Hebener, Edward T.

HEBENER, KNAUS, HAINES

Posted By: mjv (email)
Date: 5/25/2021 at 15:15:09

Edward T. Hebener, of the firm of Hebener & Son, marble dealers, was born in Northampton County, Pa., April 22, 1818. He is the son of Anthony and Mary M. (Knaus) Hebener, both of whom were also natives of the same county. There was a family of nine children, seven of whom lived to be adults, but there are but three now living: Lewis, of Decatur County, Iowa; Matilda, residing in New Philadelphia, Ohio, the widow of John D. Bedewell, and the subject of this sketch. In 1834 the family moved to Tuscarawas County, Ohio, where the parents both died. They were members of the Moravian Church, and took and active interest in the work of that body.

Edward T. Hebener was educated in the common schools of his native State, and when the family moved to Tuscarawas County, Ohio, he was apprenticed to learn the trade of marble cutting, with a brother-in-law, and served three years, receiving for his services his board and clothes, with the understanding that at the end of his apprenticeship he was to receive a kit of tools and an extra suit of clothes. The latter part of the contract was never accomplished with, and he was sent forth with only a knowledge of his trade. On the 13th of May, 1846, at Cadiz, Ohio, he was united in marriage with Sarah B. Haines, a native Ohio, born in Harrison County in September, 1826. Of this union there are four children living, two sons and two daughters: Hiram resides in McPherson, Kan., where he is engaged in the marble business; Charles is the junior member of the firm of Hebener & Son, Washington, Iowa; Leonora is the wife of C. D. Kimball, of Mr. Vernon, Wash. Ter.; Sarah is the wife of A. N. Alberson, of Washington, Iowa.

In 1848 Mr. Hebener moved to Iowa, and located in Farmington, Van Buren County, and in 1849 did the first marble cutting in the State, for Harvey Ray, of Burlington. In 1850 he moved to Montrose, where he engaged in the marble business and remained three years, and then moved to Muscatine, where he continued in the same trade. In 1858 he came to Washington and started the first marble business in Washington County. For a period of almost thirty years he has been engaged in that trade in Washington, and o man is more widely or favorably known.

When Mr. Hebener came to the State his entire worldly possession was a $5 gold piece, which he loaned to one whom he supposed needed it worse than he did, and who, it is presumed, has always since needed it, for it has never been returned. For his first year’s work he received only $2.50 in cash, the remainder being in trade. But he did not despair. He believed in the good time coming, and continued to work away, with the firm hope of a brighter day. While his anticipations may never have been realized to the full extent, he has always been enabled to live comfortably and lay by a little for a rainy day. While a citizen of Cadiz, he assisted in raising a company for the Mexican War, but did not himself enter the service. During the war of the Rebellion, he took and active interest in securing volunteers for the service, and being an excellent fifer, he taught quite a number the use of that instrument. He visited the various military rendezvous of the State to give instruction to fifers.

Politically, Mr. Hebener has always acted with the Democratic party. Socially, he is a Mason, and a member of the Hawkeye Lodge No. 30, at Muscatine. Religiously, he has for years been connected with the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which his wife was also a member until her death, which occurred April 14, 1886. As a citizen, Mr. H. is always ready to do his part in advancing the interests of his adopted home, and few men stand higher in the estimation of the people with whom he has been so long associated.

Source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Washington County, Iowa (1887). Excerpt from Biographical Sketch of Edward T. Hebener, pages 313-314.