|
James
Hutchinson
James
Hutchinson, a leading business man of Michigan, an energetic and popular
manufacturer of buggies, spring wagons, carriages, package and delivery
wagons, has for twenty-four years been a prominent citizen of Muskegon,
where his well-known factory- enjoying a large trade- annually supplies
to the general public some of the finest specimens of vehicles ever used
in road transportation. Our subject, a native of Canada, was born in Perth,
Ontario, June 17, 1844. His father, James Hutchinson, Sr., likewise a native
of of the Queen's dominions, was reared and educated in Canada and,
arriving at man's estate, married the mother of our subject, Ellison Easton,
also born in Canada and the daughter of an old and highly respected family,
the descendants of a long line of honored English ancestry. Our subject
enjoyed excellent educational advantages, and attended school near London,
Canada, in which locality he passed the days of boyhood. He early began
his his preparation for a self-reliant and self-sustaining future by serving
an apprenticeship to the trade of a blacksmith, and arrived at twenty-one
years well fitted to begin the battle of life for himself.
In 1869, removing to
the United States, Mr. Hutchinson journeyed to Muskegon, Mich., which city
has since been his constant home. For a number of years he was variously
employed, working mainly in lines of business connected with his trade,
but finally, having some capital in money and a vast amount of enterprise,
he embarked in his present manufacturing interests upon his own account.
Beginning in a comparatively small way, our subject has with ability and
unwearied devotion to business extended the facilities of his factory,
which is now equal to the demands of a large and rapidly increasing custom;
and the public by its patronage eloquently testifies to its satisfaction
with the material and workmanship of the superior product of buggies and
wagons which year after year successfully compete with those turned
out by longer established and more pretentious houses. As a manufacturer,
Mr. Hutchinson has achieved an enviable reputation and in the general conduct
of his business has won the confidence of the public. His trade is not
local but takes in a large territory, and the business, from the first
an assured success, has in the past sixteen years developed in to proportions
far exceeding early expectations.
In January, 1873, in
Whitehall, Muskegon County, Mich., were united in marriage James Hutchinson
and Miss Abbie Doolan, a native of Vermont and a daughter of James Doolan,
a highly respected resident of the Green Mountain State. The union of our
subject and his estimable wife has been blessed by the birth of a bright
and intelligent family. Ella E., the eldest born and only daughter, an
accomplished young lady, is at home. The three youngest, William, Frank
and John, are likewise with their parents, who reside in a beautiful residence,
modern in architecture, convenient in design, and containing all the latest
improvements. The handsome frame house located at No. 10 East Ionia Street
is the abode of hospitality and witnesses the social gatherings of many
friends. Our subject is fraternally a valued member of Muskegon Lodge No.
140, A. F. & A. M., and is likewise connected with the Foresters. Politically
a Republican and interested in local and national government, he is not
in any sense f the word a politician, but, doing his duty at the polls
and assisting in matters of local enterprise, is accounted a substantial
citizen and man of public spirit.
Orrin
D. Blanchard
Orrin
D. Blanchard, a prosperous and well-known merchant of Casenovia, and for
many years a prominent educator of Muskegon County, was born in the town
of Barre, Orleans County, N. Y., March 17, 1844, being a son of Chandler
and Lucy (Lindley) Blanchard. His paternal grandfather, Nehemiah Blanchard,
was the son of Jeremiah, who belonged to a famous Huguenot family, of French
origin. Grandfather Blanchard was born in New Hampshire, and was a soldier
in the War of 1812. By trade a shoemaker, and by occupation a farmer, he
was thus engaged in Monroe County, N. Y., and later in Genesee County,
the same State. His death occurred in Murray, Orleans County, N. Y., September
13, 1848, at the age of seventy-four.
Grandfather Blanchard and his
good wife, whose maiden name was Sarah Densmore, were the parents of twelve
children who attained mature years, namely: Cummings, Chandler, Harbard,
Willard, Julia A., Livonia, Lewis, Alman, William, Densmore, Orrin and
Ira. Chandler Blanchard, father of our subject, was born in New Hampshire,
September 10, 1800, and accompanied his father to New York. From Orleans
County he removed to Michigan, and settled in Livingston County about 1840.
After his marriage, which took place in Plymouth, Wayne County, he returned
to the Empire State, where he departed this life August 23, 1859. In politics,
he was first a Whig, and afterward a Republican. In religious matters,
he was identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church.
