line, established his brass foundry and began to manufacture machinery. He bought out he Warner-Schenk Company, on Fifth street, combined it with his own, and located at 1820 St. Paul avenue, where he manufactures plumbing goods and specialties, steam water-guage protectors and Dale catch-basin traps. He holds several patents, covering the supplies he manufac- tures, and does a considerable business in automobile repairing. The buildings of the foundry and machine shops have several thon- sand square feet of floor space, and since its establishment the con- cern has grown steadily. In addition to the brass foundry business, Mr. Jacobs conducts the cooperage business in the original plant established by his father, the output of which is 300,000 barrels an- nually. Mr. Jacobs was united in marriage with Miss Clara Belle Leeman, of Milwaukee, on Nov. 25, 1886. To this union three children have been born: Burleigh, who is taking the mechanical course at the University of Michigan; Roy Merrill, and Kenneth. both at home. Mr. Jacobs' political affiliations are with the Re- publican party, of which he is a substantial supporter, and he is a member of the Merchants' and Manufacturers' Association, and also of the Dealers' Club. He is prominently identified with the Masonic fraternity, being a member of Lafayette Lodge, Wisconsin Chapter, Kilbourn Council, Ivanhoe Commandery, Wisconsin Con- sistory, the Mystic Shrine, and he is Worthy Patron of Bethany chapter at the present time.
Robert Camp, president of the Milwaukee Trust Company, was born in this city on June 1. 1859. He is the son of Hoel H. and Caroline Rebecca (Baylies) Camp, the former born in Derby. Vt .. on Jan. 27, 1822, and the latter was born in Montpelier. Vt. The
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paternal grandfather, David M. Camp, was a graduate of the Uni- versity of Vermont and an attorney of prominence. As lieutenant- governor of Vermont he organized the first state senate. The father, Hoel H. Camp, received his education in the Derby public schools, and when but fifteen years of age became junior clerk in a mer- cantile house at Montpelier. Later he was for various periods em- ployed as a merchant's clerk in Boston and other Eastern cities, and then returned to Montpelier and became a partner in an estab- lishment with Hon. Charles Paine, a former governor of Vermont. During the winter of 1852 and 1853 he disposed of his Eastern in- terests and migrated to Milwaukee to engage in the wholesale grocery trade. Within a year he sold out that business and be- came interested in the Farmers' & Millers' Bank, organized under the old state banking law. When the First National Bank, the first institution organized in Wisconsin under the national bank- ing law, was created, the Farmers' & Millers' Bank was merged with it, and Mr. Camp became cashier of the new institution. When a new charter was taken out in 1882 the bank was reorgan- ized and he was made president, a position he filled until his re- tirement in 1893. In January, 1894, he organized the Milwaukee Trust Company and was made its first president. Since becom- ing president of this latter institution Robert Camp, to whom this review is dedicated, has carried forward the same policies so ably promulgated by his father in the founding of the company, and has won a wide reputation as a conservative, able and sagacious finan- cier. - On Aug. 5, 1886, Mr. Camp was united in marriage to Miss Mary C. Ball, daughter of Edward H. Ball. To this union was born, on Jan. 10, 1889, a daughter, Caroline M., and on June 30, 1892, a son, Marvin M.
Christopher H. Starke, president of the Milwaukee Bridge Company, and one of the respected German-born citizens of Mil- waukee, was born at Colenfeld, province of Hanover, on June 12, 1834, the third son in order of birth of the seven children born to his parents, Henry Frederick and Maria (Bues) Starke. What education he was able to obtain was in the excellent schools of Germany, and at the age of fourteen years he entered the employ of his father, who was a carpenter and contractor. He remained in that service for a period of five years and then determined to come to Milwaukee, whither his two brothers had preceded him in 1847. One of the brothers, Frederick, had become established in the business of contractor, and in 1852 had brought the first pile-driver to the city. When Christopher arrived the first work assigned him was the operation of that machine. Within a year after his coming his father's death occurred, and the mother and the rest of the family of children migrated to Milwaukee. Among other jobs that the contracting firm of Starke Brothers did was the pier and dock work along the lake shore before the harbor entrance was constructed, and some of the bridge work of the old Milwaukee & Mississippi Railway Company. Upon the death of Frederick Starke in 1857 the brothers-Henry, Christopher, August and William-together with a cousin, Frederick Bues, purchased the
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