USA > Wisconsin > Wisconsin, its story and biography, 1848-1913, Volume VII > Part 23
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"As the proprietor of this new restaurant, and the owner of the distinctive buildings erected for it, and for his wholesale business through the Arthur L. Richards Company, he stands well at the head of the Chinese business men in this part of the United States. He enjoys the respect of bankers for his shrewdness in investing; of government officials for his honor in all dealings with them, and of all his fellow citi- zens generally as a man of his word and for his honorable business dealings."
AUGUSTUS C. UMBREIT. Among the many successful and prosperous lawyers of Milwaukee, Augustus C. Umbreit is justly deserving of especial mention in the pages of this historical and biographical work as a man who has met with large and worthy accomplishments in his particular field of endeavor. He is a native son of the state of Wis- consin, born in Green Lake county, on January 7, 1861, his parents being Reverend Traugott and Catherine (Blochvitz) Umbreit, both natives of Germany. The father was born in Saxony and the mother
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in Bavaria, and they came to America in the years 1840 and 1844, respectively.
Traugott Umbreit was eighteen years old when he came to Amer- ica, and he came directly to Wisconsin at that time. Four years ear- lier the Blochvitz family came to America, their daughter Catherine, who in after years married Mr. Umbreit, being then but six years of age. The two families chanced to settle on adjoining farms in the town of Manchester, Green Lake county. Traugott Umbreit was one of the pioneer ministers of the Evangelical Association. He moved about from place to place, as was the custom of the itinerant preach- ers of the day, and he served at different times four Milwaukee churches of his denomination. When he finally retired from active work in the ministry he settled down at Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, and there both he and his good wife died,-the father in 1899 and the mother on the 30th day of August, in 1896.
Augustus C. Umbreit received his early instruction from his mother, later attending the public schools in the many and varied towns in which his father served as a minister of his church. He eventually entered the high school at Madison, and he was graduated from that school with the class of 1879, in the autumn of the same year entering the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and pursuing a rigorous course of study in the ancient and modern classics. He was graduated in June, 1883, with the degrees of A. B. and B. L., with special honors in Latin and in English literature. The follow- ing two years Mr. Umbreit devoted to teaching, first as the principal of the high school at Winnebago, Illinois, and then as Principal of Allen's Academy in Chicago. In 1885 Mr. Umbreit took his Master's degree in Greek and History, and for two years longer continued his work along educational lines, then giving it over to take up the study of law. In October, 1892, he was admitted to the bar of the state of Wisconsin, and he promptly began practice in a private way and continuing until he received the appointment of assistant district attorney in January, 1895, in which office he served until 1901.
The especial success of Mr. Umbreit as a lawyer has been as a court representative, and there he has conducted to a successful issue some of the most important criminal cases for the state. One case of peculiar interest in which he appeared as attorney is known com- monly as the "Terlinden Case," and was begun in 1901. A manufac- turer of Germany absconded from his native land with about $400,000. He was intercepted in Milwaukee and arrested at the instigation of the German consul. The question of extradition came up before the United States Court Commissioners of Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Um- breit appeared for the defendant and was beaten. In an appeal to the United States District Court the lower court was sustained. An appeal was then made to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which
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held that it had no jurisdiction, and a final appeal was made to the United States Supreme Court, Mr. Umbreit arguing the case in Janu- ary, 1902. After two months the Supreme Court rendered a decision sustaining the lower court and the prisoner was sent to Germany. Attorney's fees by this time had mounted up to something like $7,500, and while the prisoner had about $20,000 in Milwaukee banks, it was tied up by the claims of German creditors. Mr. Umbreit then sued for the amount due him, obtaining a judgment against Terlinden, after which he intervened, i. e., asked to be made a party with the German creditors, on the ground that as a domestic citizen his lien was superior to that of the German creditors, they being foreigners. This contention the lower court did not sustain. The Supreme Court of Wisconsin then overruled the decision of the lower court, giving its decision to the case in 1906. From this the German creditors ap- pealed to the United States Supreme Court on the ground that the decision interfered with the treaty beween the two nations, and that court sustained the decision of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. So ended one of the hardest fought legal battles of Mr. Umbreit's career.
