USA > Michigan > Kalamazoo County > Compendium of history and biography of Kalamazoo County, Mich. > Part 47
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firm is now known as J. C. Goodale & Son. He was married in Kalamazoo in 1861 to Miss Ellen G. Sterling, a daughter of Oliver Sterling. They have had ten children, four of whom have died. Mr. Goodale is a Republican in politics and has been from the foundation of the party, but he has never taken a very active part in political cam- paign work and has never sought a public office of any kind. He and his wife belong to the Con- gregational church. Coming to Kalamazoo in its infancy, he found it crude, undeveloped, and primitive, but full of promise, with his ear of faith attuned to the voice of its approaching great- ness, and in this faith he has not been disap- pointed. He has witnessed its steady and sub- stantial progress as its industries have been organized and built up, and can scarcely recall in the bustling city with its thousand engineers of industrial activity, the little hamlet in which he set foot in his boyhood. Such as this is the story of many an American community, for nature has been prodigal in this country and men have been industrious and resourceful.
ARTHUR TIFFANY.
This valued supervisor of Pavilion township and chairman of the board of county supervisors of Kalamazoo county (1905), is a native of the county, born in Brady township on November 20, 1860. His parents, Chester P. and Margaret (Best) Tiffany, were natives of the state of New York, the father born in Livingston county and the mother in Schoharie. The father was a son of Truman Tiffany, a pioneer of this county who died here. His son, the father of Arthur, grew to manhood in New York and remained there until 1844, when he became a resident of Kala- mazoo county and during the first winter of his residence in the county taught school in Brady township. He then bought a tract of wild land on which he built a small log house and began the work of clearing and making a farm of the tract. He lived in Brady township until 1875, then moved to Pavilion township, but died in Brady at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Dent Porter. He was twice married, his first wife
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bearing him one child, who has since died, as the mother did, passing away in the county. His second wife, the mother of Arthur, survived her husband two years. She had three children by him, Mrs. Vauda Hampton, of Pavilion, Mrs. Dent Porter, of Brady, and Arthur. The father served as highway commissioner, and was a lead- ing Republican in political affiliation. Arthur Tiffany was rcared and educated in Kalamazoo county, and remained at home until 1887, when he rented a farm and later bought the place on which he now lives. He was married in 1881 to Miss Harriet Lyon, whose father was a Union soldier in the Civil war, serving in a Michigan regiment. She was a native of Steuben county, N. Y., and a daughter of Hiram and Ruth (Waters) Lyons, who came to this country in 1863 and settled at Vicksburg. The father died in 1893, and the mother is living. Mr. and Mrs. Tiffany have two children, John L. and Lynn A. Mr. Tiffany has taken an active part in the public life of his township, serving as highway commis- sioner for two terms, and as supervisor five years. Fraternally he is connected with the order of Odd Fellows, with membership in the lodge at Vicks- burg, and also the Grange and Ancient Order of Gleaners.
THOMAS B. FINLAY.
Coming to Kalamazoo county in his child- hood more than sixty years ago, and passing nearly the whole of his subsequent life on its soil, contributing to its development and improve- ment, helping to build up its industries and its educational and moral agencies, Thomas B. Fin- lay, of Schoolcraft township, now living retired at Vicksburg, is entitled to all the honor a grate- ful posterity bestows on a worthy pioneer of its achievements, and enjoys in a high degree the respect and esteem which are the rewards of long, useful and upright citizenship. As with his par- ents he was among the carliest settlers in the county, and is now one of the few survivors of our heroic age of struggle and planting, his life in the midst of this people is almost co-extensive with the history of the county since the dawn of civilization within its borders, so that he em- braces, in the sweep of a single human vision,
the transformation of a goodly domain from its state of primeval wilderness to that of high de- velopment and accentuated progress which marks it now ; and he has done well and faithfully his full share of the labor and borne cheerfully and manfully his full portion of the burden of win- ning the mighty triumphs of human power, pa- tience and ingenuity which mark the record of white dominion in this section. Mr. Finlay was born in the city of Boston, Mass., on October 7, 1820, and is the son of Hugh and Jane (Boyd) Finlay, of that city, a more extended notice of whom will be found in the sketch of his older brother, Arch Finlay, on another page of this work. In 1834 he accompanied his parents and the other eight children of the family from their far-away New England home to Michigan, then on the wild Western frontier, making the trip from Detroit with teams, along Indian trails and trackless wilds, to Three Rivers, and from there to Schoolcraft township, where some of their forme - Massachusetts neighbors were already liv- ing. The father bought a lot in the village of Schoolcraft and built a small dwelling on it, and there the family lived three years, then moved to a farm of eighty acres of unimproved land southeast of the village. Here Mr. Finlay grew to