Hiram A. Holdridge
Hiram A. Holdridge, president of The Hall & Woods Company, operating the Model Mills, one of the directors of The Ohio National Bank, is one of the most prominent and universally respected citizens of Lima.
He was born in Knox County, Ohio. When Mr. Holdridge was but a child, his parents removed to New York City where his father was engaged some years in business; but they subsequently returned to Ohio and settled on what are known as the Sandusky Plains, where the father carried on a mercantile business.
Our subject was reared in this home until the age of 18 years, and then entered the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio, where he was a promising student when the Civil War broke out. Backed by generations of loyal forebears, the young man's patriotism led him to leave the university halls for the camp field at the first tocsin of war. His first service covered six months with the 15th Ohio Regiment, and then he was given an appointment in the provost marshal's office of the Fifth Congressional District located at Lima. After one year of office work he reenlisted, becoming first lieutenant of Company I, 192nd Reg., Ohio Vol. Inf. He was on detached duty, serving as aide-de-camp to the general commanding the brigade, and afterward served in the capacity of inspector general and then as adjutant general of the brigade. When he was mustered out of the service at Winchester, Virginia, it was with the rank of acting assistant adjutant general of his brigade. He is a member of the Ohio Commandery, Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, at Cincinnati.
After the war Mr. Holdridge returned to his home at Sandusky and engaged with his father there in the mercantile business for four years, and then removed to Pittsburgh and for two years was in the live stock commission business, after which he engaged in a commission and a hotel business in Philadelphia. The latter enterprise was carried on during the Centennial Exposition. In 1880 he came to Lima, Ohio, where he renewed old associations and wet into a wholesale business which he carried on for three years. Failing health then compelled a rest for a period extending over several years. Later he again became engaged in business, this time in the development of Ohio oil fields. Other interests also claimed him and in October, 1899, he organized The Hall & Woods Company, with a capital stock of $60,000, for the operating of the Model Mills, which are the largest flouring mills in the city of Lima. Mr. Holdridge is president of this company, I. O. Hover is vice-president and S. B. Douglass is secretary and treasurer. Mr. Holdridge is also a director in the Ohio National Bank and is president of the Northwestern Millers' Association. Although engaged in various important lines of business, he still finds time to take an interest in civic improvements of various kinds and to attend to social and religious duties. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church.
Mr. Holdridge was married in September 1869, to Lenore Roberts, a daughter of the late J. B. Roberts. They have a family of four children, viz: Mary Alice, wife of Theodore McManus, of Toledo; W. R., who is engaged in mining at Johannesburg, South Africa; Margaret, wife of W.F. McGuire, of Sarnia, Canada; and Louise, of Lima.
From History of Allen County, Ohio and Representative Citizens, Edited by Charles C. Miller. Richmond & Arnold, Publishers, Chicago, 1906