Biography - Edward Whitmer
Edward WHITMER, tile manufacturer, Litchfield. Henry M. WHITMER was born in Juniata County, Penn, in 1833, and was raised among the Alleghany Mountains, on a farm. He came to Peoria, Ill., just before the war, and there engaged in the carpenter trade for a year, then removed to Decatur, Ill., where he became a large contractor and builder. For the past eighteen years he has been a large manufacturer of brick, and of late years has manufactured tile. He married in Snyder County, Penn., Miss Anna A. APP, by whom he has five children living. He started in life with limited means, and by hard work has gained for himself a handsome competency. He established the Litchfield Tile Works in May, 1881, for which purpose he purchased eight acres at the eastern limits of Litchfield, on the Indianapolis & St. Louis Railroad, choosing that locality because of the superior quality of the clay which stands every test necessary to make drain tiling. He erected two dry sheds 200x20 feet, with two round, down-draft kilns, and a Tiffany improved auger machine, with an average capacity of 5,000 feet per day of ten hours. The tile works employ about twelve hands, the products of the works (consisting of tile of all the various sizes), supplying a large local demand, and there are shipments made by railroad to other points in the State. Edward WHITMER, the oldest son of H. M. WHITMER, and the subject of these lines, is Superintendent and Manager. They have on the same premises a yard for the manufacture of brick, which was established the same year of the tile works. The yard employs about fifteen hands.
Extracted 19 Nov 2016 by Norma Hass from 1882 History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois, Part 2 Biographical Department, page 182.
