USA > Michigan > A history of the northern peninsula of Michigan and its people; its mining, lumber and agricultural industries, Volume III > Part 14
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To the excellent public schools of his native land Charles Kahle is indebted for his early educational training, and in accordance with the laws of the country, he served for three years in the German army, in which connection he had the distinction of being a member of the body- guard of the Emperor of Germany. In 1872, at the age of twenty-five years, he emigrated to America, landing in the city of Baltimore, Mary- land, on the 21st of May, of that year. He thence made his way to Chicago, and from the western metropolis came to Marinette, Wiscon- sin, the twin city of Menominee, Michigan. His arrival here was on the 9th of June, 1872, and he forthwith secured employment in connec- tion with the lumbering business, being engaged as a saw mill opera- tive during the summer months and working in the lumber woods dur- ing the winter season. In the winter of 1873-4, in order to gain a bet- ter knowledge of the English language, he attended a private school in the city of Chicago, and his ambition in this connection may be un- derstood when it is stated that he was present at three sessions each day. In paying for such instructions he practically utilized all of the money which he had previously earned through his ardnous labors in the northern country. In the spring of 1874 Mr. Kahle went to New
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Orleans, Louisiana, and thereafter he was somewhat of a wanderer for seven years, having been employed in many of the principal cities in the south, from the national metropolis to Galveston, Texas. In 1879 he made a visit to the fatherland, where he renewed the associations of his boyhood days. Upon his return, he located in Chicago and from there came to Menominee again and on the 4th of May, 1880, he pur- chased a ticket that afforded him railroad transportation from Galves- ton, Texas, to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in which latter city he tarried for two weeks, at the expiration of which he returned to Marinette, Wis- consin, where he continued to be employed in connection with lum- bering operations until 1882, when he again made a visit to his vener- able parents in Germany. On his return to New York City he was there united in marriage on the 17th of August, 1882, to Miss Mar- garet Habermann. He then came with his bride to Marinette, Wiscon- sin, and here he was employed as a clerk in the National Hotel con- ducted by Joseph Juttner, until the 1st of May, 1886, when he was en- gaged in the same line of enterprise on his own responsibility. In 1888 was completed the erection of his present hotel building, a substantial brick structure, three stories in height, and this hotel he has since con- ducted with unqualified success. The building has accommodations for the entertainment of about twenty-five guests, and its services in all departments is such as to gain and retain to it a large and appre- ciative patronage. Mr. Kahle is a wide-awake business man and a loyal and public-spirited citizen. He has taken a deep interest in local af- affairs, and in 1891-2 he represented the Third ward on the board of aldermen.
In politics he accords a stanch allegiance to the Democratic party. He is popular in the social circles of Menominee, especially among those of German birth or extraction, and he is identified with the local organization of the Sons of Hermann and the Deutscher Krieger Ver- ein, in which latter he holds the office of orderly sergeant. The mem- bership in this latter organization is confined to those who have seen active service in the German army.
As above stated, Mr. Kahle was united in marriage to Miss Mar- garet Habermann, on the 17th of August, 1882. She was born in one of the Rhenish provinces of Germany, on the 18th of December, 1862, and is a daughter of John Philip and Margaret (Zell) Habermann, both of whom were likewise natives of the beautiful Rhine section of Ger- many, where the father was born in 1816 and the mother on the 4th of April, 1831. The parents continued to reside in their native land until their death, the father having passed away on the 18th of August, 1876, and the mother in July, 1887. Of the four children of Mr. and Mrs. Habermann, two are now living, Mrs. Kalle being the younger; Charlotte is the wife of Adam Sauerzapf, of Chicago. The father was a man of high intellectual attainments and a member of a wealthy and influential family. He was graduated in one of the leading Ger- man universities and the major portion of his active career was de- voted to forestry.
In conclusion of this sketch is entered a brief record of the chil- dren of Mr. and Mrs. Kahle. Of the eight children born to them, only three are now living: Frederick Charles, who was graduated in the department of electrical engineering in the University of Michigan, as a member of the class of 1906, is now a successful and valued teacher in the Hackley Manual Training School at Muskegon, Michigan; Mae, who was graduated in the Menominee high school, is a telegraph ope- rator, and now occupies the responsible position of manager of the
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Postal Telegraph-Cable Company in Marinette, Wisconsin, and Ed- ward Otto, who is a graduate of the Menominee high school and also of a business college in Marinette, is likewise a telegraph operator and is employed in the office with his sister.
