Memoirs of Milwaukee County: From the earliest historical times down to the present, including a genealogical and biographical record of representative families in Milwaukee County : Volume II

              540 MEMOIRS OF MILWAUKEE COUNTY
western road. He became an engineer in 1871 and has continued in that capacity ever since. It is noteworthy in the life of Mr. Rowell that he has been employed by the same railroad company the entire time of his railway service, a period of over forty years. Mr. Rowell is a Republican in politics, and in religion the members of the family are Presbyterians. Mr. Rowell is a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and of the Knights of Pyth¬ ias. In 1872 he was married to Mrs. Minerva Muir. They have one daughter. Miss Lulu Rowell, who was born in 1876.
Joseph Davidson, the efficient superintendent of the Milwaukee Dry Dock Company, was born in Scotland on March 4, 1852. He is a son of Thomas and Helen M. (McFarlin) Davidson, both of whom were born in Scotland, the former in March, 1828, and the latter in 1825. The father came to Milwaukee with his family in 1855 and found employment in the Jones shipyards. Subsequently, in partnership with L. Ellsworth, he purchased the company and conducted it under the name of Ellsworth & Davidson until 1868. In that year Mr. Wold purchased Mr. Ellsworth's interest and the two conducted a large and flourishing business until a few years ago, when it was sold to the Milwaukee Dry Dock Company. The father died in 1895, but his widow is still living, a much esteemed resident of the Cream City. Joseph Davidson was but three years of age when he came to Milwaukee with his parents and obtained the education afforded by the Fifth and Eighth ward schools. Imme¬ diately after leaving school he began his apprenticeship in the ship building industry under the preceptorship of his father, and before he had attained his majority he had superintended the construction of the schooners Saland and Moonlight, at the time the largest ves¬ sels of their class afloat on the lakes. He has been in direct charge of what is now the property of the Milwaukee Dry Dock Company since 1871, although he has not had the title of superintendent all that time. His natural skill, his capacity for work, and his ability to handle men have been large factors in the success which he has attained. On Sept. 2, 1874, Mr. Davidson was united in marriage to Miss Euna Bridge, a daughter of Harry and Harriet Hard, formerly residents on Lake Erie, but subsequently of Milwaukee. To this union was born, in 1876, a son. Watt Bell, now with the O'Neil Paint & Oil Company. Watt Bell Davidson was married on June 24, 1908, to Miss Flora Sheriff, of Milwaukee.
Henry J. Stark is the secretary of the Pabst Brewing Company at Milwaukee, and in the discharge of the duties of that position he contributes measurably to the success of one of the Cream City's important manufacturing industries. Mr. Stark was born at Zim- merhausen, Germany, on July 12, 1854, the son of Carl and Minnie (Hafemann) Stark, both of whom were also natives of the Father¬ land. The parents migrated to America in the late '60s, and on May 12, 1868, established their residence in the city of Milwaukee, where the father secured employment in the hardware house of James Woods & Company, and he continued thus engaged until his death.   His career in America was destined to be a short one, how-