History of Saginaw County, Michigan; historical, commercial, biographical, profusely illustrated with portraits of early pioneers, rare pictures and scenes of olden times, and portraits of representative citizens of today, [Vol. 2]

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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY

In 1888 he was sent to Congress to represent his district in the lower
house, and the bills he introduced, notably one appropriating $100,000 for a
federal building in Saginaw, were important to the interests of his constituents, and to the State at large. Among these bills was one appropriating
$25,000 for an Indian school at Mt. Pleasant.
At the general election of 1900 Mr. Bliss was elected governor of Michigan, and held that high office for two terms. During his able administration
and by his indefatigable efforts, the Michigan Employment Institution for
the Adult Blind was established at Saginaw, on a site facing beautiful Bliss
Park, one of his many benefactions to his home city.
His acts of munificence were never stinted and no worthy charity or
philanthropy appealed to him in vain. He was a patron of the Home for
the Friendless, the Y. M. C. A., and Albion College, to which he gave large
sums; and was a liberal supporter of the Methodist Church.
On August 31, 1905, while on a train en route for Denver to attend the
National Encampment of the G. A. R., the Colonel suffered a slight stroke
and was taken back immediately to his home. Although he recovered and
attended to his business affairs with almost his usual vigor, he gradually
failed in health. In the summer of 1906 he sought relief in a sanitarium in
Milwaukee. But early in the morning of the sixteenth of September, without
warning he suddenly expired. He was buried with State and military honors
at Forest Lawn in his home city, the services being conducted by St. Bernard
Commandery, No. 16, K. T., of which he was an old and honored member.
His life, viewed as a whole, was devoted to three ambitions - the creation
of wealth, patriotic service of his country, and attainment of political honors,
and in all he was eminently successful.
CHARLES STARKWETHER KIMBERLY
Charles S. Kimberly was born at Warsaw, New York, December 23, 1826.
His parents were Ebenezer Cary Kimberly, who was born October 9, 1797,
at Mansfield, Connecticut, and Corintha Smith Kimberly, born November 12,
1803, at Caledonia, New York. The father came to Michigan as early as
1835, and invested in timber land on the then far western frontier. Four
years later he removed permanently from Batavia, New York, and settled in
Shiawassee County.
His father, Ebenezer C. Kimberly, "was inseparably linked with the land
and timber investments in the county and elsewhere," and was the personal
representative in Michigan of Trumbull Cary of Buffalo, New York, managing his extensive timber possessions in which he himself owned a part interest. The duties of this office in the forest wilderness during that formative
period were ably performed, and after his death at Corunna July 8, 1856, the
responsibilities were assumed in like manner by the son, Charles S. Kimberly.
He had come to Michigan before he was twenty years of age, and settled first
in Caledonia, Shiawassee County, on the present site of Corunna, where he
lived with his parents. An examination of the records of Shiawassee and
Saginaw counties show that the interests of both father and son were active
and extensive in timber and land transactions.
As early as 1852 Charles S. Kimberly became largely interested in timber
land in St. Charles, Brant, Marion and surrounding townships in Saginaw
County, although he did not change his residence from Corunnna to St.
Charles until 1863. The original proprietors of the plat of St. Charles were
Charles H. Carroll, William L. P. Little and Charles S. Kimberly; and in
1857, when the survey of the village was made, a meeting was held and the
Christian name of Mr. Kimberlv was adopted as the name of the village, and