manhood, and in this locality he received his education. But this was mainly· secured under the blue sky, among the beauties of the forest and its hazards, rather than in the schools. In 1850, at the very dawn of his manhood. yielding to the spirit of adventure which had been quickened into vigorous activity by his already wild life on the frontier, and perhaps was in part inherited from his parents, and moved also by the glowing accounts of the recent discovery of gold in Cali- fornia and the possibilities of rapid rise to for- tune it promised those who were hardy and cour- ageous enough to brave the dangers incident to seeking it, in company with his brothers James and .William he journey to the new eldorado, leaving his home in March and arriving at Placer- ville, about one hundred and twenty miles north- east of San Francisco, in July of the same year, making the trip overland by way of the Platte river and Sublett's Cut-Off. The train with which he traveled comprised about a dozen wag-
MRS. THOMAS B. FINLAY.
THOMAS B. FINLAY.
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ons, and while it met with plenty of incidents and adventure, it was not molested by the terrors of the plains, roving bands of hostile Indians. The Finlay boys mined at Placerville until the following August, when James, the oldest of them, died there. William and Thomas contin- ued their operations until January following this sad event, then returned to Michigan by way of the isthmus and New Orleans, reaching home in April. The western fever and the love of mining were now firmly planted and well devel- oped in the daring argonaut, and after two years of quiet life at home he again started, in the spring of 1852, for the Pacific coast region, ac- companied by his twin brother Hugh and a num- ber of other persons. Once more he crossed the plains with teams and once more engaged in mining at Placerville, seeking his Michigan home again by water after eighteen months of arduous and partially successful effort in the gold fields. The next two years he clerked in his father's store at Vicksburg, then, in 1854, bought the business, and during the next four years he con- ducted it with vigor and close attention. In 1858 his roving disposition again got the better of him, and, selling out his store, he went to Kansas overland. But not being pleased with the outlook in that state, he came back to Michi- gan and purchased a small farm in Brady town- ship, this county, which he afterward enlarged and on which he lived until 1897. Since then he has made his home in Vicksburg. He was mar- ried on May 5, 1855, to Miss Adelaide C. Can- non, a New Yorker by nativity, who came to Michigan in childhood with her stepfather, James Wilson, and who died on February 12, 1899, leaving no offspring. Politically Mr. Finlay is a Jacksonian Democrat with loyal and unwaver- ing devotion to his party. He has filled a num- ber of local offices, among them membership on the village board of Vicksburg and village as- sessor.
JONATHAN PARSONS.
Left an orphan by the death of his father when the son was but five years old, the late Jonathan Parsons, of Kalamazoo, was thrown on
his own resources at an early age; and coming to Michigan as a young man and passing the rest of his life amid the stirring pursuits of the new state, or territory as it was then, he was of sub- stantial benefit in developing its industries and builing up its commercial, educational and moral institutions, his bright and active mind finding here proper scope for its energies and abundant opportunities for the employment of all its fac- ulties. He was born at West Springfield, Mass., on October 7, 1821, the son of Jonathan and Graty (Leonard) Parsons, natives of Massachu- setts and belonging to families resident and prom- inent in that state from the earliest colonial times, the Parsons family having been founded there in 1630 by Benjamin Parsons, who settled at Springfield and became a prominent man in his time. From then on through all the subsequent history of the colony and state the family was prominent in many walks of life and always de- voted to the interests of the commonwealth through every phase of its life. The same is true of the Leonards from the time when they were first planted on American soil. The grandfather of Mr. Parsons of this sketch, also Jonathan Par- sons, was a well-known citizen of the state, a soldier in the Revolution, and thereafter a man of great local influence in the affairs of his section. His son, the father of the subject of this memoir, was a farmer and lived on the old homestead which has been in the family for over two hun- dren years, and on which he died in 1825. He also was a military man, being a captain in the state militia. Jonathan Parsons was educated in the district schools of his native state, also a boys' school in New York state, and soon after leaving them he became a resident of Michigan, locating at Marshall and later at Bellevue, Eaton county, where he was employed as a clerk by the late J. P. Woodbury. In 1840 he became a resident of Kalamazoo and engaged in the dry-goods busi- ness in partnership with William A. Wood. Later he was associated with the late Hon. Allen Potter and Henry Gale in the hardware trade. In 1860 he formed a partnership with Henry Wood in the hardware business, which lasted until March I, 1888, when he retired from active pursuits. In
