USA > Wisconsin > Racine County > Racine > Racine, belle city of the lakes, and Racine County, Wisconsin : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Vol. II > Part 55
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In 1858 Mr. Owens was united in marriage to Miss Anna Lewis and they became the parents of five children : Thomas, who is engaged in cultivation of the old home place ; Annie, who was born in 1866 and is the wife of William Jones, of Chicago, by whom she has five living children: Elizabeth, born in 1868: Lewis; and Hugh, who is deceased. The eldest son, Thomas, was born in Mount Pleasant township, June 10, 1860, and acquired his education through attendance at the common schools until he reached the age of sixteen years. He then concentrated his energies upon the farm work on the old homestead and has since carried on general farming. In this work he is associated with his brother Lewis, who was born on the old home place April 29, 1870, and also attended the common schools. Both brothers are supporters of the repub- liean party.
The father also gave his political allegiance to the republican party but was never an aspirant for office. His life was ever upright and honorable, winning for him the respect, confidence and good will of all with whom he was associated.
ROBERT G. NELSON.
Robert G. Nelson, active in the field of real estate, insurance and loans in Racine, was born in this city September 14, 1877, a son of Simon N. and Sophia (Weaver) Nelson, both of whom were natives of Christiania, Norway. When young they came to the United States and were married in Chicago, but in the early '70s removed to Racine. The father was a sailor and became the owner of several boats. He commanded the Caledonia as its captain and was also eaptain of the I. L. Shanks, in which he owned a half interest. His entire life was devoted to seamanship and he passed away in 1904, survived by his widow, who still makes her home in Racine.
After pursuing a public school education in this city, Robert G. Nelson turned his attention to the meat business and was the proprietor of several markets at various places in Racine during the fourteen years in which he engaged in the meat business. In that undertaking he prospered but eventu- ally sold out and about 1906 turned his attention to the real estate business, opening an office in connection with E. G. H. Wendt under the firm style of Wendt & Nelson. This partnership was dissolved two years later and Mr. Nelson continued alone for about four years, when he admitted W. S. Dooley to a partnership under the firm name of Nelson & Dooley. After three years
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he sold out to Mr. Dooley and again opened an independent office, located at No. 620 State street. There he is conducting a general real estate, insur- ance and loan business and the varions departments are proving a profitable source of income. He makes it his purpose to keep in close touch with the real estate market, knows the property that is for sale and is thoroughly con- versant concerning realty values, so that he is able to assist his elients in making judicious purchases and profitable sales.
In June, 1914, Mr. Nelson was united in marriage to Miss Gertrude Spring- rude, of Blanchardville, Wisconsin, and they have a son, Robert G .. Jr. Mr. Nelson votes with the republican party but has never been an aspirant for office. He has membership in the Commercial Club and is deeply interested in the purposes of that organization, eo-operating in its well defined plans to advance the interests and extend the trade relations of the city.
EDGAR A. SEARS.
Many of Racine county's citizens feel that there is no need to seek a loca- tion elsewhere because of the excellent opportunities here offered for business advancement, owing to the naturally rich condition of the soil. Among this number is Edgar A. Sears, who has always lived in Caledonia township, his birth having occurred on his father's farm January 23, 1880. His father, Daniel Sears, was also born in Caledonia township, his natal year being 1846, and the mother, who bore the maiden name of Nellie Mann, was born in 1856. The for- mer was a son of Lewis Sears, a native of New England. who at a very early period in the pioneer development of Wisconsin came to Racine county, where. he took up land from the government. It was a raw tract covered with timber which he had to clear away before he could cultivate the soil. He spent his re- maining days in this county but was killed in the woods when a young man. The maternal grandfather, Rodney Mann, came to Wisconsin when there were but two or three houses in Racine and he, too, established his home in Caledonia township, where he became an extensive and successful farmer, devoting his remaining days to agricultural pursuits here.