Mr. Umbreit is a Progressive Republican, and is an active worker in the ranks of the party. Religiously, he is a member of the Episco- pal church. He is a member of the Calumet Club, the Westminster Civic League, the Sunset Club, Milwaukee Athletic Club, the Royal Arcanum, and the University Club of Milwaukee.
On September 1, 1886, Mr. Umbreit married Miss Helen Stanton the daughter of Loadovie and Emma (Mckenzie) Stanton. She is the representative of an old Colonial family, and traces her ancestry back to the early days of the colonies on both the paternal and maternal sides, representatives of both families having fought in the War for American independence. Mrs. Umbreit is a Daughter of the American Revolution, and is eligible to membership in other kindred societies because of her early American ancestry and the services they have performed in behalf of the country.
Mr. and Mrs. Umbreit have three children ;- Stanton C., Freda E. and George M. Umbreit. The family home is located at No. 596 Frederick Avenue, while Mr. Umbreit's office is in the Railway Ex- change Building.
MILTON H. UMBREIT, engaged in the practice of law with his brother, Augustus C. Umbreit, of whom extended mention is made in other pages of this work, was born in Prairie du Sac, Sauk county, Wiscon- sin, on the fourteenth day of August, 1873. He is a son of Reverend Traugott and Catherine (Blochvitz) Umbreit, concerning whose par- entage and life work full details are given in the sketch of Augustus C. Umbreit, mentioned above, so that further mention of the parents of the subject is not deemed necessary at this point.
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The subject was educated in the public schools of Milwaukee and in the Waukesha high school, after which he spent two years at the University of Wisconsin. Following his university course he studied law in the offices of H. W. Lander and Judge J. J. Dick, at Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, where his family then lived, and he was admitted to the bar of the state in 1897, after successfully passing his examina- tions. He began the practice of his profession at home in Beaver Dam, remaining there until January, 1901, when he came to Milwaukee and engaged in a partnership with his brother, Augustus, who had already located here and was then enjoying a successful patronage. They united under the firm name of Umbreit & Umbreit, and continued in that association until 1903. For the three years ensuing Mr. Umbreit practised alone, and again in 1906 he joined his brother in a partner- ship, which partnership existed until 1910, and since then he has prac- ticed alone. He carries on a general law practice and is particularly successful in the handling of probate and civil cases, although that branch of legal work forms but a small portion of his general opera- tions.
Like others of his family, Mr. Umbreit is a Republican, and while he was practicing in Beaver Dam he was justice of the peace for a term. In 1898 he was nominated on the Republican ticket for district attorney of Dodge county, Wisconsin, but was defeated for the place, -a circumstance which is explained by the fact that three-fourths of the voters of that district are Democrats. He made an exception- ally brilliant run for the office, however, and his defeat was regarded almost in the light of a victory by his friends.
Mr. Umbreit is a member of the Milwaukee Bar Association and the Wisconsin State Bar Association. He is popular and prominent in club and society circles, and was for three years president of the Wisconsin Pony Bowling Association. He is a member of the Calu- met Club, and fraternally is a member of Kilbourn Lodge, No. 3, A. F. & A. M., Kilbourn Chapter, No. 1, and Kilbourn Council, No. 1. He is also a member of the Evangelical Association. Mr. Umbreit was married December 31, 1908, to Columbia Thomson Eiring.
FRANKLIN P. BLUMENFELD was born in Milwaukee, June 16, 1853, and within a few months after his birth his parents removed to Water- town, Wisconsin. His father, David Blumenfeld, belonged to that class of cultured young Germans who came to the United States as the result of the revolution of 1848, and he founded the Watertown Weltburger, a German newspaper, which during its life, wielded a powerful infhut- ence in the social, economic and political life of the German element in Wisconsin. He was a contemporary of Carl Schurz and an intimate friend and co-worker of that brilliant statesman.
