USA > Michigan > St Clair County > St. Clair County, Michigan, its history and its people; a narrative account of its historical progress and its principal interests, Vol. II > Part 29
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"The advertising of such a necessary commodity as salt by a general campaign in the magazines was a new, a strange and an untried experi- ment. Why, salt was salt, no matter under what label or brand, it was all the same. But Mr. Moore had faith, faith in advertising. and faith
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moves mountains, even mountains of salt. That was five years ago and the company is still advertising, this year more than ever. All of which justifies Mr. Moore's judgment. Under his direction the selling policy of the Diamond Crystal Salt Company has been established on a broad, business-like basis and there are many jobbers in this country who de- eline to handle any brand except 'The salt that's all salt.' Many a job- ber's salesman feels peevish when some foolish grocer insists that it is too good for his trade. The Diamond Crystal Salt Company has been extremely fortunate in one respect; just this. In the development of its business to the present generous proportions there have been developed officers capable of coping with the many sides and angles that such a business presents."
Mr. Moore takes the same prominent part in the civic and social af- fairs of his community that he does in the business world. A member of the Congregational church, his work in church and Sunday-school is a vital interest. He has been for several years superintendent of the Sunday-school and of the County Association of Sunday Schools. He believes that the work with the children and young people is one of the most important trusts of the church, and truly "as the twig is bent the tree inclines." He believes that there is no higher mission than to im- plant in the minds of the boys and girls, the men and women of the next generation, the true meaning of the broader and better life. He is a warm champion of the cause of securing the best educational advantages possible for the community and gives freely of his time to any work connected with the city schools. He has for years been a member of the school board, and one of its leaders. He is, in short, of the best type of citizen which a community may possess, and all measures, which in his judgment are likely to result in ultimate benefit to the whole of society, are sure of his support, and with him "support" is not merely a rhetor- ical expression. He is a loyal adherent of what its admirers are pleased to call "the Grand Old Party," and his fraternal affiliations are with the Masons and the Knights of Pythias. If Mr. Moore has a hobby, it is yachting, and that he is an amateur skipper of ability his numerous trophies testify.
Mr. Moore was married in 1898 to Miss Olive Parmalee, of Toledo, Ohio, a native of that city. Her death occurred in that same year. In 1907 Miss Etta Cohoe became his wife, their union being celebrated at her home in Copack, Michigan. Her demise was in August, 1908. By his second marriage Mr. Moore has a small son, Francis Raymond, born August 14, 1908.
MARTIN L. BALDWIN. The career of Martin L. Baldwin is a noble illustration of what independence, self-faith and persistency can accom- plish in America. He is self-made in the most significant sense of the word, for no one helped him in a financial way and he is practically self educated. As a young man he was strong, vigorous and self-reliaut. He trusted in his own ability and did things single-handed and alone. Today he stands supreme as a successful business man and public-spirited citizen. Most of his attention has been devoted to work along mechanical lines and since 1900 he has been owner and manager of the St. Clair Iron & Brass Foundry and the St. Clair Iron Works.
At Westons Mills, New York. May 19, 1870. occurred the birth of
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Martin L. Baldwin, who is a son of John A. and Ilelen ( Bartlett ) Bald- win, both of whom are now living in St. Clair. The Baldwin family came to Michigan in 1875, locating on a farm on Yankee street in St. Clair county. In 1882 Jolm A. Baldwin gave up farming and removed to the village of St. Clair, where he established a livery stable which he eon- dueted with great success for a number of years. In the maternal line Mr. Baldwin, of this notice, traces his ancestry back to an oll New Eng- land family, the original progenitor of the name of Bartlett in America having landed in Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1633.
The first in order of birth in a family of four children, Martin L. Baldwin, was a child of but five years of age at the time of his parents' arrival in Michigan. He attended the district schools in St. Clair county until the family settled in St. Clair, when he became a pupil in the public sehools of that plaee. At the age of twenty years he became an apprentice in the shop that he now owns. In 1900 he purchased the St. Clair Iron Works. He has lately equipped his shop with a complete outfit of maehin- ery for repairs of all kinds of automobiles and is perfeeting plans for the construction of an auto engine upon a new principle. Mr. Baldwin is an unusually keen business man and he holds a reputation for being absolutely on the square in all his business dealings.
