History of Michigan, / by Charles Moore. [Vol. 3]

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

1439

Agents, the International Water Lines Association, the Great Lakes &
St. Lawrence River Association, and the Central Passenger Association.
Mr. Bielman has been found aligned as a staunch supporter of the
cause of the Republican party but has never sought public office, though
his name has several times been suggested in connection with nomination
for mayor of Detroit. He was the third to be elected president of the
Detroit Board of Commerce, a position to which he was called in I906,
and he gave a most effective administration, marked by civic loyalty and
progressiveness and by full accord with the high ideals of the representative organization of which he was thus the executive head. He holds
membership in the Detroit Club, the Detroit Athletic Club, the Hatmonie
Society, and the Michigan Whist Association, of which he was elected
president in I907. Both he and his wife are ardent devotees of whist and
are leading members of the Detroit Whist Club. Mr. Bielman is also
affiliated with the Knights of Columbus and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and he and his family are communicants of the
Catholic church, as member of the local parish of Our Lady of the
Rosary.
On the 22d of January, I890, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Bielman to Miss Katherine Barium, daughter of Thomas Barlum, long
one of the representative business men and influential citizens of Detroit.
Mr. and Mrs. Bielman have two children,-Florence C., and Charles
Frederick, Jr.
Louis C. WALKER. Few of the larger industries of Michigan have
been characterized by more remarkable progress than the Shaw-Walker
Company at Muskegon. This company is already pretty well known all
over the United States as manufacturers of high-class office equipment
and filing devices. The company have been liberal advertisers, have
shown great enterprise in extending their business, and having kept the
quality of their products fully up to all their claims, their success has
been entirely justified and a foundation has been laid for a business likely
to grow and go on in increasing importance for years. The beginning of
this concern was only about fourteen years ago, when Louis C. Walker
and A. W. Shaw, with about one hundred and fifty dollars in capital
between them, started in business together at Muskegon, and were at
first chiefly manufacturers agents, getting all their goods manufactured
for them, and giving all their energies to the sale and distribution of their
special lines. They pushed the business with such energy, that in about
two years they were justified in the erection of. a large plant of their own,
and the Shaw-Walker factory, is now one of the largest in the city of
Muskegon.
Louis C. Walker is a member of a family long identified with industrial enterprise in Michigan, and his father is a well known manufacturer
in Alpena. Louis C. Walker was born in Farmington, Michigan, January
8, I875, a son of James C. and Caroline (Wilcox) Walker. Both parents
were born in Michigan, the father in 1845, and the mother in I847. Louis
is the oldest of their three children, his brother Lawrence being an associate in the Shaw-Walker Company, while Harry is employed by the
father. James C. Walker started out in life as a lumber inspector, and
in I903 established a veneering business at Alpena, and the Walker
Veneer Works has become a large and flourishing concern. The parents
are active members of the Congregational church, and the father has
taken the degrees in both the York and Scottish Rite of Masonry, belonging to the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Commandery in the York, and having
taken thirty-two degrees in the Scottish Rite. His politics is Republican,
and his public service includes membership on the school board, and in
the city council of Alpena.