USA > Wisconsin > Wisconsin, its story and biography, 1848-1913, Volumr VI > Part 5
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mon schools and later the academy at Onondaga. In 1843 he came out to the territory of Wisconsin, locating first at Kenosha, where he was employed in the foundry of Benedict & Frances. In 1845 he entered the foundry of Wilson & Burgess at Racine, and while there made the first casting ever turned out in that city, one of the largest centers of manufactured iron and steel products in the state. From Racine Mr. Smith went to Milwaukee, and was employed for a time in the foundry of A. J. Langworthy. In the year 1848 he was in Waukesha, and was employed there in a foundry for about four years, the firm name of which was Smith & Blair. In 1852 he located at Portage. From Port- age, in 1861, Mr. Smith transferred his enterprise to the town of La Crosse, and there became associated with Mr. Merrill, the firm being known as Dean-Smith & Co. In 1876, at the death of Mr. Dean, the firm name was changed to Smith & Merrill. There business prospered and grew, and was the foundation of the present Smith Manufacturing Com- pany.
The Smith Manufacturing Company as it now exists was organized in 1886, and incorporated the same year. The original officers were : Frank E. Smith, president; F. A. Smith, vice president; B. C. Smith, secretary ; W. L. Smith, superintendent; and C. W. Smith, assistant superintendent. Mr. F. E. Smith has served as alderman of the city of La Crosse for four years. Mr. B. C. Smith was elected an alderman in 1909, and has served to the present year, 1913. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias and the B. P. O. E. and is a director in both the Batavian Bank and the La Crosse Trust Company. W. L. and F. A. Smith are both members of the Masonic Order, and all the brothers are staunch Republicans. The individuals members of the Smith Manufac- turing Company are directors in the Batavian National Bank of La Crosse and have influential membership in the La Crosse Board of Trade. The Smith Manufacturing Company is known all over the state as one of the best equipped wagon-making plants in the west. The company turns out about four thousand wagons every year, and has some sixty- five skilled workmen on its payroll.
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ORI J. SORENSEN. The business career of Ori J. Sorensen in La Crosse has covered a period of more than a quarter of a century, during which time he has been connected with some of the city's leading business enter- prises. It has been shown that there is no special providence in success or failure ; each man must work out his own salvation. At any rate there are few who would have the temerity to state that Mr. Sorensen's success has come as a result of aught else than individual effort and ability. Essentially a business man, with the multitudinous cares incident to the management of a large commercial enterprise to occupy his time, he has yet found time to give to the duties of citizenship, and in high public office has served his city faithfully and well.
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Mr. Sorensen was born in Madison, Wisconsin, November 12, 1856, and is a son of D. T. and Wilhelmina (Peterson) Sorensen. His parents, natives of Denmark, emigrated to the United States in 1854, and after a short stay in New York City, came to Madison, Wisconsin. Mr. Sor- ensen, the elder, was engaged in contracting and building operations in that city until 1880, at which time he came to La Crosse, and the remain- der of his life was spent in quiet retirement, his death occurring in 1895. His widow survived him until 1909.
Ori Sorensen received his education in the public schools of Madison, as well as a private school, which he attended until he was twenty years of age, at that time associating himself with his father and engaging in contracting and building. In 1887 he formed a partnership with R. T. Davis, under the firm style of Davis & Sorensen, and engaged in the man- ufacture of office, store and bar fixtures, although he did not give up his activities in the contracting line. The connection with Mr. Davies was severed by mutual consent in 1897, and since that time Mr. Sorensen has continued in business alone. Ilis enterprise has enjoyed a steady and rapidly growing trade, which comes from every part of the North- west. A man of keen foresight, acumen and capacity, his associates place the greatest confidence in his judgment, and at various times he has been called upon for leadership where movements of an important character have been contemplated.