In a fraternal way he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Foresters and the Woodmen of the World. He attends and gives his support to the Methodist Episcopal church, of which his wife is a devout member.
In the year 1895 Mr. Baldwin was united in marriage to Miss Edna Loveland, of Comstock, Michigan. She was born in New York but was brought to Michigan by her parents, Orson and Elizabeth Loveland. before she was a year old. The Loveland family settled near Kalamazoo. Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin are the parents of three children, namely : Harold, born in 1897 ; Helen, born in 1899; and Margaret, born in 1905. All the children are attending school in St. Clair.
MAYNARD J. HAGEDON. The assistant manager of the Port Huron Ferry Company was born on the twenty-first of April, 1869. His father was a native of Cleveland, Ohio. where he was born twenty- seven years before his son. His mother, Juliette (Dale) Hagedon, be- gan and ended her life in Port Huron. She died June 22, 1889, at the age of forty-seven, and is buried in Lakeside cemetery. The father is living on a farm in St. Clair county. Four of the eight children of this family are still living, the daughter Blanche, now Mrs. R. M. Gray, of Detroit : George, of Chicago, and his twin brother, Charles. of Fre- mont. Ohio: and Maynard J., whose life is briefly outlined herein, in Port Huron.
Maynard J. Hagedon left school at the age of fourteen and learned the harnessmaker's trade under John MeCormick. He then began to work for the Grand Trunk Railway in the capacity of messenger hoy, and for five years remained in the employ of this eorporation, being promoted from time to time until he attained the position of head clerk. He left this post to become bookkeeper for Charles Smith, and after a year with Mr. Smith, became seeretary for the Board of Trade. keeping this place another year. It was at this time that Mr. Hagedon assumed his present position with Hon. Henry MeMorran, and since
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1889 he has been continuously associated with the Seventh District Michigan, congressman and president of the Port Huron & Sarnia Ferry Company.
Ever since Mr. MeMorran went to Washington Mr. Hagedon has been his private secretary and has had entire charge of his steamboat interests at Port Huron. The ferry line between Port Huron and Sarnia includes the Ferries Conger, Hiawatha, Dormer and Beard. It is a regular ferry line, ably operated by Mr. Hagedon, whose first con- sideration is always his employer's best interest, and to say that his employer appreciates the work of his assistant is to state the case most inadequately.
Although Mr. Hagedon's early education was ent short, he has now such advantages as fall to the lot of few young men. He has spent three years at the national capital and has made use of the many op- portunities for broad culture which such a life affords. He numbers his friends by the hundreds-men attracted by his open-hearted man- ner and geniality, and held by his broad and liberal dealings and his exemplary life. He is a worthy representative of a family who have one and all enjoyed the genuine regard of their fellow-citizens and have been always numbered in that great class whose conscientious devotion to the every-day matters of life and whose support of all measures for the betterment of general conditions make them the strength of our democracy. Charles Dale, a brother of Mr. Hagedon's mother, went to the Civil war from Michigan.
The Baptist church was the one in which Mrs. Hagedon worshipped and her son attends the same church. In politics he is a Republican. He is unmarried and resides in the same block in which he has his office, which is located at 108 Huron avenue.
PAUL DEXTER HUBEL occupies a prominent position among the rep- resentative farming men of Grant township, where he has lived and operated successfully a farm of one hundred acres since he came to St. Clair county from Canada in 1856. He was born in Canada, on August 10, 1833, and is the son of Reuben and Mary (Bedford) Hubel. the former a native of the United States, while the mother was born on the Atlantic ocean on board an ocean liner, seven miles from New York harbor, her parents being on their way from England to America.
The Hubel family eventually removed to Canada where they be- came interested in agricultural pursuits, the father dying there in 1870, August 30. His widow removed to St. Clair county immediately there- after, and she died within four years. Mr. and Mrs. Hubel were the parents of nine children, two of whom are living in 1912. They are Adeline, a widow residing in Sterling, Ontario, and Paul Dexter Hubel. or, as he is commonly called in the community wherein he lives, Dexter Hubel.
