USA > Wisconsin > Wisconsin, its story and biography, 1848-1913, Volumr VI > Part 16
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"But who was the hero of this tale, you ask? Well, to be sure. His name was Bolens,-the same Harry W. Bolens who is now president of a big factory at Port Washington, the Gilson Gasoline Engine Works, and another in Canada, besides being financially interested in other enterprises, in addition to publishing the Port Washington Star and holding membership in forty different secret societies,-the same man who made the run for lieutenant governor of Wisconsin, on the Demo- cratic ticket, in 1910. But this was not to be a sketch of Mr. Bolens, much as he deserves it. His newspaper experience is typical of that en- joyed by most of the enterprising and self-sacrificing men who have started newspapers in Wisconsin. Most of 'em have had identically the same trials, and all of 'em are still confidently looking forward to riding in their own automobiles to the end of the chapter."
Mr. Bolens has maintained his home in Port Washington, the capital of Ozaukee county, snce 1891, and he is now one of its most progressive and influential citizens. Independent and self-reliant, he has not been governed by the partisan dictates of the political body to which he has given his allegiance, but has boldly assailed those of its tenets which he believed to be wrong. But the basic principles of the Democratic party have found in him an uncompromising advocate, both in a personal way and through the columns of his newspaper. Such a man could not be other than liberal and public spirited in his civic attitude, and Mr. Bolens has done much to further the social and material development and upbuilding of his attractive little home city. As a leader in the Democratic ranks in Wisconsin he has become widely known throughout
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the state, and on each occasion of his appearance as its candidate for lieutenant governor he gained the staunch support of the loyal voters of his party, whose normal minority alone compassed his defeat. The peo- ple of his home town like him. They admire him. They make use of him. In 1906-7 he served his first term of two years as mayor of Port Washington. He was no perfunctory executive of the municipal gov- ernment. He was progressive along normal and justified lines. His aggressive policies somewhat startled the voters of the town. They had not his courage and determination, and thus his star waned for an in- terval, as he was defeated for reelection in 1907. The interregnum, how- ever, was such as to regain to him the utmost fealty on the part of his fellow citizens, for in the election of 1909 he was returned to the office of mayor, as he was again in 1911, so that he is now serving his third term. He has made things move along the course of needed public improve- ments, has encouraged commercial and industrial progress, and has given an administration which has received the zealous support and commendation of all classes of citizens. It is well to be mayor of a live town. Mr. Bolens need not lament that he is not lieutenant gov- ernor. He is a strong advocate of municipal ownership of public utilities, and believes that such utilities should be directed with the same discrimination as other business enterprises. His attitude in this matter is what compassed his defeat for re-election to the mayor- alty in 1907, but his views now have the support of the leading citi- zens of his home town.
In 1891 Mr. Bolens held the position of proofreader for the As- sembly, and in 1900 and 1908 he was his party's candidate for repre- sentative of the twentieth district in the senate. He succeeded in greatly reducing the normal Republican majority in his district. Pop- ular rights and privileges as opposed to monopoly and corporate greed have found in Mr. Bolens a most earnest and effective cham- pion. In this connection, it may be noted that he is in favor of a na- tional tax on incomes but is unalterably opposed to the localized in- come tax. Apropos of his attitude in this respect he issued a most vigorous and well taken arraignment of the present income-tax law of Wisconsin. In the same appeared the following statements: "The Wisconsin state income-tax law is a penalty levied upon the frugal and industrious. It denies to industry its full reward. When in- dustry is not rewarded, industry ceases. When the efforts of men are not rewarded by money, self-satisfaction or esteem, effort will cease. Any law, therefore, which takes from the industrious and frugal an unjust portion of this reward, whether it be done directly or in- directly, through the raising of rent, through the reduction of wages and salaries, or tends to prevent an advance in wages, or takes from the farmer an unjust share of the profit resulting from his toil and saving, is an injury to prosperity, and all such laws should be re-
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pealed. *
* * A tariff is a tax on the consumer. A state income tax is a tax on the producer. If a tax on the consumer is an abomina- tion, what shall we say of a tax on the producer? Who are the pro- ducers? In numbers, farmers are the greatest producers. Then come the working men, the business men, the manufacturers. Even the professions may well come under this head. If a state income tax is a tax on the producer, then it falls heaviest on the farmer and work- ing men. We used to be told that the foreigner paid the tariff tax. We know better now. The importer placed the tariff tax on the cost of goods and passed it on to the consumer. With a state income tax, the tax can be placed on the goods occasionally in purely local trans- actions, but ninety per cent of the products of Wisconsin become inter- state commerce before reaching the consumer. The tax on this por- tion of the products, therefore, cannot be added to the cost, for the reason that the price is governed by the supply in other states where a state income tax is not levied. The tendency of wages under a system of taxing the consumer is upward. The tendency of wages under a system of taxing the producer must necessarily be down- ward. * * Analyzed from any point of view, we arrive at the same conclusions; that a state income tax means ultimately that the land shall bear all the taxes. Are the farmers and real estate owners of Wisconsin ready by their votes to continue a course which inevi- tably leads to this goal ?"
