USA > Michigan > Calhoun County > History of Calhoun County, Michigan, a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume II > Part 10
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BURR L. WEEKS, of Battle Creek township, Calhoun county, is one of the many energetic and enterprising men extensively engaged in agricultural pursuits in this section of the state, and having brought to his calling good business methods and sound judgment, his labors have been crowned with success. A son of Darwin J. Weeks, he was born, March 5, 1870, in Atlas township, Calhoun county, coming on the pater- nal side of the house of thrifty Welsh stock.
His grandfather, Shiverick Weeks, was for many years engaged in farming in New York state, but later removed to Indiana, where he was similarly employed until his death.
Born in the Empire state, Darwin J. Weeks was young when his par- ents removed to Indiana. He came to Michigan soon after it was ad- mitted to statehood, locating in Calhoun county in 1838. Purchasing a tract of wild land in Athens township, he set to work with a will to clear space enough on which to erect a small house, and in the years that followed cleared and improved a good farm, and was there an honored and respected resident until his death in 1906. He married Martha Willard, who was born in Kalamazoo county, Michigan, a daughter of one of the original settlers of that part of the state, one David M. Willard, who was born and educated in Massachusetts, and as a young man made his way to Michigan, journeying from Detroit to Kalamazoo county with ox-teams, following a blazed trail the greater part of the way. Darwin J. Weeks was a stanch Republican in politics, and his wife was a worthy member of the Baptist church.
One of a family of eight children Burr L. Weeks received his youthful education in the district schools, later taking a business course at Battle Creek. Being reared to agricultural pursuits, he naturally adopted
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farming as his occupation, and when ready to establish a home of his own purchased a farm in Bedford township, and for ten years managed it successfully. In 1899 Mr. Weeks moved to his present home, and has since been diligent in its improvement, each year adding to its attract- iveness and value. His own farm contains one hundred and twenty acres of rich and fertile land, and in addition to caring for that he also manages his wife's homestead property, on which he and his family reside.
Mr. Weeks married May 1, 1897, Eunie Conklin, daughter of James E. and Rhoda A. (Loder) Conklin, and they have one son, Raymond Weeks. James E. Conklin came to Calhoun county at an early period of its settlement, and to the original tract of land which he bought from the government, made by purchase, substantial additions, at the time of his death was owner of five hundred acres of fine and highly productive land. In his political relations Mr. Weeks is a steadfast Republican, and in his fraternal affiliations he is a Knight of Pythias.
CHARLES E. BRADLEY, who has valuable farming interests in Bedford township near Battle Creek, Michigan, but is now a retired resident of Urbandale, is a native son of Michigan, born in Charleston, Kalamazoo county, on December 31, 1843. Harmon Bradley, his father, was a pioneer in Michigan and became a prominent and well known man in Calhoun county, which he represented with marked credit in the Michi- gan state legislature in 1879 as a Republican. Born in .Fairfax county, Vermont, on November 30, 1817, of English lineage, Harmon Bradley received a common school education in New York, whither his parents had removed from Vermont, and then in 1835, while still in his teens, came to Michigan and settled in Marshall. The first winter he hired out for $13 per month and in the meantime located 40 acres of land seven miles south of Ypsilanti. The following two years were spent in clearing land for Dr. James P. Greaves and two more years were spent in similar work for Sidney S. Alcott. Then on December 26, 1839, he married Miss Mary Palmer and together they set up a home in the woods. He had added sixty acres to the original forty acres he had located and all of this he afterward sold for $55 per acre. He next purchased three hun- dred acres near Battle Creek for $40 per acre and lived on this homestead a quarter of a century. His wife died on February 8, 1870, and in 1884 he removed to Battle Creek, where he passed away on March 30, 1902. Eight children were born to these parents. Demmond and Betsey (Dimond) Bradley, the parents of Harmon, moved from Vermont to New York in 1823 and there the former died in 1827.
Charles E. Bradley received a common school education, though two brothers, George D. and Albert Bradley, obtained collegiate training, both being graduates of Kalamazoo College. After his schooling was over he began work on his father's farm and finally bought two hun- dred acres of the original homestead. Besides the general lines of agri- culture he gave considerable attention to the raising of cattle, sheep and hogs and for ten years conducted a dairy. In 1904 Mr. Bradley retired from the farm and on October 19 took up his residence in Urbandale, where he has since resided.
