ALBERT V. HAGEMAN.
A native son of Lorain, Albert V. Hageman
has passed his entire career in this city, among
whose business men by his learning, industry,
ability and character he holds a high place, while
he is no less valued in the community as a
liberal-minded and enterprising citizen.
During his business life here, Mr. Hageman's
hands have taken hold of incipient enterprises and
have guided them to success; he has been honored by
his associates with election to positions of trust
not because of his self-seeking or importunity, but
because such positions seek one who has shown rare
intelligence and fidelity in the management of his
own affairs.
Mr.
Hageman was born at Lorain, Oct. 12, 1871,
and is a son of Conrad and Catherine (Claus)
Hageman, natives of Germany, the father
having come to this country in 1845 and settled in
Ohio, where his subsequent career was passed in
farming in the vicinity of Lorain. After
attending the public schools of Lorain,
Albert V. Hageman entered a commercial
college at Oberlin, Ohio, where he completed a
business course. His first position was that
of bookkeeper for the Amherst Stone Quarries, where
he remained three years, subsequently becoming clerk
in the Lorain Savings and Banking Company, in
October, 1894. In 1901 he was made secretary
and treasurer of this institution, positions which
he held until it was sold to the Cleveland Trust
Company, in 1905, when Mr. Hageman
was made manager of the new ownership and held that
position until October, 1907. In 1897 he had
been elected treasurer and general manager of the
Black River Phone Company, which under his direction
has grown and developed rapidly and now has 3,600
subscribers. Various other positions have been
and are held by Mr. Hageman.
He is president of the Amherst Home Telephone
Company; was one of the organizers of the Cleveland
Life Insurance Company, of which he served as a
director two years and then resigned; was formerly a
member of the advisory board of the Cleveland Trust
Company; was one of the purchasers of the Hoffman
Heater Company when that company had failed, and
assisted in bringing it to success, when he sold out
his interests, in 1911; is a director of the
Citizens Home and Savings Association and a member
of the finance committee of that enterprise, and was
one of the organizers of the Wickens Company.
He has shown by faith in the future of Lorain and
its industries by investing his means in realty and
other holdings, and for some years has been the
medium through which some large and important real
estate transactions have been carried through.
As a city servant he has ever been ready to do his
full share toward advancing the community's welfare,
and in 1915 his abilities were recognized by his
appointment to the position of trustee of the Lorain
Sinking Fund. He belongs to the Cleveland
Athletic Club and is also well and favorably known
in fraternal circles being a Knight Templar and
Shriner in Masonry, and a member of the Knights of
Pythias, the Knights of the Maccabees and the
Improved Order of Red Men. With his wife, he
belongs to the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, at
Lorain, in which he is serving as vestryman.
Mrs. Hageman was
formerly Eleanor M. Cunningham, of
Clyde, Ohio.
~ Page 671 |
WILLIAM HELDMYER.
It is given to few men to impress their enterprise,
their resources, more effectually upon a community
than was true of the late William Heldmyer
of Elyria. His was the familiar story
of the poor boy who makes his own opportunities and
who succeeds as a result of hard and persistent toil
and intelligent management. For more than
thirty years Mr. Heldmyer was one
of the foremost merchants of Lorain County, was a
business builder who built up a number of
organizations which are still vital factors in the
commercial life of the community, and for years
exercised a controlling power in the business
affairs of this section.
Partly owing to the early death of his father, the
early lot of William Heldmyer was
one of hard circumstance and limited opportunity.
He gained the rudiments of an education in the
country schools, and as far back as his memory could
recall he was employed in some of the duties of farm
work. Coming to Elyria in 1867 he found
employment as a carpenter with the Lake Shore &
Michigan Southern Railroad. He was careful,
economical, faithful to his obligations, and wisely
laid the foundation for his permanent success.
In 1880 he became associated with the firm of
Wright & Semple,
under the name of Heldmyer, Wright & Semple
in the hardware business was chief among his
interests. In 1890 John Krantz
became associated with him, and after that the style
of the company was William Heldmyer
& Company. In 1897 the business was
incorporated as the Heldmyer
Hardware Company, with Mr. Heldmyer
as secretary and treasurer of the corporation.
He was also a third owner and vice president of the
Elyria Hardware Company. He also owned stock
and was a director in the Lorain Hardware Company
and the Krantz Hardware Company,
both at Lorain.
For many
years his activities in the business world covered a
large field. He was president of the Elyria
Savings & Bank Company and one of its organizers;
assisted in organizing and became president of the
Lorain County Building & Loan Association; was also
president of the Andwur Hotel Company. At one
time his interest also extended to the lake marine
and he was part owner in several vessels. The
large Heldmyer Block where his
hardware store was conducted in Elyria was erected
by Mr. Heldmyer and in 1897 he
organized the Elyria Building Company and
constructed the Elyria Block. The burning of
this central feature of the business section in 1909
caused him heavy losses and the many worries
connected with the rebuilding of the new Elyria
Block, which was completed in 1910 did much to
undermine his health. Soon after its
organization Mr. Heldmyer became a
director in the Elyria Chamber of Commerce, and was
also a member at one time of the city council.
The immediate cause of Mr. Heldmyer's
death was a fall from the fourth floor fire escape
in the rear of the Elyria Building, and he was
killed almost instantly. This sad loss to the
business and civic community occurred July 2, 1912.
