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HORATIO N. BIDELMAN


Horatio N. Bidelman, who is operating a livery and sale stable at Coldwater, was born to Abraham and Lucinda (Michael) Bidelman, July 4, 1837, in the town of Shelby, Orleans Co., N. Y.  He was the fifth of a family of seven children, who were named respectively:  Samuel; Louisa, who married Arthur Johnson; Julia Ann, the wife of Wallace Acer; Jane, Mrs. Roderick McDaniels; Horatio N., our subject; Clara, the wife of Henry Williams, and Lorenzo.  Of these six are living and residents of New York and Michigan.

            Abraham Bidelman, the father of our subject, was born March 10, 1800, at Little Falls, Herkimer Co., N. Y., and was the son of Henry and Catherine (Becker) Bidelman, who were natives of Germany.  They emigrated to the United States at an early day, settling in Herkimer County, N. Y., where their son Abraham lived until he was a youth of eighteen years.  The family all then removed to Orleans County, settling on the Holland Purchase, near the town of Shelby, in 1818.  Abraham remained with the family until the following spring, then started out for himself, being employed by the month by a farmer named Fuller, with whom he continued for a period of four years.  Eighteen months later he purchased a piece of land in the vicinity of Shelby, which he occupied one year, then sold, and purchased eighty acres located elsewhere in the township.  Here, he spent the remainder of his days, his death taking place in 1868.  He was a man of much force of character, fond of his home and his family, strictly temperate, and in politics a decided Democrat.  He had been identified with the Christian Church many years, and was noted for his honesty and uprightness in his business transactions.

            The mother of our subject was also a native of New York State, and is remembered in her home and among her children as possessing all the womanly virtues.  She, like her husband, belonged to the Christian Church, and adorned her profession in her daily life.  To her children she was the best of mothers, and in all the relations of life fulfilled her duties in that careful and conscientious manner which left its impress upon all around her.  She departed hence one and one-half years after the death of her husband, and was laid to rest in the burying-ground at West Shelby.

            The early life of our subject was spent under the home roof until he was a youth of eighteen years, he in the meantime acquiring his education in the common school.  In January, 1855, he set out for the West, and coming to this county commenced chopping wood at twenty-five cents a cord and his board.  He was employed at this during the winter, and in the spring engaged as a farm laborer for the summer.  In the fall he returned to his native State, and remained there one year.  He returned to this county in 1857, and employed himself at whatever he could find to do until the spring of 1861.

            The next most important event in the life of our subject was his marriage, which occurred in Quincy Township, this county, Feb. 14, 1861, with Miss Ann Eliza Williams.  The young people commenced life together on a farm which our subject worked on shares, and where they remained two years.  He then purchased fifty acres on section 18, Quincy Township, where he labored as before until paying for it, in the meantime working his land as he had opportunity.  When he could call this property his own he commenced buying and selling stock, and invested a part of the surplus capital in ten or more acres of land.  This ten acres he sold at a good profit by the end of the year, and leaving the farm took up his residence in Quincy Village and engaged in the livery business.  A year and a half later he sold out, and returning to the farm remained there until 1880.  In the meantime he put up a modern residence, and purchased more land, namely, thirty adjoining the first fifty, and twenty in Coldwater Township.  On the 18^th of December, 1880, in company with Harlow Williams, he purchased the Peterson livery barn, and two years later had secured the interest of his partner in the business.  He continued sole proprietor until 1883, then gave his son a half-interest in the rolling stock.

            Mr. Bidelman, in 1882, sold his twenty acres of land in Coldwater, and two years later disposed of the old homestead to E. G. Fuller.  The same year he purchased a farmof Judge Fuller, embracing seventy acres in Coldwater Township, and which he still owns.  In 1882 he purchased his city property on Marshall street, where he now resides.  His stable is equipped with first-class stock and vehicles, among the former several high-bred horses of great speed and endurance.  The business is conducted in that systematic manner which always brings success.  Mr. Bidelman votes the straight Democratic ticket, and socially, belongs to the A.O.U.W.

            The marriage of our subject with Miss Ann Eliza Williams was celebrated at the home of the bride in Quincy Township, Feb. 14, 1861.  Mrs. Bidelman was the youngest of seven children who comprised the family of Alpheus and Sylvia (McLain) Williams, and was born Dec. 20, 1840 at Quincy, this State.  Her brothers were named respectively:  Daniel, George, John, Henry, Edward and Monroe.  The father was born in New Hampshire in August, 1801.  He followed farming all his life, and was one of the early settlers of Branch County, coming to Michigan Territory with his family in 1836, overland through the State of Ohio, through the Maumee swamps.

            Alpheus Williams removed from New Hampshire to Niagara County, N. Y., where he resided until 1836, then sold out, and with his wife and six children started for the Territory of Michigan.  The entire journey was made overland.  They settled in the wilds of Quincy Township, this county, being among the earliest pioneers of this region.  The father purchased a tract of timber land, where he first erected a log house, and then commenced clearing the land around him.  Here he lived and labored many years, and succeeded in surrounding himself with the comforts of life.  He erected good buildings, and lived to see the country around him settled up with an intelligent and enterprising class of people.  He departed hence in 1878, mourned by the entire community.

            Mr. and Mrs. Bidelman have one child only, a son, Emmet A., who married Miss Ida Weaver, of Marshall, Mich., and they also have one child, a daughter, Irene.  Emmet is the associate of his father in the livery business.

Transcribed and donated to the USGenWeb by Jennifer Clark, Huntsville, Alabama, clark1528@aol.com (February 2006)