Daniel Sears was reared on the old Sears homestead and obtained his edu- cation in the distriet schools. He made farming his life work and in time became the owner of one hundred and sixty acres of land in one body, together with a timber tract elsewhere. Ile started out in business with comparatively little means, but through industry and perseverance won success. His business affairs were characterized by clarity of vision and keen discernment and what- ever he undertook he carried forward to successful completion. He died in 1909, while his wife passed away in 1916. They attended the Congregational church, of which Mrs. Sears was a member, and Mr. Sears gave his political allegiance to the republican party. Their family numbered four children, of whom three are still living: Edgar A .; Mabel, the wife of Alex O'son, who is engaged in the feed business in Kenosha ; and John, a blacksmith of Raymond township.
In retrospect one can see Edgar A. Sears among the farm boys of his home
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neighborhood, indulging in their sports, attending the district school and working in the fields when parental authority assigned him tasks in connection with the cultivation of the crops. He saw no reason to change his occupation when he reached man's estate and after his father's death purchased the inter- est of the other heirs in the old homestead, so that he now has a valuable farm property of one hundred acres, on which he carries on general farming and dairying. The equipment of the farm includes a nice home, substantial barns and sheds, a good silo, well kept fences and the latest improved machinery and the spirit of enterprise and progress is manifest in the further develop- ment of the place.
In 1903 Mr. Sears was married to Miss Meta Becker, a daughter of Herman Becker, a representative agriculturist of Caledonia, and they have three chil- dren, Daniel. Mildred and Arthur, aged respectively nine, four and two years.
Mrs. Sears belongs to the German Lutheran church, and both are highly esteemed in the community, having a large circle of friends, who find pleasure in their companionship and recognize their genuine worth.
ROY F. FREEMAN.
Roy F. Freeman is now devoting his energies to agricultural pursuits in Mount Pleasant township, where he has a splendidly developed property of twenty-one acres situated on section 13. He is a representative of one of the old pioneer families of the country and the name has long been prominently associated with industrial activity in Racine. It was in that city that Roy F. Freeman was born, March 21, 1886, his parents being Michael and Lillias Katherine (Porter) Freeman, who were married in Racine on the 15th of September, 1881. The father was born in Centralia, Illinois, January 14, 1860, and was a son of Stephen Freeman, who was born in Llanerchymedd, on the island of Anglesey, Wales. December 26, 1834, his parents being John and Elizabeth (Williams) Freeman, both of whom died when their son Stephen was only about a year and a half old. He lived among neighbors till he reached the age of nine, when he ran away to Liverpool, England, and made his home with John Williams, a builder and the composer of many beautiful Welsh hymns.
Stephen Freeman remained with Mr. Williams until he reached the age of eighteen and during that time served an apprenticeship to the boiler maker's trade. He served for about a year as a boiler maker with the British fleet in the Crimean war and soon afterward sailed for the United States, landing at New York in July, 1856. He was afterward employed in the shops of the Illinois Central Railroad Company at Centralia, Illinois, and on the 4th of July, 1857, he married Elizabeth Willick, who was born in Pennsylvania, April 14. 1834, and was a daughter of Christian and Catherine Willick, who were natives of Germany and settled in Pennsylvania on emigrating to the United States. Soon after his marriage Stephen Freeman decided to engage in farm- ing but was soon ready to return to his trade and established a boiler shop at
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Cairo, Illinois. In 1862 he enlisted in the United States army as a boiler maker of the Mississippi river squadron, with which he served for two years, when his health failed and he was obliged to return to the north. He afterward spent two years in the shops of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company, at Milwaukee and Watertown, and in the spring of 1867 came to Racine to engage in boiler making for John Kirkland, whose interest in the business he purchased. He afterward opened a boiler shop and this became the initial step in the establishment of the S. Freeman & Sons Manufacturing Company, which became one of the foremost business enterprises of Racine. In 1879 he admitted his son Charles to a partnership under the firm style of Stephen Freeman & Son which was changed to Stephen Freeman & Sons when Michael Freeman became a partner in 1881. Five years later the business was incorporated under the title of the S. Freeman & Sons Manufacturing Company and the father remained active in the management and control of the business to the time of his death, watching its satisfactory development which made it a profitable coneern.