HON. WILLIAM F. MILLER .- A man of intelligence, integrity, and undoubted ability, Hon. William F. Miller, of Houghton, has filled many public offices of town and county, performing the duties de- volving upon him ably and wisely, and is now serving most accept- ably as president of the Houghton Village Board. He was born Janu- ary 1, 1865, in Hancock, Houghton county, coming from substantial German stock, his paternal grandparents having been life-long resi- dents of Prussia.
William F. Miller, Sr., whose surname was always spelled as it is now rather than the usual German form, "Mueller," was born in Prussia, and was there reared and educated. On coming to America his first home was in Ohio. From there he emigrated, in 1853, to Houghton county, Michigan. where he was soon busy at work in the Quincy mine. Later removing to Calumet, he was one of the original workers at the Calumet and Heela mines. On giving up mining he located at Red Jacket, and having erected the first frame house ever put up in that village, opened it as a hotel, and was thereafter em- ployed as an inn keeper until his death, in 1876, at the age of fifty-five years. His wife, whose maiden name was Catherine Martin, was born in Germany, and died in 1891, in Michigan. She reared ten children, a goodly family.
Completing the course of study in the public schools of Calumet, William F. Miller advanced his education by an attendance at the Indiana State Normal School, in Valparaiso, Indiana. The ensuing ten years, from 1881 until 1891, he was bookkeeper for L. Hennes & Co. at Calumet. Being then elected county treasurer, he served four years in that capacity, afterwards being deputy county treasurer for a while. Embarking in mercantile pursuits, he was then engaged for three years in the provision business, after which he was deputy county treasurer and deputy county clerk for one or more terms. Mr. Miller became chief accountant for the Peninsula Electric Light Company. holding the position until October, 1902, when he became secretary and treasurer of the Haas Brewing Company, an office which he is filling acceptably at the present time. He is likewise auditor and land agent for Houghton county, and is president of the village board.
Mr. Miller married, in 1890, Pomela Duguette, and they have two children, Harrison W. and William L. Fraternally Mr. Miller belongs to Houghton Lodge, K. of P .; to Hancock Lodge No. 381, B. P. O. E .: and to Houghton Lodge, I. O. O. F.
RICHARD J. CLARK .- Among those who have materially aided in ac- celerating the business and civic development and progress of Sault Ste. Marie is Richard James Clark, who is here president of the Pen- insula Bark & Lumber Company, and who is thus identified with a line of industry which has enlisted his attention from practically the initiation of his independent career. He is a reliable and progressive business man and a loyal citizen and well merits the high regard in which he is held in his home community.
Mr. Clark is a native of Sullivan county. New York, where he was born on the 23rd of July, 1861, and is a son of Luke and Julia (Keough) Clark, both of whom were born in Ireland, but their mar-
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riage was solemnized in the city of New York, where the mother died when the subject of this sketch was a mere child; he is the eldest of the two children and his brother, Matthew J., is now a resident of Jefferson county, Pennsylvania. Luke Clark had first married Helen King, and the two children of this union were Luey and Daniel H., Lucy being now deceased. For his third wife the father married Catherine Regan, and they became the parents of five children, all of whom are living, namely: Michael H., Delia, Elizabeth, Frank and Lawrence. Luke Clark came to America in the early '40s, making the voyage on a sailing vessel and landing in the city of New York. From the national metropolis he made his way to Sullivan county, New York, where he developed a productive farm and became a eiti- zen of prominence and influence in his community. He served in va- rious township offices and his political support was given to the Demo- cratic party. He was a communicant of the Catholic church, as was also each of his wives. He died in Sullivan county, New York, in 1895, after having passed the psalmist's span of three score years and ten.