In 1869 Miss Martha E. Sterrett, of Erie county, Pennsylvania, be- came his wife and helpmeet, their acquaintance having begun while she was visiting friends in Michigan. She died on October 30, 1881, leaving three children living: Willard H., who resides with his father and is engaged in business in Battle Creek; George D., who has charge of the home farm; and Floyd J., who holds a clerical position in a coal office in Battle Creek. In 1883 Mr. Bradley took as his second wife Miss Vol. II-5
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Eunice McAlester, whose father George W. McAlester was a farmer resident of Calhoun county for many years.
Mr. Bradley is a Republican in politics and has held different of the township offices. At present he is treasurer of the school board at Urbandale and held the same position fourteen years with the school board at his former home in Bedford township. For fifty-one years he has been a devout and consistent member of the Baptist church, his present membership being in the First Baptist Church of Battle Creek, and at all times his life has been an example of the right living he advo- cates. He is a citizen of the best type and well deserves a place among the representative men of Calhoun county.
WILLIAM H. FINLAY. No class of men contribute so largely and cer- tainly none so substantially to any community as the thorough-going business men-the men of affairs and dollars. One of the prominent and trust-worthy native born business men and agriculturists of Cal- houn county, Michigan, is William H. Finlay, who has had considerable experience in other sections of our country but has found his native county the pleasantest place of all and not at all lacking in business op- portunity for the man who can recognize it and has the courage to at- tempt. He is a worthy scion of two of Michigan's early pioneers, Eben- ezer Finlay and James Conklin, both of whom became well known and successful men but have now passed away.
William H. Finlay was born in Battle Creek, Michigan, May 9, 1856. His father was Ebenezer Finlay and his mother Sarah J. Conklin. Eb- enezer Finlay came from New York, the state of his birth, to Kalamazoo, Michigan, in 1838, took up farming there and followed it until in 1850 when he joined the gold seekers in California, making the journey over- land with a mule team. After two successful years there he returned to Michigan and bought two store properties in Battle Creek, in one of which he opened a grocery business which he conducted a number of years, his prudence, energy and foresight enabling him to amass an unusual competency. His family was reared on a farm which he had bought in Calhoun county but in his later years he took up his residence in the city of Battle Creek and lived there until his death, leaving at that time an estate valued at $70,000. The father of Ebenezer was a farmer by occupation and was a native of New York, but resided in Michigan at the time of his death. Sarah J. Conklin Finlay was the daughter of James Conklin, an early settler here who was a cooper by trade but followed farming during the most of his years in Michigan. During his earlier residence in this county he went to Detroit to get his corn ground.
William H. Finlay completed his education through the eighth grade at Battle Creek, Michigan. He then began life on the farm in Cal- houn county but at the age of nineteen went to California, where he spent the following nine years. Returning to Michigan in 1884, he was married to Olive L. Fuller, whose father was a well known and highly respected farmer of Calhoun county, an immigrant from New York state. That same year Mr. Finlay removed to the state of Wash- ington, where he took up land from the government, improved it and also engaged in the cattle business. He remained there seven years and was quite successful. At the end of that period he returned to Calhoun county and bought a farm of 160 acres in Bedford township. This he operated a number of years; then he platted all of it. On the portion he retained, eight acres, he built a modern home and this has since remained the family residence. The platted portion now forms the town of Level Park. Mr. Finlay also owns considerable property
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in the city of Battle Creek, is interested in the Battle Creek Building & Loan Association, of which he is a director, and is also interested in the Michigan Real Estate Company, which builds houses. Mr. Fin- lay has been very successful in his business undertakings and ranks as one of the most substantial men of his community. In politics he is a Republican.
Two daughters have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Finlay : Ethel, now Mrs. Herbert D. Evans, and Hazel, now a senior in Albion College, Albion, Michigan (1912). The family are valued communicants of the Methodist Episcopal church, Battle Creek.
