Kendallville Broom and Brush Company, incorporated from 1914 to 1926.

The object of this company was to manufacture brooms and brushes in the town of Kendallville, Indiana. This company was started by Gene Stratton-Porter, a very popular novelist and naturalist from northern Indiana in the early 20th century. There are copies of the incorporation papers, amendment papers and annual reports for the company in this file. The first papers are the Articles of Incorporation filed on May 14, 1914. It is interesting that her husband, Charles D. Porter, did not sign on as a director at the inception of the company as he did in the subsequent years.

There are various annual reports signed by the directors from 1914 to 1926. Besides the Porters the directors were Gertrude Lay Sumption and her husband Rinaldo Sumption, Wells S. Murphy, and John E. Jellison. Rinaldo Sumption was listed in the 1910 Federal Census as a General Merchant and Gertrude had no listed occupation. Wells S. Murphy was listed in the 1910 Federal Census as a Railroad Yard Marker in Cadillac, Michigan, and was listed as a manufacturer of brooms in Kendallville in the copy of his WWI registration. He was also the company’s secretary. John E. Jellison was listed as a laborer in the 1910 Federal Census, and was listed as manager of the broom company in 1920. Gene was listed as a writer of fiction in the 1920 Federal Census, and her husband as a bank manager in Rome City.

The Amendment papers for the company on January 20, 1921 increased its Capital Stock from $15,000 to $100,000. By that time the Porters had moved to California, where these papers were signed. Its interesting that all of the company’s directors had also moved to California by then. Gene was involved in producing films of her novels while in California, but was killed in an auto accident in December of 1924.

The last set of papers in this file is the Corporation Report of 1926. It looks like some investors from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania had bought the broom and brush company by then. Arthur A. Auer of Kendallville, Indiana is listed as the Vice-President of the company. Auer’s occupation listed on his death certificate in 1967 was as a manufacurer of brooms and brushes in Kendallville, so maybe the company started by Gene Stratton-Porter stayed in business in Kendallville for many years after she died.

The Apperson Brothers Automobile Company was incorporated in Kokomo, Indiana on November 9, 1908, and its paperwork extended to 1925. Its original directors were Elmer Apperson, Edgar L. Apperson, Alton G. Siberling and C. H. Felske

The object of this corporation was “to manufacture automobiles, motor cycles, all self-propelled conveyances, and all accessories thereto and machinery connected therewith.” The name of the company was changed to the Pioneer Automobile Company on October 13, 1924.

Elmer Apperson was born in 1861 and his brother Edgar in 1870. Elmer opened a machine shop in Kokomo, Howard County, Indiana in 1888 and his younger brother later joined him.  Elwood Haynes, a Kokomo inventor, got the idea of attaching a gasoline fueled marine motor to a carriage and asked Edgar to help him with the project, which they finished and tried out successfully on July 4, 1894. Edgar continued to work on the idea, and together Haynes and the Apperson brothers formed the Haynes-Apperson Company, slowly producing some of the first automobile models in the United States.

The partnership split in 1901, though Haynes did not drop the Apperson name until 1905. The Apperson factory, which was located near Wildcat Creek in Kokomo, burned down and a new plant was built in 1906 on Kokomo’s South Main Street.  A bigger plant was built on Washington Street in 1916. They incorporated their company as the Apperson Brothers Automobile Company in 1908. Besides the Appersons, an original director was Alton G. Seiberling, an investor who became the company’s secretary and treasurer till 1912 when he joined the Haynes Automobile Company. Also, Charles H. Felske, a local factory manager, was an original director.

Instead of delivering their purchased autos by train, they would drive the autos to the purchasers and personally show them how to drive and maintain the auto. One delivery to Brooklyn, N.Y. took 21 days! They also would participate in various kinds of races around the country to publicize their product. In 1907 they introduced their Jackrabbit model which became their most popular auto.

Elmer died in 1920 and Edgar sold his stock in the company and retired from the business in 1924 when the company was in financial trouble. It went bankrupt in 1926. Though, according to the corporate papers, Edgar was a director in the newly formed Pioneer Automobile Company, but it was not successful. It is interesting that the treasurer of the Apperson company, A. G. Dawson, and the company’s Vice President, B.C. Buxton, hung in as directors of the Pioneer Company, along with E. B. Barnes, a local lawyer, and three out-of-town investors. The company must have had too much debt.

Edgar Apperson retired to Arizona to become a farmer, and his hobbies were hunting and fishing. He died in 1959.

by Robert F. Gilyeat, an Indiana State Archives volunteer