Martin Franzkowiak (November 10, 1870 – October 1968) was a grocer from

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

, who served three terms as a Democratic member of the

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The Assembly is controlled by the Republican ...

Background

Franzkowiak was born on November 10, 1870, in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. He moved to Milwaukee in 1878, and was educated in that city's

parochial schools A parochial school is a private primary or secondary school affiliated with a religious organization, and whose curriculum includes general religious education in addition to secular subjects, such as science, mathematics and language arts. The w ...

. He spent 22 years working in various capacities at the Kieckhefer Brothers Company (a

tinware Tinware is any item made of prefabricated tinplate. Usually tinware refers to kitchenware made of tinplate, often crafted by tinsmiths. Many cans used for canned food are tinware as well. Something that is tinned after being shaped and fabricated i ...

manufacturer), and in 1905 became a

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholes ...

grocer A grocery store (American English, AE), grocery shop or grocer's shop (British English, BE) or simply grocery is a retail store that primarily retails a general range of food Product (business), products, which may be Fresh food, fresh or Food p ...

; he would not retire until 1932. In 1913, Franzkowiak was a founding organizer of the Federation Life Insurance Company of America (a

mutual insurance A mutual insurance company is an insurance company owned entirely by its policyholders. It is a form of consumers' co-operative. Any profits earned by a mutual insurance company are either retained within the company or rebated to policyholders ...

company), serving as a director for four years and as its

treasurer A treasurer is a person responsible for the financial operations of a government, business, or other organization. Government The treasury of a country is the department responsible for the country's economy, finance and revenue. The treasure ...

for six, and for fifteen years was the organization's local secretary. In 1924 he helped organize the Star

Building and Loan Association A savings and loan association (S&L), or thrift institution, is a financial institution that specializes in accepting savings deposits and making mortgage and other loans. While the terms "S&L" and "thrift" are mainly used in the United States, ...

, and spent three years as a director thereof, and three years as its president.

Political career

Franzkowiak first sought public office in 1930, running in the Democratic

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

for

Wisconsin's 3rd State Senate district The 3rd Senate district of Wisconsin is one of 33 districts in the Wisconsin Senate. Located in southeast Wisconsin, the district is entirely contained within central Milwaukee County. It comprises much of the south side of the city of Milwauke ...

; he came in second, with 196 votes to 374 for Walter Nowicki. He had retired as a grocer by the time he was first elected to the State Assembly from the 11th

Milwaukee County Milwaukee County () is a county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. At the 2020 census, the population was 939,489, down from 947,735 in 2010. It is both the most populous and most densely populated county in Wisconsin, containing about 1 ...

district (the City of Milwaukee's 11th and 24th wards) in 1932. Unopposed in the Democratic

, he won an

absolute majority A majority is more than half of a total; however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the " Related terms" section below. It is a subset of a set consisting of more than half of the set's elements. For example, if a gr ...

in the four-way

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

, garnering 6941 votes to 3442 for

Socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

incumbent George L. Tews, 2091 for Republican Harry Shalminiak, and 58 for

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

Albert Krawczyk. He was assigned to the

standing committees A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

on conservation and

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

. After eking out a

plurality Plurality may refer to: Law and politics * Plurality decision, in a decision by a multi-member court, an opinion held by more judges than any other but not by an overall majority * Plurality (voting), when a candidate or proposition polls more ...

in an eight-way primary in 1934, he was re-elected with 3813 votes, to 2498 for Socialist Herman Wartchow, 2028 for former Republican assemblyman Alex Chmurski (now running as a Progressive), 600 for Republican Harold Sahlin, and 52 for Krawczyk. He moved to the committee on

printing Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ...

. In 1936, he once more won a plurality in an eight-way primary, albeit by a narrower margin; and was re-elected, with 6,303 votes to 5,014 for Progressive Edward Wolski, 1,247 for Republican Agnes Malich, and 946 for "Independent Democrat" Edward Froncek, whom he had defeated in the primary. He became

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

of the committee on enrolled bills, and also served on the committee on

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

. In 1938, after winning narrowly in a seven-way primary, he lost his seat in a tight race, defeated by

Clement Stachowiak (running on the Progressive ballot line), who drew 3,832 votes to Franzkowiak's 3,324, Republican Albert Sargewitz' 2,186, "Independent Democrat" Valentine Kujawa's 1,622 votes (again, this was somebody he had already defeated in the primary) and 269 votes for John J. Kowalski of the Union Party. He sought to re-gain his position in the 1940 primary election, but lost the nomination to Ervin J. Ryczek, who would go on to defeat Stachowiak in the general election. He would run unsuccessfully for his party's nomination, either in his old Assembly district or the 3rd Senate District, in 1942, 1944, 1946, 1948, 1949, 1952, 1954, and 1958.

Personal life

According to the 1940

United States Census The United States census (plural censuses or census) is a census that is legally mandated by the Constitution of the United States. It takes place every ten years. The first census after the American Revolution was taken in 1790 United States ce ...

, he had a wife Catherine (age 66), two sons aged 31 and 25, and a daughter aged 27. He is shown in the

Social Security Death Index The Social Security Death Index (SSDI) was a database of death records created from the United States Social Security Administration's Death Master File until 2014. Since 2014, public access to the updated Death Master File has been via the Limit ...

as dying in October 1968.US Social Security Death Index Search Result: Name: FRANZKOWIAK, MARTIN
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Franzkowiak, Martin Polish emigrants to the United States Politicians from Milwaukee Democratic Party members of the Wisconsin State Assembly 1870 births American grocers 1968 deaths Executives of cooperative societies American cooperative organizers 20th-century members of the Wisconsin Legislature