Archibald “Arch” Ferdinand Kowald     1895-1968

 

Born:   July 3, 1895 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Died:   September 14, 1968 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 

Place of burial: Wanderer’s Rest Cemetery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Sect 11, Block 16, Lot 5.

 

Spouse 1st:   Elfrieda (Aumann) Kowald, divorced around 1922.  b. 12/23/1897, d. of tuberculosis 12/26/1922.  

Spouse 2nd:   Frances Josephine (Brooks) Kowald         married July 2, 1924

Children:         Barbara (Kowald) Williams

                        Margaret (Kowald) Sharp

                        Roger Brooks Kowald

 

Occupation:   Health Dept., Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 

Pharmacists Mate 1st class in the U. S. Navy during WWI.

 

Father’s name:          Ferdinand Kowald                Birth place: Germany           

Mother’s name:         Alma (Kohls) Kowald            Birth place: Wisconsin

Siblings:         Raymond P. Kowalkowski/Kowald

Alma Amalie Kowalkowski

                        Darwin F. B. Kowalkowski

Irene Martha Augusta (Kowalkowski) Giese (See below)

Lawrence or Laurence Herman Kowald

 

 

 

See Ferdinand’s page for more information about Arch’s siblings.

 

There is some uncertainty about the last name.  It may have changed, likely shortened from Kowalkowski.  It is said that Ferdinand and the rest of the family took the name Kowald when son Arch joined the navy and he said his name was Kowald.  Was it ever legally changed?  Milwaukee City Directories pretty much puts the whole story into the questionable category as it lists Ferdinand Kowald as far back as 1902.  However, the children’s Birth Registrations all list the name as Kowalkowski.  Only Arch’s Birth Registration is marked as “Corrected Feb. 24, 1943 by order of Declaration of Change of Name filed Milwaukee Co. 5-14-1917.”

 

Arch enlisted in the Navy on May 14, 1917 along with the number 1214.  He served with Naval offices in Trieste, Paris, and Brest through 1920, then went aboard the USS Bridgeport on 12/20/1920.  There is a reference to his having a Certificate of Exemption from Military Service dated August 18, 1917, I do not know what that means. 

 

Picture postcard of Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s City Hall.

This is where Arch worked while with the city’s Health Department.

It is likely that this is also where he first met Frances Brooks.

As a nurse, Frances often did immunizations for the city children.

She would have been in this building regularily.

 

Also buried at the same Wanderer’s Rest plot in Milwaukee are Elfrieda, Emma, and Frances.  Emma Aumann is noted as being the “Mutter” or Mother.  It is believed that she is the mother of Arch’s 1st wife, Elfrieda.  Emma was born March 4, 1847, died March 16, 1931.

 

 

Arch and Frances owned a lot on the shore of Lake Winnebago, a few miles south of Oshkosh, Wisconsin.  (I think they got it in the late 30’s or early 40’s, but I’m not sure.)  The story goes that he bought it for $100 from a neighbor and took a second job as a pinsetter at a bowling ally to pay for it.   Frances sold it to the lot’s neighbor in the early 70’s a few years after Grandpa Arch passed…and it still looks pretty much the same today as it did then.

The cottage was located in exactly the neighborhood this article describes.  Specifically it was at the southern end of the street outlined in red, about even with the “W” in the name Winnebago.  I remember the farmer and his old Ford tractor working the field on the other side of the street and hand pumping water from a well.

 

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