Panl Dexter Hubel was reared in Canada, and such advantages as were possible to the country youth of his time he was permitted to re- ceive. When he was about eighteen years of age he began to take charge of the work on the farm, and when he was twenty-two years old he married Mahala A. Caverly, on November 15, 1854. She was born in Canada on March 2, 1835, and educated in the common schools of her home town. Her father was born in New York and her mother in Canada. No children have come to their home.
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Mr. Ilubel is a Republican in his political allegiance, and has taken a consistent interest in the affairs of that party. Mr. and Mrs. Hubel are quiet, unpretentious people, content to pass their days in the tilling of the farm of one hundred aeres which they have lived on since their advent to the United States in 1856, and which, under their careful and skillful manipulation, has attained a state of fertility and produc- tiveness which yields them an adequate income and something besides for their declining years.
LOUIS FOSTER. It has been only in the last few years, compara- tively, that the full value of cement has been realized by contraetors and builders, but since the many uses to which it can be put and the various ways in which it may be utilized have been discovered the cheap and lasting article has come into its own. One of the leading contrac- tors and builders of Port Huron, Michigan, who has always done all kinds of cement work since he has been engaged in his present business is Louis Foster, whose factory is situated at No. 1307 Stanton street. Mr. Foster is a native of Canada, having been born in Sarnia, Ontario, January 27, 1872, a son of Charles and Louise ( Elliott ) Foster.
Mr. Foster is in every respect a self-made man. He was reared in Sarnia, where he attended school until he was twelve years of age, and at that time began helping is father, who died when Louis was fifteen years of age. At fourteen the latter had started a draying business with his father's team, and in this way he supported his mother and her family, and when he was eighteen years of age he made his way to Port Iluron. For nine years he was an employer of the Grand Trunk System, in the passenger car department, after which he spent one year with a contractor in Port Huron, and then returned to the ear shops. He then went to the Pere Marquette shops for one year, eventually be- coming an employe of the Jenks Ship Building Company, with whom he continued three years, and while there assisted in building the first steel ships ever constructed in Port Huron. Ile was next employed at the Sheldon Planing Mill, and was also in the Jallern shops for a few months, but after leaving the latter's employ he entered the business field on his own account and became a contractor and builder. In 1907 he opened his cement works, and he now has one of the most sneeess- ful business ventures of its kind in Port Huron, keeping about ten men busy throughout the year. The excellent quality of the article manu- factured by him has given him a large business in Port Huron and the vicinity, and it has grown steadily each year. As a contractor and builder Mr. Foster has erected some of the largest buildings and finest residenees in the city, and he bears the reputation of a man of sterling traits of business character and one whose contracts are always lived up to. The success he has gained in life has been but the just reward of his years of untiring industry, and he merits the respect and esteem of his fellow townsmen as a man who has overcome all obstacles and found success through his own ability and enterprise. He is a good citizen and publie-spirited to a high degree, but has never found time to engage in polities, his business ventures taking up all of his atten- tion. He easts his vote with the Republican party, is connected fra- ternally with the Woodmen of the World, and he and Mrs. Foster are consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
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On January 27, 1892, his twentieth birthday, Mr. Foster was united in marriage with Miss Margaret Kirkpatrick, of Sarnia, who was born in Goderich, Canada, daughter of William and Anna Kirkpatrick. Four children have been born to this union, namely: Melville Louis, who keeps the books for his father's business, Harold, Helen and Otto. Mr. Foster's wife had prepared to take up teaching as her life work, and their children have been given excellent educational advantages.
ANGUS G. MACKAY. Noteworthy for his keen intelligence and busi- ness ability, Angus G. Mackay has inherited to a marked degree the habits of industry and thrift characteristic of his Highland Scotch fore- fathers, and though his own energetic efforts has acquired a position of influence among the leading citizens of Port Huron and St. Clair county.
He was born March 7, 1847, in Strathalbyn, Queen's county, Prov- ince of Prince Edward Island, the son of William and Christina (Gillies) Mackay, who were born in Invernesshire, Scotland, immigrating to America in 1839. Both are now deceased, the father who survived his wife, having passed away in June, 1908, in his eighty-seventh year, on his farm at High Banks, to which place he had removed in 1853, and where the family continue to reside.
