USA > Michigan > Biographical history of northern Michigan containing biographies of prominent citizens > Part 48
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Christopher Kruger acted as general man- ager of the store for a number of years. Mr. Hobbs entered the employ of Mr. Palmer as a clerk, about the time of the erection of the present substantial building occupied by the company, and he thus remained in a clerical position for a period of seven years, when he resigned and engaged in the gro- cery business upon his own account, building up an excellent trade in the line and continu- ing operations about seven years, at the ex- piration of which he sold the business to the Smith Lumber Company, continuing as the manager of the enterprise until the failure of said company, in 1893, the year of so marked financial panic. Since retiring from this position he has been identified with the important enterprise to which he is now giv- ing practically his entire time and attention. the company conducting the largest mer- cantile business in the county and drawing trade from the wide radius of country trib- utary to Kalkaska, the attractive and thriv- ing county seat.
Tracy D. Hobbs, the immediate subject of this sketch, is a native son of the Wolver- ine state, having been born in the village of Milan, Washtenaw county, on the 23d of March, 1860, and being a son of Byron and Angelina (Lowell) Hobbs, who came to Kal- kaska county in 1879, becoming one of the pioneers of Kalkaska township, where he and his wife still reside. The sub- ject of this review early began to learn the lessons of practical industry. and his educational advantages were such as were afforded in the public schools. When twelve years of age he secured a posi- tion in a drug store in his native town, where he devoted himself earnestly to the work of learning pharmacy in all its details.
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becoming skilled in the line and having been in practical charge of a store when fourteen years of age, in which capacity he continued to serve until coming to Kalkaska county, at the age of nineteen. He has made various investments in this county aside from those represented in his mercantile interests, hav- ing purchased land in the county and hav- ing become identified with lumbering inter- ests, owning at one time an interest in a lumber and shingle mill. He has practically been identified with mercantile interests during his entire business career, and may be said to have grown up in a store. It is needless to state that he is a thoroughly practical and reliable business man, and he is held in unequivocal confidence and es- teem in Kalkaska county, where his circle of friends is coincident with that of his ac- quaintances.
In politics Mr. Hobbs is a stanch sup- porter of the principles of the Republican party, and in local affairs of a public nature he has ever manifested a loyal interest. be- ing progressive and public-spirited in his views. He has served two terms as presi- dent of the village of Kalkaska, having been the only one to have been thus honored with a second term, and he is still a member of the village council, in which he has served for the past eleven years. He became affili- ated with the Masonic fraternity when he was twenty-one years of age, and in the same has attained to the chivalric degrees being a member of the commandery of the Knights Templar in Traverse City, while he is also identified with the local organiza- tion of the Knights of Pythias, of which he is past chancellor.
On the 29th day of June, 1896, Mr. Hobbs was united in marriage to Miss Susie
Travis, who is likewise a native of Michi- gan. being a daughter of Stephen Travis. They have no children.
SIMON FLEWELLING.
The respect which should always be ac- corded the brave sons of the North who left homes and the peaceful pursuits of civil life to give their services, and their lives if need be, to preserve the integrity of the American union is certainly due the gentleman to a brief review of whose life the following lines are devoted.
Mr. Flewelling was born June 21, 1842, near Cassopolis, Cass county, Michigan, and is the son of John and Ellen ( Brady) Flew- elling. John Flewelling is a native of New York state and by trade a carpenter and joiner. He came to Michigan in an early day and settled in Cass county, where he ob- tained influential position. He was a Demo- crat in politics and served a number of years as justice of the peace and also held local school offices, being also engaged for a num- ber of years as a teacher in the common schools. He was the father of nine children, of whom six are living. The subject is in- (lebted to the common schools of Michigan for his education, but is a man of keen ob- servation and án extensive reader, and has therefore liberally supplemented his school education and is today a well-informed man on general topics. In 1872 he homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land and him- self cleared it for cultivation. He is now the owner of one hundred and sixty acres, of which fifty are under the plow, and his painstaking care and discriminating judg-
SIMON FLEWELLING.
