Page 543 -Reuben E. DeNio is one of the well-known contracting carpenters of Grand Rapids and it is due in a large measure to his ability and initiative that the business holds its present place in the building industry of the city. He was born in Salem, Washtenaw county, Michigan, December 27, 1879, a son of George G. and Alice (Simmons) DeNio, the former of whom was born in Steuben county, Indiana, August 12, 1850, and the latter of whom was born in Salem, Michigan, in March, 1851, dying in April 1924. George G. DeNio, the father of our subject, is the son of Joseph and Sophronia (Ingersoll) DeNio. His mother died when he was still in infancy and he was reared by his grandparents until he was ten years old, and since that time he has provided for himself. He received a common school education, and in 1865, he came to Michigan, locating at Superior, where at the age of eighteen he began to learn the carpenter trade. At the end of six years he removed to Salem, Michigan, where he followed his chosen vocation of carpenter for fifteen years. In 1889 he came to Grand Rapids and engaged in the carpenter contracting work, a field in which he has since continued. He is still actively interested in his trade and has missed only seven days in the past five years. He and his wife were active in church work and were members of the Baptist church, being baptized on the same day. Mr. and Mrs. DeNio were the parents of three children as follows: Reuben E., the subject of this review; Newell, who died at the age of nine years, and Effie N., the widow of George R. Landon, of Detroit, Michigan. Reuben DeNio was educated in the Grand Rapids schools after which he went into business with his father. The present success of the firm is largely due to his own efforts, for he has applied himself to the duties of his work with an indefatigable energy that has marked him as one of the able men in his field in Grand Rapids. Contracts for the carpenter work on residences and other structures are taken up by the company. General repairing has occupied the attention of the concern principally for the past few years. With the outbreak of the World war, Mr. DeNio was employed with the United States Government to inspect lumber for airplane and ship construction. He was stationed in the woods of northern New York during this time. When the Spanish-American war opened, Mr. DeNio enlisted in Company E., Michigan National Guard, on April 23,1898, but when the regiment was mustered into Federal service he was rejected by the examining physician. On February 6, 1922, he married Mrs. Barbara E. Meyerhoffer, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Cocher, of Meridian, Illinois. Mrs. DeNio is a graduate nurse from the State Hospital at Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. DeNio have a beautiful home at 140 Quigley boulevard, southwest, where Mr. DeNio indulges his hobby of raising flowers. The grounds surrounding his home are among the most beautiful in plan of any in that section of the city.