While still a resident of Madison, in 1883, Mr. Sorensen was united in marriage with Miss Eva B. Rounds, whose parents are both deceased, and to this union there have been born three children : Clarence T., Ray and Roy, the last two being twins. Mr. Sorensen is prominent in fra- ternal circles of La Crosse, having risen to the thirty-second degree in Masonry, and was formerly a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In political matters he has always supported the principles and policies of the Democratic party, whose candidate he became, in' 1909, for the office of mayor of La Crosse. He was elected to that office in the election of that year, and during his administration, which lasted through 1909 and 1910, many greatly needed municipal reforms were inaugurated. He was again elected for two years, 1913- 1914. Mr. Sorensen's general popularity is attested by his wide circle of friends, drawn from every walk of life, who have been attracted to him by his many sterling traits of character.
HARRY B. KAMSCHULTE. Through technical ability, marked initiative and constructive power, close application and progressive policies Mr. Kamschulte has gained definite prestige as one of the representa- tive business men of the younger generation in his native city, and not only is he known as one of the well fortified architects and civil engineers in Milwaukee, but he also has the distinction of having
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been the promoter and organizer of the Badger Railway & Light Company, which controls an important interurban electric line and of which important corporation he is president. Mr. Kamschulte maintains his business headquarters in suite 402-5 Foster building, on Grand avenue, Milwaukee, and he and his family reside in an attract- ive home in the beautiful little city of Wauwatosa, Milwaukee county, which is about six miles distant from the metropolis of the state.
Mr. Kamschulte was born in Milwaukee, on the 25th of February, 1879, and is a son of Henry and Josephine (Mans) Kamschulte, who still reside in this city, where their marriage was solemnized and where they have ever been held in the highest esteem, the father being a native of Berlin, Germany, and the mother having been born in Milwaukee, a representative of one of the honored pioneer families of the state, to which her parents came from Germany many years ago. Henry Kamschulte has lived virtually retired for a period of about fifteen years past, but was long numbered among the successful contractors and builders of Milwaukee, where he had the distinction of serving for some time as city superintendent of building construc- tion,-fully a quarter of a century ago. He is a man of sterling char- acter and in the land and state of his adoption he gained definite success and prosperity, so that he finds himself compassed by peace and independence, as well as most gracious associations, now that the days of his active labors have passed. He came with his parents to America in 1856, when but four years of age, and was reared and educated in Milwaukee, where the family home was established in the year mentioned. He is a loyal and progressive citizen, is a Repub- lican in his political adherency.
Of the seven children, six are living, and thus death has but once invaded the immediate family circle, the relations of which have ever been of ideal order. Concerning the children, it may be stated that all were born and reared in Milwaukee, where they received excellent educational advantages, the eldest two having been gradu- ated in the high school and all of the others having not only com- pleted a high-school curriculum but also having been graduated in the German-English Academy of Milwaukee. Of the children the subject of this review was the third in order of birth; Otto and Clemens are still residents of Milwaukee; Erla is the wife of Charles Tucker, of Toledo, Ohio; Emma likewise maintains residence in To- ledo; Herbert is at the parental home; and Hertha, the youngest of the children, was summoned to the life eternal on the 25th of Octo- ber, 1912; she was graduated in the Milwaukee Normal School and was a young woman of gentle personality and marked culture, she having been a valued and popular teacher in the public schools of her native city during the last year of her life and her death having been the result of an attack of pneumonia, to which she succumbed
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at the age of twenty years, eleven months and twenty-five days, se- cure in the affectionate regard of all who knew her.
Harry B. Kamschulte continued to attend the public schools of Milwaukee until he had completed a course in the East Division high school, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1895. Thereafter he attended private schools in his home city and elsewhere, and at the age of twenty years he began the study of the art and science of architecture, in the office and under the preceptorship of the well known Milwaukee firm of Schnetzy & Liebert, with whom he remained two years, after which he was for a time associated with Ferd Velguth, a leading architect of this city. In the meanwhile Mr. Kamschulte had also given careful study to civil engineering, in which he developed marked practical ability, and finally he entered the service of the Milwaukee Harvester Company, which was later consolidated with the International Harvester Company of America.