Richard J. Clark, to whom this sketeh is dedicated, was reared to the invigorating discipline of the home farm and there waxed strong in physical and mental powers by working on the farm in the sum- mer seasons and attending the local schools during the winter terms until he had attained to the age of eighteen years. He then assumed a contract for the getting-out of logs from the woods in his native town, and he has been since that time more or less closely identificd with lumbering operations, being familiar with all details of the busi- ness from the felling of the timber to the manufacturing of the prod- uct. In 1898 Mr. Clark came to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and located at Munising, Alger county, where he was identified with the lumber business until 1901, when he removed to Sault Ste. Marie, where he became one of the organizers of the Peninsula Bark & Lum- ber Company, of which prosperous corporation he has since been president. Mr. Clark is Republican in his political allegiance and is prominently identified with the Masonic fraternity. In 1889 he be- came a member of Evergreen Lodge No. 163, Free & Accepted Ma- sons, at Monroeton, Pennsylvania, with which he is still affiliated. He also holds membership in Union Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, at Towanda, Pennsylvania, and Northern Commandery No. 16, Knights Templar of the same place. At Erie, Pennsylvania, he is affiliated with Zen Zen Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.
On the 19th of November, 1882, Mr. Clark was united in marriage to Miss Julia E. McDonald, who was born in Pennsylvania, and who is a daughter of John and Julia (Sheridan) McDonald, the former of whom was born in Ireland, and the latter in Pennsylvania; both are now deceased. Mr. McDonald came to this country when a young man and for a number of years was engaged in farming in Pennsyl- vania, after which he was identified with the hotel business and coal- mining operations. He was a prominent citizen of his section of the state, was a Democrat in politics and both he and his wife were com- municants of the Catholic church. Mr. and Mrs. Clark have five children,-Julia, Mae, John, Agnes and Leo Edmond. All the chil- dren remain at the parental home except Julia, who is now the wife of John E. McCarthy of Duluth, Minnesota.
WEBSTER L. MARBLE has acquired a national reputation as a business man, is known to business men throughout the country as the foun- Vol. III-7
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der and leading member of the Marble Safety Axe Company and as the president of the Exchange Bank of Gladstone. He was born in Mil- waukee, Wisconsin, March 23, 1854, a son of Lansing Marble and a grandson of Jason Marble, the latter from Vermont and of English descent. Lansing Marble was born in Madison county, New York, and he was also reared there and early in his life became a farmer. Moving to Wisconsin in 1840, he located first at or near what is now Janesville, taking up land from the government there and becoming a famous woodsman, hunter and trapper. In 1858 he located in Vassar, Mich- igan, and he achieved prominence there as the inventor of the com- mon stave bushel basket and the wire patched bullet that has become so popular with sportsmen. He continued the manufacture of his baskets there until 1863, moving then to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and establishing a basket factory there.
Up to the time of Mr. Marble's invention of the stave basket, the willow and splint baskets were the only ones in use, and it took an active man a full day to make two baskets, while in Mr. Marble's factory one hundred baskets of staves could be made in a single day. On selling his interests in Milwaukee he returned to agricultural pur- suits and to his hunting and trapping, and subsequently he returned to Vassar and in 1868 he moved to Frankfort, this state. In 1889 he came to Gladstone, and he spent his last days in the home of his son. dying in his eighty-sixth year. He had married in his early life Mary Chipman, a native of Erie, Pennsylvania, and a daughter of Hiram and Lavonia Chipman. early settlers in Erie County, Pennsylvania. Her grandparents lived to the age of ninety-nine years and more, and enjoyed the unusual privilege of celebrating their diamond wedding, representing seventy-five years of happy married life. Mrs. Marble is yet living, a lady of seventy-eight years. Of the six children born to her and her husband only two are now living. Webster L. and his sister. Mrs. Nettie Hetrick, also of Gladstone.
Webster L. Marble was the third born of these six children, and his life's history is a story of wonderful success. Born in Milwaukee. Wis- consin, while yet a small boy his parents moved to Vassar, Michigan, and there his youth was spent. His father was a woodsman, hunter and trapper, and the son became a "chip of the old block." for noth- ing pleased him better than a tramp in the woods for game or fish, and he soon became an expert trapper, hunter and fisherman. His natural love of the woods and all field sports led him to take up the occupation of surveyor and timber cruiser, and he followed that work for twenty- five years, first around his home at Frankfort, Michigan. where his parents had moved when he was fifteen years of age, and later in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, with headquarters at Gladstone.
