USA > Wisconsin > Wisconsin, its story and biography, 1848-1913, Volume VII > Part 10
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In addition to Mr. Steiger's active identification with the matting
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factory, he is also president of the Shawano Lumber Company; of the Oshkosh Pure Ice Company ;- president of the Phillips Sprinkler Company of Oshkosh, contractors for the installation of automatic sprinkler systems; treasurer of the Oshkosh Steamboat Company ; treasurer of the Little Wolf Power Company, and treasurer and man- ager of the Wegner Fuel Company. Mr. Steiger has also had charge and has managed the Leander Choate Estate. Emil H. Steiger is easily one of the most progressive and alert business men of Oshkosh, a man whose broad views and civic loyalty do not permit him to become hedged in with the mere interests of personal business, and he is always ready to lend his influence and material cooperation to advance the general welfare of his home city, county and state. When Colonel Roosevelt visited Oshkosh, he was a guest of Mr. Steiger, who provided an auditorium in his new warehouse, where eleven thousand people greeted the former president.
In politics Mr. Steiger gives his allegiance to the Republican party, but has never desired any honors nor rewards, except such as come from a consciousness of good citizenship. He holds membership in the Congregational church. On June 19, 1895, Emil H. Steiger and Miss Sophia Faust were united in marriage. Mrs. Steiger, who is now deceased, was a daughter of Peter Faust, formerly a well known citizen of Oshkosh, and now a resident of Weyauwega. Mr. and Mrs. Steiger were the parents of four children : Carl, Emil and Sophia, twins, and Frances.
JOHN G. REUTEMAN. Identified with a line of enterprise that has most important bearing upon the progress and stable prosperity of every community, Mr. Reuteman is recognized as one of the enterprising, straightforward and representative business men of the Wisconsin metropolis, where he is a member of the firm of Richter, Dick & Reute- man, engaged in the real estate, insurance and loan business, with well equipped offices in suite 416 Caswell block. He has been a resident of Milwaukee from his childhood days and has here found ample oppor- tunity for successful endeavor along normal and productive lines of business enterprise, the while he has secure place in popular confidence and esteem in his home city and takes a lively interest in all that con- cerns its civic and material wellbeing.
Mr. Reuteman was born near the picturesque city of Zurich, Swit- zerland, the capital of the canton of the same name, and is a scion of one of the old and honored families of that section of the fair little Swiss republic. The date of his nativity was November 18, 1872, and he is a son of Ulrich and Elizabeth (Fehr) Reuteman, both of whom were born and reared in the canton of Zurich, where their marriage was solemnized and where the father followed the vocation of cooper until 1874, when he came to the United States, determined to found a home
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in the new world, where he felt assured of better opportunities for the winning of independence and prosperity through individual effort. He came to Milwaukee and after making due provision for his family, he sent for them to join him, which they did within the year after his arrival in America. Here he found profitable employment at his trade and he made the same his vocation until the close of his life. He con- tinued to reside in Milwaukee until his death, and here his widow still maintains her home, at the venerable age of seventy-two years, in 1913. Of the three children two attained to years of maturity,-John G., of this review, and Elizabeth, who became the wife of a Mr. Ressel, and is now deceased. The father was a staunch Democrat in his political allegiance, was a man of sterling character and ever held the respect of his fellow men. He was a devout communicant of the Catholic church, as is also his widow, and in the faith of this great mother of Christendom the children were carefully reared.
John G. Reuteman was about three years of age at the time when he came with his mother to America, and he was reared to maturity in Milwaukee, where he was afforded the advantages of the parochial and public schools. He subsequently entered the office of Judge John C. Ludwig, one of the representative members of the Milwaukee bar, and there he held a clerical position and gave careful attention to the study of law, under effective preceptorship, for two years. He then became associated with the leading real estate and insurance firm of Richter, Shubert & Dick, by which he was retained as a valued and effi- cient employe and executive for the long period of sixteen years, at the expiration of which a change was made in the firm, the title of which became Richter & Dick. In 1907 Mr. Reuteman became a mem- ber of the firm, the title of which was then changed to its present form, -Richter, Dick & Reuteman, the other interested principals being August Richter, Jr., and Adolph C. Dick. The concern is one of the most important of the kind in Milwaukee and controls a large business in each of its departments, with a reputation that has been of the high- est for many years. Through its well ordered operation this firm and its predecessors have accomplished an important work in connection with the upbuilding of Milwaukee, through judicious handling and im- proving of local realty and the exploiting of the city's advantages as an industrial and commercial center. The firm handles both city and suburban real estate, as well as farm properties; does a large and sub- stantial business in the underwriting of fire insurance; and makes a spe- cialty of extending financial loans on approved real estate security.
