James J. Hendrikse is president of the incorporated Hendrikse Company, which controls a substantial business in the distributing of household appliances that represent the most advanced types of modern improvements in this line – the celebrated Nokol automatic oil burners for heating purposes, and the equally valuable Wayne water softeners. Broad advertising and effective operation have made these important appliances known throughout the entire United States, and their extensive utilization and exploitation make unnecessary any detailed description in this review. James J. Hendrikse, who has won a place among the progressive and successful business men of the younger generation in his native city, was born in Grand Rapids February 13, 1890, and is a son of John W. H. and Sarah Hendrikse, who still reside in this city, the father having been a youth when he here established his home and having here been employed in connection with the furniture industry during a long period of years, both he and his wife being of sterling Holland Dutch ancestry. James J. Hendrikse received his early education by attending the public schools of Grand Rapids and his is the distinction of having served eight years in the United States Navy, in which connection his training and experience constituted the equivalent of a liberal education. In 1907 he was stationed at the navy training stataion at Norfolk, Virginia, and at the expiration of his original term of enlistment he promptly re-enlisted and was for some time in service at the naval training station in New Jersey. He served on various major war vessels, including the Washington, the Texas and the Minnesota, and visited every country along the eastern coast of South America. He was with his command in Turkey at the time of the memorable Armenian massacre of 1909, and he had the privilege of entering Italian ports, visiting the city of Jerusalem and the famous English fortress at Gibraltar, and in 1910 the warship on which he was in service brought back from Argentina the remains of a deceased Untied States minister to that nation. In 1915 Mr. Hendrikse received his honorable discharge from the navy and returned to Grand Rapids, where he soon afterwards was retained as building engineer in connection with the construction of the fine modern building of the Grand Rapids Savings Bank. In 1918 he initiated the business now conducted under the title of the Hendrikse Company, the company having been incorporated in 1923, He thus became a pioneer in the local exploitation of the Nokol automatic oil burners and the Wayne water softeners, and his vigorous and progressive policies eventually brought popular appreciation and adoption of the improved devices, with the result being that his company now controls a very prosperous business in the placing of these modern household mechanisms throughout western Michigan. Mr. Hendrikse was one of the organizers also of the Ever-Hot Heater Sales Company, of which he is the secretary and manager, the office headquarters of both of these concerns being at 4 Fountain street, N. W. Mr. Hendrikse’s basic Masonic affiliation is with Malta Lodge, No. 465, A. F. and A. M., and he is a noble of the Saladin Temple of the Mystic Shrine, besides which he and his wife are members of the Order of the Eastern Star. He is an active member of the Exchange Club, and he attends and supports the Methodist Episcopal church, of which Mrs. Hendrikse is an active member, her maiden name having been Lillian M. Kettner, and she having been a resident of Grand Rapids at the time of their marriage in 1919.