USA > Wisconsin > Wisconsin, its story and biography, 1848-1913, Volume VII > Part 44
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"With the exception of a few years of his earliest childhood, John Henry Kopmeier has spent his entire life in the ice business. From assisting his father, as a boy of eighteen years, on the ice fields, he has steadily risen until today he is at the head of the largest Wisconsin com- pany harvesting and selling ice and having practical control of the busi- ness in Milwaukee, the metropolis of the state. Notwithstanding this position of power, impelled by innate benevolence toward those less for- tunately situated, he has never permitted his company to take advantage of the situation, but has continually maintained that ice, a necessity in the modern household, should be sold as cheaply as circumstances would permit, with nothing more than a fair return to the company on its
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investment. It is this inborn quality of good will toward all humanity that has made Mr. Kopmeier prominent in every philanthropic enter- prise broached in Milwaukee. It is generally understood, though he himself will not give any statement to substantiate it, that he is one of the largest contributors to many of the leading charitable institutions of the city and county. In addition to this, his company, the Wisconsin Lakes Ice & Cartage Company, during the heated summer months gives away thousands of pounds of ice to deserving poor and sick peo- ple. This philanthropie quality in Mr. Kopmeier's character made it- self manifest on frequent occasions as early as his tender childhood. While employed in the ice fields with his father he gained an enviable record for saving the lives of others of his father's employes, as well as those of such as had ventured too near thin iee in following the sport of skating. At such times he would think nothing of risking his own life to save those of others, and altogether he saved nine men from drowning."
In the old family homestead, at 411 Reed street, Milwaukee, John Henry Kopmeier was born on the 16th of February, 1854, and he is a scion of one of the well known and highly honored German pioneer families of the Wisconsin metropolis, his father having been born in Germany and having maintained his home in Milwaukee for many years. He became a prosperous business man and was a citizen whose sterling character and worthy activities gave him secure place in popu- lar esteem. Both he and his wife continued their residenee in Milwau- kee until their death and both were devout communicants of the Cath- olie church. Of their children four sons and four daughters are now living. He whose name initiates this review is a son of John T. and Mary Adelaide (Allen) Kopmeier, the former of whom, as previously stated, was a native of Germany, whence he came to America when a young man, and the latter of whom was born in Milwaukee. John H. Kopmeier is indebted to the parochial schools of Milwaukee for his early educational discipline, which was effectively supplemented by a course in the local Spencerian Business College, in which he was graduated with specially high honors. When he was but eight years of age Mr. Kopmeier began to assist his father in the annual ice harvesting on the lakes in the vicinity of Milwaukee, and he has never regretted this training, since it gave to him a wholesome appreciation of the dignity and value of honest toil and endeavor. Concerning this period in his career and his subsequent advancement the following interesting state- ments have been written and are well worthy of reproduction in this connection : "The little boy never uttered a word of dissatisfaction, but felt happy in being able to be of some assistance to his parents. As a matter of fact, he could attend school only in the spring and fall months, but he acquired an excellent education through study at home, in the few leisure hours at his command late at night. When he was
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twenty-four years of age he acquired an interest in his father's busi- ness, the great possibilities of which he foresaw even thus early. Later he secured entire control of the business, by buying out his father's partner. For ten years he conducted the business in an individual way, and in 1880 he admitted to partnership his younger brother, Ger- hard J. Kopmeier, whereupon the firm adopted the title of Kopmeier Brothers. His keen sagacity brought about a consolidation of several of the largest firms then dealing in ice in Milwaukee, and upon this amalgamation of interests the present corporate title of the Wiscon- sin Lakes Ice & Cartage Company was adopted. Because of this con- solidation cost of handling ice was considerably reduced, so that, with- out increasing the price to the consumer, better returns on the invest- ment could be guaranteed. The company is a Wisconsin corporation and bases its operations on a capital stock of five hundred thousand dollars. It handles an average of nearly three hundred thousand tons of ice annually, and its facilities in all departments are of the best modern order. In 1878, when Mr. Kopmeier had secured his father's interest, the annual business of the firm had been represented in the handling of four thousand tons. The property today represents an actual investment of about one and one-half million dollars, and the company owns more than three hundred ice-houses, distributed among the finest lakes of Wisconsin, where an absolutely pure article is always a certainty, so that Wisconsin ice today is known as the best ice for domestic or other purposes to be found in the country."
