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

1690 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN
attend to religious duties and those acts of charity which made her so
beloved, no one seeking sympathy or aid having been denied the same
by her."
Mr. and Mrs. Rathbun became the parents of four children: Luella
R. is the wife of George H. Williams, of Battle Creek; Stephen J. is
specifically mentioned on other pages of this volume; Frank J. is associated with the White Automobile Company, of Cleveland, Ohio; and
Earl H. is in the employ of the Vogue Publishing Company, in New
York city. All of the children were born in Battle Creek and all were
afforded the advantages of the University of Michigan.
STEPHEN J. RATHBUN. A native son of Battle Creek, which has ever
represented his home, Mr. Rathbun holds secure vantage-ground as one
of the substantial business men and liberal and progressive citizens of
the metropolis of Calhoun county, and here he is fully upholding the high
prestige of the family name, which has been closely identified with the
civic and business activities of Battle Creek for nearly half a century.
He is a son of the late Frank M. Rathbun, to whom a memoir is dedicated elsewhere in this publication, so that further review of the family
record rs not demanded in this connection. Mr. Rathbun is treasurer
of the Rathbun & Kraft Lumber & Coal Company, which is one of the
most important corporations of its kind in Calhoun county and which
proves a valued adjunct to the business activities of Battle Creek.
Stephen J. Rathbun was born in Battle Creek on the 2Ist of September, I876, and his early educational advantages were those afforded by
the public schools of his native city. Here also he completed a course in
the Krug Business College, which was then one of the leading schools of
the sort in southern Michigan. After his graduation Mr. Rathbun became
bookkeeper in the offices of the Advance Threshing Machine Company,
of which his father was a stockholder, and he continued with this corporation three years. Soon afterward he enlisted with the local regiment
of the Michigan National Guard for service in the Spanish-American war,
and mention of this episode in his career will be made in fuller detail in
a later paragraph of this review. Mr. Rathbun received his honorable
discharge as a volunteer soldier of the United States in September, I898,
and upon his return to Battle Creek he assumed the position of bookkeeper for the pioneer lumber firm of Mason, Rathbun & Company, of
which his father had been one of the organizers and was a member at the
time of his death, in I893. In January, I899, Mr. Rathbun associated
himself with Arthur J. Kraft in the purchase of the old and substantial
business enterprise with which he had thus become connected, and the
business was forthwith reorganized and was incorporated under the title
of the Rathbun & Kraft Lumber & Coal Company, the present official
corps of which is here designated: Frederick Wells, president; Edward
Henning, vice-president; Stephen J. Rathbun, treasurer; and Arthur J.
Kraft, secretary. The company has a well equipped planing mill, with
the best of modern facilities in the handling of general work and the
manufacturing of interior finish, sash, doors, blinds, etc. The company
has control also of an extensive business in the dealing in lumber, lath,
shingles and other building supplies, and handles hard and soft coal, gas
coke, cement, brick and plaster. The office and yards are established on
South McCamly street and it has justly been stated that the concern
"controls a business that is not exceeded in scope and importance by any
of similar character in southern Michigan, the while its high reputation
for effective service and honorable dealings constitutes its best commercial asset." Mr. Kraft is a business man of much initiative and executive
ability, has been deservedly successful and has at all times held inviolable