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politics he was a stanch Republican and three times he represented his county in the legislature. He was a member of the committee that built the present state capitol and a member of the first legislature that sat in the building after its com- pletion. He also served at times as a member of the village council of Kalamazoo and a member of the board of trustees of the Female Semi- nary in that city, of which he was treas- urer. He was a director of the Michigan National Bank and a heavy stockholder in the Kalamazoo Paper Mill Company and in the Par- sons Paper Company, of Holyoke, Mass. An carnest and zealous member of the Presbyterian church, he was an active worker in its councils and benevolences, being a member of the session and clerk of the board at his death. On October 4, 1847, he was married at Hinsdale, Mass., to Miss Mary B. Colt, a daughter of Oliver P. and Mary (Brewer) Colt, who belonged to old fam- ilies in the state. Three sons and three daughters blessed their union, all of whom are living but one son, Allen W. Parsons. The living children are Mrs. C. M. Phelps, of Massachusetts, Miss Mary A. Adelle Parsons, of Kalamazoo, Mrs. Edward P. Bagg, of Massachusetts, and E. C. Parsons and George S. Parsons, of Kalamazoo. Their father died on August 15, 1892, and their mother April 6, 1904. In business, political and social circles Mr. Parsons was a prominent and helpful man in the state of his adoption ; to her educational and moral agencies he gave valuable and substantial aid on all occasions ; in her indus- trial and general activities his influence was felt as a potential and serviceable force for good; and thus having met with fidelity every duty that was intrusted to him, he went to his long rest full of honors and well established in the lasting regard and good will of his fellow men wherever he was known.
REED MANUFACTURING COMPANY.
This was one of the latest if not the last of the many manufacturing companies organized and conducted by the late Heber C. Reed, whose untimely death, in his private apartments in the
American House in Kalamazoo on Friday, April 17, 1903. of typhoid fever. was universally la- mented. It removed from the business activities of the city one of their most prominent and useful promoters and from its citizenship one of the most highly esteemed, useful and ornamental men. For two months prior to his death he was in poor health, and in an effort to regain his for- mer vigor he made a trip to West Baden. Soon after his return he was stricken with the malady which proved fatal, and such were the complica- tions that in spite of all that medical skill could (lo he passed away after ten days' confinement. A career like that of Mr. Reed is an inspiration to the young and an enjoyment to the old to con- template. He was a remarkable man in many ways and all the resources of his active and versa- tile mind were continually in play in the develop- ment of industrial enterprises of magnitude and importance to the community ; while his genial nature, ever-ready wit and great and generous heart made him universally beloved. He was born at Climax, Mich., about the year 1852, and came to Kalamazoo when about ten years old. When nineteen he was made teller of the first Na- tional Bank and later cashier. In 1878 he turned from fiscal to industrial engagements and en- gaged in the manufacture of spring-tooth har- rows in company with his father. For more than twenty years thereafter he was secretary, treas- urer and general manager of D. C. & H. C. Reed & Company, originators and makers of spring- tooth harrows and other agricultural implements, who owned the original patents on the spring tooth for harrows and for many years all the harrows of this type were made by this company or under licenses granted by it. The great de- mand for the harrows caused many infringe- ments on the patents and led to numerous suits therefor, all of which, as well as the general man- agement of the business, passed under the per- sonal supervision of Mr. Reed, and it was largely through his skill and management that damages were secured by the company in every case. The business was sold to the Standard Harrow Com- pany, of Utica, N. Y., in 1895. Mr. Reed then became connected with numerous other manu-
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facturing institutions in this city and began mak- ing corn cultivators, riding-harrows, hay presses and broad-cast grain seeders, and other useful implements of husbandry, carrying on the busi- ness in the old Reed factory under the name of H. C. Reed & Company. In December, 1900, the Reed Manufacturing Company was organized to take charge of and conduct the business, the capital stock being twenty-five thousand dollars, and Mr. Reed was made president of it. At his death he was succeeded by Joseph E. Brown as president, with B. W. Raseman as vice-president and J. E. Welborn as secretary and treasurer. . Henderson & Brown, which carried on an ex-
The business of the establishment is prosperous and expanding, and the manufactory is one of the useful and wealth distributing ones of the first rank in the great industrial hive in which it is located. Mr. Welborn, the secretary and treas- urer of the company, was associated with Mr. Reed in business for more than ten years, and while imbibing his spirit found in the association ample opportunity for the development and use- ful employment of his own capacities, which are of a high order. It is but just to him to say that the business founded by Mr. Reed is in most capable and efficient hands, and that the same spirit of liberality, enterprise and progressive- ness that has marked its management in the past will characterize it in the future. Its products are in great demand in all parts of the Central, Eastern and Southwestern states, and is steadily on the increase. They are also doing a large export trade, reaching Mexico, Japan, Russia. Sweden, Norway and South America and other foreign countries.
