Born in Flushing, Netherlands, Kalbfleisch attended the public schools where he studied chemistry.

At the age of eighteen, he 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 Le Havre, France, for four years.

Kalbfleisch immigrated to the United States and settled in New York City in 1826, where he engaged in the manufacture and sale of paints.

He was Town Supervisor of Bushwick from 1852 to 1854 and was an unsuccessful candidate for mayor of the City of Brooklyn in 1854.