Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2014 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== Portrait and Biographical Album of Huron County, Michigan Pub. Chapman Brothers, Chicago, 1884 [363-364] JOHN C. LIKEN, senior member of the busi ness house of JOHN C. LIKEN & Co., at Sebewaing, was born Aug. 9, 1832, in Grossherzog- thum, Oldenburg, Germany. His parents, FREDERICK and CATHERINE LIKEN, were also natives of Germany, where they passed their entire lives. Their children were named FREDERICK, WILLIAM, HENRY, HANNAH, J. C. , HERMAN and MAGDALENA. They are all living with one excep- tion. MR. LIKEN received an excellent education in the schools of his native country, previous to becoming 14 years old, after which he was apprenticed for four years to learn the cooper's trade, working one year. After serving his time, he went to Greenland on a whaling vessel, in the capacity of cooper. He was absent six months. On first reaching the ice-floes of the Northern Ocean, the crew and assistants were called up to see a colony of seals at play. Young LIKEN sprang upon a cake of ice in his eagerness to kill one of the creatures, but it was too thin to bear his weight, and he went through into the water. A seaman who hastened to his rescue was obliged to devote his attention to his own safety, and the adventurous boy hung to the ice, which broke in his grasp until he was exhausted. He had time meanwhile to form a resolution to steer clear of Greenland all the rest of the days of his life, if there should be any left at the termination of the difficulty in which he found himself! The captain, with several seamen, lowered a small boat and made their way through the broken ice and rescued him. On the fourth of July, the whaler was blocked into a water course, by 21 English and German whaling vessels, and lay there three weeks. MR. LIKEN reached home in the latter part of August, perfectly satisfied with his experiences. He worked at his trade until the summer of 1853. In June of that year he sailed for Amer- ica, working his passage in a sailing vessel. The voyage consumed exactly six weeks. The estimate of his services by the captain was expressed by the present of a $5 gold piece. The particular act for which he received the testimonial was his voluntary ascent to the mast-head during a fearful gale, to assist in reefing a sail. On landing at the port of New York, he sought for work at his trade, but being without friends or influence, he was for a time unsuccessful. Finally he took the landlord of the hotel where he stayed, into his confidence, who became interested in his welfare and inserted an advertisement in his behalf in a journal published in the interests of the craft to which he belonged. He applied to the advertising firm of WAYDELL & Co., where he met WILLIAM F. YOUNG, of Binghamton, N.Y., then in the city, for the purpose of securing coopers. He made an engagement with him and proceeded to Binghamton, where he was employed four years. He went thence to Addison, Steuben Co., N.Y., and worked one year at his trade. The panic of 1857 caused the collapse of his employers, and he found himself in enforced idleness. He had invested his earnings in real estate at Addison. He observed that various members of the sur- rounding community were in possession of considerable quantities of stave bolts, and he went to Binghamton to consult his former em- ployer as to the feasibility of a plan he had conceived to embark in business in his own behalf. MR. YOUNG supplied him with money, and he returned to Addison to carry out his plan of entering into the manufacture of sugar and molasses hogsheads, of which he made a complete success. He purchased the fixtures of his former em- ployers, and went into business on an extensive scale, with 14 assistants. On the failure of the timber supply of that region, he sold his property and proceeded to Huron County, locating at Sebewaing in the fall of 1865. He at once put his business in operation, and was rewarded by largely increased avenues, one branch being the expor- tation of large quantities of whiteoak pipe staves to Germany. This still continues, though in reduced quantity. He owns and operates two saw and stave mills at Sebewaing, and one each at Unionville, Akron and Fair Grove, Tuscola Co., Mich. His working force includes 200 men and boys, and the aggregate annual product of his various lumber establishments amounts to $75,000. He operates two flour mills at Sebewaing and Unionville; the one is a three-stone mill, the other a two-stone mill, with a producing capacity of 60 barrels of flour daily. He is the owner of the "John C. Liken," a steamer plying between Sebewaing and Bay City. Among the many firms with whom he transacts business, are the two named in New York and Binghamton. In 1874 he erected the fine brick block in which he carries on his mercantile transactions, including traffic in hardware, dry goods, groceries and drugs, constituting four stores, in which his business relations require the aid of nine clerks. His trading business amounts to $100,000 annually. He deals extensively in lumber, shingles, lath, brick, lime, etc., etc. He has branch business houses at Bay Port and Kilmanagh, in Huron County, and at Unionville, in Tuscola County, and his entire annual business transactions amount to about $350,000. He owns over 1,000 acres of land in Huron, and 500 acres in Tuscola Counties, chiefly unimproved. MR. LIKEN is identified with the principles and issues of the Republican party. He has served on the Board of Village Trustees since the organization of Sebewaing. He was married Feb. 15, 1855, in Oxford, Chenango Co., N.Y., to WALBURGA KUNKEL, daughter of PETER and MARY KUNKEL. Her parents were both natives of Bavaria, Germany, where her father died. Her mother came to America and died in 1869, in Sebewaing, at the residence of her daughter. MRS. LIKEN was born July 16, 1836, in Bavaria. She came to the United States when she was 16 years of age. Following is the record of the five children born to Mr. and Mrs. LIKEN: MARY C. was born Jan. 31, 1856, in Binghamton, N.Y., and is the wife of RICHARD MARTINI, of Sebawaing. HANNAH E. was born Sept. 16, 1857, in Addison, N.Y. She married F. C. BACH, and lives at Sebewaing. (See sketch.) CHARLES W. was born Sept. 25, 1858, in Addison; EMMA H. was born at the same place, March 23, 1864; JOHN died in infancy. The public will doubtless be pleased to find, accompanying this sketch, a portrait of MR. LIKEN, who deserves representation in the collection given in this work. =========================================================================== If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access more of our growing collection of FREE online information by going to the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/ ===========================================================================