ANDREW URBAN
This is a bio. sketch from "History of Manitowoc County Wisconsin"
by Dr. L. Falge, 1911-1912, v.2, p.621-622.
The enterprising town of Maribel finds a worthy representative of its
business interests in Andrew Urban, proprietor of a meat market. He started
out in the business world with no mistaken ideas that success was to be had
for the asking or that the world owed him a living. He knew that he must
earn his success and his close application and earnest effort to please his
customers have been the potent elements in his advancement. He was born
March 7, 1851, in Bohemia, Germany, his parents being Joseph and Barbara
(Urban) Urban. The father was a son of George and Barbara Urban and carried
on farming in his native country to the time of his death, which occurred
when his son Andrew was only about a year old. His wife also died in the
land of her birth. In their family were three children, of whom Eva and
Paula are both at home.
Andrew Urban attended school in his native country and afterward took up
the butchering business, which he continued to follow until he determined
to come to America, attracted by the favorable reports concerning this
country and its opportunities. Accompanied by his wife and three children,
he crossed the Atlantic in 1881 and with Manitowoc as his destination
started for the middle west. In that city he engaged in the butchering
business and also worked as a laborer. He afterward spent three years in
Wausau, Wisconsin, and then returned to Manitowoc, where he was connected
with the brewing business and also worked as a laborer. He afterward opened
a saloon in Kaukauna, which he conducted until the 28th of June, 1909,
when he came to Cooperstown township and at Maribel established a meat
market, opening a store on the most prominent corner in that town. He has a
well appointed shop, with a good cooling plant, and is enjoying a liberal
patronage because he handles an excellent grade of meats, because his
prices are reasonable and his dealings honorable.
On the 8th of October, 1878, Mr. Urban was united in marriage to Anna, a
daughter of Johann and Maria (Pindl) Schwarz, who was born April 15, 1848,
in that section of Bohemia which was also the birthplace of her husband.
The father was a merchant in his native town. In his family were eleven
children but only two are now living, the sister of Mrs. Urban being Mrs.
Eva Stubel.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Urban have been born four children. George Urban, who is
a cigar manufacturer and teacher, married Alvina Kolancheck and they have
two children, Richard and Leona. Catherina is the wife of H. Damm, a
farmer, and they have three children: Rosina, Alma and Adella. Louis, born
in 1881, is a musician and cigar manufacturer of Manitowoc and married Mina
Meyer, by whom he has one child, Arline. Carl, born in 1884 and now living
in California, married Grace Vogel and has one child, Hieronymus. The
parents are members of the Catholic church on Green street and Mr. Urban
holds membership with the Catholic Knights of Wisconsin. He and his wife
are widely and favorably known in Maribel and theirs is a hospitable home,
always open for the reception of their many friends. Mr. Urban has never
had occasion to regret his determination to come to the new world, for here
he has found the opportunities which he has sought and as the years have
passed by has made for himself a creditable position in business circles.
ED AND FLORENCE URBANEK
Florence and Eddie Urbanek dig out after a huge snowstore West of Two Creeks.
Photo taken about 1915. Photo compliments of Gary Omernick
WENZEL C. URBANEK
This is a bio. sketch from "History of Manitowoc County Wisconsin"
by Dr. L. Falge, 1911-1912, v.2, p.21-22.
Wenzel C. Urbanek, senior member of the furniture and undertaking firm of
Urbanek & Wattawa and one of Manitowoc’s well known business men, organized
his present business in 1905 with Joseph L. Wattawa. The first location of
the company was at the corner of Eighth and York streets, and in 1909 they
removed to 109 North Eighth street, where they lease the ground floor and
basement of a building ninety by seventy feet and carry on a general
furniture and undertaking business.
Joseph L. Wattawa was born in Franklin township, August 3, 1879, and is a
son of Thomas and Mary (Konop) Wattawa, early settlers near Green Bay and
natives of Bohemia. Jacob Wattawa, the grandfather of Joseph L., brought
the family to the United States in 1871 and settled in Manitowoc county,
where he and his wife both died. Thomas Wattawa was engaged in farming in
Franklin township until 1907, at which time he retired. He had a family of
eleven children, of whom five daughters and four sons still survive. Joseph
L. Wattawa received a public-school education and for twelve years was in
the employ of the undertaking firm of C. & W. Frazer, at the end of that
time joining Mr. Urbanek in his present business. He is a member of the
Elks, the Maccabees and the Royal League, and with his family attends the
Catholic church.
