lumberman, businessman, manufacturer, b. Troy, N.Y. He moved with his parents to Neenah in 1847 and later attended Lawrence College. He engaged in merchandising, milling, and lumbering for several years, and in 1872, with Havilah Babcock, Charles B. Clark (q.v.), and Frank Shattuck, founded the paper-making firm of Kimberly, Clark and Co. (Kimberly-Clark Co. after 1906). He was president of this firm from 1880 until his death, and helped inaugurate many of the company's pioneer products, such as "Kleenex." He was one of the founders of the First National Bank of Neenah, and was its president (1905-1911). His wife, HELEN [CHENEY] KIMBERLY, b. Defiance, Ohio, whom Kimberly married in 1865, was known for her philanthropic activities, and especially for her promotion of cooking and domestic science training. In 1893 she established a cooking school at Neenah, which became a model for others in the state, and in 1904 endowed a chair of domestic science at Milwaukee-Downer College. After her husband's death she spent most of her time in California, and died in Redlands. Kimberly-Clark Corp., 4 Men and a Machine [Neenah?, 1948]; W. A. Titus, Hist. of the Fox River Valley . . . (3 vols., Chicago, 1930); Milwaukee Sentinel, fan. 23, 1928; Amer. Biog. ... Cyclopedia, 52 (1932); R. D. Kohler, Story of Wis. Women [Kohler, Wis., 1948]; Neenah Daily News-Times, Feb. 26, 1931.Learn More
Dictionary of Wisconsin History
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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]