During these years in the woods he came more and more to feel the need of an axe light enough to be carried in his pocket while cruising, yet of practical utility. Moreover he realized the necessity of a water- proof match box. and setting himself to the task of supplying these articles the Safety Pocket Axe and the Water-proof Match Box were the result. Circumstances and a natural inventive mind have com- bined to lead up to the twenty or more patents which were secured and which are now the foundation of this large enterprise. Mr. Marble built a little shop back of his home where he set up a small engine and some light machinery. At odd hours, between his trips in the woods, he thought and planned. developing his patents and working out his ideas, for he did not give up his regular employment. Thus he con- tinued on for several years, and in August of 1898 enlarged his shop
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to six hundred and forty square feet of floor space and began the manufacture of one style of safety axe. In the next year Mr. F. H. Van Cleve of Escanaba, Michigan, became a partner in the business and a new factory covering nine thousand square feet was built. It has since been enlarged to thirteen thousand square feet. The amount of the business of the Marble Safety Axe Company has nearly doubled each year since its organization, and the word "Marble" has become a synonym for extra quality in sporting equipment.
In 1890 Webster L. Marble also beeame connected with the banking business, being made in that year the president of the Exchange Bank at Gladstone, one of the strongest banking houses of this section of the state. He has ever since filled that important position. He married in 1878 Rosa M. Derry, a resident at that time of Frankfort, Michigan, but born in Fulton, New York, a daughter of William T. and Harriet Derry. Two sons have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Marble, William L. and Floyd W., the elder the manager of the Marble Safety Axe Com- pany, and the younger assistant cashier in the Exchange Bank. Mr. Marble is a member of the Republican party, of the Gladstone school board and of the Masonic order. He is also a member of the Meth- odist Episcopal church, and is one of the trustees and the present treasurer of his church. The place he was won in business circles is aecorded him in recognition of his skill and ability and as a tribute to true and genuine worth.
GUY HAINES CARLETON, who at the time of his death was incumbent of the offices of city engineer of Sault Ste. Marie and county surveyor of Chippewa county, was one of the best known and most highly honored of the pioneer citizens of the Upper Peninsula, to whose material and civic development and upbuilding he contributed in generous measure and here he continued to maintain his home for many years prior to his death, which oceurred on the 1st of May, 1895, as the result of heart failure.
Mr. Carleton was born at Bath, Grafton county, New Hampshire, on the 1st of November, 1819, and was a son of Edmund and Olive (Barron) Carleton, both of whom were natives of New England, where the respective families were founded in the early colonial epoch of our national history. Edmund Carleton's father, who likewise bore the name of Edmund, was born at Haverhill, Massachusetts, in 1734 and he was a gallant soldier in the Continental line of the war of the Revolu- tion, in which he served in the regiment commanded by Major Gage. The father of the subject of this memoir immigrated with his family to the territory of Michigan, in 1830, and two months were demanded in making the trip that ean now be eompassed in twenty hours. He pur- chased a tract of wild land in St. Clair county, and with the assistance of his sons, he here reclaimed a farm from the wilderness. After the children had left the old homestead the parents disposed of the same and they passed the closing years of their lives with their daughter Alice, wife of Jesse Shilling, of Troy, Ohio, where the father died in 1872, at the paternal age of ninety years and where the mother died two years previously, at the age of eighty-six years. Coneerning their children the following brief record is entered,-Maria became the wife of Ira Eldridge and died at Marine City, Michigan; Olive, who became the wife of George Kimball, died in Portland, Maine, at the age of seventy-two years; Edmund Jr. died in St. Clair county, Michigan, in 1867; Mary, who became the wife of Joseph Cox, of Shiawassee county, Michigan; Guy H. is the immediate subjeet of this memoir; Eliza be-
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came the wife of William Eldridge, and they reside in the state of Iowa; Alice, who was the wife of Jesse Shilling, died at Troy, Ohio, in 1892; Augusta became the wife of Dr. William Marshall, of Hills- boro, Michigan, where she died in 1873; and Henry.
