Lake-White-Newton County IN Archives Biographies.....Hershman, William H. 1851 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/in/infiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 26, 2006, 12:01 am Author: T. H. Ball (1904) WILLIAM H. HERSHMAN. William H. Hershman, superintendent of the city schools of Hammond, is a well known educator of Lake county and the state of Indiana, and during the past three years has made a splendid record through his connection with the public schools of Hammond. He has devoted the best years of his life to his profession, and from first to last has been in the front rank of educational progress. The field has been vastly broadened, standards of efficiency have been raised and ideals have changed since he taught his first school, but to-day as well as twenty years ago Professor Hershman is a dominant and influential spirit both as a school manager and an instructor of the young. He was born in White county, Indiana, July 20, 1851, being a son of Jacob and Mary (Edmondson) Hershman, natives of Ohio and Tennessee respectively. In the paternal line he is of German descent, and his grandfather came from Virginia to Ohio in an early day, and thence became a pioneer of Hamilton county, Indiana, at a time when that portion of the state was the haunt of wild animals and Indians. Many of his descendants still live in Hamilton county. He was a farmer, and lived to be eighty-five years of age. His wife was Mary Cartmill, and she was about the same age at the time of her death. They had a large family, eight sons and several daughters, but all are now deceased but two daughters, Mrs. Sarah Smith, a widow, of Lafayette, Indiana, and Mrs. Mary Strong, in Nebraska. Jacob Hershman, the father of Professor Hershman, also followed farming. He came to Indiana when fifteen years old, and resided in Hamilton county till after his marriage, when he moved to Benton county and later to White county, and in 1868 to Newton county, where he lived until his death, in Brook in March, 1903, when about eighty-two years old. He was one of the stanchest supporters by faith and works of the Methodist church, as is his widow, who is now seventy-nine years of age. Her father was Thomas Edmondson, who was born in Ireland and came to this country and settled near Knoxville, Tennessee, where he followed his trade of millwright. He died in young manhood, but his wife, whose name was Nancy Box, lived to the age of sixty-three years, having been the mother of seven children, all of the sons but one becoming preachers. Jacob and Mary Hershman were the parents of seven children, five of whom are now living: George died while a soldier in the Civil war; John R. lives in Brook, Indiana; William H., of Hammond; Jennie is the wife of Newton Lyons, of Jasper county, Indiana; Frank is deceased; Sarah and Linnie are twins, the former the wife of James Hoach, of Chicago Heights, Illinois, and the latter the wife of Thomas Gratner, of the same place. Mr. William H. Hershman lived in White county, Indiana, until he was seventeen, spending his youth on a farm. From the district schools he went to the National Normal School at Lebannon, Ohio, and later to the Indiana State University, at Bloomington, where he was graduated with the degree of A. B. in 1898. He then took a course in the University of Chicago and in the Cook County Normal School. These periods of higher training were interspersed in longer periods of teaching, and except when in college he has been teaching practically ever since he was eighteen years old. His first school was in Newton county. He was president of the Vincennes University one year. He came to Hammond on October 1, 1901, and has held the position of superintendent ever since. There are eight school buildings under his supervision, and the enrollment of pupils is about 2,670. The superintendency is a responsible and arduous incumbency, but he has given eminent satisfaction and done a fine work for the cause of public education in this city. Mr. Hershman served as county superintendent of schools of Newton county for ten years, being elected five successive times with unanimous consent except the first time. He has also concerned himself to some extent with newspaper work, and is one of the proprietors of the Brook Reporter. Mr. Hershman in politics is independent. He and his wife are members of the Methodist church, and he is one of the church stewards. He affiliates with Garfield Lodge No. 596, F. & A. M., with Hammond Chapter, R. A. M., and with Hammond Commandery No. 41, K. T., and also with Murat Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Indianapolis; with Delphi Lodge No. 28 and with Carroll Encampment No. 17, I. O. O. F., and with the Patriarchs Militant at New Albany, Indiana. He resides and owns a nice home at 39 Webb street. July 3, 1873, Mr. Hershman married Miss Jennie Lyons, a daughter of Samuel and Margaret (Smith) Lyons. They have two children. Ara Ethel is a teacher in the Hammond public schools, and George is attending Armour Institute of Technology. Mrs. Hershman's father was a native of Virginia and her mother of New Jersey, and she was the only daughter of five children. Her father, a son of Morris Lyons, also a native of Virginia, was a blacksmith in early life, later a farmer, and now lives with his daughter at the great age of ninety years. His wife died in August, 1903, aged seventy-eight years. Her father was named Joseph Smith, and he was truly a hardy and venerable old pioneer. He lacked only two months of being ninety-eight years old at the time of his death. He helped build the breastworks around New York during the war of 1812. His birthplace was Hoboken, New Jersey. He was one of the first settlers of Jasper county, Indiana, and was one of the first county commissioners of Jasper and Newton counties, serving for several terms. He left Indiana and went to Kansas in the fifties, where he took part in the border warfare of that state. He died at Brook, Indiana. He had been left an orphan, and been bound out as apprentice to a tanner, and his long life was filled with honorable and useful effort. Additional Comments: Extracted from: ENCYCLOPEDIA OF Genealogy and Biography OF LAKE COUNTY, INDIANA, WITH A COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY 1834—1904 A Record of the Achievements of Its People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation. REV. T. H. BALL OF CROWN POINT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ILLUSTRATED CHICAGO NEW YORK THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY 1904 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/in/lake/bios/hershman612gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/infiles/ File size: 6.9 Kb