Week 27 - Family Business - Prince

My maternal 3x great-grandfather Matthew Prince was born in 1826 in Wighill, York, England and immigrated in 1831 to New York. He entered this new land at five years of age with his parents Francis and Sarah (Smith) along with his four older siblings Sarah, Eliza, Hannah and Thomas. All had been born in England and after their arrival into New York their last sibling Mary Ann was born in 1832. The family then moved on and settled in Van Buren, Wayne County, Michigan by 1850.

His parents, Francis and Sarah were married 2 Dec 1811 at Saint Mary's Church in Bishophill Junior, York, England. Francis was a cordwainer (a shoemaker who only deals with building new shoes) and was also blind. So, a business owner and an entrepreneur.

Matthew Prince and Abigail Bess were married 17 July 1845 in Texas, Oswego County, New York before the family moved west.  They were ages 19 and 15 respectively. They emigrated into Michigan with Matthew's family and finally settled in Decatur, Van Buren County, Michigan by 1867. They were the parents of six children: H Edward, Gustavus, Muretty, Fred, Delbert, and Frank (my great grandfather).

By 1880, two of those children, brothers Edward and Delbert would be in business together, namely, Prince Bros Hardware. They were the sole proprietors for almost two decades. The store was located on Main Street in downtown Galien, Berrien County, Michigan.  

In 1898 a devastating fire occurred, and 2/3rds of the business district was totally destroyed. The fire started in the barber shop and Galien did not have an adequate fire department at that time...so using portable force pumps and buckets they fought gallantly until an engine could be sent from Niles, which took about an hour by train. It arrived too late to render much assistance. During the process a keg of powder in the store of Prince Bros and a barrel of turpentine in the drug store exploded. No injuries happened to any persons. Prince Bros Hardware was gone over-night. Damages were estimated at $4,000 with insurance of $2,000. Only the post-office and two stores remained. 

Map of downtown Galien before fire in 1898

The store was rebuilt, and in 1908, the business was sold to Fred Zech, Jr of Three Oaks, Michigan.

Edward and his wife Roxanna (Bissell) then ran a successful fruit farm in Berrien County until his death in 1917. They were the parents of four children: Annetta, Daisee, Floyd and Althea. All but Daisee lived to adulthood.

Roxanna, Althea, Floyd, Edward Prince ca1895

Delbert married Emma (Ingles) in 1883, and they were the parents of three children: Meryl, Lysle and Theo. After the fire, Delbert continued to work as a hardware dealer in 1910 and then in 1920 he and his wife and son were living in La Porte, Indiana where Delbert died in 1921.

Both men and their spouses are buried in Galien Township Cemetery in Galien.

Another, little known, family business was the Ingersol Cheese Factory in Oxford, Ontario, Canada. It was originally built by James Harris, Jr. (This James would be my Grandma Sheridan's 2nd cousin - 3 times removed) 

James Harris (1823-1885), together with his wife, Julia Ranney (1824-1880) built a successful cheese factory on the family farm in West Oxford Township and with the Ranney family were the architects of the Mammoth Cheese, prepared for the New York State Fair in 1866 and eventually, Paris World’s Fair in 1867. The wheel of cheese was made with the milk from 2400 cows from 250 farms to make enough milk to create it. It stood seven feet tall and weighed 7,000 pounds. Oxford county is still the cheese capital area of Canada and the birthplace of their cheese industry.



The last Harris heir sold the family home in the mid 1970's. Today the Elmhurst Inn & Spa is located in the original house built in 1872 by James Harris and is located on the site of the original Harris farm and where the cheese factory was built.

I think a Canadian research trip may be in the making...

Barbie

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