USA > Michigan > Kalamazoo County > Compendium of history and biography of Kalamazoo County, Mich. > Part 36
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county, and afterward engaged in the livery busi- ness. He died in 1878, leaving a widow who is still living. W. S. Hodges was their only child. He was educated at Galesburg and Kalamazoo, and began life in the service of the United States and American Express Companies, and after some years in their employ became connected with the Kalamazoo Paper Company in 1883. In 1887 he went with George E. Bardeen to Otsego, Alle- gan county, and helped to organize the Bardeen Paper Company there. He remained with this company until 1899, and in 1901 he united with others in founding the Superior Paper Company, which he has managed ever since with gratifying and pronounced success. He is also a stock- holder in and director of the Home Savings Bank, the Kalamazoo Paper Box Company, and the Kalamazoo Railroad Supply Company. Fraternal- ly he is connected with the Masonic order in lodge, chapter and commandery, and with the order of Elks. In 1882 he married Miss Nettie Carmer, a daughter of Peter and Elsie (Hall) Carmer, early settlers of Galesburg. They have one child, their son George C. Hodges. On the business interests of the city and county Mr. Hodges has had a decidedly forceful, and wholesome influ- ence, uniting in his methods an enlightened con- servatism with a broad-viewed progressiveness, using every opportunity and means to advantage yet not carried away in chimerical or spectacular schemes. His counsel is highly appreciated and his energy is worthy of all emulation.
GEORGE NEUMAIER.
Born and reared in Germany, George Neu- maier, of Kalamazoo, there learned the art of brewing the popular and palatable beverage of his native land, which he has so successfully prac- ticed on this side of the water. His life began in Baden on April 27, 1842, and he is the son of Christian and Frances (Schaub) Neumaier, also natives in that country, where their forefa- thers lived for many generations. The father was a farmer and both parents died in their native land. The father was for years a soldier in the German army and saw active serv -.
ice from time to time. Ten children were born in the household, and of these two sons and one daughter came to the United States. The sister of Mr. Neumaier lives in Kalamazoo and his brother at Adrian, this state. George re- mained in the fatherland until he reached the age of twenty-four. When he was seventeen he be- gan to learn the trade of a cooper and also that of a brewer. In 1866 he emigrated to this coun- try, landing at New York city, where he remained three years working in breweries and malt houses. At the end of that period he moved to Michigan, in company with his brother. They located at Adrian, where he remained three years as fore- man in a brewery. In the fall of 1872 he changed his residence to Kalamazoo, and on his arrival in this city rented the old steam brewery on Terri- tory Road which he operated six years in partner- ship with Leo Kinast, then in 1878 bought the plant on Portage street known as the City Union Brewery. This he conducted until 1896, when he sold it to his son Alfred, who is still in charge of it. Devoting his attention earnestly to his business, he made it his chief ambition to pro- duce beer of superior quality and purity, and by doing so he popularized his product and gave it a high and wide-spread reputation which brought him a large and profitable trade. Mr. Neumaier was married in New York in 1868 to Miss Valen- tina Savert, like himself a native of Germany. They have had six children, all of whom are liv- ing but one daughter. The head of the house is independent in politics but takes an earnest and helpful interest in the affairs of the city and county. He belongs to the Kalamazoo Working- men's Society and is a member of the Catholic church. In 1892 he visited his old home and passed three months amid the scenes and associa- tions of his youth and young manhood; but re- turned to the United States more than ever de- voted to the institutions and its interests of this country. Here he has found freedom of move- ment and opinion and amplitude of opportunity, and has found that his thrift and industry, along with his business capacity, have been duly recog- nized and have won their appropriate reward : also that pleasure in social life and civic distinc-
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tion are free from artificial restraints, and open to the humblest whose merit entitles them to win and enjoy such privileges.
DORR O. FRENCH.