In his will Mr. Heldmyer named his
daughter Mrs. Hannaford as trustee
of his entire estate, and for those large
responsibilities she is eminently fitted, being one
of the most capable business executives in Lorain
County. In 1874 Mr. Heldmyer
married Mary Beese, who was born at
Elyria and died July 19, 1908, at the age of
fifty-two. The children born to their marriage
were: Florence J., Leona M., Alice C.
and Harry M. The oldest
daughter, Florence, had married
Albert M. Hannaford just two weeks
before her father's sudden death. She was
married June 15, 1912, and she now has a son,
John Roy Hannaford II, born June 16, 1913,
and named for his grandfather Hannaford.
Mrs. Hannaford has assumed active
control of all the business and property interests
of her father, succeeded to his place on the board
of directors of the Elyria Savings & Banking
Company, and is now the only woman in the State of
Ohio to hold such a position. The daughter,
Leona M., married James
Garnett Tyler, and they now live in Los
Angeles, California. Alice C.
is the wife of Willard M. Taylor of
Elyria. The son, Harry, also
resides at Elyria.
Source: A Standard History
of Lorain County, Ohio Vol. II - publ. 1916 - page
568 |
REV. SIMON B. HERSHEY.—Of
the many bright stars that form the cluster of
Ohio's advanced theological thinkers, whose rays
illuminate life's pathway for the happiness and
betterment of humanity, there is none more
conspicuous than the Rev. Simon B. Hershey,
the subject of this memoir, whose benign light has a
moral, elevating and religious influence upon all
who come within his circle.
There is no calling so sacred as that of a minister
of the Gospel; none comes so near the domestic
fireside or the heart of man, and there is no
calling the members of which have so potent an
influence in shaping the conditions of society or
the destinies of a nation. Hence church societies
should exercise the greatest care in securing the
pastors that are to preside over their
congregations. That the people of the First
Congregational Church have exercised this care in
the selection of their pastor is evidenced by his
efficiency and his long time of service with them.
Mr. Hershey was born in Wayne county, Ohio,
September 21,1847. His parents, Benjamin and
Susannah (Wellhousej Hershey, were
early settlers in the State, the former carrying on
the business of farming. Both of these good people
were widely and favorably known for their moral and
religious qualities. The elder Hershey was a
native of Lebanon county, Pennsylvania. He died in
Wayne county, Ohio, at the age of fifty-four years.
His wife, Susannah, was born in Wayne county,
Ohio, where she died at the age of sixty-nine years.
The former was of Swiss extraction. The latter's
father, Mr. Wellhouse, was a native of
Holland, and came to the United States when a boy.
He was a man of prominence in his section of the
country, and was successful in his business
operations. He was connected with the banks at
Wooster and at Akron, and was generally known as
Judge Wellhouse. By his wife Susannah
he became the father of seven children: Abraham,
George W., Simon B., William O., Mary
(wife of W. Henneberger), Edward A.,
and Ella (who was married to Davib
Leonard).
Rev. S. B. Hershey was reared at home, where he
received his preliminary education. At an early age
he was sent to the Otterbein University, Ohio, which
institution he left in his sophomore year, and for a
year subsequently taught school. At the expiration
of that time he entered Oberlin College, at which
institution he graduated in 1870 with the degree of
Master of Arts. Leaving college, he taught school
for a year in Ohio, and then entered Oberlin
Theological Seminary for a two-year's theological
course. This student of divinity was not yet
satisfied with his theological researches, and later
he is found at Yale delving deeper into biblical
lore. He graduated in May, 1874, with the degree of
Bachelor of Divinity. Leaving college, he served his
first pastorate in the Second Congregational Church
of Danbury, Connecticut, where he remained until the
spring of 1881, when he visited Europe, returning in
the fall. Soon after his return from abroad he
received from the Congregational Church of Ashtabula
a call which he accepted, taking charge as pastor
January 1, 1882. So eminently qualified was he to
preside over this congregation, so able and
satisfactory his ministry, that he has been retained
ever since, to the full gratification of all. So
able and zealous have been his labors that the
church has grown stronger year by year, until now it
is one of the strongest and most prosperous
religious societies in the State.
Mr. Hershey was united in marriage,
August 18, 1874, to Thirza E., the
accomplished daughter of Dr. Homer
and Mrs. Anne (Pierce)
Johnson, of Oberlin, Ohio. Mrs.
Hershey was a graduate of Oberlin College, and a
classmate of her husband. Dr. Johnson
was the leading physician of Oberlin, where he
practiced for upward of half a century. He was a man
of high standing as a physician and as a citizen. He
departed this life about three years ago. His widow
still resides at Oberlin.
Mr. Hershey paid his own expenses from
his sophomore period through the different
educational institutions by teaching. He was
ordained at Danbury, Connecticut, in 1874.
A few thoughts touching some special features of Mr.
Hershey's ministry and personal traits of
character will close this biography. He is a man a
little above the medium stature, well formed and of
pleasing personality. His features, which are
genial, open and reassuring, are indicative of a
broad intellectuality, while at the same time they
impress the beholder with the fact that he is by
nature a man of warm impulses, charitable,
benevolent, and in full sympathy with humanity. As a
minister he stands for liberal and progressive
theology; he is not a stickler for creeds, but
preaches Christ and his great love for mortal man,
reaching out for the hearts of his hearers, laboring
to impress upon them the great and priceless value
of a Christian life. He is a close student, a
deep thinker, and a logical reasoner. He is happily
endowed with a clear, rich voice, superior
oratorical powers and personal magnetism. Thus
possessed, it is but natural that his influence for
good, for Christianity, is potential; that he has
the love and confidence of his congregation, both
the old and the young, and that he is a bright
ornament in that noble profession to which he has
devoted his life. |
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