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ment is evidenced by the up-to-date condition of his property. His time is almost all given to his farming interests. He is both prac- tical and progressive in his methods and to his energy and perseverance is manifest the gratifying success which has attended his efforts. Fidelity is one of his own general characteristics-such fidelity as is mani- fested to his family and friends and to his final discharge of the duties of public and private life. In politics Mr. Flewelling is a Democrat and at present is a justice of the peace of his township, in which office he has been retained for eight years, also being a school officer of his township.
To revert to an earlier period in Mr. Flewelling's life, it may be stated that in 1861 he enlisted in the defense of his coun- try, joining Company E, Thirteenth Regi- ment Michigan Volunteer Infantry. His regiment was assigned to the Armies of the Cumberland and of the Tennessee and took part in all of the events in which those armies participated, including Sherman's celebrated march to the sea and the final grand review at Washington. Among the more prominent battles may be mentioned Stone River,' Chickamauga and Mission Ridge.
Mr. Flewelling was united in marriage in 1867 to Miss Mary Jane Stanley and they have become the parents of nine children : Louise B., who went to Cass county, Michi- gan, at the age of sixteen years and has since been employed as a school teacher; Flora M., deceased; Frank, deceased; Anna L., of Cass county, this state; Rosa, living at Bellaire; John, deceased; Eugene, de- ceased; Ellen, deceased; Fannie, at home. Mr. Flewelling is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic at Bellaire.
CHRISTEN KRYGER.
There is both lesson and inspiration offered in a consideration of the career of this well-known and highly honored merch- ant of Kalkaska, for he came to America as a young man without capitalistic resources and further handicapped by a lack of knowl- edge of the English language, and here he has worked out his own fortunes and gained a position of solidity and no little precedence in the business world, while his integrity of character has brought him into the favor- able regard and unqualified confidence of all with whom he has come in contact. He is today conducting a representative business in Kalkaska, having an attractive store and handling dry goods, clothing, men's furnish- ing goods, and shoes, while his is one of the leading business houses of the thriving lit- tle city.
Mr. Kryger is a native of Denmark, where he was born on the 9th of June, 1859, and where he was reared to manhood, se- curing good educational advantages in the excellent national schools. He also learned to speak and read the German language and accumulated a good colloquial knowledge of the Swedish and Norwegian tongues, and this same knowledge proved of distinctive value to him in his future career, as he was placed largely among foreigners of the sorts noted upon coming to America. In 1879, at the age of twenty years, Mr. Kry- ger severed the ties which bound him to home and native land and set forth to seek his fortunes in the United States. He made Michigan his destination, locating in Kal- kaska county, where he passed the first five years in labor of the most strenuous order, since he assisted in the clearing of land.
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cutting ties and logs and in general farm work. He found that his progress within these five years had been very slight so far as valuable knowledge and financial gain were concerned, and his ambition and self- reliance led him to seek other fields of en- deavor. In 1879 he came to Kalkaska county, where he worked in the woods dur- ing the first winter and later was employed at farin work for two and one-half years by A. E. Palmer. He then secured a clerical position in the grocery establishment of Kel- log & Wooden, of Kalkaska, and later was for seven and one-half years a faithful and popular salesman in the dry-goods store of the firm of Palmer & Gibson. In the mean- while he had been frugal and economical and had succeeded in saving seven hundred dol- lars from his wages. With this sum he de- termined to engage in business on his own responsibility. Accordingly, in 1897, he rented a small store in Kalkaska and in the same installed a modest stock of dry goods, clothing, etc., utilizing all his available funds and also his credit in buying his little stock, which even then proved hardly adequate to consistently cover the shelves of his store, so that a number of vacant places were dis- creetly concealed from sight by a judicious use of oil cloth and other disguises. From this modest nucleus he has built up a splendid business, now having large and attractive salesrooms and comprehensive and select stock in each of the departments. An in- vestment of about sixteen thousand dollars is represented, and the annual transactions, on a cash basis, have reached the notable average aggregate of twenty-eight thousand dollars. In the spring of 1903 Mr. Kryger opened a branch store at Boyne City. Char- levoix county, and here a very nice business has already been built up. Mr. Kryger has
made it an insistent point to offer goods upon their absolute merits and to permit no misrepresentation, while his prices have been ever reasonable, so that he has caused his establishment to appeal to the best class of patrons, while his reliability and honor are proverbial.
