Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Witwer, Clem Sensenig 
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Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com September 3, 2007, 4:24 pm

Author: Genealogical/Biographical Publishing Co

CLEM SENSENIG WITWER. The Joliet Manufacturing Company, of which Mr. Witwer is 
vice-president and manager, is one of the old-established and successful 
concerns of Joliet. Some time during the '40s it was started by Michael 
Dillman in Plainfield, where agricultural implements were manufactured on a 
very small scale. In March of the year 1863 removal was made to the present 
site, comprising four acres on Cass street and Youngs avenue, in Joliet, where 
are now large buildings thoroughly equipped for the various processes of 
manufacturing. In 1867 the company was incorporated. During the long history 
of the company its factory has never been closed, except on the occasion of 
the annual inventory. Employment is furnished about one hundred skilled 
laborers. For years reapers and mowers, plows and corn shellers were 
manufactured, but for some time the manufactures have been restricted to the 
Eureka Ironsides corn sheller, the Shreffler and the Rural corn shellers, the 
Original Joliet Cylinder corn sheller and Joliet Dustless Cylinder corn 
sheller No. 2; also the celebrated line of Pitts and Cary patent horse power, 
the firm being now the only exclusive manufacturers of shellers and powers in 
the United States. In January, 1897, Mrs. Witwer was elected president and 
treasurer of the company, and Mr. Witwer vice-president and manager, and these 
official relations have continued since. The paid-up capital of the company 
reaches $70,000. The business is carried on through jobbers, principally the 
Kingman Company, of St. Louis and Des Moines; Avery Manufacturing Company, of 
Kansas City; Van Zant Hardware and Implement Company, of Wichita and 
Hutchinson, Kans.; Lininger & Metcalf, of Omaha; Harber Bros., of Bloomington, 
Ill.; and the Shannahan-Wrightson Hardware Company, of Easton, Md. The 
products of the plant are shipped to all parts of the country, and the 
reputation gained by the company is unexcelled for reliability of business 
transactions and perfection of machinery.


Mr. Witwer was born in Ashland County, Ohio, February 26, 1862, and was one of 
twelve children, all but three of whom are still living. There are seven 
brothers and two sisters, viz.: John S., a dealer in agricultural implements 
in Dallas, Tex., and postmaster there under President Harrison; T. W., who is 
cashier of the firm of Studebaker Bros., of Chicago; George M., private 
secretary to J. M. Studebaker; Clem S., of this sketch; Edward C., 
superintendent of the carriage department of Studebaker Bros.' factory at 
South Bend, Ind.; J. F., who represents Studebaker Bros, in Ohio, making 
Columbus his headquarters; H. E., secretary and manager of the Studebaker and 
Lamb ranch at Kersey, Colo.; Mrs. Joseph Kopcsay, of South Bend, Ind.; and 
Mrs. J. H. Mohler, of Joliet.

The Witwer family originated in Germany, where they were a sturdy race, 
inhabiting the two provinces on the banks of the upper Rhine. On account of 
religious and social persecutions they left their native land and settled in 
Pennsylvania. Members of this family were among the first settlers of Earl 
Township, Lancaster County, Pa., whither they went as early as 1730, one year 
after the organization of the county. Among the papers of Rev. George Witwer 
was found a deed from William Penn to William Sensenig, bearing date 1734, in 
which appears the name of Michael Witwer, an ancestor of our subject.

The father of our subject, Rev. George Witwer, was born in Earl Township, 
Lancaster County, August 25, 1824, a son of Isaac Witwer. During the '50s he 
removed to Ashland County, Ohio, where he engaged in the general mercantile 
business, served as postmaster at Ashland, and also preached in the Dunkard 
Church. In 1863 he settled in LaPorte County, Ind., where he carried on farm 
pursuits and also engaged in ministerial work. In 1867 he went to Missouri as 
agent for Studebaker Bros, (his brother-in-laws), and established an 
agricultural implement store at Hamilton, Mo. While living in that state he 
preached in his denomination. Returning to Indiana in 1881 he was connected 
with the Studebaker factory in South Bend, and died in that city in October, 
1886, aged sixty-six years. Until one month before his death he continued to 
preach. His wife, who was Elizabeth Studebaker, was born in Lancaster, Pa., 
and makes her home in South Bend. Her father, John, a native of Pennsylvania, 
removed to Ashland, Ohio, where he followed the wagon-maker's trade and would 
have been very successful had he not lost several thousand dollars by 
endorsing a note for a friend. His two oldest sons, Henry and Clement, started 
in business with a capital of $68, and now give employment to more than two 
thousand men, the output of their factories being between seventy-five and 
eighty thousand vehicles annually.

Accompanying his parents in their various removals, the subject of this sketch 
received common school advantages in the towns where he lived in boyhood. 
While clerking in a store in Hamilton he also herded cattle at odd times for 
Dwight & Booth. When fifteen years of age he was given $500 cash by his 
employers and was sent twenty miles on horseback to buy cattle, which he did, 
weighing them and paying for them and then driving them to the nearest 
railroad at Kidder, Mo. From 1879 to 1881 he was employed as assistant to 
Studebaker Bros., at South Bend, Ind. While there he joined the South Bend 
Light Guards and continued the membership at the DePauw University, where he 
was a student in 1881-82. On leaving the University he became inspector and 
buyer in the lumber department of Studebaker Bros., also gained some 
experience as traveling salesman. In 1883 he went to Dallas, Tex., where he 
managed the business of his brother, J. S. Two years later he traveled for 
Studebaker Bros., in Indiana, continuing with the firm until he became 
interested in the Joliet Manufacturing Company. He is a member of the National 
Implement and Vehicle Manufacturers' Association. At one time he was active in 
the Business Men's Association and was offered its presidency, but declined. 
Frequently he has been selected to serve as a delegate to Republican 
conventions and as a member of committees; offices of trust have been offered 
him, among them that of mayor of Joliet, but he prefers to devote himself to 
his business affairs, having little taste for official life. He is connected 
with the Union Club of Joliet and the Hamilton Club of Chicago.

The home of Mr. Witwer is an elegant residence on Cass street. He was married 
in Joliet, October 5, 1887, to Miss Mary E. Shreffler, daughter of Andrew 
Hafer Shreffler, whose large financial interests were inherited at his death 
by his only surviving child. Mr. and Mrs. Witwer attend the Ottawa Street 
Methodist Episcopal Church, in which Mr. Witwer is a member of the board of 
trustees. They are liberal supporters of all church and benevolent 
institutions. Their home is the scene of many social functions, the pleasure 
of which is heightened by their courteous hospitality and refined 
surroundings. They are the parents of one son, Andrew Hafer Shreffler Witwer, 
born February 21, 1894. Their daughter, Irene, was born July 17, 1890, 
and died September 30, 1891.

Additional Comments:
Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing 
Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present

Biographical Publishing Company; Chicago 1900

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