Dorr O. French, one of the leading lawyers of Kalamazoo, is wholly a product of Michigan. He was born on her soil, educated in her schools, acquired his professional training in the office of one of her prominent attorneys, was married to one of her accomplished ladies, and has won pro- fessional distinction among her people, in advo- cacy of their rights and the protection and devel- opment of their industrial and commercial inter- ests. Although somewhat a traveler and familiar with other parts of the country, his home has been his regular anchorage and the seat of his useful and successful labors. He was born at Girard, Branch county, this state, on February 4, 1861, and is the son of John and Alvara (Butler) French, natives, respectively, of New York and Michigan. His father was a farmer who became a resident of Branch county about the year 1852 and died there in 1902, and there the mother is still living. They had five children, all of whom are living. Their son Dorr was reared in his native county and began his education in its schools, attending first the common or district schools and afterward the Union City high school. After completing the course there he matricu- lated at Sherwood College and pursued a literary and classical course in that institution. Removing to Kalamazoo in 1884, he took a course of com- mercial training at Parson's Business College, then began the study of law in the office of Thomas R. Sherwood. On being admitted to the bar in 1888 he formed a partnership for prac- tice with James H. Kinnane, under the style of Kinnane & French, which lasted three years. At the end of that period the partnership was har- moniously dissolved, and since then Mr. French has practiced alone. He has given his time wholly to his practice, in connection therewith serving for a number of years as justice of the" peace and circuit court commissioner, and while he has led a busy professional life he has been
well rewarded for its exactions by the favor and continued devotion of a large body of representa- tive clients and the general esteem and good will of his professional brethren and the people of the community in general. In political allegiance he is an unwavering Republican, and while not an ambitious partisan for his own advancement, is deeply and continuously interested in the success of his party. He was married in 1890 to Miss Emma Daryman, who was born in Pennsylvania. They have three sons, Robert L., Paul and Nor- man, and two daughters, Marguerite and Louise. Fraternally Mr. French is a Knight of Pythias and a Knight of the Maccabees. He is widely and favorably known throughout this and the adjoining counties, and stands well with all classes of the people.
AMERICAN CARRIAGE COMPANY OF KALAMAZOO.
The business conducted by this company, which is oneof the largest producers in its line and one of the most vigorously and successfully man- aged business undertakings in this part of the country, was started in 1887 by a firm comprising E. C. Dayton, William R. Beebe, E. R. Burnell and James E. Doyle. They built a plant at the junction of Church street and the Michigan Central Rail- road and began the manufacture of road carts. In 1888 the present company was organized and in- corporated with a capital stock of twenty thou- sand dollars and the following officers : James E. Doyle, president ; E. C. Dayton, vice-president ; William R. Beebe, secretary and treasurer, and E. R. Burrell, manager. The directors were these gentlemen and David Burrell. They conducted the business in the old plant until 1897, adding to their enterprise the manufacture of road wagons, carriages, cutters and other vehicles. In the year last named the company was reorganized and the capital stock increased to seventy thousand dol- lars. The Newton Carriage Company's plant, which this company now occupies, was then pur- chased and the business moved to it. Mr. Bur- nell retired from the company at this time and Mr. Doyle was made manager as well as president, the
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other officers remaining the same. The establish- ment now manufactures an extensive line of fine light vehicles of almost every kind, for which it finds a market in all parts of the United States. It turns out five thousand carriages, wagons, carts, etc., and five thousand cutters a year, employing one hundred persons besides traveling salesmen. Its products are recognized everywhere as first class in all particulars, and it is steadily increas- ing its trade in new territory while holding firmly to the old. Mr. Doyle, the president of the com- pany, was born in Kalamazoo in 1856. In his capacity as president and manager of the carriage company he has displayed a high order of ability and great activity, and it is but just to him to say that its prosperity and continued growth are largely due to him. Ile devotes his whole time and energy to the affairs of the company, and the results are commensurate with his efforts. Politi- cal matters interest him only in a general way, but he supports the Democratic party in national and state politics. Among the business men of Kalamazoo none has a higher rank.
GEORGE FULLER.