In addition to his identification with the firm mentioned, Mr. Reute- man is a stockholder in various land companies, in the Milwaukee County Abstract Company and the Standard Separator Company, and is owner of a part interest in the Manufacturers' Home building, on Mason street. He is a valued and popular member of the Milwaukee Real Vol. VII-6
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Estate Board, is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus and holds membership in the Milwaukee Athletic Association.
Alert, progressive and loyal as a citizen, Mr. Reuteman takes spe- cially active interest in public affairs of a local order and is at the present time chairman of the board of election commissioners of Mil- waukee. In politics he is a staunch and effective advocate of the prin- ciples and policies of the Democratic party, and the results of the na- tional election of 1912 have naturally caused him to "rejoice and be exceeding glad." He and his family are zealous communicants of the Catholic church and are active members of the parish of St. Thomas Aquinas church.
On the 18th of November, 1893, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Reuteman to Miss Clara Geiger, who was born and reared in Mil- waukee, where she is a popular factor in social activities, a daughter of a sterling citizen and business man of the Wisconsin metropolis. Mr. and Mrs. Reuteman have one son, Sylvester Charles, who completed the curriculum of the parochial schools and then entered Marquette University, one of the leading educational institutions of Milwaukee.
LAWRENCE MCGOVERN. Among Wisconsin families who by long residence and individual character and services have an appropriate place in the biographical annals, that of McGovern is especially dis- tinctive, not only for the early settlement and pioneer labors of its founders, but also for the distinguished ability of the members of its second generation, including two of Milwaukee's foremost physicians. and also the present governor of the state. While the careers of the younger members of the family have been properly followed in separate articles in this work, attention is now called to a brief outline of the life of the father of the governor and his two physician brothers.
Lawrence McGovern was born in County Mayo, Ireland, in 1825. and died in Plymouth, Wisconsin, in February, 1895. His parents died of Asiatic cholera in 1834, and that event broke up the home. Law- rence McGovern at an early age became intimately acquainted with hardship. At the age of sixteen. in 1841, he came to America. His first work was in railroad construction in the state of New York, and he finally drifted west to Illinois, where he was employed as a farm hand. In 1846 with his brothers Michael and Thomas, he bought some land in the town of Rhine, Sheboygan county, and started to clear off the virgin forest. His original purchase was sixty acres, to which he added from time to time until he owned a farm of two hundred and two acres. How hard was the battle with pioneer conditions, and how thoroughly Law- rence McGovern won his success, is illustrated by the fact that dur- ing his early years of residence in Sheboygan county all the work on the farm was done by hand, and he had neither oxen nor horses to assist in the drudgery. The nearest settler was eight miles from his
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home. The provisions had to be carried through the forest from Mil- waukee, a distance of sixty miles, and again and again he made the trip with a heavy pack upon his back. In the course of years he became one of the most successful men of Sheboygan county, the possessor of a fine farm, and he was able to rear his children in plain, but comfort- able surroundings.
Lawrence McGovern in 1853 in Sheboygan married Ellen Wren. Their seven children, with dates of birth, are mentioned as follows: Thomas, born February 2, 1855; Humphrey, born August 12, 1856; Wil- liam P., born October 14, 1858; Mary Eliza, born April 11, 1860; Patrick Henry, born April 24, 1862; John J., born February 14, 1864; Francis Edward born January 21, 1866. Among the seven children mentioned, the following are now deceased: Humphrey E., who died in February, 1885, and Thomas, whose death occurred October 14, 1888. Of these children, William P. McGovern lives at Cedarburg, Wisconsin, while the others are residents of Milwaukee.
MRS. ELLEN WREN MCGOVERN. The mother of Governor McGovern is one of the most venerable women of Wisconsin, having spent sixty- two years of her life in this state. At the age of ninety, she lives in the home of her son, Dr. J. J. MeGovern in Milwaukee, having spent the last seventeen years of her life in that city.