His son, Michael Freeman, was but seven years of age when the family came to Racine and when a lad of thirteen he began learning the molder's trade, manifesting marked ability along that line, so that at the age of seven- teen he became foreman in his father's foundry department. As stated, he was admitted to a partnership and upon the incorporation of the business in 1886 was made secretary. Following the death of his father in 1889 he also became superintendent of the works. His inventive genius found expression in the making of a molder's flask, upon which he secured a patent when but nineteen years of age. He has secured three patents on feed cutters and four on broadcast seeders and all of his improvements are now in general use.
Michael Freeman was married in Racine, September 15, 1881, to Lillias Katherine Porter, daughter of Lemuel C. and Esther J. (Austin) Porter, the former a native of New York and the latter of Massachusetts. The family is of English lineage and in childhood Lemnel C. Porter removed with his par- ents to Taunton, Massachusetts, where he married and resided until 1875. Through the four succeeding years he made his home in Aurora, Illinois, and then came to Racine, accepting the position of superintendent of the silver plating works. When the plant was burned in 1882 he went to Rockford, Illinois, where he continued the business for the same firm under the name of the Racine Silver Plate Company. In 1886, however, he and his wife returned to Taunton, Massachusetts. Their eldest daughter became the wife of Michael Freeman and the mother of three children, Bessie, Frank and Roy. The parents are members of the Congregational church and Mr. Freeman gives his political allegiance to the democratic party. He has long ranked with the prominent representatives of industrial activity in Racine and his labors have contributed much to the business development of the city.
Rov F. Freeman. reared under the parental roof, attended the public schools, also Racine College and the University of Wisconsin, from which he was graduated on the completion of an agricultural course in 1906. For three years he worked in his father's factory in Racine but it was his desire to concen- trate his efforts upon farm work and he purchased twenty-one acres in Mount Pleasant township on which he has since lived. Ile there follows farming
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according to most modern scientific methods and his labors are attended with good results.
On the 2d of December, 1908, Mr. Freeman was married to Miss Ethel Mainland, a daughter of James and Anna (Davis) Mainland, of Racine, who settled in this county at an early day. The father was of Scotch lineage, while the mother was of Welsh descent. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Freeman, Esther Jane and Margaret Anna.
The parents belong to the Congregational church, which has been the religious faith of the family through several generations. Mr. Freeman main- tains an independent political attitude, voting for the candidate whom he regards as best qualified for office. All who know him esteem him highly. He is a well read man, actuated in all that he does by the modern spirit of enter- prise and progress. He has never been content to follow methods already in vogue but has sought to utilize the new ideas which seientifie investigation has brought to light and his labors are at all times a manifestation of later-day progress that produces practical and substantial results.
JAMES V. ROHAN.
James V. Rohan, one of Racine's most enterprising and energetie manu- facturers, president of the Belle City Incubator Company, was born in Racine in 1867, a son of James and Delia Rohan, who arrived in this county about 1840 after coming to the new world from County Limerick, Ireland, of which district they were natives.
James V. Rohan was reared under the parental roof and obtained what education he could in the public schools up to the age of twelve and one-half years, when it seemed necessary for him to provide for his own support and at that time he became an office boy for the Raeine Wagon & Carriage Con- pany. After a short period in that position he entered the service of the J. I. Case Threshing Machine Company where he remained for seventeen years. There he progressed in experience and knowledge but,-being ever alert to the possibilities for success along certain manufacturing lines, he severed his connection with the Case Company, and in 1900 organized the Belle City Incu- bator Company. In order to establish a basis for this business he purchased the outfit and what good will an incubator firm in Ohio had, moved the plant to Raeine. and at once started to push the business. That he has succeeded is denoted by the fact that he is now the largest manufacturer in the world building exelusively one size-one hundred and forty egg incubators, and one hundred and forty chick brooders, and this is due wholly to his ability to pursue a given course and the energy and tenacity to overcome all obstacles. Opportunity knocks at the door of the many and but few open the door. Not so with James V. Rohan. He has always kept the door of opportunity open. From a small beginning, to a capacity of thirty-two hundred incubators and brooders per week is a record worth while. The company employs fifty or more workmen, all skilled, and the output is shipped all over the United States, Europe, South America, and Australia. A complete line of poultry
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supplies is carried and the company has warehouses in Buffalo, Kansas City and Minneapolis. The plant is located on Fifteenth street and the St. Paul Railway traeks. Mr. Rohan is also president of the Metro-nite Company, of Milwaukee, large producers of extenders for paint. His accomplishment is due to the possession of certain qualities but these qualities are such as the individual may cultivate-determination, energy, industry. In a word, he has made splendid use of his opportunities. He has learned life's lessons in the broad school of experience and has thoroughly mastered each.
