Joseph M. Pitts Biography
As published in
"The City of Kenosha and Kenosha County Wisconsin: A Record of Settlement,
Organization, Progress and Achievement"
by Frank H. Lyman Vol. 2, The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1916.
While Joseph M. Pitts entered upon a business already established, many a man of
less resolute courage and less executive force would have failed in enlarging
this and promoting its success according to modern-day methods of trade. Joseph
M. Pitts, however, is an energetic, determined young business man and has a well
appointed establishment as a dealer in paints and wall paper. Chicago numbers
him among her natvie sons, his birth having occurred in the metropolis of the
west May 26, 1888, his parents being John J. and Alvina (Messier) Pitts. The
father was born in Kenosha and the mother's birth occurred in Bennington,
Vermont, but in early girlhood she was brought to Kenosha, the Messier family
arriving here in 1866. John J. Pitts was for a time engaged in business in
Chicago, there residing at the time of the birth of his son Joseph, but in 1897
he returned with his family to Kenosha.
Joseph M. Pitts, then a lad of nine years, largely pursued his education in St.
James parochial school and also attended the College of Commerce, of which he is
a graduate of the class of 1904. He afterward learned the machinists's trade,
which he followed for several years, but in 1913 he turned his attention to
commercial pursuits by purchasing the wall paper and paint house that his father
had established five years before. He was since conducted the business, which is
located at 252 Park street, and he is accorded a liberal patronage because his
business methods are reliable and because he handles a line of wall paper that
is attractive in design and coloring, meeting the wants of his customers in this
connection.
Mr. Pitts belongs to St. James Catholic church and fraternally is connected with
the Moose. Most of his life has been passed in Kenosha and the fact that many of
his stanchest friends are those who have known him from his early boyhood days
indicates that his career has been an honorable and upright one.
Typed by: Michelle Laycock