As president of the Gilson Manufacturing Company, Mr. Bolens has been a potent force in making this one of the important manu- facturing concerns of the state, the principal output of the plant being gasoline engines and chair specialities. The company also owns and operates a second factory, at Guelph, Province of Ontario, Canada, and from this source is supplied the rapidly expanding trade in the various provinces of that dominion. The engines manufactured by this company are sold in competition with others in all parts of the world, and in the factory at Port Washington employment is given to a force of about three hundred men, the major number of whom are skilled mechanics who command good wages. In the Canadian factory, one hundred and fifty men are employed. Mr. Bolens is a firm believer in the policy of international reciprocity, and main- tains that if American manufacturers produce the goods which the foreign countries need and want, reciprocity will do little if anything to the derogation of American labor. He was one of the organizers and is the president of the Wisconsin Manufacturers' Association.
It has been consistently said that in a fraternal way, Mr. Bolens has identified himself with all available lodges in his home city, in- cluding the Masonic fraternity, the Knights of Pythias, the Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks, the Independent Order of For- esters, and many others. Nothing is perfunctory in his sphere of
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activity, and thus he is an active and valued factor in the many civic organizations with which he has united. He is direet, sincere, and steadfast. At no time is there any need for conjecture as to his view-point. He is virile, resourceful, resolute and versatile. He has been a worker and has won success. He merits the confidence and esteem of his fellow men, and the approbation of his fellows has not been denied to him. His is a broad horizon of mentality and activity, and more shall be heard of him with the passing years.
EDWARD W. MILLER. The bar and citizenship of Marinette county gave deserved recognition to Edward W. Miller in November, 1912, when he was elected district attorney for that county. Mr. Miller is a capable young lawyer, has been in practice in Marinette since 1907, and since taking up his official duties on January 6, 1913, has shown much efficiency in handling the grave responsibilities entrusted to him. Mr. Miller previous to the beginning of his present official term served two years, beginning in 1911, as assistant district attorney. He practices law in Marinette as a member of the firm of Miller & Miller, his partner being his older brother, John O. Miller, now city attorney of Marinette, and who for five years, from 1905 to 1909, was district attorney of Mar- inette county. E. W. Miller has been a member of the firm of Miller & Miller since May, 1911.
He was born at Florent, Wisconsin, August 8, 1884, a son of S. C. and Hedvig (Karen) Miller. Mr. S. C. Miller is one of Marinette's prominent manufacturers, being proprietor of the Miller Sash & Door Company, and a director in the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Marin- ette. The son was reared at Marinette where he attended the public school, graduating from the high school in 1903. His first inclination was for business, and with that purpose in view he took a course in the Marinette Business College during the winter of 1903-04. In 1904 he entered the law department of the University of Wisconsin where he was graduated in 1907, and admitted to the bar in the same year. He then located at Marinette and has been in active practice now for six years.
Mr. Miller is unmarried and is popular in social circles. He is affiliated with the Masonic Order, the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, is a member of the Norwegian Literary Society, and belongs to the Phi Alpha Delta, the law school fraternity.
LOREN O. ROBECK. The present county treasurer of Marinette county, Loren O. Robeck, was first elected to the office in the fall of 1910, beginning his official duties in the following January, and in November, 1912, was re-elected, now being in his second term. Mr. Robeck went in on the Republican ticket, and is one of the loyal members of that party in Marinette county.