Ellen Wren was born at Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland, September 27, 1823. Her parents were John and Avice Wren. Among her an- cestors was Sir Christopher Wren, who designed St. Paul's Cathedral at London as it stands at present. She came to Massachusetts in 1845, and in 1850 took up her residence with a brother William Wren in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. In 1853 she married Lawrence McGovern, and for many years they made their home on a farm near Elkhart Lake. In 1889 Lawrence McGovern retired from active affairs, and moved to Sheboygan, where his death occurred. Since 1895 Mrs. McGovern has lived in Milwaukee.
When Mr. and Mrs. McGovern were married, and took up their home on a farm in the town of Rhine, Sheboygan county, there was no railway connecting that place with Milwaukee. Lawrence McGovern in order to secure provisions had to walk or drive to Milwaukee. The trip occupied three days. On the first day he got as far as what is now North Milwaukee, on the second day he went into Milwaukee, secured his supplies and returned as far as North Milwaukee, and then arrived at home on the third day.
PATRICK H. McGOVERN, M. D. Associated in active general practice with his younger brother, Dr. John J. McGovern, with well appointed offices in the Majestic building, he whose name initiates this review is numbered among the representative physicians and surgeons of the city
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of Milwaukee, and the firm of McGovern & McGovern controls a large and important general practice, the partnership alliance of the brothers giving them special facility in the adjustment of office hours and in meeting the demands of their representative clientage.
Dr. Patrick Henry McGovern was born in Elkhart, Sheboygan county, Wisconsin, on the 24th of April, 1862, and is a son of Lawrence McGov- ern, who is consistently given individual representation on other pages of this work. That the McGovern family has been one of distinctive prominence in connection with the annals of Wisconsin needs no further voucher than the high standing of the Drs. McGovern and the fact that their brother, Hon. Francis E. MeGovern, is now serving as governor of the state. In the sketches dedicated in this work to Lawrence Me- Govern and Governor McGovern are given adequate data concerning the family history, and it is not necessary to repeat the same in the present connection.
In the public schools of his native town, Dr. Patrick H. McGovern acquired his early educational discipline, and in Madison, the capital city of the state, he was thereafter graduated in the high school. He theu entered the University of Wisconsin, in which he was graduated in 1888. He had in the meantime determined to prepare himself for the medical profession, but as he was largely dependent upon his own re- sources he found it expedient to devote his attention to pedagogie work for a period of several years, within which he served three years as principal of the high school at Chilton, Calumet county. He then matriculated in the medical department of the University of Pennsyl- vania, in the city of Philadelphia, and in this institution he was gradu- ated as a member of the class of 1894 and with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Later he completed an effective post graduate course of one year's duration in the medical department of the great Johns Hopkins University, in the city of Baltimore, and through other media he has constantly kept abreast of the advance made in medical and surgical science.
Dr. McGovern initiated the practice of his profession in Ozaukee county, Wisconsin, where he remained four years and where his suc- cess was such as to justify fully his ambition for obtaining a broader field of professional endeavor. He accordingly removed to the city of Milwaukee, where he has since continued in active general practice, and where he now gives special attention to surgery, in which department of professional work he has achieved high reputation. He is distinctively one of the able and honored representatives of the medical profession. in his native state and he is associated in practice with his younger brother, Dr. John J. McGovern, the junior member of the firm being individually mentioned elsewhere in this publication. Dr. McGovern is an active and valued member of the Milwaukee Medical Society, the Milwaukee County Medical Society and the Wisconsin State Medical
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Society, besides which he is identified with the American Medical Asso- ciation.
In politics the Doctor has been a veritable stalwart in the local camp of the Republican party and he has been notably active in the promotion of the party cause, especially during the last two campaigns in the state, each of which resulted in the election of his brother Francis E., to the distinguished office of governor of the state.
On the 21st of October, 1896, Dr. McGovern wedded Miss Abigail Margaret Bothmann, daughter of William and Elizabeth (Jacky) Both- mann, honored citizens of Chilton, this state. No children have been born to this union. The attractive home of Dr. McGovern, known for its gracious hospitality and with Mrs. McGovern as a most popular chate- laine, is at 2036 Grand avenue.