On the 14th of July, 1903, Mr. Rohan was married to Miss Laura A. Kaemp- fer, a daughter of Vites and Katharine Kaempfer, of Racine. Their children are Katharine Jane and James K., aged respectively twelve and nine years and now attending private school.
Mr. Rohan is a publie-spirited man, recognizing the duties and obligations of citizenship and fully meeting each in turn. Citizens of Racine know his worth and appreciate his devotion to the public good. He has been a mem- ber of the park board for several years and its president for the past four years and in this connection has done much to improve and beautify the eity. He is a valued member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and is now president of the Elk's Building Association. He is also president of the Somer- set Club, an exelusive social organization. For reereation he turns to golf, and is a director of the Raeine Country Club. In a word, he is a very courte- ous, polished gentleman, popular with a large eirele of friends, the number of which is constantly growing as the eircle of his aequaintanee widens. In summing up the story of James V. Rohan's life, from office boy at twelve years of age to president of one of Raeine's most important industries and presiding officer of four other institutions, we find the story well worth read ing-one that establishes the fact that perseverance and unfaltering deter- mination will accomplish all things, the record being such as future genera- tions may well emulate.
FREDERICK J. OSIUS.
"Opportunity knocks but onee" and Frederick JJ. Osius has never waited for the second knoek but has improved every chance that has come. More- over, he possesses the energy and tenacity to successfully complete what he undertakes and his work in several respeets is notable. America leads the world in invention. Wherever work has been extensively carried on by hand, man's ingenuity has set to work to contrive labor-saving deviees whereby the output could be inereased at a minimum expenditure of time and material. It is this inventive genius, combined with mechanical and technical skill and fostered by a landable ambition, that has brought Frederick J. Osins to the front in industrial cireles of Raeine and made him the efficient head of the Hamilton-Beach Manufacturing Company, which he organized in the spring of 1910.
Mr. Osius is a native son of Racine, born November 25. 1879, his parents being M. L. and Josephine (Heltieh) Osins, who at an early period in the
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development of this section of the state established their home here. The father became a retail merchant of the city and was well known in business circles.