In politics Mr. Kryger is a stanch Re- publican, and he served two years as village treasurer, while he was also a member of the village council for two terms. In a fra- ternal way he is identified with the local organizations of the Knights of the Mac- cabees, of which he has been finance keeper for the past twelve years, and with the Knights of Pythias and Independent Order of Odd Fellows, enjoying distinctive popu- larity in both business and social circles. Mr. and Mrs. Kryger are members of the Methodist church.
On the 13th of March, 1890, Mr. Kryger was united in marriage to Miss Mary Mc- Kee Wheeler, who was born in Lagrange, Indiana, and who was reared in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, and Capac, Michigan, hav- ing been engaged in the dressmaking busi- ness in Kalkaska at the time of her marriage. To Mr. and Mrs. Kryger have been born three children, Elton C. and Dana M., who lend cheer and brightness to the home cir- cle ; and Vernon C., who died at the age of two years, as the result of injuries received by his clothing having been set afire.
JOSHUA L. BOYD.
Among the representative members of the bar of northern Michigan is Mr. Boyd, who has been engaged in the practice of his profession in Kalkaska for the past score of
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years. Mr. Boyd is a native of the Wol- verine state and comes of stanch Scotch- Irish lineage. He was born in the city of Hillsdale, Michigan, on the 5th of May, 1856, and is a son of William and Martha Boyd, the latter now deceased. The father of the subject was born in county Tyrone, Ireland, where he was reared to the age of sixteen years, when he came to America, locating in LeRoy, New York, where he learned the carpenter's trade, to which he devoted the major portion of his life, hav- ing come to Michigan after his marriage and having become one of the suc- cessful contractors and builders of Hillsdale county, where he lived up to 1904, when he went to Alabama, where he now resides, honored by all who knew him. His wife was born in the county of Armagh, Ireland, and was seven- teen years of age when she came to the United States, locating in the state of New York, where her marriage was solemnized.
In the public and select schools of his native city Joshua L. Boyd received his early educational discipline, and he made the best use of the opportunities thus afforded him, while he also notably expanded his purely academic education through well-directed reading and personal application to study. He early formulated definite plans for his future career, determining to prepare him- self for the legal profession. With this end in view he began his course of technical reading under the able preceptorship of Captain G. A. Knickerbocker, a represent- ative lawyer of Hillsdale, under whose direc- tion he continued his studies until he was admitted to the bar of his native state, in September, 1878. In the same year Mr. Boyd came to Kalkaska, as one of its pioneer
lawyers, and here he built up a represent- ative practice, continuing his labors here un- til 1886, when his impaired health led him to remove to Kansas, where he remained two years, within which period he found his energies and general health much improved through the change of climate. He returned to Kalkaska in September, 1888, and re- sumed the practice of his profession, with which he has ever since been here promi- nently identified, being known as one of the leading lawyers of this section and as one who has well earned his high prestige. For many years he was associated in practice with Hon. W. D. Totten, the partnership having been terminated in 1901. For eight years Mr. Boyd gave most effective service as prosecuting attorney of Kalkaska county, but he has never sought any official prefer- ment aside from the direct line of his pro- fession. He has been identified with the most of the important litigation in the county during the past two decades, and his reputation rests upon a firm basis of pro- fessional acumen and wide technical knowl- edge of the science of jurisprudence, with distinctive facility in the application of its principles. Mr. Boyd appeared for the de- fense in the only three murder cases ever tried in Kalkaska county, the more notable of these having been the Mary McKnight poisoning case.
