Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Kalbfleisch, Martin

KALBFLEISCH, Martin, manufacturer, b. in Flushing, Holland, 8 Feb., 1804; d. in Brooklyn, N. Y., 12 Feb., 1873. He received a common-school education, and at the age of eighteen embarked with an American captain to engage in trading in Sumatra, but returned on account of cholera. Forming a partnership with an American, he carried on business in Havre, France, for four years. In 1826 he emigrated to the United States, settled in New York city, found employment as clerk, and next as chemist, and in 1835 established a color-factory in Harlem, afterward removing it to Norwalk, Conn., where his building was destroyed by fire. In 1842 he founded a chemical factory at Greenpoint, L. I. He was elected mayor of Brooklyn in 1861, and in 1862 was chosen to congress as a Democrat. In 1867 and 1869 he was elected by the Democrats mayor for the second and third time, and in 1871 was an independent candidate, but was defeated by the regular Democratic nominee.