Charles Kenneth Susan
Aug. 13, 1911-March 9, 1938


    Charles Kenneth Susan, 26, prominent athlete, and a native of Niles, died at 1:20 o'clock this morning in Pawating hospital, the victim of a fractured skull.
    Fatally injured Monday morning when he dropped 16 feet through an elevator shaft in the Niles Brewing company building, Mr. Susan died without regaining consciousness.
    Born in Niles, Aug. 13, 1911, he is the son of Mrs. Leota Susan, 712 Maple street.  His father, the late William Susan, died in 1933.
    Mr. Susan attended Niles high school and was a member of the 1930 graduating class.  During his high school career he took an active part in athletics, and was a star tackle on the 1929 conference championship football team.
    After his graduation he was active (continued on page Two) in independent sport circles.  During the last season he was a member of the Troost softball team, and played guard on the Susan Service basketball squad.
    At the time of his injury he was affiliated with the Susan and Sons Sand and Gravel company. Through his connection with the company he had gained a wide acquaintance throughout this section.
    Beside his mother, Mr. Susan leaves his widow, the former Anna Hierman, whom he married on Thanksgiving Day, 1935, in Christ the King church; one brother, Delbert, Niles; and three sisters, Mrs. Edith Sutton, Mrs. Albert Schrumpf, and Mrs. John Burge, all of Niles.
    Requiem high mass will be sung at 9 o'clock Friday morning in St. Mary's Roman Catholic church by the Rev. Fr. Joseph Rochford.  Last Sacraments was administered by Fr. Rochford, Monday night. Burial will be in Silverbrook cemetery.
    Friends may call at the Turner and Pifer funeral home.

(Source: Niles Daily Star, Wednesday, March 9, 1938, page 1, col. 7-8, cont. page 2, col. 1, microfilm Niles District Library)

S. D. (Slater) Coleman
Dec. 28, 1866-March 8, 1938


    S.D. Coleman, Sr., 71, an employe of the French Paper company for the last 41 years, died suddenly at 6 o'clock this morning at his home, 337 South Third street. Death was caused by a heart attack.
    Apparently in good health, Mr. Coleman worked his regular shift Monday night  He became ill after he arrived home.
    Frank G. French, president of the paper company, expressed deep regret today in the passing of the veteran employe.  "As night superintendent, he was most efficient in the discharge of his duties," Mrs. French said, "and was highly regarded by the other employes."
    Mr. Coleman was born in Elkhart, Ind., Dec. 28 1866.  He moved to Niles from Kalamazoo in 1897 to enter the employe of the French Paper company.
    Besides his widow, Mary, whom he married in Kalamazoo in 1895, he leaves two daughters, Mrs. M.E. Collmer, Chicago, and Mrs. V.N. Meeker, Niles; two sons, Slater D. Coleman, Jr., and Paul R. Coleman, Niles; one sister, Mrs. Margaret Bachman, Niles, and two brothers, Joseph Coleman, Grand Rapids, and Fred Coleman, Kalamazoo; also five grandchildren.
    Funeral arrangements are incomplete, but friends may call at the Rutherford funeral home.

(Source: Niles Daily Star, Tues. March 8, 1938, page 2, col. 1, microfilm Niles District Library)

Mrs. Archibald (Luella Josephine) Fowler
March 31,1869-March 11,1904

MRS. L.J. FOWLER
Well Known Niles Lady Passed Away Last Night

    Mrs. L.J. Fowler, a well known Niles lady, passed away at about 10 o'clock last night at her home on Grant street, West Niles, aged 42 years.  She is survived by a husband and three children, two girls and one boy.
    The funeral will be held from the home next Monday afternoon at 3:30 o'clock, Rev. Ferguson officiating.  Interment will take place at Silver Brook.
(Source: Niles Daily Star, Saturday, March 12, 1904, page 2, col. 1, microfilm Niles District Library)    
    
and
    Mrs. Archibald Fowler died last evening at her home on Grant street at half past ten, her death being due to cerebral tumor.  The deceased was forty years of age and is survived by her husband and two daughters and a son.
    Mrs. Fowler was a very much respected and admired lady and her death will be mourned by a host of friends.  
    The funeral services which will be conducted by the Rev. A.T. Ferguson, will be held at the house Monday.

(Source: Niles Republican, Thursday, March 17, 1904, page 1 col. 2, reprinted from Niles Daily Sun, Saturday, March 12, 1904, microfilm Niles District Library)

Eliza Jane Hodgson
Sept. 18, 1829-March11, 1904

    Mrs. E.J. Hodgson passed peacefully away at 9:45 a.m. yesterday at her home on Lake street after a lingering illness of nearly seven months.  
    She was born in Delaware Sept. 18, 1829, came to Michigan when five years old and had resided in the neighborhood where she died most of the time since.  
    She was twice married and was the mother of seven children, four of whom are left to mourn her loss, William, Charles and Miss Edith, who resided at the homestead and Edwin of Detroit, also two granddaughters.  Mrs. Hodgson was a life long member of the M.E. church from which place the funeral will take place Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

(Source: Niles Republican, Thursday, March 17, 1904, page 1 col. 2, reprinted from Niles Daily Sun, Saturday, March 12, 1904, microfilm Niles District Library)