Guy H. Carleton was reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm and was eleven years of age at the time of the family removal to Michigan. He was reared to maturity in St. Clair county and was afforded the advantages of the best schools of the locality and period. In his youth he learned the surveying business, in which he became an expert, as did he also become a skilled chartographer. As early as 1845 Mr. Carleton came to Northern Michigan to fulfill a government contract in laying off township lines and subdivisions. This work occupied two years and on its completion he returned to St. Clair county, his former home, and from there went to Iowa on a government surveying contract, and laid off and made a map of the state of Iowa. In 1853 he returned to the Sault, and, going to the southern part of the county, near where Raber now is, founded the village of Carleton, now extinct, and built and operated a large sawmill there. This venture proved unsuccessful, and he returned to Sault Ste. Marie, where he engaged in keeping a subscription school, winter and summer, from 1856 to 1860.
In 1862 Mr. Carleton enlisted in the regiment of "Lancers" at Detroit, and was captain of a company, and Colonel Rankin commanded the regiment. The regiment, not being called to the front was mustered out, and Mr. Carleton returned to the "Soo," where he was appointed toll receiver under George W. Brown, on the old state ship canal, suc- ceeding to the superintendency in 1864, which position he resigned at the end of nine years, at his own solicitation. At one time he was county clerk and register of deeds, and was also a member of the early boards of supervisors at different periods. After resigning his position upon the canal he gave his attention to engineering, establishing corners on subdivisions and relocating government corners. In 1875 he was ap- pointed deputy collector of customs under William Chandler, of Mar- quette, and remained in office until 1885, when his retirement was a necessary result of the change of administration by the election of Cleveland to the presidency the preceding year, and he was reappointed to the office in 1889, by the Republican official, C. Y. Osburn, who had been chosen to supplant the Democratic incumbent of the collector's position. In November, 1893, the collector and his deputy were again retired, at the instance of Mr. Cleveland, who had again been made the executive head of the nation. In May, 1894, Mr. Carleton was appointed city engineer, having been elected county surveyor in the fall of the preceding year. He cast his first presidential vote for William Henry Harrison, in 1840, and voted the Republican ticket at every election thereafter until his death.
Mr. Carleton identified himself with the Masonic fraternity in 1845 when he was raised to the degree of Master Mason in Evergreen Lodge, at St. Clair, this state. Later he became charter member of Bethel Lodge, No. 358, at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. He was long a most zealous and devout member of the Presbyterian church, in which he served as elder from 1858 until his death. His political support was ever given, without qualification, to the Republican party. His life was one of generous impulses and kindly deeds and the intrinsic nobility of his character could not fail to win him the unqualified confidence and esteem of all with whom he came in contact. He left an indelible impression upon the history of the Upper Peninsula and his name merits an enduring place on the roll of its honored pioneers. His
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daughter, Miss Grace H. Carleton, has traced the family lineage, with much care and ability, back through many generations and this record indicates that the family name has been identified with American his- tory since the year 1611. The lineage is of staunch English origin.
On the 6th of October, 1846, in St. Clair county, Michigan, Mr. Carleton was united in marriage to Miss Frances Clark Hogue, who died at Sault Ste. Marie, on the 19th of February, 1859, leaving two children,-Robert, who is a resident of Neosho, Newton county, Mis- souri, where he is a citizen of prominence and influence; and Alice, who become the wife of Herbert Gallery and who died August 19, 1879, in Chicago. On the 1st of December, 1862, Mr. Carleton contracted a second marriage, being then united to Miss Christine Kemp, who was born in Lyme township, Huron county, Ohio, on the 4th of June, 1841, and who died in Sault Ste. Marie on the 20th of October, 1904. She was a daughter of Joseph Kemp, who took up his abode in Sault Ste. Marie in 1845 and who was long one of the venerated and influential citizens of this place, where he died on the 19th of August, 1901, at the age of 86 years. Concerning the children of the second marriage the following data are given,-Miss Grace Haines Carleton resides on the old homestead in Sault Ste. Marie; Harriet Belle is the wife of Charles W. Gwen, of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan; Ella Joanna is the wife of John C. Barnhisel, of Sault Ste. Marie, and Louis Kemp Carleton died on the 27th of April, 1883, at the age of 10 years.
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