HIRAM STAPLES. In the life story of the late Hiram Staples, the well beloved, versatile and masterful citizen of Battle Creek whose death, November, 28, 1904, closed a career of signal usefulness, the element of tragedy had a potential part. His early struggles for a foothold in the world of effort were hard and discouraging, and he passed through the dangers of the great Civil war only to meet, while at the very acme of his usefulness, with an accident that threatened to blight his life, and which would have caused one made of less courageous stuff to give up all effort, thoroughly disheartened. Yet through all the vicissitudes of life, Mr. Staples displayed a cheerful spirit of hopefulness, a firm belief in his ability to overcome obstacles, and a determination to win, that finally brought him to his goal, raising him to a position of prominence in the business world of his adopted community and in the respect and esteem of his fellow citizens. Mr. Staples was born at Temple, Franklin county, Maine, in March, 1841, and was a son of Alvah and Lydia C. (Burbank) Staples, and a grandson of George Staples, who came from England and settled in Franklin county, Maine, during the early days.
Alvah Staples was possessed of considerable natural mechanical abili- ty, and conducted a blacksmith shop on his farm, doing a great deal of work among his neighbors when all such labor was performed by hand. After his children had neared ages of maturity, he removed to East Douglas, Worcester county, Massachusetts, in order to give them an op- portunity to obtain work in the manufactories of that place, and was also identified with various business interests there making a specialty of manufacturing edged tools. Later he removed to New Hampshire, and died in Nashua, where his wife also passed away.
One of a family of thirteen children, Hiram Staples received his early education in the schools of Massachusetts, and later attended the in- stitutions of New Hampshire, having the opportunity of spending about three months out of each year in study. Although his early advantages were somewhat limited, he later became a man of much general learn- ing, gaining knowledge through experience, observation and reading. From the time he was twelve years of age until he completed his school- ing, Mr. Staples spent his time in learning the trade of making edged tools, and at the age of seventeen years, when his studies were completed, he had mastered his trade and was in the forging department. By the time he was twenty years of age he was an acknowledged expert in his line in that department. On leaving Massachusetts, Mr. Staples went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he worked for a short time prior to the Civil war, then returning to East Douglas, where he obtained a good position with the Douglas Axe Company. When President Lin- coln issued his first call for troops to serve three years, he put aside all business and personal considerations and enlisted in Company A, Twenty- fifth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, a company which was given the post of honor at the right of the regiment, the brigade, the division and the army corps. The first service of Mr. Staples' regiment
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was in the Burnside expedition, and was present at the bombardment of Roanoke Island and the two days' fight, on the 7th and 8th of Feb- ruary, 1862. He also participated in the engagement at New Berne, North Carolina, March 14, 1862, when the Union troops recaptured the guns that had been taken from them at Bull Run; the battle of Kingston, North Carolina, December 14th; Whitehall, December 16th; Goldsboro, December 18th, and aided in the burning of the bridge near Kingston, March 16, 1863. He was also at the battle of Deep Gully, March 13th, at Gunswamp, May 22d, where an effort was made to surround the Union troops by the Confederates, and it was at this place that Mr. Staples was promoted to a position in the signal corps of the United States army, his duty being to carry dispatches, for which he was fur- nished with the fastest horses that the corps could boast, and in addi- tion assisted in displaying signal lights which conveyed to other divisions of the army important knowledge of military positions and movements. He was stationed at various places, doing important service in behalf of his country until the close of his enlistment. After his discharge he was detained for some time and prevented from returning to his home, because of a quarantine on account of yellow fever, and while thus patiently waiting at New Berne, North Carolina, for his papers, his discharge papers were captured, with other mail, by the Confederates in the Dismal Swamp. The Southerners were discovered, however, and on being surprised, threw the mail into a fire and much of it was burned. Mr. Staples' papers, however, although some what charred and shrivelled, were of parchment, and were thus recovered, and ever afterward were among his most highly-prized belongings, as mementos of his army ex- periences. He was known as a brave and faithful soldier, ready at all times to do his duty, and by his cheerful spirit and manly qualities winning the admiration and friendship of his comrades and the respect of his officers.
