|
Stephenson County
Mr. Hettinger had but $15 when he arrived at Freeport, but is it was not long until he was doing a business which justified the employment of from three to seven hands. In 1845 he sold out his business and purchased what was then known as the “Yellow Creek Brewery,” and built up a large business, which he continued for a period of twenty years, during which time some important changes occurred by the admission and retirement of partners. At the same time he was conducting this brewery he continued to operate his wagon-shop and cooperage establishment, making all his own kegs and barrels for the supply of the brewery. He also operated his blacksmith-shop, employing from eight to ten men, and at the same time managed his farm, which was located near the brewery. In 1867 he sold out his brewery and moved to Freeport, and soon afterward became President of the German Insurance Company of that place a position he has held ever since with an interval of only two years. In 1868 he engaged in the grain business, having for his partner Jacob Williams. The firm also dealt largely in hogs, cattle and coal for the term of five years. He helped to organize the German Bank of Freeport, taking into the firm two other parties, the style of the firm being Hettinger, Collmann & Co., which constitutes the present banking company. The bank does a general banking and foreign exchange business. Mr. Hettinger is the senior partner in the banking firm. He is one of the stockholders of the Henney Buggy Company, of which he is also Vice-President. During his residence in Silver Creek Township he served as Supervisor for that township.
Mr. Hettinger has been twice married. By his first wife he had three children, one son and two daughters. One daughter, Josephine, is the wife of Fred Gund, Secretary of the German Insurance Company. By his second wife he had eight children, five of whom are living – Jennie, Albert, Eva, Joseph and Alice. Two children died in infancy. Mr. Hettinger has a neat and substantial residence, No. 325 Stephenson street, which is handsomely surrounded and has an air of elegance and comfort that is noticeable to the passer-by. Mr. Hettinger is a Democrat in politics and takes considerable interest in political matters. He cast his first vote for James K. Polk, and has been several times delegate to the State Conventions. In addition to all his duties at home he is President of the Fillmore County (Neb.) Bank, also a partner in three elevators in that county, which he furnishes with the means to run.
Mr. H. has had several narrow escapes from drowning. In 1836, and again in 1863, he was nearly shipwrecked while crossing the ocean, and in 1841 he was almost drowned in the Pecatonica River, at Freeport, having sunk three times before he was rescued. He also narrowly escaped drowning when a boy in the old country, and again near Williamsville, N. Y., and when going from Buffalo to Chicago the steamer encountered a bad storm and had a foot of water in the lower cabin. In 1879 he was severely hurt in a railway accident near Forreston, Ill., and could not walk for four months.
Contributed by Carole Parrish - Portrait and Biographical Album of Stephenson County, Ill. 1888
Mathias Hettinger, deceased, was numbered among those who were builders and promoters of Freeport’s commercial prosperity. Identified with various interests, his labors contributed not alone to his own success but in large measure advanced the interests of the community and no man occupied a more honorable or enviable position in commercial and financial circles than Mathias Hettinger.
He was born in Keffanach, Alsace, France, now Germany, January 24, 1819, and was the youngest of five children, whose parents, Joseph and Magdalena (Plugmacher) Hettinger, were also natives of Alsace. The father was a weaver by trade but also devoted many years to farming. He came to America about 1847 and settled in Silver Creek township, Stephenson County, Illinois, where he lived and retired. His death was occasioned by cholera in 1850 when he was sixty-seven years of age, and his wife died in the spring of the same year. They had three sons, Joseph, Mathias, and John, who lived to years of maturity. Mathias Hettinger was a youth of seventeen years when he came to America in company with his brother John. He arrived in New York City in May and thence went to Williamsville, New York, where he remained for two years. He afterward removed to Massillon, Ohio, and a few months later to Portsmouth, Ohio. His next place of residence was Buffalo, and in 1841 he came to Freeport, where he built the first complete wagon and buggy. He was a wagonmaker by trade and established a business of that character but in 1845 sold out. He then bought the Yellow Creek brewery and in connection with its conduct also operated a wagon and blacksmith shop and a cooper shop. At the same time he managed a farm in Silver Creek township and thus was busily engaged with his three interests. In 1867, however, he sold the farm property and took up his abode in Freeport, becoming president of the German Insurance Company, of which he remained the chief executive for twenty-seven years, or until his death, with an interval of only two years. He was one of the promoters and organizers of the company and so controlled