It was in this German-American atmosphere, with its delightful
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German home life and its love and reverence for American institutions and its recognition of the American spirit, that Franklin P. Blumen- feld was reared and educated. His teacher was a graduate and profes- sor of the University of Berlin and a rare type of the German school- master.
After a period of training in his father's newspaper office, he at- tended a commercial school in Milwaukee and thereafter served for a short time as an accountant. He then removed to Chicago where he became an all around assistant in the office of the Volkszeitung, then a most popular publication his work being in various departments, and proving almost too strenuous for the young man, who was still a mere boy in years.
During the year of the Chicago fire he quit newspaper work and entered the business office of a wholesale millinery house. In 1872, when he was nineteen years of age, he entered upon his career as a traveling salesman. During the year 1875 he came to Milwaukee again and entered the employ of M. Heimann and Company as traveling sales- man, where he remained until he established himself in an independent business. His services as a salesman, however, covered a period of twenty-six years.
It was in 1901 that Mr. Blumenfeld in connection with his brother- in-law Mr. John L. Locher and Mr. W. Morton Brown established the wholesale house of Blumenfeld, Locher & Brown Company, now known as the Blumenfeld-Locher Co. In a comparatively few years, under the keenest, competition, this house became, and now is one of the largest of its kind, with a trade extending from ocean to ocean and a reputation of the highest.
Mr. Blumenfeld is a man of untiring energy who has a most thor- ough grasp of every detail in his large business, and who at the same time possesses the mastery of executive ability to guide the same along safe and conservative lines.
The family of Mr. Blumenfeld consists of his wife, nee Bertha Fanstmann, whom he married in Ripon, Wisconsin, on July 26, 1876 (the Centennial year), two daughters,-Mrs. Paul M. Pamperin of La Crosse, Wisconsin, and Mrs. W. H. Zwickey, the wife of Dr. Zwickey of Superior, Wisconsin, and Irene and Franklin Pamperin, grandchil- dren. It may also be added in this connection that Mr. Blumenfeld has a brother, Ralph D., who is the editor and proprietor of the Daily Express of London, England.
For ten years Mr. Blumenfeld has served as one of the directors of the National Millinery Jobber Association. Early in 1913 he was elected president of the Merchants' and Manufacturers' Association, of Mil- waukee, the leading commercial organization in the Northwest, a posi- tion which he fills with marked ability and with credit to the industrial and commercial interests of Milwaukee.
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WARREN H. PORTER. One of the oldest members of the Jefferson county bar, a banker and business man, Warren H. Porter has for half a century been practicing law, attending to his business duties and his civic responsibilities, and is one of the best known men in the southern part of the state. His influence and active cooperation have always been found in support of substantial civic advancement and for the realization of the higher ideals of good government and society, and by his professional talents and varied achievements, Mr. Porter has contributed much to the progress of Jefferson county.
Warren H. Porter was born in New York State, November 4, 1837, a son of Garret and Lucina (Hart) Porter. Garret Porter brought his family west in 1844, and after a year in Illinois moved to Wisconsin in 1845. His settlement was in York township of Dane county, where he was a pioneer and reclaimed a farm from the wilderness. A farmer all his days he won independence from that vocation, and continued to live an honored and influential citizen of Dane county until his death in 1888. In politics he was a Democrat, took a deep interest in public affairs, held various local offices, including that of township supervisor and in religion belonged to the Free Methodist church, as did also his wife, who died in 1880. Of their six children the Jefferson lawyer and banker is the only survivor.