On the completion of his army services, Mr. Staples returned to Mas- sachusetts and again took up work in the Douglas Axe factory, where he remained for some years, but subsequently went to New Albany, In- diana, to accept a position with the Western Axe and Edged Tool Com- pany. When that firm suspended business, he entered the plow works of B. F. Avery & Company, at Louisville, Kentucky, where he occupied a splendid position; but while there met with a terrible accident, fall- ing into hot steel which nearly burned his arm off. Because of this mis- fortune he was obliged to give up future work at his trade, and as this had been his only means of livelihood it seemed as though his life was a failure. However, during the years that had passed, he had spent his spare time profitably, reading and studying, and as a result of his in- vestigation and experiments, combined with his mechanical skill, he brought out a number of inventions, securing his first patent July 27, 1869. This was an improved composition for concrete walks and roof- ing, and while recovering from his injuries and not yet able to walk, he received an offer from the American Edged Tool Company to super- intend the placing of the machinery in a plant for the manufacture of edged tools to be erected at Battle Creek. This offer was accepted, and in 1870 Mr. Staples came to this city, where he was associated with the same company during all of its existence here. He made his home in this city from that time on, and for the next quarter of a century was actively engaged in producing sidewalks, building the first concrete walks in the county and furnishing employment to a large number of mechanics and laborers. He finally sold out to Fay B. Green, in 1895, and retired from active business dealings, although death found him still in the harness, he being suddenly called while superintending some work at his
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gravel pits. He was a great lover of home and seldom let himself be- come interested in public matters or fraternal work, although while in Massachusetts he belonged to Solomon Temple Lodge, of the Masonic fraternity, at Uxbridge. As an intelligent man and reader he was always well versed in the current events of the day, and while his strong self- reliance caused him to adhere with tenacity to those views which his judgment and investigation led him to adopt, his sincerity was undoubted and his integrity unquestioned. Holding the warmest place in the hearts of those who knew him best, whether at the home fireside or in the circle of friendship, his life and character were a tower of strength, and his memory shall be a benediction to those who loved him so well.
In 1872 Mr. Staples was married to Mrs. Louisa Ann (Byers) Huff, widow of the late George Huff, and she resides in the home built by Mr. Staples soon after settling here, at No. 172 Jefferson avenue, South, in front of which still stand the stately elms that were planted by his hands. Mrs. Staples is a lady of culture and refinement and an excellent business woman, and in addition to the old home place owns consider- able other real estate in Battle Creek, where she is a general favorite in social circles.
CARL F. GARTNER. If those who claim that fortune has favored certain individuals above others will but investigate the cause of suc- cess and failure, it will be found that the former is largely due to the improvement of opportunity, the latter to the neglect of it. Fortunate environments encompass nearly every man at some stage of his career, but the strong man and the successful man is he who realizes that the proper moment has come, that the present and not the future holds his opportunity .. The man who makes use of the Now and not the To Be is the one who passes on the highway of life others who started out ahead of him and reaches the goal of prosperity in advance of them. It is this quality in Carl F. Gartner that has made him a leader in the business world and won him an enviable name in connection with financial affairs at Battle Creek, which place has long represented his home.
In the vicinity of Heidelberg, Germany, November 24, 1870, oc- curred the birth of Carl F. Gartner, who is a son of Julius and Eliza- beth (Ruebel) Gartner. A small town near Heidelberg has been the home of the family through many generations and there the subject of this review was reared to the age of fourteen years. He attended common school until his fourteenth year, when he immigrated, alone, to America, coming here without friends or influence and carving a name for himself in the business world. He came at once to Battle Creek and obtained a position as a farm boy on the Betterly farm. He knew nothing of the English language but during the two years spent on the farm he became fairly conversant in that tongue. In 1886 he settled in Battle Creek, where he served an apprenticeship at the baker's trade, being thus engaged until he had reached his legal ma- jority when he embarked in business on his own account. His first concern consisted of a small place, where he did his baking at night and himself acted as salesman during the daytime. He began with very limited stock but he possessed energy and ability and soon worked his way upword, gradually increasing the scope of his business until its growth now seems almost phenomenal. He was first located at No. 93 South Jefferson avenue, where he remained for eight years, at the expiration of which he purchased a lot and erected a business block at No. 78 South Jefferson avenue, this being a two-story brick build- ing, twenty-five feet by seventy-eight in lateral dimensions. He also built a large building on Hamblin avenue which adjoins the Jefferson
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avenue, structure at the rear and which is of brick, being ninety-five feet by eighty-eight in lateral dimensions. The latter building is used as a bake shop and is equipped with all the latest baking devices, in- cluding patent ovens. It enjoys the distinction of being the only thor- oughly equipped bake shop in the city. In the rear is a barn in which the wagons and teams are sheltered. In addition to bread, cookies and cakes, the Gartner Baking Company handles flour in wholesale quan- tities, supplying many of the stores in addition to what is required in the bakery. The business was incorporated in January, 1911, with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars, under the name of the Gartner Baking Company. Mr. Gartner is president of the concern and Fred J. Heyser, mentioned elsewhere in this volume, is secretary and treas- urer.
