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

1470

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

William Armstrong, the maternal grandfather, spent all his life in Ireland,
where he was a land holder and in that way supplied the means for the
support of himself and family. James Roach, the father, came with his
family to the United States when he was young, and his wife visited
some of her relatives in America, and in that way they met and were
married. There were only two children, and the daughter, Elizabeth,
who died in I892, was the wife of Eugene Martin. James Roach and
wife were members of the Episcopal Church, and he was a Republican
in politics. He made every dollar he ever possessed as a result of his
own efforts, and for a number of years had the reputation in Jefferson
County, New York, of being one of the most successful farmers in that
part of the state. He had a fine estate of 200 acres, and managed it
with skill.
William R. Roach grew up in northern New York, was educated at
Hungerford's Collegiate Institute in Adams. After graduating from
this academic school, he returned to the farm and participated in its varied
industries until I885. He was then twenty-three years of age, and ambitious to make a career on his own account. Moving west he learned the
garden seed business, and near Brooklyn, Iowa, began the growing of
seed, an enterprise which he developed to fairly successful proportions.
The experience besides the profits it returned to its proprietor gave him
a thorough knowledge of the general business, and he finally sold out
and went on the road for the Jerome B. Rice Seed Company, of
Cambridge, New York, remaining with that concern eleven years. After
that Mr. Roach bought a small canning plant in 1902, and from a small
plant has developed his present large packing industry, comprising now
five complete canning plants located at Hart, Edmore, Kent City,
Scottsville, and Lexington. The output of these plants is valued at
$2,000,000 a year, and is sold to jobbers and large grocerymen all over
America, under a brand that is now a synonym for quality, known as
the Hart brand. These different plants consume and pack each year
the total crop of about fifteen thousand acres of vegetables, besides large
quantities of fruits. The W. R. Roach & Company is incorporated with
a capital of $300,000, and the home office and factory are at Hart, an
industry which in no small measure contributes to the business prosperity
of that city.
On June I, I904, Mr. Roach married Olive L. Nott, a daughter of
Sylvester G. Nott, who was born in Adams, New York, and now lives
retired, in Michigan, after a career as a farmer and merchant. Mr. Roach
is a member of the Episcopal Church. Fraternally, he affiliates with
Wigton Lodge, No. 25I, A. F. & A. M.; with Chapter No. 148, R. A. M..
and with the Knight Templar Commandery at Muskegon, and the Consistory and Shrine at Grand Rapids. A Republican in politics. Aside
from his other interests, Mr. Roach is,a stock raiser, dividing his attention between cattle and horses, and has what is said to be the finest peach
orchard in the United States. He is a stockholder and director in other
leading financial institutions of Hart, Muskegon and other cities in
western Michigan.
CAPTAIN STEPHEN RUSSELL KIRBY. As one of Michigan's pioneer
mechanical and construction engineers, whose name and work identified
him permanently with Saginaw and Detroit as well as other places around
the Great Lakes, the late Captain Stephen Russell Kirby deserves mention in the list of Michigan's representative citizens of the past. His
son, Frank E. Kirby, of Detroit, is one of the ablest marine engineers in
America, and another son is Fitz A. Kirby, of Wyandotte, Michigan, a
retired ship builder.