The mother of our subject was
born near Lyons, N. Y., in 1819, and died February 15, 1861. She had a
family of five children: Orrin D., of this sketch; Wesley, who enlisted
as a private in Company E, One hundred and Forty-seventh New York Infantry,
and died on David's Island, October 18, 1864; Rosetta E. Nancy A. and Lelia
C. Orrin D. received a district-school education, at at the age of twelve
began to be self-supporting. May 14, 1861, he enlisted in Company K, Twenty-seventh
New York Infantry, and with his regiment participated in the first battle
of Bull Run, Gaine's Mill, and West Point, Va. Being captured at Gaine's
Mill, he was imprisoned for forty-two days upon Belle Isle, in the James
River. Later he took part in the engagements at Atietam, Fredericksburg,
and in minor skirmishes. At the expiration of his term of service he was
discharged, on the 1st of June, 1863.
In the fall of 1863, Mr. Blanchard
went to Shiawassee County, Mich., where he attended school during the following
winter. February 14, 1864, he enlisted as a member of Company L, Second
New York Mounted Riflemen, and while in Washington was afflicted with rheumatism.
He was taken to a hospital near Washington, where he remained for a short
time. He rejoined his regiment on the 18th of June, at Petersburg, and
participated in all the engagements of the army until the battle of Stony
Creek, where he was wounded in the right hand and the right temple. For
a time he was confined in Mt. Pleasant Hospital at Washington, and upon
rejoining his regiment continued inactive service until his discharge at
Buffalo, August 25, 1865.
Coming to Michigan in the fall
of 1865, Mr. Blanchard attended school during the following winter. He
taught his first term of school in Ingham County, this State. In the Spring
of 1866 he went to Lisbon, where he worked on a farm during the summer,
and in the fall of the same year accepted the principalship of a school
in Casenovia Township. In 1878 he taught one term in Wilson County, Tenn.,
whither he went, hoping that the change of climate might benefit his wife's
health. Altogether he has taught thirty-five terms. For a number of years
during the summer season he worked at the trade of a mason, and for seven
years had a meat market in Casenovia. In April, 1893, he embarked in the
mercantile business under the firm name of O. D. Blanchard & Co., and
is conducting a large and lucrative trade.
A Republican in politics, Mr.
Blanchard has served as Justice of the Peace and as Superintendent of Schools.
In his social relations he is identified with the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows and Masonic fraternity. He was first married to Miss Betsey
Johnson, a native of Michigan, and two children were born of the union,
Ernest C. and Bessie M. Mrs. Blanchard died April 13, 1879, at the age
of thirty-four. The second marriage of Mr. Blanchard united him with Miss
Ella A., daughter of Henry Henry Bridger, of Shiawasee County, Mich. Mrs.
Ella Blanchard died March 5, 1884, and afterward our subject married Mrs.
Mary Peckham, who was born in Norway; her first husband was Henry Peckham,
by whom she became the mother of one child, Carrie. She is a lady who occupies
a high place in the regard of the people of this community, and her position
is among the most cultured and refined of Casenovia's residents.
Edward Behrens Edward Behrens, one of the leading business
men of Muskegon, is connected with C. D. Stevens as proprietor of the Muskegon
Boiler Works. He well deserves representation in this volume, for he is
an enterprising and public-spirited man, and it is with pleasure that we
present to our readers this record of his life. He was born in New York
City, on the 18th of December, 1847, and is a son of William and Willimena
(Steinford) Behrens, who were natives of Germany. The father was a cabinet-maker,
and in early life emigrated to New York City. His death occurred in 1854.
Our subject remained in his native city until after
the death of his father, when he went West to Chicago, and was there educated.
He lived for a time with P. W. Gates, of that city, and then with Thomas
Turnbull, of Muskegon. In the spring of 1865, he came to this city, and
was employed in the shops of Mr. Turnbull for some time. In 1878, he formed
a partnership with Joseph Turnbull and Charles E. Woodward, and established
the Turnbull Boiler Works. This connection was continued for five years,
when the business changed hands. In the fall of 1889, Mr. Behrens went
to Rhinelander, Wis., and there built a sawmill, which he operated for
a year.
In 1869, our subject married Miss Annie M. Peterson,
a native of Canada, and a daughter of George M. and Susan (Emory) Peterson,
the former born in Ontario, Canada, and the latter in New York. When their
daughter was a maiden of thirteen summers they came to Muskegon, where
the father died May 12, 1875, at the age of fifty-one years. Mrs. Behrens
was educated in the schools of Canada and Michigan. By her marriage she
has become the mother of three sons and two daughters: William Edward,
a farmer; Emma J., Edna Blanche, Clyde Wesley, and Steinford, now deceased.