FRANK HENDERSON.
The late Frank Henderson, of Kalamazoo, whose death, at the early age of fifty-eight years, on January 4, 1899, was generally deplored as a great public loss, he having been in his lifetime one of the best known and most highly esteemed business men of the city, was born at Syracuse, N, Y., on October 9, 1841, his parents also being natives of that state. The father was a farmer, and about 1851 moved his family to Michigan,
settling in Cass county, where he followed farm- ing a number of years. The last few years of his life were passed at Dowagiac, where he served as village marshal and where he died about the year 1869. The family comprised three sons and two daughters, all now deceased but one sister at Syracuse, N. Y. Frank passed his early life in Dowagiac, where he attended the public schools and also clerked for a number of years. In 1860 he moved to Kalamazoo and found employment in the Walker hardware store, where he was a clerk until 1866. He then formed the firm of tensive trade in saddlery and hardware, Mr. Brown retiring in the course of a few years and Mr. Henderson becoming thereby the sole owner of the business. In 1868 he began the manu- facture of uniforms for Knights Templar in a small way in connection with his other business, and by 1872 this enterprise had grown to such proportions that he gave his whole attention to it, abandoning the hardware business. He con- tinued to expand his trade and increase his out- put until 1893, when he consolidated with the Chicago branch of the Ames Sword Company, of Chicopee. Mass., he taking the name of the Henderson-Ames Company, of Kalamazoo. Of this company he was president until his death, on Jauary 4, 1899. In 1901 the present factory, in which five hundred persons are employed, was erected. Mr. Henderson took a very active and helpful interest in the commercial affairs and in- stitutions of the city, and gave them close and careful attention where he had the right to do so. He was a director of the City National Bank, and a stockholder in the Bardeen Paper Company, the American Playing Card Company, the Kalamazoo Corset Company, and others of the city's best and most important enterprises. He was also treasurer of the Kalamazoo Natural Gas and Fuel Company. In political affairs he never took an active interest and acknowledged no allegiance to any particular party, but was a Republican in national affairs, and at one time he served as a member of the village council for the general good. Fraternally he was a thirty-third- degree Freemason, a Knight of Pythias, an Odd
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Fellow, and an Elk; and he also belonged to a number of insurance orders. In Masonry he was enthusiastic and rose to high honors, being at one time grand commander of Knights Templar for the state. On May 27, 1868, he was married to Miss Mary Taylor, a native of Kalamazoo and daughter of James Taylor, one of the city's most respected pioneers, he having come to Michigan about 1835. For many years he farmed land ad- joining the city and owned the site of Mr. Hen- derson's home where Mrs. Henderson now lives. In church affairs Mr. Henderson was affiliated with the Presbyterians and for many years was treasurer of the church organization of that de- nomination in the city. He was always ready to give substantial aid to any commendable project for advancing the interests of the church, and among its members, as elsewhere, he was held in the highest esteem.
THE HENDERSON-AMES COMPANY.
