Bio: Okoneski, John J. (1873 - 19??)

Contact: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Okoneski, Leahy, Bump, Kreutzer, Markstrum

----Source: History of Marathon County Wisconsin and Representative Citizens, by Louis Marchetti, 1913.

Okoneski, John J. (16 December 1873 - 19??)

John J. Okoneski, attorney at law and the junior member of the well-known law firm of Kreutzer, Bird, Rosenberry & Okoneski, of Wausau, Wis., who occupy the fine offices in the Wisconsin Valley Trust Co. building, has secured his present high professional standing largely through his own efforts. He was born December 16, 1873, and is a son of Frank V. and Mary Okoneski. The first five years of his life were spent in Milwaukee, and then with his parents he came, to Marathon County where the father took up a homestead, the family moving to the city of Wausau in 1882.

John J. Okoneski had public school advantages and after completing the High School course at Wausau, attended the Wausau Business College and subsequently taught school for three years. He then became interested in business and for one year served as foreman in the planing mill of J. E. Leahy, but by that time had determined upon his future career, and in 1893 entered the law office of Bump & Kreutzer as stenographer and law student. He continued there until 1895 and then entered Lawrence University where he took up studies preparatory to a law course and in 1897 became a student in the law department of the University of Wisconsin, from which department he was graduated in 1900. He began to practice law in the city of Wausau in the summer of 1900, and January i, 1901, became a member of his present firm.

Mr. Okoneski married Miss Edith Markstrum, of Bessemer, Mich., and they have two children: Eunice and Vida. For a number of years Mr. Okoneski has been a factor in republican politics in Marathon County, but has worked unselfishly, never having demanded any political reward for him. He served as secretary of the Marathon County Republican Committee in 1902-04, and as chairman of the same body from 1904 until 1908. As an earnest and pubic spirited citizen he is frequently called on to do his part in advancing civic movements and is always ready to cooperate.