Educated in the grammar and normal schools of his native province. Mr. Mackay subsequently taught in its rural schools for three years. Deciding then to try the hazard of new fortunes, he came to Michigan, arriving in Port Huron December 18, 1869, and soon thereafter ac- cepted a position in Lexington township, Sanilac county, as tutor for the children of Charles Decker, then a prominent lumberman of that locality. He subsequently accepted the position of tutor to the chil- dren of Dr. W. W. Anderson as well as clerk in his drug store in the village of Lexington. Returning to Port Huron in September, 1871. shortly after the removal of the county seat of St. Clair county from the city of St. Clair to Port Huron, Mr. Mackay was appointed deputy county clerk of St. Clair county, succeeding William Henry Little, who had become county superintendent of schools, and continued to serve in that capacity during the term of office of Hazard P. Wands as county clerk, and later under his successor, Moses F. Carleton.
While thus occupied he began the study of law, but on leaving the office he became bookkeeper for the shipbuilding firm of whom the late Archibald Muir was manager, remaining in that position until the dis- solution of the Port Huron Dry Dock Company. Mr. Mackay then re- sumed his law studies in the office of Messrs. Chadwick & Potter, re- maining until May 12, 1875, when he entered into partnership with Hiram Anderson and his son William C. Anderson, under the firm name of Anderson & Company, which firm purchased the insurance and real estate business of W. D. Wright, and continued in business until the early part of 1876. The Andersons then sold out the business to Mr. Mackay, they forming the Anderson & Company, farm and implement business, and Mr. Mackay has continued in the real estate business con- tinuously since that time. In 1880 he combined a railroad and steam- ship ticket agency with his real estate business, which he continued un- til about 1904.
On December 10, 1884, at Ripley, Ontario, Mr. Mackay was mar-
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ried to Alma Jennie Bowers, the daughter of John and Ann (Lyne) Bowers, both of whom were natives of Essex, England. Mrs. Mackay was born at Port Perry, Ontario, in 1859. They are the parents of three children, namely: Earle B., born May 20, 1887, a graduate of the Port Huron high school and Toronto University, a druggist by pro- fession ; Hazel Jeanette, born May 13, 1890, also a graduate of her native city's high school, and Kenneth John, born May 23, 1893, at this time a student of the Port Iluron high school.
In his political affiliations Mr. Mackay is a staunch Demoerat, loyal to the eause of his party. Fraternally he belongs to the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of which he became a member June 23, 1873.
FRED C. HUNGERFORD. To have achieved a position of honor and trust which places one's name among the leading influential faetors of a community, and that through the unaided personal efforts of the in- dividual, is always a matter of pardonable pride in any man, and when that achievement has been accomplished when a man is still young credit for such success is doubly deserving. One of the youngest of the prominent business men of St. Clair whose position is one of in- fluence is Mr. Fred C. Hungerford, local manager of the Saginaw dis- triet for the Michigan State Telephone Company.
Mr. Hungerford was born in East China, Michigan, on November 12, 1879, the son of Edward K. and Ida ( Hammond) Hungerford. Ilis grandfather on the Hungerford side of the house was a native of Ver- mont state, and in the early days was engaged in the lumbering busi- ness in that part of the country. He later removed with his family across the St. Lawrence river into Canada, and it was while residing there that his son Edward K., father of the subject of this sketch, was born. The family returned to the United States, settling in Michigan within a year after the birth of the son, however, and the lumbering business was continued there for a time, although in later years agri- cultural operations oeeupied the time and attention of the father of the family. The son, Edward K., remained with his father on the farm until he had attained the age of twenty-one years, when he went out to seek a change of scene and employment and became a sailor during the summer season, returning to his parental home on the farm in the winter.
Fred C. Hungerford, the son of Edward K., lived upon the farm un- til he was ten years of age, and received a rudimentary education at the country schools then available. His acquaintance with village life began at that age when the family became residents of St. Clair. This afforded the ambitious boy an opportunity to pursue his studies to greater advantage and he attended the public schools of St. Clair for several years, working nights and mornings in a drug store until he was seventeen years old that he might avail himself of the privilege of school. At seventeen he found it necessary to devote his whole time to wage earning and he became a sailor on the Great Lakes, continuing to lead a sailor's life until twenty-two years of age.
