The histories of the Barnett family and its business, the Barnett Woolen Mills are closely inter-related. A Barnett family member headed the company from its founding in the early 20th century until its final dissolution in 1971.
Isaac Barnett, the company's founder, left Lithuania for the United States in 1886 when he was 30 years old. Barnett first settled in Monroe, Wisconsin, and then moved to Milwaukee in 1902. Isaac's first job in Milwaukee was that of a junk dealer. The Wright's Milwaukee City Directories of 1902-1909 list the occupations of Isaac and his son, Israel, as simply “junk,” “junk dealer,” or “peddler.” The company's stationery of the era is a bit more descriptive. It states: “I. Barnett & Son. Scrap Iron, Metals, Rubbers and Rags; Hides, Tallow and Furs: A Specialty.”
The Barnetts' woolen business was organized by 1913 when the Milwaukee City Directory lists Isaac's occupation as “carbonize wool”; the 1916 directory lists him as a “manufacturer [of] wool shoddy.” The I. Barnett Woolen Mills is first mentioned in the city directory of 1919, which lists company officers as Isaac Barnett, president; Harry Nathan (Isaac's son-in- law), vice president; and Israel Barnett, secretary-treasurer.
In its early days, the Barnetts' junk business was located at various addresses in Milwaukee, including 5th Street, 4th Street, Oregon Street, and later Virginia Street. The Woolen Mill was established on Muskego Avenue in Milwaukee.
Isaac Barnett died in 1930 at the age of 74. He had been a former president and trustee of Milwaukee's Congregation Beth Israel, and a member of B'nai B'rith. Besides his wife Mary, Isaac was survived by three daughters: Rose (Mrs. Ed) Kupper, Flora (Mrs. Harry) Nathan, and Anne (Mrs. John) Callen; as well as son Israel. After his father's death, Israel became company president. Isaac Barnett Woolen Mills filed for bankruptcy in April 1938. Israel's wife, Sarah (nee Selensky), and his son Philip, took the first steps toward reorganizing the business in September 1938. They repurchased the company's equipment from the Milwaukee Employees Pension Association and signed a lease for the same Muskego Avenue building. By 1945, Philip and Sarah had expanded the company's partnership to include Philip's sisters, Dorothy Perlman and Eva Perlman, as well as Israel.
Following the reorganization, the company did some business--principally real estate dealings--under the name The Muskego Company. The exact relationship between the Barnett Woolen Mills and the Muskego Company is not clear from collection papers. The Wisconsin Secretary of State's Corporation Division states that the Muskego Company was dissolved in 1971; the Woolen Mills was never listed with the state as a corporation.