In 1899 Mr. Kamschulte became associated with the Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light Company, with which he continued in effective service for twelve years, during the greater part of which period he held the responsible office of chief engineer of construction. It is needless to say that in this connection he gained large and valu- able experience, and the same has proved of inestimable benefit to him in his promotion and development of an important independent enterprise along the same lines of public-utility service. In 1910 Mr. Kamschulte formed a partnership with Harold C. Webster, under the firm name of Kamschulte & Webster, and they engaged in inde- pendent business as architects and civil engineers, with offices in the Foster building. The success of the new firm was unequivocal and the effective alliance continued until Mr. Webster was elected county surveyor of Milwaukee county, of which position he is now the incum- bent, specific mention of him being made on other pages of this work. Aggressive, far-sighted and enterprising, Mr. Kamschulte instituted in 1910 the promotion of a company for the construction of an inter- urban electric line, and his efforts culminated in the organization of the Badger Railway & Light Company, which was the first corpora- tion of the kind to be incorporated under the Wisconsin public-utilities act. The line of the company is now in construction and is thirty- six miles in length. It extends from Jefferson, judicial center of the county of the same name, through to Whitewater, Elkhorn and Lake Geneva, and is a public improvement of the highest order, as well as one that reflects great credit upon the promoter of the enterprise, Mr. Kamschulte having shown marked circumspection and judgment in instituting and carrying forward the undertaking, and having · been president of the company from the time of its organization.
As a citizen Mr. Kamschulte is essentially liberal and progressive. As previously stated, he maintains his home at Wauwatosa, and there
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he is giving loyal and effective service as a member of the board of education, besides being otherwise influential in public affairs of a local order. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, and is well known and distinctly popular in the business and social circles of his native city. He finds his chief recreation in hunting and fishing and in these lines is fully appreciative of the manifold attractions and advantages of his home state.
May 7, 1907, recorded the marriage of Mr. Kamschulte to Miss Margaret Zingsheim, who was born and reared in Milwaukee, where she was graduated in the South Side high school and where still reside her honored parents, Hubbard and Doris Zingsheim.
JUDGE JOSEPH E. CORDES. In 1910 Joseph E. Cordes was elected Judge of the Civil Court of Milwaukee County in a non-partisan judi- cial election, in which he was, however, known and supported as a candi- date of the Social Democratic party. He is still serving in that office, his term expiring on January 1, 1916. His election to the judgeship was marked by the fact that he had the highest vote of the judges of the different courts who ran for office at that time, and his administration of the office thus far has been characterized by a wise and careful serv- ice which places him among the most popular judges of his time in this district.
Judge Cordes was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on January 19. 1876, and is the son of Emil A. H. and Helena (Hennig) Cordes, both of whom were born in this city. The father died when the subject was a child of five years, and later the mother contracted a second marriage. She still makes her home in Milwaukee. The grandfather of Judge Cordes was one of the early wholesale grocers in this city, the firm being known in its prosperous days as that of Cordes & Weiskirch, wholesale grocers. Their early history dates as far back as the early sixties, when they located on East Water street, and the father of Judge Cordes was employed in the office of the establishment as a bookkeeper.
Judge Cordes is the eldest of the two living children of his parents, the other being Mrs. Antoinette Kremer, now a widow and residing in Milwaukee, where she was born and educated. Judge Cordes was edu- cated in the Third Ward Public School of this city and was graduated from that school with the class of 1890, after which he secured employ- ment with the Standard Oil Company. His mother was then a widow and he thus helped in the support of her and his sister. He continued with the Standard people for some years, and in 1898 when the Spanish- American trouble arose, Mr. Cordes, in company with many of his asso- ciates, joined the local militia, in Company A of the Fourth Regiment of the Wisconsin National Guards. The regiment was later taken in the volunteer service of the United States, in Company I of the First Regi- ment. Like many another zealous American patriot, Judge Cordes never
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got farther in the line of service than to reach Jacksonville, Florida. there to await further orders. They remained there from May 21st to September of that year, when they were ordered home. After the return to home and civil life and duties, the subject resumed his connec- tion with the Standard Oil Company, at the same time beginning the study of law in a night class of the Milwaukee Law School, now a part of Marquette College. He later took the state bar examination and was duly admitted to practice on January 25, 1902, after which he continued in the service of the great corporation for perhaps a year. He then re- signed his position and became associated with the law firm of Gonski, Blenski & Nowak, and later was a partner in law practice with Hon. Michael Blenski, now judge of the civil court, which continued until both were elected judges of the civil court of Milwaukee county in April, 1910.
