Arthur, Keeper of the Papers

Arthur Egmont Kiefer studied mechanical engineering at Heidelberg and came home to run the Detroit Edge Tool Works. From 1911 until his death he was president of the Kiefer Land Company, which managed the Kiefer Building.

He was the family's keeper. Arthur preserved his father's papers — the letters, speeches and records that later historians used to write about Dr. Kiefer's life — and without him much of this story would be lost.

His closest friend was Alexander Ziwet, a mathematics professor at the University of Michigan. The family believed Ziwet was a grandson of Napoleon, and when he died he left Arthur a pair of dueling pistols marked with an N. Ziwet's ashes were placed in the Kiefer family monument at Elmwood.

In 1884 Arthur married Kate Reed Baker, a German teacher who had studied in Germany. Their children were Elsa, born in 1885, and the twins Carl and Herman Guy, born on 24 April 1889. Later in life Arthur married Olga Gagel.

Arthur is Jim Blackburn's great-great-grandfather. His son Herman Guy is the next link in the chain.