Bio of Wm & Fred Stebbins of Barry C, MI
WILLIAM H. AND FRED W. STEBBINS
William H. Stebbins, an honored resident of Hastings, Barry County, where he is engaged in the undertaking business, is the son of John W. and Eliza (Holland) Stebbins, natives of Chautauqua County, New York.Mr. Stebbins’ father came West in 1843 and settled at Hastings, where he worked at his trade of carpenter, helping to build the Barry County court house.Our subject was born in Hastings, June 2, 1845.In 1846 his father moved to Richland township and purchased a farm of wild land, cleared sixty acres of it, and there lived until 1855, when he returned to Hastings.The farm is now known as the L. D. Gardner farm.
The return of the family to Hastings gave William H. and opportunity to attend the public school of the village, from which he was duly graduated.At the age of 16, his father being now a partner in the firm of Stebbins & Ellis, engaged in the furniture and undertaking business, he entered their employ as a clerk.A short time later the father became sole owner of the business and continued in it, being assisted by William, until 1869, when he retired from active business.He died in 1871.
In 1873 Wm. H. Stebbins resumed the business in which he had gained a long and profitable experience with his father, associating himself with Henry Belding under the firm name of Stebbins & Belding.This partnership was maintained for five years, at the end of which time Mr. Stebbins became exclusively engaged in the undertaking profession, in which he has continued ever since, building up a splendid reputation.
Mr. Stebbins was city treasurer in 1873 and for a period of ten years in succession served as alderman of the Third ward.In the fight for the installation of the city water works Mr. Stebbins was especially active and was chairman of the committee which had the building of the system in charge.For a number of years, also, he was a member of the school board.In politics Mr. Stebbins is a Democrat.Fraternally, he is a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Maccabees, Odd Fellows, and Foresters.
April 25, 1872, he married Miss Julia Hoonan and to Mr. and Mrs. Stebbins four children have been born, Maud Eliza (Mrs. E. J. Huffman), Fannie Dora (Mrs. J. H. Templeton), Carrie Melissa, and Fred W.All are living and are residents of Hastings with the exception of Mrs. Templeton, whose home is in Seattle, Washington.
In continuing this sketch with the biography of Fred W. Stebbins we are presenting the record of a family whose name has always stood in the community for progress and rectitude.We are also presenting the record of a family which for three generations has been engaged in the same profession, that of undertaking.This profession has been handed down in the family from father to son until the name of Stebbins is widely known in this connection.
Fred W. Stebbins was born in Hastings, July 14, 1879.He has always lived in Hastings, being educated there and making that city the field of his subsequent business endeavors.He graduated from the Hastings High School in the class of 1898 and in the fall of 1899 entered the employ of the City Bank, remaining with that institution for seven years.
After discontinuing his connection with the bank he was engaged in the insurance business for two years.He then formed a partnership with L. R. Glasgow and opened a furniture store.This was sold to Miller & Harris in 1910 and since that time Mr. Stebbins has been associated with his father, W. H. Stebbins, in the undertaking business, the undertaking rooms being located in the modern business block which the father has built just east of the Masonic temple on State street and which bears the name of the Stebbins block.
Fred W. Stebbins was married October 18, 1904, to Miss Myrtle Sullivan, daughter of Thomas Sullivan of Hastings, who is a very estimable and talented young woman, and is at present president of the Hastings Women’s Club.
The Stebbins family is one of the old families of Hastings.It has been associated with the city’s development from almost the very beginning and its members have always helped in every movement which would make for progress and advancement.It has been the men and women of this type who have made the Hastings of today.