In addition to being president of this important corporation, Mr. Kopmeier is president of the Lindwurm Company, which was organ- ized about fifteen years ago for the purpose of purchasing a large tract of land for park purposes, said tract to be held until the city was in a position to purchase and assume control of the same, and he is also a director of the Wisconsin Compressed Air House Cleaning Com- pany, which now controls a large and profitable business.
Mr. Kopmeier never consented to become a candidate for any public office save that of member of the city council, in which he served three years with characteristie ability and progressiveness and in which he was chairman of the health committee. The church relations of self and wife are with the Catholic church. Mr. Kopmeier is a popular figure in the representative club and social activities of his native city, where he is a member of Milwaukee Atheletie Club, the Calumet Club, the Milioki Club and the Deutscher Club, besides which he is identified actively with the Milwaukee Merchants' & Manufacturers' Association, is a director in the Citizens' Business League, president of the Milwau- kee River Improvement Association and also identified with the Trav- elers' Protective Association, and the Knights of Columbus. From the article from which former quotations have been made are taken the following pertinent statements.
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"Mr. and Mrs. Kopmeier have taken a deep interest in charity, and there is hardly an organization of this order in Milwaukee that is not in some measure indebted to their generosity. On account of his exec- utive ability and his intuitive grasp of business details, Mr. Kopmeier has frequently been called upon to take charge of the administrative work of such organizations. He is president of the Milwaukee Home Finding Association, whose object is principally to rescue children who, because of environment or lack of attention on the part of those who should be best qualified to direct them aright, have gone wrong. He is also one of those who have been most intimately identified with the Wisconsin State Tuberculosis Sanitorium Association, of which he is treasurer, and which is conducting a sanitorium for the cure and prevention of consumption. He has also given liberally to the support of the various churches in his home city.
"To Mr. Kopmeier is due the establishment of the Italian mission in the Third ward of Milwaukee, as he was chiefly instrumental in raising the necessary funds to call this institution into life. Conditions were extremely bad among the Italians, who almost exclusively inhabit that ward. Children were running around on the streets and all con- ditions pointed to this district's becoming a fertile school for crime. The mission has more than met the expectations of its patrons. Its estab- lishment has resulted in the bettering of conditions in general. Chil- dren whose parents can not give them needed advantages are being taken care of and are being taught useful occupations, the while the press and the public are united in the opinion that the mission has been the greatest influence for good ever conceived in the Third ward."
On the 26th of February, 1878, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Kopmeier to Miss Dorothy M. Germershausen, who was born and reared in Baltimore and who is a daughter of the late John Germers- hausen, a representative citizen of Baltimore at the time of his death. Mrs. Kopmeier has been in the closest sympathy with the aims and ambitions of her husband, has been his earnest coadjutor in all manner of good works and in her home city she has the warm friendship of all who know her. Mr. and Mrs. Kopmeier became the parents of four children, of whom two are living, namely : Norman J. and Waldemar S. J. The two that passed away were Camilla M. and Jolin.
Large of heart and large of mind, genial and optimistic, and strongly reinforced in all those qualities that make for ideal citizenship, Mr. Kopmeier is a valued citizen of Milwaukee, ready at all times to do his part in furthering its interests and honored by all who know him.
W. B. TSCHARNER, postmaster of LaCrosse, Wisconsin, is a native son of this state, and has been identified with the city of which he is now postmaster since 1886. He has risen by easy stages from the post of driver of a delivery wagon to the responsible position of president
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of the Exchange National Bank of LaCrosse, passing through every department of the bank from draft clerk to chief executive. He was cashier of the bank at the time when he was appointed to the office of postmaster of LaCrosse, and resigned that office to assume his official duties. Mr. Tscharner has shown his intrinsic worth in every position he has ever filled, from the most humble to the most high, and LaCrosse recognizes in him one of her most valuable men.