Become desirous of engaging in work of higher opportunity and larger rewards, Mr. IInngerford secured employment with the Detroit United Railroads Company as a motorman, and utilized his spare time in the study of telephony and electricity through a correspondence
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school. Becoming proficient in electrieal knowledge and practical dem- onstration in that line the attention of the Columbia Iron Works man- agement was attracted to him and he was offered by that corporation a position as assistant electrician, which offer was aceepted, and Mr. Hungerford continued with that firm until its works were closed.
His next employment was with the telephone company, and he began at the very bottom of the ladder in that work, although he did not re- main there long. He proved himself an exceedingly efficient workman and demonstrated at the same time his possession of a high order of executive ability and it was not long until he had reached his present influential position. Being still in his early thirties, there is no doubt that the future has greater things in store for him and that he will push himself to a point of greater power and of usefulness commen- surate with his unusual abilities.
Mr. Hungerford was married on March 19, 1901, to Miss Jennette D. Schouman, of St. Clair, whose birthplace was Lenox, Michigan. Mrs. Hungerford is of German extraction, her parents, Louis and Albertina (Meyers) Schouman, being natives of Germany, who eame to this coun- try as young people and are engaged in farming. Mrs. Hungerford is a member of the Eastern Star and Rebekah orders, and both she and her husband are devout members of the Episcopal church. Mr. Hun- gerford is fraternally affiliated with the Masonic lodge and the Knights of Pythias. He is a man of high principles and substantial eharacter whose qualities have gained for him the respect and esteem of a multi- tude of friends and acquaintances.
WILLIAM J. SMITH, a well-known business man of Port Huron, Mich- igan, engaged in the manufacture of harness and dealer in trunks, bags and traveling equipment at No. 229-231 Erie street, is a man whose business career has marked him as worthy of the high esteem in which he is held by his fellow townsmen. He is a native of Montreal, Canada, and was born January 19, 1849, a son of William and Anne (Brown) Smith, the former born in Ireland and the latter in Vermont. Both are now deceased.
William J. Smith's education was secured in the common schools of his native place, and at the age of twelve years he began working on a farm. When he was nineteen years old he became dissatisfied with the life of an agriculturist, and began to learn the trade of harness maker, which he followed as an employe of the McCormick Harness Company, of Port Huron, for twenty-eight years. In 1896 he estab- lished himself in business at his present location, where he has attained a deeided success, building up a large and profitable trade. Years of experience in his business have made him well known to the harness trade, and his reputation is that of an expert in his chosen line and a thorough, dependable business man. His goods have reached a wide and extended market, and the suceess which has attended his business operations is due to the satisfaction given by the articles turned out from his establishment. He has also brought new improvements into his work, and many novelties fashioned by him have found high favor. He is a Republican in his political views, but has never cared to engage actively in publie matters, although he takes a decided interest in any- thing that pertains to the welfare of Port Huron, and may be depended
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upon to support beneficial movements. Socially he is connected with the Masons, the Woodmen and the Maccabees.
On March 10, 1872, Mr. Smith was married to Miss Katherine Ford, who was born in Port Huron, daughter of Fred and Sarah Ford, natives of England, who are both deceased. Mrs. Smith died in 1882, and was buried in Lakeside Cemetery. Five children were born to this nion, namely: Maude, who died at the age of twenty-three years, and was busied beside her mother; Frank, of Los Angeles, California, who mar- ried Rose Witliff and has two children, Lola and Katherine, and Fred, Lula and Robert, who died in infancy. On May 24, 1887, Mr. Smith was married to Mrs. Emily Lawrence, widow of Joseph Lawrence, born in Greenwood township. st. Clair county, and daughter of John Jordan. Mr. Jordan was a native of England, and became a farmer of Green- wood township, where he died. One child has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Smith : Mary Runnells, a graduate of the Michigan Conservatory of Music, Detroit, and now a private music teacher in Port Huron. Mr. and Mrs. Smith and their daughter are all members of the First Methodist church, and he has served for some years as a member of the official board. The pretty family home is located at No. 820 Stanton street. and there the numerous friends of the Smiths are always sure of a hearty and sincere welcome.
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