Читать книгу Memoirs of Milwaukee County, Volume 3 - Josiah Seymour Currey - Страница 21

One of the well-appointed and attractive mercantile establishments of South Milwaukee is that owned and controlled by the firm of Bettinger & Sons, who for a number of years have been ranked with the leading merchants of the city. Mr. Bettinger, whose name Introduces this review, was born in Bavaria, Germany, January 31, 1852, his parents being Louis and Katharine (Hess) Bettinger, who were also natives of that country. In the spring of 1869 the parents came to the United States with their family, landing at New York city, from which point they traveled westward to Sauk county, Wisconsin, where they located on a farm. After a number of years they returned and removed to the town of Spring Green, Wisconsin, where both passed away.

John Bettinger was a youth of seventeen years at the time of the emigration of the family to the new world. He had been educated in the public schools of his native town, attending to the age of sixteen years and following the removal to Wisconsin he worked on the home farm for about a year. He afterward learned the blacksmith's trade and subsequently he established business on his own account, turning his attention to the manufacture of buggies, wagons, sleighs, etc. This he carried on in connection with the conduct of a hardware store in Spring Green, Wisconsin. In. the spring of 1894 he removed to South Milwaukee and was one of the pioneers of the town, which had recently been started. He erected the building now occupied by the Charles Franke Drug Store and there opened a department store, which he very successfully conducted, remaining on that corner for ten or twelve years. He afterward erected his present building, a two-story and basement structure sixty by one Hundred and twenty feet. In this he opened a department store, handling dry goods, men's furnishings, groceries and other lines. He continues in the business and has the leading store of the kind in the town, carrying a very extensive stock and enjoying a very large patronage. As his business grew and developed he admitted his sons, Carl and H. Emil, to a partnership and their interests are carried on under the style of Bettinger & Sons. The father is also a director of the South Milwaukee Bank and is recognized as a man of sound judgment and keen discrimination in carrying forward to successful completion whatever he undertakes.

In 1878 Mr. Bettinger was married to Miss Louise Zilg, who has passed away. Later he married Mary Knapp of Milwaukee. By his first marriage there were five children: Carl, Lillian, Emil, Leona and Beulah. To the second marriage there were born three children: Ora, Ervin and Viola. Mr. Bettinger has always been commendably interested in public affairs and for several years has served as alderman of South Milwaukee, exercising his official prerogatives in support of many plans and measures for the general good. His worth is widely acknowledged and his friends are legion.