In politics Mr. Boyd gave his allegiance to the Republican party, though he has not been an active factor in party work. He is essentially public-spirited and has shown marked interest in all that has tended to con- serve the progress and material prosperity of his home city and county. Though not for- mally identified with any religious body he has a deep reverence for the spiritual
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verities, having been reared in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal church. Fraternally he is affiliated with Hillsdale Lodge, No. 176, Free and Accepted Masons, at Hills- dale, this state, and also with Hillsdale Chapter. No. 18, Royal Arch Masons, in the same city, while he is identified with the local organizations of the Knights of Pythias and Independent Order of Odd Fellows in Kalkaska.
On the 16th of November, 1878, Mr. Boyd was united in marriage to Miss Lulu E. Totten, who was born in New London, New York, on the 12th of September, 1862, being a daughter of Joseph and Nancy Tot- ten. Of their children we enter the follow- ing brief record: Roy W. died in infancy; and Lynn H., who was born on the 5th of December, 1882, is in his father's office read- ing law. He is a member of Kalkaska Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and en- joys marked popularity in his home city.
ALBERT E. BOWERMAN.
There may be found in almost all Amer- ican communities quiet, retiring men who never seek official preferment or appear prominently in public affairs and yet who exert a widely felt and beneficent influence in the community, helping to construct or solidify the civic and industrial foundations on which rests the prosperity of the com- munity, furthering the general welfare through private enterprise. Such a man is the subject of this sketch, who is one of the representative business men of the attract- ive little city of Kalkaska, where he is senior member of the firm of Bowerman & Cole
Brothers, wholesale and retail dealers in flour, hay, feed, lime, cement, lath, shin- gles, buggies, wagons, etc., and shippers of grain, wood and coal. This enterprise had its inception a number of years ago and was conducted by William Winters until No- vember, 1898, when he was succeeded by the present firm. The investment originally represented in the business aggregated about thirty-five hundred dollars and the concern is now one of the most important of the sort in this section, its operations showing a steady expansion in scope. The firm have three well equipped warehouses, whose respective dimensions indicate the storage facilities controlled,-one building being twenty-five by one hundred feet in dimen- sion; the second, eighteen by eighty feet, and the third, eighteen by twenty-four feet. In the connection is also operated'a feed- grinding mill, equipped with the latest im- proved machinery, and through this an ex- tensive enterprise is maintained. Feed is purchased in car-load lots and the best prices are thus secured. That the business of the firm has shown a notable growth is evident when we direct attention to the fact that in the prosecution of the enterprise at the pres- ent time an investment of ten thousand dol- lars is demanded, while the annual trans- actions have reached an average aggregate of nearly fifty thousand dollars. Specially large sales of hay and grain are made by the firm, the products in this line being sold in car-load lots and consigned principally to leading lumbering concerns in the northern portion of the state. The interested prin- cipals are men of distinctive executive ability and the closest observers of business ethics, so that they have gained and retained the unqualified confidence and esteem of those
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with whom they have had dealings, being numbered among the wide-awake, progres- sive and reliable business men of Kalkaska. The subject of this review now gives his entire time and attention to the business of the firm.
Mr. Bowerman is a native of the state of Michigan, having been born on a farm in Hanover township, Jackson county, on the 2d of August, 1854, and having been there reared to maturity, while his educational discipline was secured in the public schools. He is the son of Seth and Mary (Pettit) Bowerman, the former born in New York, August 7, 1828, and the latter in Canada about 1835. They were farming people and came to Hanover, Jackson county, this state, in 1850. In his early manhood the subject became identified with the lumbering in- dustry of the state, and for many years was connected with the same, principally in the capacity of edgerman in various mills. He came to Kalkaska in 1891 and here con- tinued to be employed in the same capacity until the autumn of 1898, when he became a member of the present firm, as has been duly noted in preceding paragraphs. In politics he is a stanch advocate of the prin- ciples of the Republican party, but has never aspired to the honors or emoluments of public office, and both he and his wife are zealous and valued members of the Method- ist Episcopal church in Kalkaska, in which he has served in various official positions. being at the present time a steward and class leader as well as a teacher in the Sunday school and taking an active interest in all departments of the church work. In a fra- ternal way he is affiliated with the local or- ganization of the Knights of the Macca- bees.
