Читать книгу Memoirs of Milwaukee County, Volume 4 - Josiah Seymour Currey - Страница 27

A man's practical value to a community is determined by his contribution to its material growth and development and the maintenance of its political, legal and civic standards. So judged, Michael Yundt is accounted one of the representative residents of Milwaukee, as he became an active factor in the manufacturing interests of the city when but twenty years of age and through the intervening period has been active in the development of a business which has contributed in no small measure to commercial growth here. Mr. Yundt was born in Strassburg, Alsace, France, then a part of Germany, on the 30th of May, 1884. His father, Andrew Yundt, also a native of Strassburg, settled in Chicago on the 30th of May, 1888, immediately after crossing the Atlantic to the new world. He was a carpenter contractor and thus provided for the members of his household. He is a representative of one of the oldest families of Strassburg, the ancestral line being traced directly back through several centuries. Andrew Yundt married Caroline Lobstein, who was also born in Strassburg, where they were neighbors in childhood and attended the same school. They became parents of six children, one of whom has passed away, while the mother has also departed this life.

Michael Yundt was educated in the public schools of Chicago, completing his studies in the Austin high school. He started out in the business world as an office boy with the firm of Bishop & Babcock, handling bottlers supplies and machinery and thus he received his introduction into the line of business which now claims his attention. He later went upon the road for the firm, selling for the house with headquarters in Milwaukee and eventually the company opened a branch office in this city, making Mr. Yundt the first manager. This was in 1904 and he was at the time a young man of but twenty years, which fact indicates how splendidly he had developed his business powers and the thorough confidence reposed in him by the firm which he represented. He continued with Bishop & Babcock until 1905 and then took a position as traveling representative for the Twentieth Century Machinery Company, of Milwaukee. He left that house to accept the position of general manager for the Charles L. Kiewert Company of Milwaukee in 1912 and served in that responsible position until September, 1916, when the firm went out of existence. He next organized and incorporated the Michael Yundt Company with a capital stock of twenty thousand dollars and something of the continued and substantial growth of the business is indicated in the fact that the capital stock has since been increased to one hundred thousand dollars. Mr. Yundt has remained the president and general manager from the beginning. The company manufactures bottle washing and sterilizing machines sold to those who engage in bottling beer, milk, waters and soft drinks. Its market covers the United States, Canada, Mexico and many parts of Europe and Asia. It now does its own manufacturing, having built a plant at Waukesha, previous to which .time its machinery was built by a local manufacturer. On the 30th of May, 1905, Mr. Yundt was married to Miss Emily Vandewater, a daughter of Andrew Jackson Vandewater, one of the old-time residents of Jefferson, Wisconsin, in which city he was born. Mr. and Mrs. Yundt have one child, Emily Jane. In politics Mr. Yundt has always been a republican, supporting the candidates and the principles of the party, yet never an aspirant for office. Fraternally he is connected with the Elks of Milwaukee, belongs to Lafayette Lodge, No. 265, A. P. & A. M., and to Kilbourn Chapter, No. 1, R. A. M. He also has membership in the Milwaukee Athletic Club, the Association of Commerce and the Rotary Club and is interested in all those practical and organized efforts which are seeking to improve business conditions and establish better business relations with the outside world. He is a lover of music, greatly enjoys fishing and swimming and it is no unusual thing to see him with his rod on some stream or lake where the finny tribe abound. He served on the draft board during the World war and has always been a loyal supporter of those interests and activities which have made for the upbuilding of the city and the advancement of civic virtue and civic pride.