Born on January 21, 1869, in the town of Milton, Buffalo county, this state, W. B. Tscharner is the son of German born parents. The father came to America when he was nineteen years old, in 1858, and he lias long been classed among thie successful farmers and merchants of Buffalo county, where he still resides. The postmaster of LaCrosse is the second born in a family of three sons and five daughters, and he came to LaCrosse in 1886, when he was seventeen years old. He grad- uated in that year from the LaCrosse Business College, and soon there- after commenced his independent career as the driver of a delivery wagon. As has already been intimated, his rise has been steady. He first entered the Exchange National Bank as collector or draft clerk, and from that advanced in time to the office of cashier. He resigned from the cashiership to accept the appointment as postmaster of La- Crosse, but has still retained his official connection with the bank, and has been president of the bank since January, 1910.
Mr. Tscharner is one of the most public spirited and open minded citizens LaCrosse knows today, and he has ever maintained a lively interest in various public enterprises that have been launched in the city and in the county. He has long been a staunch Republican, and has been chairman of the City Republican Committee for many years. He was chairman of the Seventh Congressional District Committee for six years, and the Progressive Association, pertaining to the adminis- tration of the business affairs of the city.
Mr. Tscharner is a member of the Board of Trade of LaCrosse, of the LaCrosse Club, of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and of the German Society, in all of which he has countless friends, as well as in LaCrosse and the entire district in which he has passed his life. He is interested in and a director of three lumber companies oper- ating in the south, is director of the United States Annuity & Life Insurance Company of Chicago and also a director of the Fargo Laun- dry company of Fargo, North Dakota.
CARL F. MICHEL, president and treasurer of the C. & J. Michel Brewing Company, of LaCrosse, was born April 24, 1877, in this city, and was educated in the public and high schools and the Wisconsin State University. He is a son of Charles Michel, deceased, who came to the United States in 1847, a poor German emigrant lad, without friends or means. His only capital a firm determination to succeed
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and boundless confidence in his own ability to do so, he was forced by necessity to accept a position as a farm laborer on a property adjacent to Buffalo, where, although he had formerly had not a day's experience in agricultural work, he was employed for three months at four dollars per month. During the following winter, Mr. Michel joined his brother at Germantown, Pennsylvania, and after a short stay in that city left for the gold fields of California. Making their way south to the Isth- mus of Panama, they journeyed on to California, a great deal of the distance being made on foot, and finally arrived in the city of San Francisco, where for two years they were engaged in the contracting business. It was frequently. told by Mr. Michel in his later years, when speaking of his California experiences, that during his entire career he has never prospered so well as he did in the Golden State during the "days of '49." On their return the brothers spent two years in Germantown, Pennsylvania, and then again set out for the west, with the original intention of going to Chicago, but subsequently decided to continue to Davenport, Iowa, where they boarded a steamer, their destination being St. Paul. On going up the river as far as Lake Pepin, however, the steamboat was unable to make progress on account of the ice, and the brothers came back as far as LaCrosse, Wisconsin.
Arriving in this city late in the evening, Mr. Michel and his brother left the boat. to "look around the place," and the prospects here were so alluring that they concluded to go no further, but to try their fortunes in the Gateway City. Accordingly, in 1856, they embarked in the con- tracting business in LaCrosse, and were successfully engaged therein until 1857, when they engaged in the brewing business on a small scale. This was the nucleus out of which grew one of the largest and best equipped brewing plants in the United States, the business of which covers every state in the Union. In 1884 the business of Charles and J. Michel was incorporated under the name of C. & J. Michel Brewing Company, of which Charles Michel was the president until his death in 1904. Mr. Michel brought from his native country the traits of thrift, industry and absolute honesty. A business man of the old school, his success was not gained over the wrecks of other men's fortunes, but, instead of taking advantage of the necessities of others, he was at all times ready to assist those who had been less fortunate than he. Among the older generation of LaCrosse business men he is remembered as one who was faithful to every trust, whose spoken word was better than any written parchment, who never willingly made an enemy, and who lost a friend only through death. He served as alderman for several years and was a Democrat in his political views.
