Biography

Lacelle J. Strait was born in 1861 in Ney York to Ramson E. and Maria Strait. He was the eldest of five siblings; Nettie, Dexa, Maggie, Elsworth, and Carl. His family moved to Michigan when he was young, and in 1884 he married Michigan native Alice “Minnie” Maud Carson Strait. Lacelle took after his father, becoming a machinist, and later Ramson E. Strait sold his son the patent to the tubular well brass cylinder that he had patented in 1882. In Kalamazoo Lacelle started several businesses that focused on brass foundry, particularly in the manufacturing of the tubular well cylinder and valve. The first of which was in 1892 when he partnered with several other individuals such as Cullen Packard to create the Strait Manufacturing company. Later this company became the Standard Brass Company although Lacelle was no longer affiliated with it. In fact, in 1897 Lacelle sued Standard Brass Works and F. A. Taylor for the rights to the patent from Lacelle’s father. The outcome of the suit is currently unknown. In 1897 Lacelle operated his own specialty manufacturing company based on no. 228 North Burdick Street, this company is the one referred to on the business card. Around 1901 Lacelle and his family moved to California where he remained until his death in 1950.

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