Judge Cordes is a member of the Milwaukee County and the State Bar Associations, and is a member of Walker Lodge, No. 123, Knights of Pythias, and the United Order of Foresters.
On June 11, 1905, Judge Cordes married Miss Marie Salvesen, born in Norway, but reared and educated in America, Milwaukee having been her home from her girlhood. Her mother still lives in Milwaukee, but the father died some years ago. Judge and Mrs. Cordes make their home at No. 922 Twenty-second avenue.
DELOS R. MOON. With the death of Delos R. Moon, of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, there passed from among us one of those great captains of industry of the middle west, who unlike so many to whom the term has been applied, made his fortune and won his position of power, not through squeezing the pennies from other people's pockets, or from manipulating false values, but by foresight and judgment and a use of the natural resources of the country. Delos R. Moon was one of the pioneer lumbermen of this section, and in taking advantage of the wealth stored in the great forests of the country he brought prosperity to hundreds of others, for he was just and considerate in all his business dealings and the devotion of his employees was his reward. Not the least successful of his undertakings was the rearing of his sons, for when he was forced to lay down the reins, he had trained his sons so wisely that he was able to hand the reins over to them, confident that the busi- ness would not suffer.
Delos R. Moon was born in Chenango county, New York, on the 29th of August, 1835. He was deprived of a father's care early in life but was fortunate in having a mother of unusual wisdom and strength of character, who accomplished the task of rearing a fatherless boy with rare discrimination. In 1843 the boy and his mother moved from New York state to Kendall county, Illinois, and here they lived for two years, at the end of which they again moved, this time to Aurora, Illinois,
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where they settled permanently. Here Delos Moon grew up and here he entered the business world. It was at the age of eighteen that he made his first venture in this direction, entering the bank of Hall Brothers of Aurora, as bookkeeper. Here he worked until 1857 and by this time he had so far won the esteem and confidence of his employers that he was selected by them to go to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, to take charge of their bank in that city. This bank had its securities in Missouri state bonds and the outbreak of the Civil war caused these to depreciate so greatly in value that they were practically worthless, and therefore, in 1861, the bank was closed by the state comptroller.
Casting about for something to do, Mr. Moon decided that in the great untouched northern forests was a field that suited him exactly and so he went into lumbering. For six years he was engaged in buying and selling timber lands, logs and lumber, and was also interested in a general mercantile business. Always willing to work, a keen judge of men, with a trained business intelligence, he was enabled to make quite a bit of money, and being ambitious he saved his money with an eye to its further investment. In 1867, therefore, he was ready to enter into partnership with Gilbert E. Porter, as a manufacturer of lumber at Por- ter's Mills, on the Chippewa River, about four miles below Eau Claire. The lumber which they cut at the mill was rafted down the river to the Mississippi and so to the great markets. The two young partners were alive to all the opportunities in the business and managed it along progressive lines and instead of putting their profits into gilt-edged securities they turned it back into the business and in 1869 established a wholesale lumber yard at Hannibal, Missouri, and began the distribu- tion of lumber from this point. In 1870 Porter and Moon consolidated with S. T. McKnight, a prominent lumber dealer of Hannibal, and the yard there was conducted under the name of S. T. MeKnight & Com- pany, though the business in Eau Claire remained independent, under the firm name of Porter, Moon and Company. In 1873, however, the two firms were completely merged into the Northwestern Lumber Com- pany, of Eau Claire and Stanley, Wisconsin. In this new corporation Mr. Porter was made president, Mr. Moon, vice-president and Mr. Mc- Knight, secretary and treasurer.
The death of Mr. Porter in 1880 caused a change in the administra- tion of the business, Mr. Moon becoming president and general manager. In 1882 the lumber yard in Hannibal was discontinued and during this year the firm began to ship lumber by rail out of Eau Claire. Mr. Moon remained as the chief executive of the company until his death, and during this period the business flourished and grew amazingly. As evidence of this witness the figures: In 1873 there were in the employ of the concern seventy-eight men, drawing salaries amounting to $26,- 676; in 1897, one thousand two hundred and eighty-two men were em- ployed and they received $373,000 and over. The capacity of the saw-
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mill was also greatly increased during this period, for in 1867, in round numbers it was five million feet, while in 1897 it had reached one hun- dred and eight million feet. Mr. Moon was ever the inspiration and the guiding spirit of the business. Of unimpeachable integrity, of splendid executive ability and with his long experience in men and affairs, his unusual success was woven from the elements that made up his own character.