On the completion of his education, Carl F. Michel entered his father's business, in every detail of which he was most thoroughly trained. At the time of his father's death, he became president and treasurer of the concern, of which he is the principal owner, while Max
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F. Platz is secretary of the company. Mr. Michel has inherited much of his father's business acumen, foresight and shrewdness and has ably maintained the family reputation for integrity and honorable dealing. Aside from the brewing business, he has interested himself in various other business enterprises of LaCrosse, and at this time is a member of the directing board of the National Bank of LaCrosse. His fraternal connection is with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and his political affiliation with the Democratic party.
JESSE B. BRENNER. Classed among the enterprising and progressive young bankers of LaCrosse is Jesse B. Brenner, assistant cashier of the Security Savings Bank. Mr. Brenner has spent his entire business career in this city, where he has become well known as a man of push and energy, and one who is rapidly making a name for himself. Mr. Brenner was born July 24, 1888, at Crandon, South Dakota, and is a son of Rev. L. J. and Lydia (Bernhardt) Brenner, natives of Iowa, who are still living in that state. Mr. Brenner's father is a graduate of Galena (Illinois) College, and in young manhood entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Some time during the seventies he came to Wisconsin, and succeeding this held charges in Wisconsin, Min- nesota, Iowa and South Dakota. At the last Methodist Episcopal Con- ference he was appointed distriet superintendent for the State of Iowa, with residence at Charles City.
Jesse B. Brenner received his education in the public schools of LaCrosse, graduating from the high school in 1906 and succeeding this entered the insurance business with a Mr. Van Auken, whose partner he was for upwards of five years. His connection with the Security Savings Bank of LaCrosse commenced on February 19, 1912, when he accepted the position of assistant cashier, an office which he has held to the present time. This institution, one of LaCrosse's safe and con- servative banking houses has a capital stock of $30,000, and its executive officers are as follows: Dr. A. Gunderson, president; N. Frey, vice president ; J. A. Thwing, cashier; and J. B. Brenner, assistant cashier. On December 31, 1912, a statement showed the finances of the institution to be as follows : Resources-Loans and Discounts, $251.627.69; Stocks, Bonds and Securities, $14,004.65; Overdrafts, $289.53; Real Estate, $870.00; Furniture and Fixtures, $4,000.00; Due Bank from Insurance Ledger. $2,057.05; Cash and Due from Banks, $85,341.66. Total $358,- 190.58. Liabilities-Capital Stock, $30,000.00; Surplus, $6,000.00; Un- divided Profits, $497.31; Dividends Unpaid, $508.00; Deposits, $321,- 185.27. Total, $358,190.58. Mr. Brenner has made himself a general favorite with the bank's depositors by a courteous, obliging man- ner, and is held in the greatest confidence by his employers. He is still a young man and has had no time to spare from his duties to think of entering public life, but takes a good citizen's interest in matters that
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affect his city or its people, and has endeavored to support those men and measures which he believes will make for good government. His political tendencies are those of the Republican party. He has inter- ested himself to some extent in fraternal work, being a valued member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Modern Wood- men of America. His religious belief is that of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
JOHN HIRAM LATHROP. The State University of Wisconsin was for- mally organized in 1849. Its first Chancellor, elected in the spring of that year, and beginning his duties in the fall, was John Hiram Lathrop, one of the most distinguished educators during the first half of the nineteenth century. Dr. Lathrop spent ten years in his duties at the State University, and previous to that had organized and served as the first President of the University of the State of Missouri. Leaving Wisconsin, he was for one year President of the Indiana State University, and then returned to the University of Missouri, of which he was President at the time of his death. These facts in themselves indicate the scope and importance of his services in behalf of state education in the middle west, and all three of the institutions with which he was identified stand in the front rank of American state-supported universities. That the University of Wis- consin has in later years attained to such dignity among educational institutions, and in many ways is unsurpassed for its facilities and service to the state and nation, is due in no small degree to the broad and liberal foundation laid by Chancellor Lathrop and his associates sixty years ago. The career of Dr. Lathrop, whose residence in Wis- consin lasted for only ten years, is peculiarly a part of the state's his- tory, and in the following paragraphs is sketched as fully as possible.
