Joseph Lewis Steffee was born in Baltimore, Maryland March 17, 1856. He came to Michigan in February 1882. He married Rose Belle Steffee of Ohio Nov. 11, 1882 in Pipestone, MI. Her brother, Rev. J. W. Steffee, officiated at the wedding. They had five children during their marriage: Elizabeth Belle (1885-1959), Catherine (1887-1937), Harry Shipley (1892-1943), Cordelia “Delia” (1895-1969) and Joseph Lewis II (1901-1964).
Steffee, along with Israel Erickson and his brother Peter of Sweden, formed the Erickson, Steffee & Co. planing mill in 1891. It was the last mill built on White Lake and was located on River Street across from the current Chamber of Commerce depot building in Whitehall. Although Israel and Peter Erickson and Joseph L. Steffee’s names were on the building, the chief investor was Mark Covell.
Israel Erickson had come to this country from Sweden in 1870. In 1873, he was employed by Covell & Ocobock Co until the Erickson & Steffee Co. was organized. He remained one of the partners until his death in December 1914. His brother Peter came in 1875 and worked for several different mills as well as the Erickson & Steffee Co.
In January 1904, after over 10 years in business as a simple partnership, the company reorganized. The stockholders in the new company were Israel and Peter Erickson, Joseph Steffee, Mark B.Covell, P. H. Fitzgerald and C. E. Covell. Officers were M. B. Covell, President; Joseph Steffee, Vice President; and P. H. Fitzgerald, Secretary-Treasurer.
In May 1924, after 33 years of business in the village of Whitehall, it was announced that Erickson-Steffee Co. was no more. The company’s real estate, planing mill, coal and lumber yards were sold to the Lyman T. Covell Co. The new owners combined the businesses but elected not to operate the planing mill.
Steffee was Vice President of the Erickson, Steffee & Co. and trustee of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he was a member for over 20 years. He was twice president of Whitehall, twice township treasurer and was repeatedly honored with minor offices. He died in January 1904. His wife Rose died at her daughter Delia’s home in Port Huron in 1936. They are both buried in Oak Grove Cemetery.
Daughter Elizabeth graduated from Whitehall High School. She worked as a saleswoman in a local dry goods store for a time. She never married and died in Traverse City Jan. 8, 1959. She is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery.
Daughter Catherine Irene attended Whitehall High School. She married Charles A. Spellman in 1907 and they had a daughter, Lolita. They would later divorce and she would marry twice more. Catherine died in Grand Rapids in 1937 and is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery along with her first husband in the Steffee family plot.
Son Harry Shipley Steffee married Greta Clifford in Kalamazoo in 1914. They had three children. He worked in the automotive industry for Ford Motor Co. and later at the Dodge main plant. He died in 1943 and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Birmingham, MI.
Daughter Cordelia A. “Delia” graduated from Whitehall High School 1913 and became a teacher. She was teaching at North Muskegon when she married Fred R. Sherman Dec. 20, 1919. He was employed at Continental in Muskegon, where they first made their home. They had no children. Later they moved to Port Huron, where she died in 1969. They are both buried in Oak Grove Cemetery in Montague.
Son Joseph Lewis Steffee III graduated from Whitehall High School in 1919. He married Elizabeth Canham in Detroit in 1923 and they had a daughter. He died in Niles, MI Jan. 5, 1964 and is buried in Rice Cemetery in Hillsdale County.
