D. E. St. Amour

15 Jan 2022, last revised 12 Jul 2024

With only two, extremely rare bottles, D. E. St. Amour's soda business was probably short-lived. Both bottles have a date code for 1909, which pinpoints to when he was in business.

Deno E. St. Amour was born in Michigan in about 1872 (2). His various occupations throughout life reveal that being a bottler was a transitory endeavor. He was an engineer at the time of his marriage on 23 Sep 1902 in Chassell (4). The 1907 directory listed him in Houghton as a teamster for A. Haas Brewing Co. (5).

Newspaper article - Oct 1909

In Aug 1908, D. E. St. Amour resigned his position with the A. Haas Brewing Co., with one report saying, "having purchased a pop factory in Lake Linden" (6) and another saying, "will engage in the pop business in Lake Linden" (15). By early Nov 1908, he had moved his pop factory to the corner of Calumet and Mill streets (16). He stated that business was very good and the local people have patronized his business as well as could be expected (16). In Oct 1909, however, St. Amour sold his pop manufacturing business to Joseph LePage and Alex Hardy (7). LePage & Hardy purchased the entire stock of bottles, machinery, liquids, and boxes and had sufficient stock to enter the business immediately (18).

Deno was not included with his family, who resided in Chassell, for the 1910 U.S. Federal Census (1). Instead, he was in Tacoma, Washington where he was a scaler (8,9), and then a chauffeur (10-13). In 1918, he was a machinist for the Tinker Axle Co. in Detroit (14). The 1920 census recorded him and his family in Detroit where he was a machine operator for the automobile industry (2). We could not find him on the 1930 census. He was 66 years old and still in Detroit for the 1940 census, but now as a truck driver (3). We could not find when he died.

There are still lingering questions about St. Amour's pop business. If St. Amour purchased a pop factory, who's was it? The only earlier pop factory in Lake Linden was the Lake Linden Bottling Works. We do not know the name St. Amour used for his bottling works, but when LePage became sole proprietor in Dec 1909, his bottling works was called "Lake Linden Bottling Works" (17). Thus, St. Amour's bottling works may have been a continuation of the Lake Linden Bottling Works.

Another question involves the bottles. It seems apparent that LePage & Hardy continued to use St. Amour's bottles, and no bottles have been found to bear their names. But what bottles did St. Amour use when he started? His two known bottles date to 1909, but he operated from 1908. Are there more bottles still to be found, or was he able to use left-over bottles from the pop company he purchased?

Citations

1. U.S. Census Bureau. 1910 United States Federal Census. accessed on ancestry.com.
2. U.S. Census Bureau. 1920 United States Federal Census. accessed on ancestry.com.
3. U.S. Census Bureau. 1940 United States Federal Census. accessed on ancestry.com.
4. Michigan, U.S., Marriage Records, 1867-1952 (accessed on ancestry.com).
5. R. L. Polk & Co. 1907. Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory for 1907-1908. R. L. Polk & Co. Detroit, MI.
6. anonymous. (1908, Aug 04). Houghton brevities. The Daily Mining Gazette (Houghton, MI). p. 8.
7. anonymous. (1909, Oct 27). New pop manufacturers. The Calumet News (Calumet, MI). p. 4.
8. R. L. Polk & Co. 1910. Tacoma City Directory 1910. R. L. Polk & Co. Publishers. Tacoma, WA.
9. R. L. Polk & Co. 1911. Tacoma City Directory 1911. R. L. Polk & Co. Publishers. Tacoma, WA.
10. R. L. Polk & Co. 1912. Tacoma City Directory 1912. R. L. Polk & Co. Publishers. Tacoma, WA.
11. R. L. Polk & Co. 1913. Tacoma City Directory 1913. R. L. Polk & Co. Publishers. Tacoma, WA.
12. R. L. Polk & Co. 1914. Tacoma City Directory 1914. R. L. Polk & Co. Publishers. Tacoma, WA.
13. R. L. Polk & Co. 1915. Tacoma City Directory 1915. R. L. Polk & Co. Publishers. Tacoma, WA.
14. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 (accessed on ancestry.com)
15. anonymous. (1908, Aug 04). Houghton briefs. The Evening Journal (Hancock, MI). p. 5.
16. anonymous. (1908, Nov 03). Lake Linden brevities. The Daily Mining Gazette (Houghton, MI). p. 11.
17. anonymous. (1909, Dec 14). untitled. The Native Copper Times (Lake Linden, MI). p. 1.
18. anonymous. (1909, Oct 28). New pop manufacturers. The Daily Mining Gazette (Houghton, MI). p. 12.