JOHN J. MCGOVERN, M. D. In the medical profession, the most ex- acting and responsible to which a man can turn his attention, advance- ment is gained only through definite ability, skill and discrimination, as conjoined with invincible integrity of purpose and due appreciation of the great issues involved. Thus the success achieved by Dr. McGov- ern best attests his fine technical ability and his distinctive personal popularity. He is essentially one of the representative physicians and surgeons of Milwaukee, even as he is a scion of one of the distinguished families of the Badger commonwealth, of which his brother Francis E. is governor at the present time. On other pages of this work appears a review of the career of Governor McGovern and also one touching the life history of the honored father, Lawrence McGovern, so that in the present article further reference to the genealogical record of the fam- ily may consistently be eliminated. In the practice of his profession Dr. John J. McGovern is junior member of the firm of McGovern & McGovern, in which he is the valued confrere and coadjutor of his elder brother, Dr. Patrick H. McGovern, who likewise is individually represented in this publication.
He whose name initiates this review was born in the village of Elk- hart, Sheboygan county, Wisconsin, on the 14th of February, 1864, and to the public schools of his native place he is indebted for his early educational advantages, and after a course in the high school at Plym- outh, in his home county, he became a student in the academic or liter- ary department of the University of Wisconsin. In fortifying himself for his chosen profession Dr. McGovern first entered Rush Medical Col- lege, in the city of Chicago, but later transferred himself to the alma mater of his brother and present partner, Dr. Patrick H. McGovern, who is about two years his senior. In the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, in the city of Philadelphia, he completed a thorough course of technical study and was graduated as a member of the class of 1893, thus receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine one
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year earlier than his elder brother, who had been a successful represent- ative of the pedagogie profession and who had thus delayed slightly his preparation for the profession in which they are now effectively and pleasingly associated.
. In the year of his graduation Dr. McGovern established his residence in the city of Milwaukee, and here his admirable ability and zealous application made his professional novitiate less exacting and protracted than that of the average young physician who essays the upbuilding of a practice in a metropolitan community. The Doctor has achieved success and prestige worthy of the names and is one of the talented, resourceful, honored and representative physicians and surgeons of the Wisconsin metropolis, where he has been allied with his brother in the development of a most extensive and representative practice, to the exigent demands of which he has subordinated all other interests, though he is known as a most liberal and public-spirited citizen. Dr. McGovern is a member and secretary of the second United States board of pension examining surgeons of Milwaukee, in which connection he has given most zealous and timely service, and he is a popular and valued member of the Milwaukee Medical Society, the Milwaukee County Medical So- ciety, and the Wisconsin State Medical Society, besides which he keeps himself further in touch with the generic affairs of his profession by retaining affiliation with the American Medical Association. He has been a member of the Alpha Mu Pi Omega medical fraternity since his college days. In the time-honored Masonic fraternity he has completed the circle of the York Rite and has his maximum affiliation with Ivanhoe Commandery, Knights Templar, in Milwaukee.
In view of the fact that his brother has been twice elected governer of Wisconsin on the Republican ticket, it may readily be inferred that Dr. McGovern is unfaltering in his allegiance to the principles and poli- cies for which that staunch old party has ever stood sponsor, and he was alert and influential in the two campaigns which gained guberna- torial honors to his brother. The medical firm of McGovern & McGovern maintains well equipped offices at 1201 Majestic building, in the central business district, and the residence of Dr. John J. McGovern is at 2119 Prairie street, the attractive home heing a center of much social activity under the gracious regime of Mrs. McGovern, who is a most popular factor in the representative social life of the city.
On the 23d of December, 1898, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. McGovern to Miss Grace E. Neilson, who was born at Granville, Milwau- kee county, and who is a representative of one of the old and honored families of this section of the state. She is a daughter of Cornelius and Margaret (Ireland) Neilson, who came from the city of Quebec, Can- ada, to Wisconsin in the early '60s and who established their residence in the village of Granville, where they still maintain their home. Mr. Nielson is a grandson of Hon. John Nielson, and the latter was, in the ma-
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ternal line, a nephew of William Brown, who established the first news- paper in the city of Quebec, Canada.