his interests as to make it a profitable business undertaking. In 1868 he turned his attention to the grain business and later assisted in organizing the German Bank under the firm name of Hettinger, Collmann & Company. He likewise remained president of the bank until his death and made it one of the strong financial institutions of this part of the county. Extending his efforts into other lines, he became one of the stockholders of the Henney Buggy Company, of which he was vice president. A man of resourceful ability, his plans were carefully formulated and promptly executed and he carried forward to successful completion whatever he undertook. As the years passed, he became recognized as one of the foremost business men of Freeport and his labors contributed in large and substantial measure to the material development and commercial and financial progress of the community. Mr. Hettinger was twice married. His first wife was Miss Cordelia Torey, by whom he had three children, all now deceased. On the 10th of February, 1856 Mr. Hettinger wedded Miss Elizabeth Gund, a daughter of George Michael and Sophia (Eder) Gund. Mrs. Hettinger was born in Bruehl, Baden, Germany, May 28, 1837. Her paternal grandfather was George Gund, a farmer and inn keeper of Germany. Her maternal grandparents were Abraham and Elizabeth Eder, both of whom lived to old age in Germany, where the former was at one time a tax collector. Both Mr. and Mrs. George M. Gund were born in Germany and in 1848 came to America, settling in Silver Creek Township, where the father devoted his attention to farming. He died in 1850 at the age of fifty-four years, and his wife passed away a week later at the age of forty-five. They were the parents of six sons and two daughters: Abraham; John; Martin; Henry; Louis; Frederick; Margaret, the wife of Christian Koehler; and Elizabeth, now Mrs. Hettinger. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Hettinger were born eight children, six of whom reached adult years, as follows: Jennie became the wife of Erastus Appleman Williams and they had five children: Eva, Matilda, Alice, Erastus, and Odessa. Albert, who lives on a ranch in Fresno County, California, wedded Lillian Walker, and they have six children: Albert, Mathias, Eunice, Wellington, Joseph, and Ruth. Mathias is a landowner and manages his father’s estate. He wedded Mabel Tandy, by whom he has two children, Dorothy and Harold, the family home being in Freeport. Joseph lives on a ranch in Los Angeles County, California near San Fernando. He wedded Florence Allen. Eva and Alice were educated in Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, and are now living at home with their mother. They are members of the Freeport Shakespeare Society and also members of The Women’s Club. The death of Mr. Hettinger occurred November 1, 1890 and in his passing the community lost one of its most prominent and representative citizens. He was a very public-spirited man and contributed in substantial measure to general progress. He served as one of the committee appointed to erect the new courthouse and he always gave his political allegiance to the democratic party. He did not seek or desire office, however, preferring to concentrate his energies upon his business affairs which were in a varied and important nature, bringing his substantial success. He came to be recognized as one of the foremost citizens of the county and, moreover, his life record proved what can be accomplished when earnest purpose, unfaltering diligence and laudable ambition are the chief characteristics of a man. Contributed by Alice Horner - History of Stephenson Co 1910 Addison L. Fulwider, A.M.
|
MATHIAS HETTINGER, banker, and President of the German Insurance Company, of Freeport, is a native of France, and was born in Keffanach, in the county
of Soultz, Jan. 24, 1819. He is the son of Joseph and Magdalena (Plugmacher) Hettinger. He began attending school at the age of five years and continued until reaching his fifteenth year. In 1836, in company with an elder brother, he emigrated to America. Previous to that he had served eighteen months as an apprentice to the wagon-maker’s trade, but before completing his apprenticeship the father purchased the balance of his time. He arrived in New York in the month of May; from there he went to Williamsville, N. Y., where he spent two years, and thence to Ohio, stopping at the cities of Massillon and Canton three months, and thence to Portsmouth, where he secured employment at wagon-making, and subsequently at stocking plows, in which occupation he became very adept, stocking as high as eighteen plows per week out of rough timber. After continuing at that occupation for some time he went to Buffalo, N. Y., and thence to Chicago, but not finding employment which suited him he came to Freeport, in 1841, and engaged in work at the wagon-maker’s trade for Hollis Jewell, and during the same year he started a shop of his own, on a small scale, and did repairing and manufacturing of wagons and buggies. He made the first new wagon and buggy manufactured completed in Freeport. As the demand for his work grew he added to the wagon-shop a blacksmithing department, running two fires. He also did cabinet-making on a small scale. Being limited in means he personally worked early and late.