A One-Name Study for the BARNUM/BARNHAM Surname
Maynard Barnum owned Barnum Brothers Factory in Petoskey, Michigan. He was the former president of the Petoskey Regional Chamber of Commerce. The company was located on Sheridan Street in Petoskey, alongside the railroad track and Bear River. It is still in the same location and looks about the same as it did in the 1950s and 1960s.
Mr. Barnum came to Petoskey in 1946 and bought the former Milkweed Floss Plant and started making paper twine. Later he went into making hundreds of thousands of grommets for cannons during the Korean conflict. The company made shrouds for heaters and a number of other products for the automotive business. They were known for their many fiberglass products such as stackable chairs, planters, and serving trays. At their peak, they had contracts from all three automotive companies and one hundred-seventy-two employees.
His company developed a number of new and innovative products, some of which received special recognition. One of them, a Holiday Line Fiber Glass Chair Seat, was recognized as Emmet County "Product of the Year" during Michigan Week. He was a member of the Odd Fellows, Shriners, Kiwanis Club and several others. Over the years he provided employment for many people in the Petoskey area. His worker held him in high regard. His warmth and friendly manner is often recalled. It was not uncommon for him and his wife to be invited by his employees to family events and weddings. He was survived by his wife, five brothers, and one sister.
The complete obituary and accompanying news article is available at Petoskey's Greenwood Cemetery Genealogical Site: http://www.gwood.us/
Source: Greenwood Genealogical On-Line Data Base
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6358329
Obituary from an unnamed contemporary newspaper: Maynard Barnum Rites Tuesday. Maynard Barnum, 74, President of Barnum Brothers Fiber Co., on Sheridan Avenue, died unexpectedly at his home in Harbor Springs yesterday afternoon. He was a former president of the Petoskey Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Services will be at the McKinley Funeral Home in Grant at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday with burial following at Ashland Cemetery.
Mr. Barnum came here in 1946 and opened his plant in the former Milkweed Floss Plant and started making paper twine in the fall of that year. Later the firm went into making heater-defroster and other fiber units for autos. In November of 1953 fire destroyed a large part of the building and he rebuilt. The company also made thousands of grommets used by the Army on cannon shells in the Korean Conflict.
Early in 1956, during a slump in the auto industry, the firm considered moving to Detroit because of a lack of contracts but in 1957 its Detroit engineering department developed a plastic to coat raw pulp and went into production of special fiber defrosters, arm rests and crash panels (with foam rubber).
The payroll at the plant reached a peak of 172 with contracts for Ford, Mercury and the now-defunct Edsel autos. Barnum invested $100,000 to tool up for 1958 production. But that summer the plant was forced to close and it remained idle until early in 1960 when it developed compression plastic moldings for electric fuse blocks, electric meter bases and special planters for flowers.
Mr. Barnum continued to develop other products and went into fiberglass materials.
In 1986 the firm's Holiday Line fiberglass chair seat was winner of the Emmet County and regional "Product of the Year" award in the Michigan Week celebration. The plant was producing 160,000 of them each year along with fiberglass auto accessories such as shrouds for auto heaters, radiators, serving-trays, planters and miscellaneous items.
Mr. Barnum was born May 12, 1893 in Bailey.
He was married to Theresa Richter, July 4, 1935 at Ottawa Hills, Ohio and they made their home in Detroit until coming here 21 years ago.
Mr. Barnum was president of the Barnum Brothers Fiber Company.
He was a member of the Trent Odd Fellows. Also the Masonic Blue Lodge, Harbor Springs; Beulah Chapter No. 63 of the O.E.S.; Queen Esther Shrine No. 15, of the White Shrine of Jerusalem; Ivanhoe Commandery No. 36 of the Knights Templar; Emmet Chapter No. 104, R.A.M.; Petoskey Lodge No. 629, BPOE; Saladin Temple, Grand Rapids; Northern Michigan Shrine Club; former director and president and director of the Petoskey Chamber of Commerce and has been an active member of the Petoskey Kiwanis Club.
Besides his wife, he is survived by five brothers, Stanley, of Yakima, Washington, Leslie, of Detroit, William Lyle, of Vista, California, Lowell, of Casanovia and Royal of Bailey and one sister, Mrs. Kitty Johnson, of Casanovia.
The body is at the Stone Funeral Home where friends may call Sunday afternoon and evening
A Research Guide to the Genealogy of the Barnum/Barnam/Barnham Family Worldwide
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