John Hiram Lathrop was born at Sherburne, Chenango county, New York, January 22, 1799, a son of John and Prue Lathrop, of Puritan ancestry. After a preliminary preparation he entered Hamil- ton College of New York in 1815, but after two years entered Yale College, where he was graduated in 1819. Through a tutorship at Yale he was able to pursue his studies in the law department of that college. It soon proved that his inclination was not for the law, and he turned his attention to education, in which field his service was con- tinuous for more than forty years. After connection with various institutions of New England, as teacher and principal, he was in 1830 made professor of mathematics and natural philosophy at Hamilton College. In 1835 he was promoted to the Maynard professorship of law, civil polity and political economy.
In 1840 he was elected first President of the University of Mis- souri, and thus gave up his cultured associations in the older east to become a pioneer in the cause of liberal education in what was then
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the far west. The conditions of the time are well illustrated in the fact that it required six weeks to make the journey from New York to the town of Columbia, in central Missouri. The University existed only in the appropriation of land made for its establishment, and upon President Lathrop devolved the task of calling it into real life, super- intending the erection of buildings, overseeing the sale of land, and maturing plans for a complete and thorough course of study. It was the direct result of his arduous labors through eight years that the Missouri University was permanently organized, was equipped with a large central building which compared favorably with the best uni- versity buildings of the time in the east, and was established with facilities for instructing and courses of study of the highest standard.
In 1849 Dr. Lathrop was elected Chancellor of Wisconsin State University, and entered upon his duties at Madison in the fall of the same year. Here his skill and experience as an organizer of the state educational system were brought to bear upon much the same condi- tion of things as he had found in Missouri some years before. He has been properly credited with bringing order out of chaos, and before he left Madison the campus was improved with a fine college hall, and an enduring basis laid for the later prosperity of the Uni- versity.
In the meantime, he had been twice offered the presidency of the Indiana State University, and after ten years' residence in Wiscon- sin he accepted that offer. He remained as President there only a year, and resigned his heavy administrative responsibilities in order to take a professorship in the Missouri University. Thus in 1860 he ยท returned to his first western home, and remained there during the closing years of his life. The University of Missouri encountered many hardships during the period of the Civil war, and in the task of keep- ing up the work of its several departments during those years Dr. Lathrop's previous experience was summoned to many of the practical administrative responsibilities, so that he was Acting President for four years, and in 1865 was officially confirmed as President. Largely due to his initiative, schools and departments for the various profes- sions and arts were established in connection with the general academic department. He was still engaged in the great work of organization and upbuilding when stricken with typhoid fever, and his death occurred in Columbia August 2, 1866. On the campus of the Mis- souri University there now stands Lathrop Hall, one of the dignified buildings of the college group and used as a students' dining elnb. Thus there is a permanent memorial of the first President of the Uni- versity, and a fitting tribute to one of the greatest educators of his generation.
On April 1, 1910, a Woman's Building, one of the finest on the campus of Wisconsin University, named Lathrop Hall, was dedicated
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with formal exercises. In the dedication program were quoted some extracts from Dr. Lathrop's inaugural address as Chancellor, delivered in the Capitol Building at Madison on January 16, 1850, also from an address delivered by him before the State Agricultural Society at its first annual fair at Janesville, in October, 1851, and from the Annual Report of the University Board of Regents, dated October 1, 1857, relating to the subject of co-education, a document which, as stated in the program, was "undoubtedly written by him as Presi- dent of the Board." These extracts throw considerable light on early educational history in Wisconsin, and indicate somewhat the high ideals and leadership of Chancellor Lathrop, these being sufficient rea- sons for their incorporation in this sketch.
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