Uri H. Stebbins
July 30, 1833-January 8, 1909


    Uri H. Stebbins passed away yesterday afternoon at 2 o'clock at the home of his son, Carl G. Stebbins in Three Oaks.  His death was very sudden following an illness of less than an hour from heart disease.
    Mr. Stebbins was born in Silver Creek, Chatauqua county, New York, July 39, 1833, being thus past 75 years of age at the time of his death.
    Mr. Stebbins came to Niles with his parents when he was six years of age.  The trip overland was made in wagons.  The household goods, however, were shipped via water to Chicago and from there driven in wagons to Niles.
    For 33 years of his life Mr. Stebbins engaged in the milling business at the old brick mill on north Front, recently destroyed by fire.  Upon retiring from this business he removed to his farm east of Niles, where he lived until the death of his wife in 1904.  He then went to Three Oaks to make his home with his son.
    Mr. Stebbins is survived by one son and two daughters as follows:  Mrs. Carl J. Fox of Niles, Mrs. H.E. Lowry, Benton Harbor, and Carl G. Stebbins.  An older son, Ward A. Stebbins, passed away July 7, 1889.
    The funeral will be held at the late residence in Three Oaks Monday afternoon at 2 o'clock, Rev. Mr. Norton officiating.  The remains will be brought to Niles via the Michigan Central at 3:29 p.m. They [will] be met by St. Joseph Valley Lodge, F.&A. M., of which the deceased had been a member for over 40 years.
    The body will be laid to rest in the family lot at Silver Brook cemetery beside those of Mr. Stebbins' wife and son.
    Mr. Stebbins was a man who during his whole life stood fearless upon principles and for what he believed to be right.
    He was one of the founders of the republican party. He supported that party and its candidates always when he believed them to be right but was wholly independent and supported candidates of other parties when his own party or its candidates did not measure up the the standard he thought they should.
    He was never an office seeker nor an office holder but was content to serve in the ranks and to be one of the molders of thought and leaders of public opinion in his own quiet, unobtrusive, yet none the less effective way.
    He was a strong supporter of the late Gov. Pingree and his many reforms.  He was also a primary reformer and he looked forward to the time when he could attend the last party convention as he had attended the first under the oaks at Jackson.
    The community loses a grand old man in Mr. Stebbins, old in years, but youthful to the last in the mental figure and in the deep interest he took in public affairs.
    He represented the best type of American citizenship and was always to be found on the moral side of all questions as he undertood[sic] them.  In his private life he practiced what he preached in public and  was moral, upright, wholesome in mind and body, a splendid example for the young.

Under the Oaks at Jackson

    Up to the time of his death Mr. Stebbins enjoyed the distinction of being the only survivor of the seven Berrien county delegates who attended the famous convention at Jackson, Mich., in 1854, at which the republican party was ushered into being.  At that time Mr. Stebbins lacked two weeks of being 21 years of age but that did not disqualify him from sitting in the convention as a delegate from his county.
    At the time of holding the convention Berrien county boasted of but five, towns, Niles, Buchanan, St. Joseph, Berrien Springs, and Pipestone.  These sent a total of 40 delegates to Berrien Springs in response to a call for a meeting of those "in favor of free soil, free speech, and non extension of slavery."  To be an abolitionist in those days required courage; epithets were hurled at them; there were many in Niles and throughout the county who sympathized with the abolitionists, but who did not have the courage to come out and denounce the old parties, hence the small number of brave souls that assembled at Berrien Springs for it was a brave thing in those days to be a [illegible] called.
    At the Berrien Springs meeting delegates were appointed to attend the convention at Jackson, as follows: Frank Quinn, Samuel Griffith, and U.H. Stebbins of Niles; L.P. Alexander of Buchanan; A.H. Morrison and Warren Chapman of St. Joseph and Smith Farmer of Pipestone.  Of the seven all have now passed beyond.
    Mr. Stebbins remembered well what transpired at the Jackson convention which was the most thrilling meeting he ever attended. He remembered "Zach" Chandler as he appeared when making the opening address.  Jacob M. Howard, who was known as the greatest lawyer in the northwest, drafted resolutions and the latter and Horace Greeley christened the new party.  Walbridge of Kalamazoo, was made permanent chairman of the convention and a mighty roar when up with Kingsley S. Bingham was nominated for governor.
    Upon their return home from Jackson, the delegates held their heads high and when Governor Bingham swept the state at the November elections, the pro-slavery element in Michigan was broken forever and it became an honor to be known as a "black" republican.

(Source: Niles Daily Sun, Saturday, January 9, 1909, page 2, col. 2-3, microfilm Niles District Library)

Marian Brookfield Stebbins
April 28, 1841-March 12, 1904

    MRS. MARIAN BROOKFIELD STEBBINS, wife of U.H. Stebbins, passed away at her late home east of this city at half past one Sunday closing a life full of loving devotion and tender associations.
    Deceased was born in thie city of Niles, April 28, 1841, and was therefore nearly 63 years of age. She was united in marriage to U.H. Stebbins Jan. 1, 1857, and is survived by her husband and three children, viz. Mrs. C.J. Fox, of Niles; C.G. Stebbins  of Middleville, Mich.; and Mrs. H.E. Lowry of Benton Harbor.  Their oldest son, W.A. Stebbins, preceded her in death. Three sisters and one brother survive.  They are Mrs. Newton, of Berrien Springs; Mrs. Hollis, of Pearl, Mich.: Mrs. Forrest, of Spokane Falls, Wash., and C. Brookfield, of Niles.  
    The funeral services will be held at the late home on Wednesday at half past two o'clock with interment at Silver Brook cemetery.
    Mrs. Stebbins was an earnest faithful Christian and was an active worker in the Presbyterian church of this city.  Her pastor, Dr. Lowrie, who is still at Galesburg, Ill., where he was called by the death of relatives, has been notified of the beath[sic] of his faithful parishioner and it is quite likely that he will return to conduct the services and pay tribute to her personal worth.

(Source: Niles Republican, Thursday, March 17, 1904, page 1 col. 2, reprinted from Niles Daily Sun, Saturday, March 12, 1904, microfilm Niles District Library; see also The Acorn, March 18, 1904, page 14, reprinting paragraphs one and two, from the Niles Daily Star, March 14, 1904.)