Genesee-Saginaw County MI Archives Biographies.....Bort, Fred D. 1848 - 
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Author: Chapman Bros. (1892)

FRED D. BORT, proprietor of the Flint Pump Factory, was born near Lockport, N.
Y., May 27, 1848. His father who established the pump factory here in 1863, was
likewise a native of the Empire State and was born in Niagara County. Reared to
manhood on a farm, he became a manufacturer of pumps while still quite young,
and in 1858 came to Michigan, settling in Burton Township, Genesee County, where
he started a nursery. In 1863 he commenced to operate in the city of Flint as a
pump manufacturer and continued thus engaged until 1888, when he sold the
business to the subject of this sketch.

  Then going to Saginaw City, D. G. Bort established a pump factory in that
thriving city, which he managed for a brief period. He is now in partnership
with his son, Judson D. Bort, and together they are carrying on one of the most
flourishing enterprises of Flint. Politically D. G. Bort was a stanch Democrat,
ever active in the councils of his party and officiating in various public
capacities. The mother of our subject was known in maidenhood as Martha McNitt,
and was born in Niagara County, N. Y. Her death occurred in Flint m 1884, at a
ripe old age. Of the children, six in number, who blessed the parental home, F.
D. was the youngest and he grew to a stalwart manhood in the State of New York.

  After attending the schools of his native home until he was fifteen years old,
Mr. Bort started out in life for himself as clerk in a clothing store, that of
O. W. Seymore in Flint, where he remained five years and gained a good knowledge
of mercantile life. At the age of twenty, he commenced to work for his father
and learned the business of manufacturing pumps. So familiar did he become with
the business that in 1888 he felt qualified to assume the entire responsibility
of its management and accordingly purchased the factory of his father, and has
controlled it since with great success. He engages in the manufacture of Bort's
Wooden Force Pumps and also deals in the Temple Chain Pump. As one of the oldest
and most reliable manufacturers of the city he enjoys a large business and the
esteem and confidence of the people. In 1869 Mr. Bort was united in marriage in
the city of Flint with Miss Dora Ward, an accomplished young lady residing in
this city and the daughter of Alex Ward, a pioneer resident of this place. Mr.
and Mrs. Bort have one child—a daughter Mabel, who is a graduate of the Flint
High School and now book-keeper for Putnam Bros. In her religious sentiments,
Mrs. Bort is in sympathy with and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to
which Mr. Bort contributes liberally, as he does to all charitable measures that
appeal to him for aid. He uniformly votes the Democratic ticket and is a
prominent member of that party. His commodious residence is pleasantly located
on the corner of Ninth and Harrison Streets and within that cozy domicile he and
his estimable wife hospitably entertain their many friends who are wont to
gather there.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

Portrait and Biographical Record of Genesee, Lapeer and Tuscola Counties,
Michigan, Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative
Citizens, Together with Biographies of all the Governors of the State, and of
the Presidents of the United States

Chicago:
Chapman Bros.
1892


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