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Mr. Robeck is a live and enterprising real estate man of the firm of Merryman and Robeck, both real estate and insurance, at Marinette. The senior member is A. C. Merryman, Jr. The firm was organized in 1907. Mr. Robeck has lived in Marinette nearly all his life, and was born in that city February 14, 1881, a son of Andrew and Sophia Ro- beck, the father being now deceased. Reared in his native city, Mr. Robeck attended the public schools, and the only lengthy absence from his home town was three years spent in northern Michigan. Practi- cally all his active career has been devoted to the real estate business. He was first associated with his brother, Arthur Robeck, whose death occurred in 1904.
Loren O. Robeck married Miss Ida B. Peterson, of Menominee, Michigan. Fraternally his affiliations are with the Masonic Order.
BERNARD M. MULVANEY. In the city of Oconto Mr. Mulvaney occu- pies two distinct and each a very important office, as city clerk, also as principal of the Jefferson Ward School. Education may be said to have been his life work, and he is one of the progressive teachers in northern Wisconsin. He belongs to one of the old families of Oconto, one that has lived in this section of the state upwards of half a century. Mr. Mulvaney himself is still a young man, and from his varied experi- ence and professional activities in the past has a large place of future usefulness. He has served as city clerk since April, 1907, and has been identified with the public school system of the city since 1906, when he took charge of grades five and six in the Washington school, and in 1907 became principal of the Jefferson school.
Bernard M. Mulvaney was born in Oconto, May 5, 1883, a son of Bernard and Catherine (Nolan) Mulvaney. His father was for many years a stationary engineer. For a long time he ran a tug boat on the Green Bay. His death occurred in the fall of 1907, after a residence at Oconto for forty years. He was a hard worker and good citizen and was employed in many different capacities. At one time he was a sup- ply teamster. Later he was an engineer at the Oconto Company's Mills, at various times worked on the drives of lumber, both in the woods and along the rivers. He was a native of the state of Rhode Island, coming to Wisconsin when a boy and after a brief period of residence at or near Milwaukee moved to Oconto. His widow is still living and is a native of Cedarburg, Wisconsin.
Bernard Mulvaney was reared in Oconto where he attended the parochial schools and the Oconto high school, graduating from the lat- ter in 1901. His first work as teacher was in the town of Little River in Oconto county. He then taught graded school at Mountain in the same county for two and a half years, and while there established the first graded schools. From there he came to Oconto, and was employed as a reporter on the Oconto County Reporter. For a time he repre-
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sented the New York Life Insurance Company, and he studied law in the office of Judge Classon at Oconto. For six months he was principal of the graded school at Daggett, Michigan, and then returned to Oconto and began his work with the Washington schools. Mr. Mul- vaney is unmarried. His affiliations are with the Knights of Colum- bus, the Catholic Order of Foresters, and the Benevolent and Protect- ive Order of Elks of which he is secretary. His church is the Catholic.
WILLIAM ARTHUR HOLT has long been identified with the represen- tative business interests of Oconto in a prominent manner, and is now vice president and treasurer of the Holt Lumber Company of Oconto, and president of the Oconto Canning Company. The latter concern, capitalized at $50,000 in 1899, has been one of the important industries of the city since its organization. Mr. Holt is also president of the Oconto River Improvement Company and a director in the Oconto Falls Manufacturing Company. His business connections are widespread and of an important nature, so that he is one of the best known men in this part of the state. The Holt Lumber Company, of which he is vice president and a director is one of the more important lumber concerns of Northern Wisconsin, and his other business interests are of an equally vital nature.
William Arthur Holt was born in Lake Forest, Illinois, in 1865, and is a son of D. R. Holt, who was for many years a leading figure in the lumber industry of the middle west. In 1863 D. R. Holt, of Chicago, and Uri Balcom, of Oconto, bought the Norton Mill property and the firm of Holt & Balcom operated it till 1888, when Mr. Balcom sold out and the Holt Lumber Co. was incorporated under which name it still operates, the present officers of the firm being the sons of D. R. Holt, who continued as the head of the concern until his death in 1899. The present officers are: George H. Holt, of Chicago, president; W. A. Holt, of Oconto, vice president and treasurer ; and Charles S. Holt, of Chicago, secretary.