On his return to Muskegon in 1890, Mr. Behrens formed
a partnership with C. D. Stevens and established the Muskegon Boiler Works.
They manufacture steam-boilers, stand-pipes, etc., and are enjoying an
extensive trade, which has constantly increased from the beginning, large
orders coming from the West and South. They employ some twenty-five men.
Their main building is 50x100 feet, to it they have added a wing thirty-five
feet square. They are now building a brick office near the shops. hey also
do rolling-mill work. Their industry occupies a leading place among the
enterprises of the city.
Mr. Behrens also owns one hundred and sixty acres
of good land in Moorland Township, Muskegon County, of which one hundred
acres are under cultivation, and he has four hundred sugar maple trees.
He makes a specialty of fruit-raising, having a large number of cherry,
pear, peach and plum trees, and also many blackberry and raspberry bushes.
He also has a herd of fourteen cattle and four horses, and the farm is
considered one of the finest in the county. The owner is a Republican in
politics, and a member of Muskegon Lodge No. 133, A. O. U. W. His wife
holds membership with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and both are numbered
among Muskegon's leading and prominent citizens.
Marshall C. Kelley
Marshall C. Kelley, an
able an highly successful attorney-at-law of Muskegon, Mich., and who for
the last five years has given his attention to loans and real-estate, for
many years has been a constant resident of his present locality and intimately
associated with its upward progress. Our subject was born in Gilmanton,
Belknap County, N. H., September 21, 1840, and was the son of William Kelley,
also a native of the same place where the paternal grandfather, Joseph
Kelley, early settled with his good wife, and born in the same house. The
paternal great-grandfather, Jacob Kelley, made his home in New Hampshire
in 1771, and was one of the brave and patriotic soldiers of the Revolutionary
War. The grandfather, born in the New Hampshire home, was a man of ability
and earnest purpose. The mother of our subject, Elizabeth Osgood, born
in New Hampshire, was the daughter od Davis S. sgood, the maternal grandfather
being the the descendant of English ancestors who, crossing the broad Atlantic,
settled in Massachusetts in 1638. The Osgoods are well known in the New
England States, the family occupying positions of high usefulness and influence.
The parents some years after their marriage removed from the Granite State
to the city of Boston.
Mr. Kelley passed his early years in his birthplace,
and there attended the district schools, but when eleven years of age accompanied
his father and mother to their residence in Boston, and completed
his studies in the excellent public schools of the latter city. Later,
attracted by the broader opportunities of the West, the parents with their
family journeyed to Illinois, locating in Will County, where the father
found ready employment as a contractor and builder. Our subject, then seventeen
years of age, taught school, meantime improving himself by study and reading.
Finally deciding upon a a professional career, Mr. Kelley read law with
Judge G. D. A. Parkes and W. C. Goodhue, and was admitted to the Bar in
1865. He began the practice of the legal profession in Joliet, Ill., where
he became a well-known and prosperous lawyer. He then moved to Wilmington,
Ill., and in 1868 moved to Chicago. Previous to entering upon his legal
studies, our subject had, in 1859, journeyed to the far West, and for three
years devoted his time to mining in Colorado. He however preferred life
in the East, and returning to his Illinois home then began the preparation
for the business of his life. From the year 1865 to 1867, Mr. Kelley with
efficiency discharged the responsible duties of City Attorney of Wilmington,
Will County, Ill.
In 1868, our subject located in Chicago, where,
opening the office, he for the twelve succeeding years successfully conducted
a law and real-estate business. In 1880, Mr. Kelley removed to Michigan,
first making his home on White Lake, Muskegon County, but four years later
settled permanently in the city of Muskegon, where he has built up a fine
business, and, combining the practice of his profession with the handling
of real estate, has achieved a competence. From 18887 until 1890, our subject
was Secretary and Treasurer of the Muskegon Lumber Company, and has been
identified with the numerous leading public interests of his present locality.
In November, 1878, were united in marriage M. C. Kelley and Miss May S.
Smith, a native of Wisconsin, and daughter of Rev. William J. Smith, of
New York. Five children, four sons and a daughter, have blessed the union
of our subject and his estimable wife. The brothers and sister are
in the order of their birth as follows: William Ernest, Grace Osgood, Trueman
Lee, Marshall Royal (deceased), and Arthur Carroll. The pleasant family
residence of Mr. and Mrs. Kelley is desirably located on Money Lake, a
suburb of Muskegon, and is the abode of hospitality. Politically Mr. Kelley
is a stanch Republican, and is well posted on all the vital questions of
the day. Financially successful, he and his excellent wife occupy positions
of social influence and possess a host of sincere friends.
|