In. 1876 Mr. Bowerman was united in marriage to Miss Elva Ryon, of Hanover, who died in Kalkaska in 1897, as a result of an attack of diphtheria, her daughter Irma succumbing to the same dread disease about the same time. Two daughters sur- vive her, Anna being now the wife of Burton S. Ford, of Kalamazo, and Ruth being still at home, a student in the public schools. In 1898 Mr. Bowerman was united in mar- riage to Miss Kate Eastman, of St. Charles, Illinois, a daughter of Samuel and Mercy Eastman, and born at St. Charles, Illinois, in February, 1860.
NEWELL A. FRENCH.
For more than a quarter of a century Mr. French has been actively and promi- nently identified with the business and civic affairs of Kalkaska, being one of the pioneer contractors and builders of the county and having been concerned in the erection of many of the best buildings in the city and vicinity. For the past four years he has given his attention almost exclusively to the lumber business, in which he is associated with his son, under the firm name of N. A. French & Son.
Mr. French came to Kalkaska in the year 1876 and at once began contracting and building, becoming the leading operator in this line in this section, while many fine buildings in the county stand as monuments to his skill. In the spring of 1900 he es- tablished his present lumber business, the enterprise demanding a capitalistic invest- ment of about five thousand dollars, while the annual transactions range from twelve
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to fifteen thousand dollars, indicating that the firm has been very successful, while the business is constantly increasing in scope and importance. Lumber is purchased in car- load lots and shipped directly to the firm from the great lumbering districts of Wash- ington, Oregon, Louisiana, Wisconsin and elsewhere. While large amounts of timber are being cut in Kalkaska county at the present time, practically the entire product is shipped to the city of Muskegon and other places where large mills are located, so that it becomes necessary for local dealers to ship in lumber to supply the home demand, anomalous as the condition may appear, as Kalkaska is in the center of what was origin- ally the heart of the great timber district of the state. Kalkaska county alone has sent out at least seventy-five to one hundred mil- lion feet of lumber in past years.
Mr. French is a native of the old Key- stone state of the Union, having been born in Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, on the 28th of October, 1838, and being a son of Nathaniel and Betey (Chase) French, who were natives of Vermont, the father having been a farmer by vocation. The sub- ject secured his early educational training in the common schools and when but twelve years of age entered upon an apprentice- ship at the carpenter's trade, under the direc- tion of his brother, becoming an expert workman and being concerned in the erec- tion of a number of houses and mills in Pennsylvania before he had attained to his legal majority. In 1859 he severed the home ties and set forth to seek somewhat of the world, passing the winter of that year in Minnesota and in the spring of 1860 joining the ranks of the adventurous spirits who were making their way across the plains to
Pike's Peak, Colorado. He there found em- ployment at his trade, but also devoted con- siderable attention to prospecting and min- ing, as did he later in Arizona, whither he went in 1863. He remained there about five years, and in the autumn of 1868, after hav- ing spent about nine years on the western frontier, he returned to his old home in Pennsylvania, where he tarried only a few months, since in the spring of 1869 we find him en route to the state of Kansas. There he took up a homestead claim in Mont- gomery county, but he gave his attention principally to the work of his trade, continu- ing his residence in Kansas until 1872, when he returned again to Pennsylvania, where he remained for a time, also working at his trade in the state of New York. In the spring of 1876 he came to Kalkaska, having selected this location in hope of benefitting his health in the piny atmosphere, his resi- dence in Kansas having left his system in bad order through malarial conditions. He found the Michigan air all that he had hoped, and rapidly gained in strength and health, so that he determined to make permanent location in Kalkaska, his incidental investi- gation having caused him to gain distinctive faith in the future advancement of this sec- tion. He at once identified himself most closely with the business and social life of the town and here continued to be actively engaged in contracting and building for many years, as has already been stated in this context. His enterprise and public spirit have led him to become prominently concerned in the promotion of various in- dustrial undertakings which have greatly conserved the advancement of local pros- perity. He has been interested in innumer- able propositions and enterprises which have
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