Sylvester B. KIMBALL

KIMBALL, FAIRFIELD, MCINTYRE, HARRIS

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 10/22/2008 at 10:45:18

[former Goldfield, Wright County, Iowa resident]

A Twentieth Century History of Berrien County, Michigan by Judge Orville W. Coolidge, 1906, pg. 416-418

SYLVESTER B. KIMBALL, whose actions have during his life been such as to distinctively entitle him to a place in this publication as a representative resident of Berrien county, is now practically living retired in Benton Harbor. His birth occurred in New York in 1843. His father, Benoni Kimball, was born in Vermont in 1814 and was a brick maker by trade, following that pursuit throughout his active business career, first in the employ of others and then on his own account. He served as a soldier in the Mexican war and subsequent to this time removed from the Empire state to Michigan, taking up his abode in Jackson county in 1849. There he engaged in the manufacture of brick, conducting a brickyard near the state prison there. He afterward removed to Brooklyn, Jackson county, where he again established a brickyard and subsequently he took up his abode Hillsdale county, where he also engaged in the manufacture of brick. At a subsequent date he purchased a farm in Jefferson township, Hillsdale county, and on leaving that place removed to Laporte county, Indiana, where he again engaged in the manufacture of brick. He next went to Carlisle Hill, where he conducted a similar enterprise and afterward farmed forty acres near Winamac, Indiana, where he continued to make his home up to the time of his death. Close application and earnest purpose constituted the salient features in his career and won him a gratifying measure of success. He was married in the east to Miss Ruth A. Fairfield, a native of New York, who died in 1846 at the age of twenty-eight years. There were two children of that marriage, Walter F. and Sylvester B., both residents of Benton Harbor. After losing his first wife Mr. Kimball wedded Nancy McIntyre, who is still living in Benton Harbor. They had five children, Charles, Lewis, Baird, Fred and Francis. The father's death occurred in Winamac, Indiana, in 1888, at the age of seventy-four years.

Sylvester S. Kimball accompanied his father on his various removals until he settled in Jefferson township, Hillsdale county. He and his brother Walter F. then enlisted for service in the Civil War. The brother became a member of the First Michigan Engineers and Mechanics, a volunteer regiment being attached to Company H, for three years. He was born in New York in 1840 and was therefore in the early twenties when he joined the Army. After serving for about two years he was wounded at the battle of Perryville on the 8th of October, 1862, two minie-balls piercing his left chest. One entered his right breast and fourteen years afterward was taken out of his arm. The other entered his left breast and is now in his back. He was in the hospital at Louisville, Kentucky, for about two months. After the close of the war he lived in Iowa for twenty years and since 1887 he has made his home in Benton township, where he now owns and cultivates a farm.

Sylvester B. Kimball enlisted in 1862 in the Eighteenth Michigan Regiment as a private of Company F for three years service. He remained with the army for only eight months, however, when he was discharged at Lexington, Kentucky, on account of illness. On the 15th of March, 1865, he re-enlisted as a private of Company I, which participated in Sherman's march to the sea and the campaign under that intrepid leader until the close of the war. He was mustered out at Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1865, by general order of the war department. When his military service had ended Mr. Kimball went to Traverse county, Michigan, and was driver on the mail wagon from Traverse City to Benzona. He also took up a homestead in Traverse county. He drove the mail wagon for a year and then went to Lansing, Michigan, where he buried his wife. Subsequently he removed to Laporte, Indiana, where he worked with his father for a time in the brick manufacturing business.

He next went to Goldfield, Iowa, where he continued for seven years and in 1875 he came to Benton Harbor, where he accepted the position of foreman with the Watkins Brick Manufacturing Company, serving in that capacity for three years. He then purchased a brick yard, which he conducted under the name of Kimball's Brickyard and the business proved a profitable venture but on account of his ill health he was obliged to abandon this enterprise and purchased the home which he now occupies on the Territorial road. He was commissioned notary public in 1886 and has since continued to serve in that capacity. He was also justice of the peace for eight years and during that time not a case was ever reversed against his decision.

Mr. Kimball was married to Miss Eliza Harris of Benton township and has one child, Sylvanus B., who was born in Benton Harbor. By a former marriage Mr. Kimball had one son, George E. (Edmund), who is engaged in the transfer business in Benton Harbor under the name of Kimball's Transfer Line.

In politics Mr. Kimball is a stalwart Republican and while living in Iowa served as township clerk. In this state he has been notary public and justice of the peace as before mentioned, and his public service has given entire satisfaction. He is vice president of the Chicago Fraternal League and he is a member of Benton Harbor Lodge, No. 132, I.O.O.F., of which he was financial secretary for two years. He also belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic and is a member of George H. Thomas Post, No. 14, at Benton Harbor. He was a true and faithful soldier in the dark days of the Civil war and has been equally loyal in citizenship in times of peace. His career has not been filled with thrilling incidents and yet probably no biography published in this volume can serve as a better illustration to young men of the power of honesty, integrity and perseverance in insuring success.