Carroll County IAGenWeb

HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY IOWA

A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement

VOLUME II ILLUSTRATED

CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1912

Transcribed by Sharon Elijah August 20, 2020

Among the manufacturers of Iowa the Heider Manufacturing Company occupies a prominent place. The present officers of the company are Henry J. Heider, president; John Heider, Sr., vice president; and John C. Heider, secretary and treasurer. All the patents of the company are the invention of Henry J. Heider, the president of the company, and the factory was originally established by him on the farm in Eden township in 1902, manufacturing four-horse binder and plow eveners by hand without any power machinery and delivering his goods to his trade in a wagon. In order to take care of the increasing demand for Heider eveners, in January, 1903, a partnership was formed by the two brothers, Henry J. and John C. Heider, and they opened a factory at Albert Lea, Minnesota. Owing to the growth of their business, they were obliged to secure large factory facilities, and in order to be more centrally located for their trade, they removed their factory to Carroll, Iowa, in January, 1904, and after being located there a short time, they bought the ground and built the original building of their present plant, and the business was incorporated in 1905. They have added new machinery and buildings every year to take care of their increasing business, and now have the largest factory of its kind in the world. Their output is mostly sold through the jobbers. They have added to their line of manufactured goods every year, and at present make a full line of two, three, four, five and six-horse plow eveners, three-horse wagon eveners, buggy neckyokes, wagon doubletrees and neckyokes, ladders, gasoline tractors, etc.

Henry J. and John C. Heider were both born in La Salle county, Illinois, and passed their boyhood days on a farm. They came to Carroll county, Iowa, with their parents in 1883, who moved on a farm in Washington township, and later in Eden township. The parents, John and Emma Heider, both, were born in Illinois. The father in his young manhood engaged in farming and continued as a farmer, first in La Salle county, Illinois, and since 1883 in Carroll county, Iowa, until March, 1904, when he moved to Carroll and retired from active work, and has since devoted his time looking after his land holdings in Iowa and South Dakota.

Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. John Heider: John C.; Henry J., who married Frances Schlichte, a daughter of John Schlichte, and has three children, Florence, Edna and Irma; Margaret, the wife of W. B. Brown of Lakefield, Minnesota; Mary E.; Frances; and Joseph A.

Conrad Heider, the paternal grandfather was a native of Prussia, and his wife was Elizabeth Jane. He was a farmer in the old country and had been in the service of the Germany army. In 1845 he came with his family to La Salle county, Illinois, continuing there until his death, which occurred when he was within ten days of being sixty-two years old. His wife passed away at the age of thirty-six years. They had six children: Katharine, Mary, Elizabeth, Joe, John and William. The maternal grandfather was John Wahll, a native of Alsace-Lorraine, France, and his wife was Margaret Pantenberg. They came to this country and also settled in La Salle county, Illinois, where he died at the age of fifty-three years. His wife still survives and is living with her daughter, Mrs. John Heider in Carroll. They had four children, Katharine, Mary, Emma and John.

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