Читать книгу Memoirs of Milwaukee County, Volume 5 - Josiah Seymour Currey - Страница 12

Charles A. Trester, president of the Milwaukee Soda Supply Company and also of the Peerless Products Company, possesses those resolute and determined qualities which, guided by sound judgment, constitute the basis of individual success and also feature in the commercial growth and development of the community. He has always lived in the state which is still his home and Milwaukee today claims him as a representative citizen. His birth occurred in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, March 27, 1861, his parents being Adam and Ann (Groeff) Trester. both of whom were natives of Germany, whence they came to the United States in 1854. They first took up their abode in Milwaukee but afterward removed to Sheboygan, where the father was engaged in the clothing business. For some time he also filled the position of cutter with the firm of Mueller Brothers, tailors of Milwaukee. For several terms he filled the office of aldermen in Sheboygan and was keenly interested in the public welfare. Both he and his wife are deceased.

Charles A. Trester was educated in the schools of his native city to the age of seventeen years and in 1878 he came to Milwaukee. Here he worked at the printer's trade for a time and then entered the employ of E. R. Pantke & Company, dealers in hats and furs on East Water street. He remained with that house for twenty years, having charge of the business through a considerable period and later he became associated with Gimbel Brothers, when they opened their hat and cap department. A year later he established a clothing store at Twentieth street and Fond du Lac avenue and there continued in business for five years, at the end of which time he sold to Stumpf & Langhoff. In company with Otto Imse he then organized the Milwaukee Soda Supply Company, which in 1916 was incorporated with a capital stock of ten thousand dollars, with Charles A. Trester as president, Mrs. Antonia Imse, vice president, Otto Imse, secretary, and Mrs. Augusta Trester. treasurer. They manufacture all kinds of carbonated beverages and syrups and largely sell to the local trade. They occupy a building thirty by one hundred and fifty feet and they are now at the head of a substantial business enterprise returning to them a gratifying annual income. Mr. Trester is the originator of the method of carbonating root beer in steel tanks which are tapped without any extra pressure put on. This product was placed on the market only in the season of 1921 and he is also the patentee of the foam regulator which is attached to the faucet in the keg.

In 1887 Mr. Trester was married to Augusta Polzin, who was born in Germany and came to the United States with her parents when only about a year old. Mr. and Mrs. Trester have two sons: Herault A. and Carl P. The latter was in the war service school for bakers and cooks, located at Camp Grant. He was on duty there for fourteen months and received a commission as first-class sergeant, remaining at Camp Grant throughout his connection with the army and for six months after the armistice was signed he engaged in feeding the men going to their homes. He is now associated with his father in business. The eldest son. Herault A., is chief engineer with the Metal Forms Corporation of Milwaukee. Coming to this city when a youth of seventeen years empty-handed, Charles A. Trester has steadily worked his way upward in business, utilizing every opportunity that has come to him, his capability and worth gaining him advancement from time to time when in the employ of others, while his thrift and industry eventually made it possible for him to engage in business on his own account. He is today at the head of an important productive industry and his business is steadily increasing.