This representative lumber concern employs during the summer in and about Oconto, from three hundred and fifty to four hundred men, while in the winters, though the Oconto force is comparatively light, their employees number from six hundred to one thousand, in the mill and in their many camps. The firm controls vast timber holdings throughout Wisconsin and Upper Michigan and have timber to run them for many years.
William Arthur Holt was reared and educated in Lake Forest, Illinois, and in 1882, when he was seventeen years of age, he entered the employ of what is now the Holt Lumber Company in its Chi- cago office. His duties brought him to Oconto frequently, and in 1888 he came to Oconto and settled, since which time this place has repre-
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sented his home. Although he is still a young man, he may be said to have spent a life time in the lumber business, so early did he begin.
Mr. Holt has never aspired to political office or preferment of any sort, but he was twice elected mayor of Oconto, serving from 1904 to 1908.
Mr. Holt married Miss Lucy Rumsey of Lake Forest, Illinois, and to them have been born four children: Jeannette R., Alfred H., Mary Eleanore, and Donald R. Holt.
CHIARLES A. LOVELAND. For more than forty years identified with the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company of Milwaukee, a resident of that city since boyhood, and a veteran Union soldier, Charles Alvin Loveland was born at Troy, Rensselaer county, New York, October 3, 1841. His parents were Horace and Sarah (Vail) Loveland. His father was born in Connecticut, and married in New York, where his wife was born. Horace Loveland was with the lum- ber industry in New York state until 1855, when he moved his family to Milwaukee. There he took up fire insurance and continued actively in that business and was well known and honored in business circles until his death in 1881. His wife died in 1889.
Charles A. Loveland, who was fourteen years of age when the family moved to Wisconsin, began his education at West Troy, and at Milwaukee became a student in the old Milwaukee University, near the close of its existence. He then returned to New York state and was a student in private schools until his education was finished. He was ambitious to take up the study of law, but the country was then involved in the war, and in 1862, before he became of age, he enlisted as a private in what was known as the Milwaukee Regiment, joining Company B of the Twenty-fourth Wisconsin Volunteer In- fantry, which was organized and mustered in at Camp Sigel; he went to the front, and for nearly three years was in active service. Since the war Mr. Loveland has been affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic.
Returning to Milwaukee, he took up the study of law in the office of Henry L. Palmer, then one of the distinguished members of the Milwaukee bar. After three years he was prepared for admission to practice, but his career was deflected and he was never a practicing lawyer. The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company was then just entering upon its period of vigorous growth. Mr. Loveland found a clerkship in the home offices of the company, by ability and effective service won promotion, and for several years was superintendent of the Collection Department. In 1887 he became assistant actuary, and two years later was made general actuary of the company, one of the most exacting and important of the executive offices. He has re- mained general actuary to the present time.
C. a.Losland
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Mr. Loveland has given little attention to practical politics, and in the early nineties transferred his long-time allegiance with the Demo- cratic party to the Republican party, and still votes with the latter organization. He has long been identified with the Masonic fraternity, has taken the degrees of both the York and the Scottish Rite, having attained thirty-second degree in the latter. He has for many years been a member of the Grand Avenue Congregational church.
THOMAS C. CLARK, M. D. One of the younger members of the medi- cal profession at Oconta, who none-the-less has taken a high stand in the community both as a citizen and as a physician and surgeon, Dr. Clark has practiced at Oconto since December 10, 1912.
Dr. Clark was born in the city of Milwaukee, January 20, 1886, a son of John M. and Anna (Fitzgerald) Clark. His father is a promi- nent Milwaukee attorney. Reared in his native city, Dr. Clark attended the public schools, and later graduated from Marquette Academy, and then from Marquette University. His College Literary Degree is Master of Arts. He pursued his medical studies in the medical depart- ment of the Northwestern University at Chicago, where he was gradu- ated M. D. with the class of 1912. For several months he practiced at Milwaukee, and with that initial experience came to Oconto. Besides his general practice he is serving on the staff of the Oconto County Hospital, and he and Dr. P. E. Gaunt are the chief owners of that institution.