An average of thirty-five thousand loaves of bread are turned out weekly and a specialty is made of Jersey Cream bread, other brands being the Buster Brown and Holsum bread. Shipments are made daily to neighboring towns and bread is sent as far as Goshen and Middle- bury, Indiana. Mr. Gartner is vice president of the Jackson Baking Company, at Jackson, Michigan, which was opened up for business July 22, 1910. Mr. Gartner started in business at Battle Creek October 13, 1891, with absolutely no capital except energy and a determination to make a success. In addition to his bakery interests he is a stockholder in the Union Steam Pump Company, the Battle Creek Brewing Com- pany and the Advance Pump & Compressor Company, all prominent business concerns in this city.
Mr. Gartner is a valued and appreciative member of the German Workingmen's Society, the Eagles and the Elks of Battle Creek, and the City Club and the Country Club of Jackson, Michigan. In their religious faith he and his wife are members of the German Evangelical church, to whose charities and good works they are most liberal con- tributors.
November 25, 1891, Mr. Gartner was united in marriage to Miss Emma Rother, of Louisville, Kentucky. They are the parents of one daughter, Edna Caroline, and she is attending school in Battle Creek. In addition to a residence at No. 78 South Jefferson street a country home is maintained at Franklin Beach, on Gull Lake.
HILAND GEORGE BUTLER. Battle Creek is world-famous for more than one reason, but primarily, perhaps, for its industries, whose prod- uct is utilized in every country and every clime. One of the most celebrated of these industries is the Hygienic Food Company, makers of Mapl-Flake, a delectable article known to every well appointed breakfast table. The president of the Mapl-Flake Company is the gentleman whose name stands at the head of this paragraph, an Iowan by circumstance of birth, but of family long established in this country, his forbears having been distinguished factors in the earlier history of New England, that cradle of so much of our national history. In the ancestral record are numbered soldiers and patriots, men of prom- inence in several walks of life and at least one governor, and the sub- ject is as loyal an American as any of them. He is a man of remark- able executive ability, who has made realities out of a number of vast ideas; not, indeed, that his sky has always been set with stars of victory, for he has known adversity in her most unpleasant mood and has con- quered her.
Hiland George Butler was born in Allamakee county, Iowa, July 30, 1864. His father was George Ide Butler and his mother's name previous to her marriage was Lentha Ames Lockwood, and Waterbury,
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Vermont was the birthplace of both. The family was of English origin, and Ezra Butler, the great-grandfather of the subject, was governor of the Green Mountain state. He was born in Lancaster, Worcester county, Massachusetts, on September 24, 1763. In his seventh year his father, Asaph Butler, moved to West Windsor, Vermont. When in his seventeenth year Ezra Butler was for six months a soldier of the Revolution. In March, 1785, he came to Waterbury, Vermont, with his brother Asaph, next older than himself, and in June of the same year he was married to Miss Tryphena Diggins. He was the first prominent settler in Waterbury, and, though a young man, took a prominent part in all public movements. He built the first frame house in the town. To him was issued the warrant to call the freemen of Waterbury, in 1790, to organize the town, and at that meeting he was chosen town clerk. From that time his official life was a remark- able one. From this humble beginning he went through almost every grade to the chief magistracy of the state. The following table will show in outline the main features of his career :
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