Читать книгу Memoirs of Milwaukee County, Volume 3 - Josiah Seymour Currey - Страница 66

John M. Niven, first assistant city attorney of Milwaukee, was born in New London, this state, November 14, 1879, a son of Dr. James K. and Laura (Jeffers) Niven. The father was a native of Glasgow, Scotland, while the mother's birth occurred in the state of New York. The former came to Wisconsin in 1871, settling in Waupaca county, where he was married. He was a physician and for many years practiced in Ironwood, Michigan. In early life he had taken up the profession of teaching but desired to broaden the scope of his labors by engaging in medical practice and to this end attended the Rush Medical College at Chicago, from which in due course of time he was graduated, thus initiating a successful professional career. He died in 1902.

John M. Niven obtained a country school education in Waupaca county and continued his studies in the high school at Ironwood, Michigan, and later became a student in the University of Wisconsin and won his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1900. He pursued his law course in the State University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and won his LL. B. degree in 1903, after which he was admitted to the Michigan bar and in the same year to the Wisconsin bar. He then located for practice in Milwaukee and for one year was in the office of Edwin S. Mack. He was afterward alone in his professional work until 1907 when he formed a partnership with Charles L. Aarons, under the firm style of Aarons & Niven, this association being maintained until September, 1919, when Mr. Niven was appointed first assistant city attorney of Milwaukee and withdrew from the partnership. He belongs to the Milwaukee, the Wisconsin and the American Bar Associations.

Mr. Niven has been married twice. In 1904 he wedded Ethel Evans, who passed away in 1910, leaving a son, James K. In 1917 he married again, his second union being with Eunice Detienne of Milwaukee.

During the World war Mr. Niven was very busy through Masonic activities among the service men and he assisted in organizing the sixteenth ward council of defense, of which he was the first president.

Mr. Niven belongs to Phi Beta Kappa, an honorary college fraternity, also to the Kappa Sigma fraternity. He is likewise a member of the Milwaukee Athletic Club, the Old Settlers' Club and the Kiwanis Club, of which he is the president. In Masonry he has attained high rank as a member of Wisconsin Consistory and of Tripoli Temple of the Mystic Shrine, while of Kilbourn Lodge, No. 3, F. & A. M., he is a past master. He is likewise a member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and a life member of the St. Andrew's Society. In all these associations are indicated the rules which govern his conduct and the principles which have guided him in every relation of life. His career is as an open book which all may read. The record is one which will bear the light of close investigation and scrutiny and Mr. Niven has made for himself a creditable name and place in a profession where advancement depends entirely upon individual merit and capability.