Almost a generation of human life has passed away since. in 1874, the late George Fuller, who departed this life on March 25, 1905. in Kalamazoo, after long years of business suc- cess in that city, started the livery business which he conducted there until his death, and which he had in his ownership and under his per- sonal control during all of the intervening time. He expanded it from a scope of five horses and a few conveyances to one hundred horses and ev- ery variety and capacity of conveyance known to the trade, including a line of excellent hacks and cabs. Mr. Fuller was born at Whitehall. Vt., on January 28, 1833, and was the son of Peter and Dorcas Fuller, also natives of Vermont. The father was a farmer and moved his family to Cayuga county, N. Y., in 1835. Later in life he came to Michigan, where he died, the mother passing away in Wisconsin while on a visit to that state. George grew to manhood in the state of New York, and there, after leaving school, he
engaged in farming, also working at his trade as a cooper. Ile moved to Michigan in 1857 or 1858, and located in Alamo township, this county, where he remained a short time, then changed his residence to Kalamazoo and started in business as a cooper. Hle afterward became a dealer in grain and remained in that line of trade until 1874, when he started his livery business on a small scale, and to this he steadfastly adhered to the end of his life, in spite of many promising temptations to go into other business. After carrying on the enterprise for a number of years by himself, he took his sons Horace and James into partnership with him, the firm being known as George Fuller & Sons until 1884, when James retired from the firm, selling his interest in it to his brother Horace. A line of hacks and many . new rigs of various kinds were added to the equipment of the stables when the sons became members of the firm, and every attention was given to meeting the requirements of a steadily increasing trade. The father was a director and the vice-president of the Kalamazoo Hack & Bus Company, and also dealt extensively in horses, handling a large number every year. He was considered one of the best judges of the no- ble animal which he bought and sold in numbers in this part of the world, and his opinion was sought by large numbers of prospective buyers throughout a wide scope of country. During his connection with the trade he owned and sold more than ten thousand horses, making sales in all parts of the United States and parts of Can- ada. In 1852 he was married in New York to Miss Hester A. Slack, a native of that state. Their offspring numbered two, their sons Horace J. and James. Mr. Fuller served two terms as al- derman, being a member of the first board after the incorporation of the city. He was a Free- mason of the Knight Templar degree, and be- longed also to the order of Elks. During his long residence of more than forty years in Kalama- zoo he lived among his fellowmen without re- proach, having their unstinted respect and meet- ing all the duties of his citizenship with com- mendable fidelity and enterprise. At his death, on March 25, 1905, he was laid away to rest in
GEORGE FULLER.
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Mountain Home cemetery in Kalamazoo with ev- ery demonstration of popular esteem. His livery business is still in the hands and under the man- agement of his sons Horace J. and James H. The father took pride in Masonry and gave the inter- ests of the order his close attention and his most active and serviceable support throughout his connection with it, and was known as one of the brightest and most enthusiastic members of the craft in this jurisdiction.
HONSELMAN CANDY COMPANY.
This valued enterprise, which is a source of pride and credit to the city of Kalamazoo, and one of the pioneer manufactories of its kind in this part of the world, is one of those beneficent industries, which, while they do not exactly "min- ister to a mind diseased," do, by their palatable sweets, help to ease the cares and soften the bur- dens of many a life, and smooth away untold do- mestic wrinkles. The business was founded on February 24, 1880, by George Honselman, who was born in Detroit and reared and educated there. He began his business career as a retail dealer in candies and kindred commodities, 'and continued his undertaking at Detroit until 1880. In that year he moved to Kalamazoo and engaged in the same traffic here, which he carried on until 1885, then began the manufacture of candies in a small way, keeping the retail business going also until 1902. He started manufacturing can- dies in the Waterbury block, but by 1896 the business had grown to such proportions as to necessitate more extensive accommodations, and accordingly in that year he bought the building on East Main street in which it is now conducted. This is a three-story and basement block and warehouse forty-five feet square. The company employs fifty to seventy-five persons besides five or six salesmen on the road. The territory tribu- tary to its progress and success comprises Michi- gan, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois and several adjacent states. The company also handles large quanti- ties of peanuts and California walnuts in its prod- ucts, and makes every form of confection known to the trade. In addition to his interests in this I6
concern Mr. Honselman is well known as holding shares in other important business enterprises, he being a stockholder in the King Paper Company and the Kalamazoo Paper Box Company, of which he is a director. He is always alert to the commercial, industrial and social life of the city and county, and has great zeal for their educa- tional and moral agencies, but he has never been an active partisan in political affairs. He is prom- inent also in fraternal circles, being a Freemason with membership in the commandery of Knights Templar and the Mystic Shrine. He also be- longs to the Knights of Pythias and the order of Elks. Without ostentation or self-seeking, ex- cept in the line of his business, the proprietor of this industry has pursued the even tenor of his way as a good citizen, cheerfully bearing his por- tion of the burdens of good government and pub- lic improvement, and by his integrity, business acumen and public spirit he has won the lasting regard and good will of the whole community, and made himself known throughout a very large extent of the surrounding country as one of the most capable business men and best citizens of his portion of the state.