Wenzel C. Urbanek was born August 8, 1872, at Tisch Mills, Manitowoc
county, Wisconsin, a son of John and Josephine (Kossa) Urbanek, natives of
Pilsen, Austria, who came to the United States in 1868, the father buying
wild land in Kewaunee county, where he and his wife spent the remainder of
their lives. They had four children: Anna, who married Thomas Hallada, a
farmer; Frank, a merchant at Tisch Mills; Joseph, who is engaged in the
mercantile business at Two Creeks, Wisconsin; and Wenzel C.
Wenzel C. Urbanek clerked in a grocery and general store at Tisch Mills and
as a young man entered the employ of 0. Torrison & Company, continuing with
that concern for a period of seventeen years, and then, in 1905, organized
the present business. He was married in 1900 to Mary Pruss, of Manitowoc,
a daughter of Captain and Mary Pruss, the former a lake captain for many
years. Two children have been born to this union: Paul and Marie. Mr. and
Mrs. Urbanek are members of the Catholic church, and he holds membership
in the Catholic Order of Foresters, the Catholic Knights and the Knights of
Columbus. For four years he served as alderman of the fourth ward.
DR. OTTO UTECH
From the Two Rivers Reporter, Saturday, July 4, 1914:
UTECH - SAUBERT
The marriage of Dr. Otto Utech of Jefferson and Miss Ida Saubert was
solemnized Tuesday morning at 10 at the home of the bride's parents,
Rev. Doehler performing the ceremony midst handsome, floral decorations
with which the rooms were decorated and in the presence of many relatives
and friends. After a sumptuous wedding dinner the bride and groom
departed for Chicago where they will spend their honeymoon. They will
reside at Jefferson. The bride is an esteemed young lady who has been
teacher of the first grade in the St. John's School for the past
four years. Among those present at the wedding from out of town were
Mrs. Alvina Utech and daughter Minnie, Mr. Emmanuel Wetzel and family
and Mr. Wm. Manthey and family.
THEODORE UTKE
This is a bio. sketch from "History of Manitowoc County Wisconsin"
by Dr. L. Falge, 1911-1912, v.2, p.363-364.
Theodore Utke, one of the successful farmers of Manitowoc county, owns a
good farm of one hundred and twenty acres on section 36, Maple Grove. He
was born in this county, in the town of Liberty, April 22, 1859, being a
son of William and Anstina (Ziglow) Utke. The parents were natives of
Germany, where they married and later came to the United States, arriving
here about 1855. They settled on one hundred and twenty acres of land in
the town of Liberty. This farm continued as their home until 1869, when it
was sold and they located on the farm now owned by their son, Theodore.
Here the father died in 1903, aged eighty—one years, having lost his wife
in 1896, when she was seventy—three years old. Both are interred in the
Lutheran cemetery at Reedsville. Like so many of his countrymen in this
country at the time of the Civil war, William Utke enlisted in its defense
in Company F, Twenty—first Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, serving until the
close of the war.
Theodore Utke was the sixth in a family of eight children, and was brought
up to hard work on the farm. He remained with his parents until their
death. Prior to his fathers demise, the latter gave him the farm, feeling
that he deserved it for his faithfulness and devotion. Mr. Utke has one
hundred acres of his farm under cultivation, and his fences are of barbed
wire, and in excellent condition. He carries on general farming, and
markets dairy products, milking fifteen cows. His stock is graded, and his
premises well fitted for his work. The frame barn, forty by one hundred
and thirty-five feet, was built in 1882, but remodeled in 1909, with cement
floor and patented stanchions. The two-story frame residence has a finished
basement and attic, thus giving fourteen good rooms, not counting the halls
or basement. It was built in 1910, and is well equipped with modern
conveniences.
In 1895, Mr. Utke married Anna Zahn, daughter of William and Amelia Zahn,
natives of Calumet county, this state. Mr. Zahn died in Manitowoc county,
in 1893, aged forty-seven years, and is buried in the Lutheran cemetery at
Reedsville. Mrs. Zahn survives and makes her home in Reedsville, being now
fifty-five years old. Mrs. Utke was the eldest of eight children, and was
born December 20, 1874. Eight children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Utke:
William, John, Walter, Leona, Emma, Harry, Clarence, and Elmer, who died in
childhood.
In politics, Mr. Utke is a republican, and served for nine years as
superintendent of roads. He and his family are consistent members of the
German Lutheran church of Reedsville, in which they are active. He is a man
widely known and universally liked, and he is a good representative of the
modern agriculturist of Wisconsin.