At Chicago, on June 25, 1912, Dr. Clark married Miss Grace McKin- ley, a daughter of Milton Mckinley at Chicago. They are the parents of one child,.Grace Clark. Dr. Clark is a communicant of the Catholic church, and affiliated with the Knights of Columbus, and with the Medi- cal Fraternity Phi Beta Pi. He also has membership in the Oconto County Medical Society and the Wisconsin Medical Society. His offices are in the Citizens National Bank Building.
CHARLES A. BEST. Banking has been the field to which Mr. Best has devoted the energies of his active career since young manhood, and with long experience he combines an unusual equipment of ability and skill in the organization and management of financial institutions. He has assisted in the organization and the management of two substantial banks in the State of Wisconsin, and is now connected with the Citizens National Bank of Oconto, being its cashier and having been one of the organizers in 1900, in which year the bank first opened its doors for business with Mr. Best in the position of cashier.
Charles A. Best was born at Freeport, Illinois, March 18, 1863. His parents were Dr. Solomon Jacob and Catherine (Wolf) Best. His father was long an able physician and surgeon at Freeport. The mother comes of a family of bankers, different men of the Wolf name
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having been active in banking in the state of Iowa. Charles A. Best was reared at Freeport, where he attended the public schools, and in 1887 was graduated from the Freeport high school. Soon afterwards he got his first experience as assistant cashier of the German-American National Bank at Beatrice, Nebraska, where he remained seven years. In 1897 Mr. Best took an active part in the organization at Kiel, Mani- towoc county, of the State Bank of Kiel, and remained as its cashier until 1900. In that year he played a similar role in the establishment of the Citizens National Bank at Oconto. The Citizens National has a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars, with surplus and profits of over thirty thousand dollars. It is in respect to its deposits and general facilities and strength the largest institution of its kind in Oconto county.
In 1892 Mr. Best married Miss Ida May Forbes. She is a native of Ottawa, Illinois, but for some time previous to her marriage was a resident of Beatrice, Nebraska. They are the parents of one child, Marjorie Rhea, who graduated from the Oconto high school in the class of 1913. Fraternally Mr. Best is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he and his family worship in the Presbyterian church.
FRED SCHEDLER. This pioneer now in the seventy-fifth year of his age, who with firm step and unclouded mind still walks the streets and attends to his daily routine of affairs, has during a long and useful residence in Oconto county, for almost fifty years witnessed almost its entire development and borne a share in the course of its progress. Starting in as a lumber jack, he was for many years well known as a hotel proprietor, and by judicious investments and able management has become one of the most influential men in financial and civic affairs in Oconto county. He manifests a keen and intelligent interest in all that affects the welfare of this section of the state, and is widely and favorably known as a man of progress and public spirit.
Mr. Schedler is vice president of the Oconto National Bank, and has been a director in that institution since it was organized in 1886. He became vice president in the spring of 1913, succeeding the late William Young, who died in 1913. Mr. Schedler is also a director of the Oconto Canning Company at Oconto. From 1867 to 1897 Mr. Schedler was in the hotel business at Oconto, during most of that time conducting the Schedler Hotel. His home has been in Oconto county since December, 1864, and he is thus one of the pioneers in that region, which when he came was a wilderness and its chief activity lumbering.
Fred Schedler was born in Prussia, Germany, April 28, 1838, a son of Gottlieb and Susanna (Brandenberg) Schedler. Both parents died in Germany. Reared in his native land, Mr. Schedler was educated in the public institutions of education, and spent two years in the Prus-
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sian infantry. He was an agricultural expert and instructor in Ger- many, but in spite of his congenial position and his business prospects, after his term of army service was completed, he left Germany and came direct to Wisconsin, first locating at Watertown. There he started out without capital and with complete reliance upon his individual resources to find fortune and position in the world. He spent a couple of years in farming near Watertown, and then in 1864 arrived at Oconto, where he went into the woods and spent a winter in the lum- ber camps. For two years he was employed as a sawyer in a lumber mill, and then was employed in a local hotel. Subsequently he bought out the man he had previously worked for, and after conducting the hotel for some years erected a much larger and more commodious structure, known as the Schedler House, which was conducted under his management and proprietorship until 1897. In that year he sold his hotel and engaged in the real estate business, and general finance, handling loans, mortgages and other investments. Mr. Schedler owns a large quantity of fine farm lands in Oconto county, and has many interests in the business affairs of this section.
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