Justus Smith Stearns dating history

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Justus Smith Stearns (April 10, 1845 – February 14, 1933) was an American lumber baron and businessman. He was involved in many enterprises that involved commercial real estate development, sawmills, coal, farming, railroading, and electrical technology. Drawing upon his business skills Stearns learned as a teenager at his father's sawmills he became a lumber merchant in his twenties. As a dealer, Stearns was associated with his wealthy brother-in-law Eber Brock Ward as a vendor to lumberyard suppliers. He moved to Michigan later in his thirties to manage Ward's lumber operations he had going there that at that time was inherited by Ward's widow. He progressed from an entry-level position to senior management and eventually became the general managing agent for Ward's lumber empire. He then undertook independent lumbering activities to develop his own lumber operations in northern Michigan, becoming a lumber baron. Stearns had large timber interests in the Pacific Northwest, Michigan, Wisconsin, Kentucky, and Florida and became known as the "Pine King". He was the major influence in the development of the towns of Ludington, Michigan and Stearns, Kentucky.