Denver, History of Colorado, BIOS: HESSLER, Potter Strobridge (published 1918) *********************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. *********************************************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Maggie Stewart-Zimmerman http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00015.html#0003643 September 18, 1999 *********************************************************************** "History of Colorado", edited by Wilbur Fisk Stone, published by The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. (1918) Vol. II p. 216, 218 photo p. 217 POTTER STROBRIDGE HESSLER. Thirty-eight years have come and gone since Potter Strobridge Hessler arrived in Denver, where he has worked his way steadily upward in business connections until he is now at the head of a profitable enterprise as the president of the P. S. Hessler Mercantile Company. He has made steady advancement, developing his powers through the exercise of effort, and he is now controlling a profitable business concern. He was born in Trumansburg, New York, March 27, 1858. The family was founded in America by Henry Hessler, who was brought to this country during the Revolutionary war for the purpose of being made to do compulsory military service for the Britons. After the close of the war, when these soldiers were being loaded on ships for the return voyage, he made his escape and hid in the house of a friend, taking refuge in a clothes hamper in a closet, over which a number of clothes were hanging. The officer, in making a search for deserters, passed his hand through the clothes and, finding no one, went on. As soon as possible Henry Hessler went to New York, where he married Miss Margaret McConnell, a native of Ireland. He afterward removed to Canajoharie, New York, where he engaged in the tailoring business and there spent his remaining days. His name appears in the first government census of New York, taken in 1800. The grandfather and the father of Potter S. Hessler were both natives of the Empire state. The latter, Henry A. Hessler, was a highly educated man, being graduated from Hamilton College of New York. He originally studied for the ministry but never took up the active work of the church as a preacher. Instead he turned his attention to merchandising and was thus engaged at various periods in New York, Iowa, Ohio, New Jersey and again at Cazenovia, New York, where he passed away in 1874, at the age of fifty-eight years. For twelve years prior to his death he was an invalid. His wife bore the maiden name of Elizabeth A. Terry and was born in the state of New York. She was a descendant of James Terry, himself a descendant of pioneer settlers on Long Island and the founder of the family in America. He was of English lineage. The death of Mrs. Hessler occurred in Cazenovia, New York, in 1870, when she was forty years of age. She was the mother of three children but two of them were born of a former marriage. Potter S. Hessler was educated in the public and district schools of Cazenovia and afterward became a student in Cazenovia Seminary. He made his initial step in the business world when a young man of twenty- two years, although he had previously been employed on the farm of his uncle, Ephraim B. Hessler, In New York. After attaining his majority he determined to try his fortune in the west and in May, 1880, arrived in Denver a comparative stranger. After struggling through a year, during which he held various minor positions, he became an employe in the New England Blue Store, a retail grocery house at Thirty-second and Larimer streets. It was supposed that he was an experienced grocery clerk and he had to make good in the position. He was ever alert and quick to learn. When he entered the store he did not know the difference between rice and tapioca nor how to tie up a good package, but he soon mastered these things, as he did other tasks which fell to his lot, and for a year he continued in that establishment. He was afterward employed by various commission firms and from that time forward each step in his career advanced him steadily and brought him a broader outlook and wider opportunities. In 1885 he entered the commission business on his own account and from the beginning the new enterprise prospered. From time to time he had to seek larger quarters In order to meet the growing demand of his trade and in 1903 he established a wholesale grocery business at Nos. 1529 to 1539 Market street, while in 1915 a building was erected at the corner of Thirteenth and Wazee streets, at which point he has since conducted his interests. Gradually his trade has grown until today it is one of the largest in Colorado. He occupies a store having a floor space of one hundred and fifty by seventy-six feet in the basement and three stories one hundred and fifty by sixty- six feet. The firm employs on an average from thirty-five to forty people, among whom are fifteen traveling salesmen. The business is largely confined to Colorado, for he has all that he can do to meet the demands of his trade in this state. Mr. Hessler has been married twice. In Denver, in 1883, he wedded Miss Rhoda Rodolph, a native of Wisconsin and a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Rodolph. Her paternal grandfather was a captain in Napoleon's army and the grandmother in the paternal line was a daughter of one who was president of the Swiss republic. Her father was born in Switzerland and belonged to one of the old distinguished families of that country. He lived in Iowa, Wisconsin and in Illinois. Mrs. Hessler died in Denver in 1897 at the age of thirty-eight years, leaving a daughter, Elizabeth, who is now the wife of Lieutenant Howard R. Carroll, a native of Ohio, and by whom she has one son, Potter Hessler Carroll. The Carrolls are a well known family of Denver. In June, 1898, Mr. Hessler was again married, his second union being with Miss Florence A. Twining, a native of Wisconsin and a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Twining, descendants of an old English family and early settlers of Pennsylvania and New York. There is one daughter of the second marriage, Helen A., who was married on June 28, 1918, to Henry W. Brautigam, of Denver. The Hessler family home is at No. 674 Downing street. Mr. Hessler started out in life a poor boy and had a cash capital of but two hundred dollars when he arrived in Denver. From that point forward he has steadily progressed and is today one of the substantial citizens and business men of his adopted state, his success being the direct result and legitimate outcome of his own labors. In politics he is a republican where national issues are involved but at local elections casts an independent ballot. Fraternally he is identified with the Masons, holding membership in Denver Lodge, No. 5, A. F. & A. M.; Colorado Chapter, No. 2, R. A. M.; Denver Council, No. 1, R. & S. M.; Denver Commandery, No. 1, K. T.; and El Jebel Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. He is also a member of the Elks lodge of Denver and he belongs to the Denver Civic and Commercial Association. He is an attendant of the Christian Science church and he turns to motoring for recreation. He is widely known in business and social circles of the city, where for almost four decades he has made his home. He has therefore been a witness of much of its growth and development and as the years have passed on he has gained a most creditable place in commercial circles as well as in the regard of his many friends.