M. J. BIGELOW.
Among the manufacturing industries which have made Kalamazoo well known and promi- nent in business circles throughout the civilized world none is more important or has higher title to public regard than the Phelps & Bigelow Windmill Company, whose product is sold and valued in almost every land under the sun where modern methods are prevalent. This com- pany was organized in January, 1876, and suc- ceeded the firm of Phelps & Bigelow, which was formed three years before. The men composing this firm, Horace Phelps and M. J. Bigelow, were among the first manufacturers of wooden wheel mills in this state, and from the start of their enterprise they found a ready market and a high appreciation for their output, the demands on their resources increasing to such an extent that when three years had passed they found it neces- sary to increase their plant and equipment very
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largely. To this end they organized the stock company which they are now in control of. The capital stock was at first twenty thousand dollars, but this was soon found to be inadequate and it was increased to forty thousand dollars. The first officers of the company were I. D. Bixby, president : Lorenzo Bixby, vice-president ; M. J. Bigelow, secretary and treasurer, and Horace Phelps, general manager. Two years later Mr. Bixby was succeeded as president by J. P. Wood- bury, who held the office until 1881, when he re- tired in favor of his son, Edward Woodbury, who still occupies the position. Mr. Phelps continued to serve as general manager until his death in 1883. The business has prospered greatly, each year witnessing an increase in the output of the factory and an enlargement of the territory tribu- tary to it. The company employs thirty to fifty men and the mills are sold all over the world, as has been stated, there being a large demand es- pecially in foreign countries, particularly in South America, South Africa and Australia. Mr. Bige- low, who has been the secretary and treasurer of the company from its organization and the impell- ing and directing force of the industry, and who succeeded Mr. Phelps as general manager, was born in Essex county, N. Y., in 1844, and was reared and educated there. He came to Michigan in 1866 and located at Kalamazoo. Here he was variously occupied until the windmill business was started by him and Mr. Phelps, and since that time he has devoted his energies al- most exclusively to this enterprise. He was, how- ever, instrumental also in founding the Kalama- zoo National Bank in July, 1884, and has since served as its vice-president and one of its direc- tors. He is also president of the Riverside Foun- dry Company and the Kalamazoo Galvanized Iron Works. In these diverse and exacting indus- trial operations he finds full scope for his active and fertile mind, and very profitable employment of his time. So that, although a firm Republi- can in political faith, he has never had time to become an active partisan or indulge a desire for public office, the only official trust he has ever held being membership on the school board. In the matter of private institutions of benefit to the
community he renders good service as trustee and treasurer of the Mountain Home Cemetery Com- pany. The officers of the windmill company at present are Edward Woodbury, president ; Ira A. Ramson, vice-president ; M. J. Bigelow, general manager, and A. W. Brownell, recording secre- tary and superintendent. Mr. Bigelow is one of the most highly esteemed men in the city.
