F. M. Kinsman

14 Nov 2021, last revised 26 Jun 2026

F. M. Kinsman was known to have ABM bottles, so it was quite surprising when a hand-finished bottle was discovered after the publication of Old Copper Country Bottles in 1978. This bottle marks the very end of the hand-blown era. Kinsman's operation was the successor to H. Larsen & Co.

Kinsman as Proprietor

Frank McCabe Kinsman was born in Calumet on 14 Oct 1880 (1,2). His father was born in Cornwall, England (3) and his mother was born in New York (4). Frank was a harnessmaker in his father's saddlery and carriage business (5). In Feb 1906, he and Charles Wagner took over the business (6) and his father, William C. Kinsman, announced his retirement (7).

Kinsman, who was president of the village of Red Jacket and who had recently left the firm Kinsman & Wagner, purchased an interest in the firm H. Larsen & Co. in Jun 1916 and would promptly assume the duties of manager (8,9). Shortly after, on 01 Aug 1916, Kinsman purchased the remaining interest and became sole owner (10). The bottling works would be known as the "F. M. Kinsman pop factory" and Howard Larsen would continue to be pop manufacturer (10).

The 1917 Sanborn map shows the bottling works on the southeast corner of 9th St. and Portland St.

The bottling works had four employees in 1917, 1918, and 1919 (11,12,13). Rudolph Beiswanger, previously of the Jos. James' bottling works, was employed by Kinsman when he registered for the World War I draft on 12 Sep 1918 (1).

In Oct 1919, Kinsman sold the bottling works to Fred Demarais, and the business would then be known as the Sanitary Bottling Works (14).

Kinsman Moves On

Kinsman operated the bottling works for three years. His obituary stated that he moved to Flint about 13 years prior to his death (15), which would have been in about 1919. The 1920 U.S. Federal Census then recorded him as a watchman in an auto factory in Flint, MI (4). Frank Kinsman later died in Flint on 22 Aug 1932 at the age of 51 (2). He was a clerk at the Buick Motor Co. at the time of his death (2).

Citations

1. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Accessed on Ancestry.com.
2. Michigan Department of Community Health, Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics; Lansing, Michigan; Death Records. Accessed on Ancestry.com.
3. The Western Historical Company. (1883). History of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The Western Historical Company. Chicago, IL.
4. U.S. Census Bureau. 1920 United States Federal Census. Accessed on Ancestry.com.
5. R. L. Polk & Co. (1905). Houghton County Directory 1905-06. R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. Detroit, MI.
6. New harness firm has taken hold of business. (1906, Feb 01). The Copper Country Evening News (Calumet, MI). p. 5.
7. Kinsman decides to retire from business. (1906, Jan 26). The Copper Country Evening News (Calumet, MI). p. 8.
8. Frank Kinsman takes interest in Larson Co. (1916, Jun 27). The Evening Copper Journal (Hancock, MI). p. 6.
9. Kinsman joins new firm. (1916, Jun 27). The Daily Mining Gazette (Houghton, MI). p. 9.
10. Sole owner of firm. (1916, Aug 02). The Daily Mining Gazette (Houghton, MI). p. 6.
11. Michigan Bureau of Labor and Industrial Statistics. (1918). Thirty-Fifth Annual Report of the Department of Labor of the State of Michigan. Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Co., State Printers. Lansing, MI.
12. State of Michigan Department of Labor. (1919). Thirty-Sixth Annual Report of the Department of Labor of the State of Michigan. Fort Wayne Printing Co. Fort Wayne, Indiana.
13. State of Michigan Department of Labor. (1920). Thirty-Seventh Annual Report of the Department of Labor of the State of Michigan. Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Co., State Printers. Lansing, MI.
14. Purchases bottling works. (1919, Oct 27). The Calumet News (Calumet, MI). p. 2.
15. Former residents of Calumet dead. (1932, Aug 23). The Calumet News (Calumet, MI). p. 8.