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