When a lad of thirteen years Frederick J. Osius became a clerk in his father's store and eventually embarked in the retail business on his own account. Through the wise and capable management of his business he managed to save twelve thousand dollars. Ile not only had the ability to suc- cessfully control the sale of goods, but he also possessed natural mechanical ingenuity and his experiments resulted in the invention of a sewing machine. In this undertaking, however, he sustained a six thousand dollar loss, his health became impaired and he suffered greatly from indigestion. Because of this he purchased an electric medical battery and noting that it could be improved upon he immediately set to work to make the improvement and with this end in view hired a machinist. This was his initial step in organ- izing the Standard Electric Company for the purpose of manufacturing bat- teries and the undertaking proved very profitable. Into the field of industrial activity he has thus ventured and from it there is no turning back, as the limitless opportunity for the exercise of his inventive genius makes continuous call upon him. He invented the first portable vacuum cleaner and continued in the business until December 1, 1909, when he sold out to the MeCrumb- Howell Company for three hundred thousand dollars. It was at this time that he organized the Hamilton-Beach Manufacturing Company in the spring of 1910, establishing his plant on Douglas avenue over the F. J. Greene fac- tory. He started there with three men, with himself as president and general manager of the business. Since that time his inventive powers have been continually called into play and he is constantly studying upon new lines that will meet the public needs. He patented the Cyelone drink mixer which is operated electrically and the popularity of this is indicated in the fact that eighty thousand of these have already been sold. He also manufactures hair dryers, shoe sewing machine motors and all kinds of labor-saving devices, most of which are made under his own patents. In August. 1915, he built a new factory on the Rapids road and the Northwestern tracks which was com- pleted in March, 1916. The main building. three hundred by five hundred feet, is three stories in height and is of modern mill construction with a sprink- ler system. Such is the thorough protection against fire that he has the lowest insurance rate given in Racine. There are also two other buildings, the ware- house and polishing room being maintained in a three story building one hun- dred and twenty-five by thirty feet, while the boiler room is in a building sixty by seventy feet. The marvelous growth of the undertaking is indicated in the fact that while he began business with only three employes he today has over four hundred people working in his plant and the product is sold all over the world. The sales now amount to one million dollars or more annu- ally and the factory is the most modern in construction and equipment in Racine.
In 1913 Mr. Osius was married to Miss Mary Dolan, of Michigan. They are well known in Raeine, where Mr. Osius holds membership in the Elks. He also has prominent club relations in other cities. He belongs to the Chicago Athletic Club, to the Milwaukee Athletic Association, the National Manufae-
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turers' Association, the Racine Manufacturers' Association and the Commer- cial Club. His record is marvelous by reason of his notable success attained within a comparatively few years. He has anticipated and met the wants of the public in the line of his manufactured articles, and judicious advertising and the spirit of enterprise have enabled him to put his output upon the market in such a way that the sales have been continually increased. When one reads the history of an American business institution such as this, one recognizes that fact always outstrips fancy in the long run. Determination and courage have been the foundation stones upon which the undertaking has been built. Not only has it won success for its founder but has also been a publie benefaction in that it has furnished employment to a large force of workmen; and such a business is not only a maker of money -- it is also a maker of men.
WILLIAM F. C. BIEHN.
William F. C. Biehn ranks among the most successful of the younger farm- ers of the county and derives a good income from his well directed labors. He was born in Kenosha county. on the 3d of October, 1886, and is a son of Fred W. and Bertha (Steffen) Biehn, both natives of Germany, the former born in 1825 and the latter in 1841. The paternal grandfather, Jacob Biehn, passed his entire life in Germany but the maternal grandfather emigrated to this country and located in Milwaukee, where he had a milk route. Fred W. Biehn, who was the oldest of a family of three brothers, received an excellent education in his native country and throughout his life kept well informed on the events and movements of general interest. When twenty years old he came to the United States and settled in Kenosha county where he purchased a farm on which he spent the remainder of his life. At the time of his death he owned three hundred acres of good land and was independent financially. He was held in high esteem and warm regard in his community and his death, which occurred in 1890, was deeply regretted. Ile was a republican in politics and his religious faith was that of the Lutheran church. He was married in Milwaukee, to Miss Bertha Steffen, who survived him for almost a quarter of a century, being called to her final rest in December, 1914. They became the parents of seven children, of whom six survive: W. F. C .: JJohn, a resident of Burlington, Wisconsin : Maggie, the wife of Ilenry W. Steffen, a ward foreman in Milwaukee: Fred, who is operating the old homestead in Kenosha county ; Katie, the wife of Jacob Kreuscher, a farmer of Kenosha county : and Bertha A., who makes her home with her brother William F. C.
The boyhood and youth of William F. C. Biehn were passed upon the home farm in Kenosha county and he acquired his education in the common schools of that county and of Racine county and in the high school at Union Grove, which he attended for a year. He has concentrated his energies upon farm- ing since putting aside his textbooks and now owns seventy acres of land in Yorkville township, which were formerly owned by his father, and ten aeres in Dover township. He does general farming, raising grain and stock, and
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