How beloved he was by his friends, and in how high regard he was held by his business associates and his opponents in the business world was shown at the time of his death when his family were almost overwhelmed with the evidences of love and admiration from people they had never even heard of. He died on November 5, 1898, and the scores of men who had been in his employ for years mourned for him as though for a father. At his funeral two hun- dred employes from Stanley attended in a body and many men from distant cities as well as hundreds from the various mills and factories with which Mr. Moon had at one time or another been connected, crowded the church to its utmost capacity. The Reverend Joseph Moran, rector of Christ Episcopal Church, of Eau Claire, conducted the services, and the honorary pall-bearers were Frederick Meyer- haeuser, J. T. Barber, S. T. McKnight, William Irvin, Smith Rob- ertson, I. K. Kerr, N. C. Wilcox and the Honorable M. Griffin.
The personal characteristics of Mr. Moon were of the finest and made him a friend of everyone. In spite of the responsibilities of his great business he was ever genial and kindly. A fighter by in- stinct, with the courage that comes from contact with men under the pine trees and in the open places, yet he was never one to take an unfair advantage,-justice was the keynote of his business rela- tions with all men. His home life was ideal and his devotion to his wife was one of his most marked characteristics. On almost all of his business trips and on all of those taken for pleasure merely she was his companion. Mrs. Moon was Miss Sallie Gilman, of Harri- son, Ohio, before her marriage to Mr. Moon, which took place on the 17th of October, 1858, in Aurora, Illinois. Mrs. Moon was born in New York State in 1836, and her death occurred in 1909. Eight children were born of this marriage, six of whom are now living. Of these, the eldest, Lawrence G., lives in Spokane, Washington; Frank H. died in February, 1907, in San Jose, California; Kate died in infancy; Angeline is the wife of Joseph G. Dudley, a lawyer of Buffalo, New York; Sumner G., who is vice-president and treasurer of the Northwestern Lumber Company; Chester D., who is secretary of the same company ; Pauline, who married Otto F. Haveisen, a banker of Indianapolis, Indiana; and Delos R. Moon, who is president of the Lin- derman Box and Veneer Company of Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
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SUMNER G. MOON. Among the most prominent of the younger men in the lumber business in the state of Wisconsin today is Sumner G. Moon, vice-president and treasurer of the Northwestern Lumber Com- pany of Eau Claire, Wisconsin. He has inherited his father's business ability as well as the strong traits in his character that made him the suc- cessful man of affairs that he was. Sumner G. Moon is a splendidly edu- cated, practical business man, possessed of a charming personality that has won him many and warm friends both in the business world and in social life.
Sumner G. Moon was born in Hannibal, Missouri, on the 25th of December, 1871, a son of Delos R. Moon and Sallie (Gilman) Moon. His father was one of the pioneer lumbermen of Wisconsin and a sketch of his life is given elsewhere in this volume. There were eight children born to Delos R. Moon and his wife, six of whom are now living.
The schools of Eau Claire furnished Sumner Moon with his earlier education, and he later attended the Indianapolis Classical School at Indianapolis, Indiana. His first position in the business world was when, as a mere boy, he went to work for the Sterling Lumber Com- pany, with which his father was associated. He was located at this time at Sterling, Wisconsin, remaining there from July, 1891, until the spring of 1893. He then came to Eau Claire and during the spring of 1893 and until the fall of 1894 he was in the employ of the Northwestern Lum- ber Company at Eau Claire. Then leaving the lumber business for a time he went east and entered Andover Academy, at Andover, Massachu- setts, from which he was graduated in 1895. He then entered the Shef- field Scientific School of Yale University, where he took a three years · course, graduating with the class of 1898. He made a fine record as a student and returned to his business. well equipped for the fight.
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