B. F. PARKER.
The late B. F. Parker, one of the most exten- sive and enterprising real-estate men of Kalama- 700, whose untimely death, on April 1, 1904, de- prived the city of one of its leading promoters and caused wide-spread grief among its people, was born in Kalamazoo county on Grand Prairie on October 30, 1858. His parents, Thomas R. and Matilda (Smith) Parker, were natives of England, the former born in county Durham and the latter at Lancashire. The father was a farmer and emigrated to the United States in 1855. settling at Kalamazoo, where he was mar- ried. He returned with his wife to England in 1859 and soon afterward died there. The mother came back to this country and until her death she made her home with her son, B. F. Parker. He grew to man's estate in his native county and was educated in its public schools. He began life as a farmer and later clerked in a bank for Sheldon & Breese for a time. He then studied law for a year and a half in the office of Dallas Boudeman, but abandoned the profession to engage in the real-estate business which he followed twenty-one years, until his death. He was also engaged in farming, owning a fine farm of over two hun- dred acres. For a number of years he was sec- retary, treasurer and general manager of the Kala- mazoo Land and Improvement Company, and in that capacity added by his enterprise and business capacity large extents to the size of the city, platting for the purpose an addition of forty-two acres belonging to the company, forty-two in the Dewing & Parker addition, and one hundred and seventy-eight in the Buckingham addition, be- sides the J. and A. Dewing addition. He built some seventy dwellings for new residents and in
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many other ways gave an impetus to the spirit of improvement here that will continue to bring forth good results for many years to come. He was, moreover, a director of the Kalamazoo Sav- ings Bank and assisted in founding many of the largest and most important manufacturing en- terprises in the city. In political thought and ac- tion he was an ardent Republican, but he never sought or desired public office of any kind, his mind being wholly absorbed in his business. In 1897 he united in marriage with Miss Kittie J. Longyear, a resident of Kalamazoo and a teacher in the public schools. They had two children, Thomas O. and Marian, who survive their father. Mr. Parker was prominent in social and fraternal circles, in the latter being a zealous Freemason in lodge and chapter. In religious faith he was an earnest Congregationalist. No man in the city was better known or more highly esteemed, and none better deserved the high regard in which he was held, whether measured by the volume and value of his work, his sterling and upright man- hood or his genial and entertaining social quali- ties. He was an excellent citizen in every sense of the term.
HIRAM A. KILGORE.
Although he has not yet reached the limit of human life as fixed by the psalmist, Hiram A. Kilgore, of Kalamazoo, is one of the early in- habitants of the county, and the whole of his life so far has been passed within its borders. Here he was born on October 16, 1840, here he was reared to manhood, and here also he received his education in the common schools, such as they were in his boyhood. He has seen this part of the country in a state of almost primeval wilder- ness, and has witnessed its transformation, under the genius and enterprise of man and the benign influence of free institutions, to its present state of advanced development, blessed with all the benignities and rich in all the material wealth of cultivated life. Mr. Kilgore is the son of John and Catherine (Martin) Kilgore, the former born in the north of Ireland and the latter in the state of New York. At the age of thirteen, in 1821,
the father came to the United States with his par- ents and his three brothers and one sister. The family took up their residence in Genesee county, N. Y., and there the parents passed the re- mainder of their days engaged in the quiet pursuit of farming, and at length, after long years of uesful and creditable life, were laid to rest in the soil that was hallowed by their labors. Their son, the father of Hiram, came to Michigan in 1835 and entered a tract of four hundred and twenty acres of government land south of Kala- mazoo. ' He also entered a tract in Cass county and one in Branch county, this state. The next year he took up his residence in the state, locating on the land near Kalamazoo. Some time after- ward he sold this and bought another tract south of it which he cleared and reduced to cultivation, and on which he lived until his death in 1874, his wife dying some time later. He served as super- visor of Portage township, was a zealous member of the Presbyterian church, and in other ways took an active and helpful interest in the develop- ment of the community in which he lived. The family comprised four sons and two daughters, all of whom are living but the oldest son. Hiram A. Kilgore remained under the paternal rooftree until he reached the age of twenty-seven, then bgan working about the country as a carpenter and millwright, his skill and industry contributing to the erection of a number of the early mills in this section while yet the old stone process of grinding was generally in vogue. He also be- came a miller and still works at that trade to some extent although for the most part he has retired from active pursuits and is quietly enjoying life at his comfortable home on Vine street, in this city. He owned a grist mill in Kalamazoo town- ship which he built in 1876 but this mill was de- stroyed by fire in July 1905, at a loss of over seven thousand dollars. He also owns a part of the old family homestead which is operated by his broth- er's son. In 1866 he was married in this town- ship to Miss Anna M. McKay, a daughter of Joseph and Eliza (Nesbith) Mckay, early set- tlers on Prairie Ronde. They have one son liv- ing, Robert N., and one daughter, Mary, the wife of Thomas Richmond. Mrs. Richmond died in
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