Dr. and Mrs. McGovern became the parents of four sons and one daughter, and the first two, Donald Neilson and Robert Francis, died in early childhood. Margaret Grace, the only daughter, and the twin sons, John Neilson and Francis Henry, remain at the parental home, of which they are the light and life.
LESLIE S. TUTTLE. One of the best known insurance men of Wis- consin was the late Leslie S. Tuttle, whose home and business head- quarters were in Oshkosh from 1872 until his death on July 31, 1906.
From 1872 until shortly before his death Mr. Tuttle conducted an insurance agency that was of more than local importance owing to the ability that enabled him to secure a clientage from among the many large business concerns in the State outside of Oshkosh. This busi- ness was continued by consolidation and Mr. Tuttle's name is still identified with the leading agency of his home city.
For the last twenty years of his life Mr. Tuttle was one of the leading field men of Wisconsin and served in various official positions in their organizations.
His place in the insurance world and the esteem in which he was held are probably best stated in a tribute "In Memoriam" adopted by the Fire Underwriters' Association of the Northwest at the 37th annual meeting held in Chicago, October 3-4, 1906. The tribute reads as follows :
"Well known as a member of the Fire Underwriters' Association, and one of the most popular and esteemed field men of the North- west, Leslie S. Tuttle passed on in the ripening years of his life, on July 31, 1906, after a trying and wearisome illness.
"Mr. Tuttle was born in Clinton, Wisconsin, January 11, 1842, and acquired his first insurance experience in the local agency of his father. As a young man he went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, engaging in life insurance, and moved to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in 1872, where he established a local fire insurance agency and maintained it until his death. For twenty years and until failing health com- pelled him to give up, he served successively as special and state agent for the Phoenix Assurance Company of London, Liberty Insur- ance Company, and the Queen of America in Minnesota and Wiscon- sin. Without ostentation, not seeking prominence, but in his own kindly, intelligent way, always with a keen sense of justice and by a faithful and consistent performance of all duties assigned to him, he earned for himself an enviable reputation as a successful under- writer and fieldman.
Mr. Tuttle's personality was pleasing, admirable in many ways, and in his home relations his kind, thoughtful and nuselfish nature
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manifested itself most distinctly. He has been true to his friends, faithful to his duty, and will ever be held in kindly remembrance by those who have known and loved him."
The late Mr. Tuttle was a member of various local social and business organizations and always ready to lend assistance to any project for the benefit of the community. He is survived by his wife formerly Miss Isabella Hume, a danghter of William Hume and wife, one of the old well known families of Janesville and Oshkosh.
PHILIPP JUNG. In creating the fame of Milwaukee as one of the greatest centers for beer and malt goods production, the late Philipp Jung, through the enterprise which he built up and with which his name was associated was an important factor both as a manufacturer of large quantities and also as one who gave a distinctive quality to the goods sent out from his plant.
Philipp Jung, pioneer brewer and first president of the Jung Brew- ing Company was born December 23, 1845, in Dornasseheim, Wetterau, Germany, and died in Milwaukee July 10, 1911. His early education was obtained in the schools of his native village and when nineteen years old he began working for his grandfather, who had a brewery. Subse- quently he studied the science of brewing in Frankfort-on-Main, and also in the city of Maine.
In 1870 Mr. Jung came to America, entering the employ of the Rogge & Feigenhahn Brewing Company in New York City. After six months he left in order to become first maltster for the Foss, Schneider & Bremer Brewing Company of Cincinnati. In February, 1873, he came to Milwaukee, his arrival here being followed by work as second foreman in the Philip Best Brewing Company's plant. In six months he had been promoted to first foreman, and from that time for- ward his rise in business was rapid. He became superintendent of the south side plant of the Best Company, and increased its annual output from ninety thousand barrels to two hundred and forty thousand bar- rels. The beer brewed under his supervision of this plant won medals at many national and international expositions, on account of its purity and scientific combination. In 1879 Mr. Jung left the employ of the Best Brewing Company to enter partnership with Ernest Borchert, the two organizing the brewing firm of Jung & Borchert. In 1888 the firm was consolidated with the Falk Brewing Company, under the name of Falk, Jung & Borchert. Three years later this plant was burned, and the business was then sold to the Pabst Brewing Company.
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