Eight years of age when the family came to Wisconsin Warren H. . Porter's boyhood was associated with a pioneer farm. He recalls the district school, such as existed in this state during the forties and fifties, a part of his early training was received in a private school. From early manhood his ambition was directed to a career in the law, and few of his contemporaries have come nearer to realizing the object of their aspirations than Mr. Porter. Judge Flint, one of the leading law- yers of Fond du Lac first directed the studies of this young man in the law. In 1862, at the age of twenty-four, Mr. Porter was admitted to the bar, and soon afterwards took up his home and began practice at Jefferson, which was then a small village. His success was almost immediate. In 1863 he was appointed to the office of deputy county clerk of Jefferson county, holding the position of deputy and clerk for six years, and during that time, except the last two years, his duties were such that he had little opportunity for legal practice. He then resumed his professional work and with the exception of the interval between 1872 and 1874 spent in Iowa has been continuously a member of the Jefferson bar. In all the years of his practice Mr. Porter has had but four partners, the last relationship having been formed in January, 1910, when he became senior member of the law firm of Porter & Hazelwood, the junior member being John A. Hazelwood. This firm had a fair and important clientage, with practice in state courts. This partnership is now dissolved and the senior partner is now alone in practice. Mr. Porter has gained a special reputation as a studi-
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ous and conservative lawyer, and a specialist in probate, real estate and insurance cases, and his experience and knowledge has made him a very reliable and conservative counselor. Mr. Porter belongs to the Wisconsin State Bar Association.
Substantial success has attended the efforts of Mr. Porter, and outside of his profession he has identified himself with business, has helped support and maintain the industrial and commercial life of his city and county. He is president of the Jefferson County Bank, an institution concerning which more information will be found in the sketch of its cashier, W. S. Henry, on other pages of this work. Mr. Porter is a stockholder in the Copeland and Ryder Company, the Wis- consin Manufacturing Company, and director in the Vaughn Manufac- turing Company, all of which are industrial plants at Jefferson.
The results of the national election of November, 1912, were espe- cially gratifying to Mr. Porter, who has long been a loyal worker in behalf of the principals and policies of the Democratic party. For one term he was president of the village of Jefferson, and for some years its attorney, and since the incorporation of the city has served as city attorney for many years, and for several years as president of the school board, and under his administration the school library was started. For several years he was a member of the board of supervisors. Mr. Porter and his wife belong to the Protestant Episcopal church, and he is a past master of Jefferson Lodge No. 9, A. F. & A. M., and for twelve years was Master of his Lodge. He is also a member of Jefferson Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
On June 5, 1864, Mr. Porter married Miss Katherine B. Montrose ยท of York, Dane county, Wisconsin. Of the four children of their union three are living, namely : Clarence J., Frank H. and Walter D.
Mr. Porter desires to add this to what others may have written and as corrected by him, as a last message to those who may read the above, lest they may be deceived in the course of life. "However success- ful a lawyer may be in his profession, when the end comes, when he must close his career, and lay aside his books, close his last brief, try his last case, make his last plea, give his last advice, and lay down the tools of his life work, what has he to show for all his life work ?- simply nothing. He has the sad reflection that he has been the con- sumer of the products of honest labor. He has added nothing to the wealth of the country in which he has lived; he has added nothing to the comforts of the people, he has made nothing that mankind can wear, eat or drink, which is so necessary to the existence of the human race. He has all his life been in contest and quarrels, domestic, neigh- borhood, and business life.
"He who has made shoes, clothes, raised food for mankind, and, in fine, made things for the comfort of his race, has something to be proud of, and can, when he lays down the tools of his life work, have the
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consciousness that he has been worth something to mankind and that he filled the full measure of his life."
C. W. GEORGE EVERHART. While still active as the manager of large industrial interests, and while giving a splendid service as president of the Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce, death came into the city and removed from the ranks of the living C. W. George Everhart, whose life and character deserve permanent memorial and remembrance in the city and state.