This very progressive and enterprising cor- poration, which has grown to large proportions from a small beginning, was incorporated in 1893, with a capital stock of one hundred and fifty thou- sand dollars, with Frank Henderson as president, O. M. Allen as vice-president, and J. W. Wood- worth as secretary and treasurer. Mr. Hender- son continued to serve as president until his death in 1899, when he was succeeded by John R. Hun- ter. These officers, with Otto Schling and J. A. Pitkin, compose the directorate. The business was founded by Mr. Henderson and T. M. Gid- dings, who formed a partnership for the purpose of manufacturing Knights Templar uniforms. Mr. Giddings soon afterward retired and Mr. Henderson conducted the business alone until the organization of the company, by consolidation with the Chicago branch of the Ames Sword Company of Chicopee, Mass. In 1901 the five- story factory, one hundred and twenty-five by one hundred and seventy feet, was erected and now the establishment gives employment to five hun- dred persons, two-thirds of them women and girls. Uniforms of all kinds, from liveries to military requirements, are manufactured, and the
dress used by all kinds of secret societies. More than one-half of all the lodge uniforms used in the United States are made at this factory, which also manufactures blanks, books and other re- quisites for such lodges. Here also are made the uniforms of many regiments of the National Guard in different states and a considerable body for the United States government, especially for troops in the Philippines. Masonic, Odd Fellows and other society uniforms are shipped to Aus- tralia, and catalogues are sent to all parts of the world. The annual output of the factory amounts to at least twelve thousand uniforms, besides all the lodge costumes, robes and general lodge supplies. It will easily be seen that the firm is one of the largest in the United States and by common consent it and its work is in the front rank of excellence. The company has branches in Boston, Philadelphia and Kansas City. The capital stock of this great industry is all held by Kalamazoo people and its officers are all Kalamazoo men.
MICHIGAN NURSERY AND ORCHARD COMPANY.
This enterprising and prominent concern was organized and is managed by Charles A. Maxson, one of the best known nurserymen in the United States, having been identified with the growth of the nursery trade in Michigan since 1877. when he came from Rochester, N. Y., to accept a position in the office of J. Frank McCrea & Company, at that time the largest jobbers in the west. They packed their goods at Ellwanger & Barry's nursery at Rochester, N. Y., the pioneer nurseries of America. Mr. Maxson was born near Rochester, N. Y., and his experience covers every department of the nursery business, includ- ing the propagation of fruit and ornamental trees, shrubs, roses, grape vines and small fruits, as well as greenhouse products. He has filled the office of vice-president of the National Associa- tion of Nurserymen, member of the American Protective and American Retail Protective As- sociation of Nurserymen. In 1883 he was united in marriage with Miss Mary Cone, of Detroit,
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and has one daughter, Miss Ethel, aged nine- teen. Mr. Maxson is widely known throughout southern Michigan among the business men and especially among the fruit growers of the state, with whom he is popular and enjoys their con- fidence to a high degree. His business, which has engaged his attention almost exclusively for years, is thoroughly understood by him and he conducts it with a master mind.
JOHN A. LAMB.
This widely-known and highly esteemed citi- zen of Kalamazoo, who has made substantial con- tributions to the welfare of the city in various official stations, and who until 1903 was one of its progressive and enterprising business men, was born at Frenchtown, Monroe county, Mich., on December 19, 1835. His parents were Peter and Mary (Preston) Lamb, the former born in county Louth, Ireland, and the latter in this state. The father, whose life began in 1800, grew to maturity in his native land, and there learned the trade of a miller. He followed this and farming through life. Emigrating to the United States in about 1825, he first located at Cleveland, Ohio, but soon afterward came to Monroe county, this state, where he passed the remainder of his days, dying there in 1861. In political faith he was an unwavering Democrat, but he never sought or filled public office. His wife's death occurred some years prior to his own. They had four sons and four daughters, all now deceased except John and one of his brothers. John A. Lamb reached manhood in his native county and re- ceived his education in its public schools. He followed farming there until 1861 and then entered the freight department of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad at Toledo, where he remained until the death of his father, when he returned home and had charge of the farm until 1864. In the spring of that year he en- listed in the Union army as a member and second lieutenant of Company D, Eleventh Michigan In- fantry. His regiment became a part of the Army of the Cumberland and saw hard service in Ten- nessee and Georgia, taking part in a number of
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