C. W. George Everhart was born at Berlin, Ottawa county, Michi- gan, October 29, 1863. He was a son of Samuel a carpenter and car- riage builder, and his father until a few years ago was still active in Berlin. The public schools at Berlin gave him his first start in life, and during the summer vacations, as soon as he was old enough, he found work on nearby farms. His early schooling was supplemented by at- tendance in Grand Rapids schools, and while a student there he paid his way by working at chores during his spare hours. Sickness com- pelled him eventually to leave school, and he found work then in the finishing department of the Phoenix Furniture Company of Grand Rapids. When he was nineteen years of age, his proficiency had ad- vanced him to the position of assistant manager and purchasing agent of a large wholesale grocery house in Grand Rapids. Again sickness intervened, and he was compelled to go to California. At the end of six months his health was almost completely restored, and returning to Michigan, he engaged in business for a time at Grand Rapids, then at Dayton, Ohio, and also Cleveland, Ohio. While spending one vacation in Grand Rapids, Mr. Everhart was a bookkeeper for the Perkins Shingle Mill Machinery Company. That was his introduction to his permanent industrial interests in life. During the eleven years he remained with that company, he learned the business from the ground up and in every detail and was advanced to the position of general manager, traveling a great deal in the interest of the firm. In 1901, Mr. Everhart bought an interest in the Challoner Company, at Oshkosh. The Challoner Company is a name long known in the industrial and manufacturing history of Wisconsin, and its output is largely shingle mill machinery. In 1905, Mr. Everhart bought the interest of James H. Perkins and William Ruckman, and he thus became sole owner of the Challoner Company. The business prospered under his efforts as president, and other officers of the company were his father, Samuel B. Everhart, vice-president, and Phil. H. Sawyer, secretary, was a stockholder. Mr. Everhart's son is treasurer.
In 1908 Mr. Everhart became actively identified with the Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce, and on April 28, 1909, was chosen a member of the Board of Directors to succeed to the vacancy caused by the resigna- tion of E. H. Steiger. As a director his service was of benefit to the
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organization until September 29, 1909, at which date he was elected president by the board of directors to succeed George M. Paine, who had resigned. Mr. Everhart was reelected president of the chamber in April, 1910, and again in 1911, and was still serving as its enthusi- astic and capable leader at the time of his death. He took much pride in the progress of his city and the work accomplished by the Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Everhart was at the head of two of the large local industries, the Giant Grip Horseshoe Company. When the former com- pany's officers began negotiations with the Oshkosh Chamber of Com- merce relating to the location of the plant for a site in this city, Mr. Everhart at once took a great personal interest in the concern, and being convinced of the integrity and the great prospective success of the business, he himself became financially interested in the company, and the plant of the Giant Grip Horseshoe Company was built adjoining that of the Challoner Company. Mr. Everhart served as commodore of the Oshkosh Power Boat Club for several years, and under his direc- tion the club succeeded in erecting a handsome clubhouse on the Fox River near the town of Butte Des Morts. The late Mr. Everhart was also a member of the Oshkosh Lodge No. 20, A. F. & A. M., and was affiliated with the local lodge of Elks, the Fraternal Order of Rangers, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Modern Woodmen, Royal Arcanum and K. O. T. M.
At Grand Rapids, Michigan, on May 25, 1887, Mr. Everhart was united in marriage with Miss Lillian Boynton, a daughter of J. W. Boynton, a well known railroad builder. To their marriage were born three children, two daughters and one son: Miss Noryne and Miss Naomi, and George Samuel Everhart. The son since the death of his father has taken over and become active manager of the large interests formerly controlled by the senior Everhart and is now active head of the Challoner Company and Giant Grip Horseshoe Company.
It was an occasion of sincere grief and sense of a great community loss in Oshkosh, when the death of Mr. Everhart was announced. The esteem in which he was held generally throughout the city is well illus- trated by a partial quotation from resolutions drawn up by a special committee of the Chamber of Commerce. He was called "One of its most enthusiastic workers and one whom its members have been glad to honor," and the Chamber resolved that in his death, "the members of the board of directors have lost a dear personal friend, and a wise counselor, whose great heart and keen mind were ever on the alert for the welfare of his brothers in all walks of life, and the city at large has lost a most worthy and patriotic citizen." The funeral of Mr. Everhart was one of the most largely attended in the history of the city.
THE LA CROSSE TRIBUNE has yet to reach the tenth year of its existence, but since its inception its policies have been so in accord
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with public opinion and its circulation has advanced with such rapid strides that today it is numbered among the first half-dozen newspapers in Wisconsin. In the hands of capable, experienced journalists, it has supported movements which have materially contributed to the growth and development of the city's best interests, and its influence is felt in the various lines which add to the community's importance as a center of commercial, industrial and educational activity. A brief out- line of the career of this journal will show the steps by which it has gained its present enviable position.
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