William H. Heiner
William H. Heiner has developed a most successful nursery and market gardening business at Ironton. Lawrence County, where he has a well improved tract of nine and one-half acres, devoted largely to truck gardening, but special attention being now given to the propagating of seeds and bulbs for food products rather than in the line of floriculture. Mr. Heiner is one of the progressive and loyal citizens of Ironton and takes vital interest in all that touches its welfare and advancement. He is a valued member of the city council at the present time and has received other marks of popular confidence and esteem.
Mr. Heiner was born at Allegheny City, now known simply as Allegheny, in Pittsburgh County. Pennsylvania, on the 24th of September, 1853, and is a son of George and Magdalene (Hefner) Heiner, the former of whom was born in the Kingdom of Hanover, Germany, in 1811, and the latter of whom was born in the ancient City of Strasburg, capital of Alsace-Lorraine, Germany, in 1823, her native province having been still a part of French territory at the time of her birth and having passed to German control as a result of the Franco-Prussian War. Of the ten children six are living, and the names of the entire number are indicated, in respective order of birth and with proper noting of those who have passed away: George (deceased), Caroline, William H., Louisa (deceased), Elizabeth, Magdalene (deceased), Henry, Sarah, Mary, and Edward (deceased). The father, George Heiner, immigrated with his wife to America in 1853 and after passing about one year in the State of Pennsylvania he came to Ohio, in 1854, and established his home at Ironton, as one of the sterling pioneers of Lawrence County. He purchased the tract of land on a part of which his son William H., of this review, now lives at 3803 South Third Street, and here he continued to apply himself earnestly and industriously to market gardening until his death, in 1872, his wife surviving him by more than thirty years and having been cailed to the life eternal in 1905, at the venerable age of eighty-two years.
William H. Heiner attended the public schools of Ironton until he had attained to the age of seventeen years, and thereafter he worked for his father until the latter's death, about two years later. He then assumed the management of the home place, in the interest of the entire family, and thus continued his labors until about 1880, when the estate was settled and the heirs given their proper apportionment. In the final adjustment Mr. Heiner assumed heavy responsibilities, as he purchased the home place and paid the other heirs, and in the intervening years he has achieved unequivocal success, gained through zealous industry and good management, which have placed him in independent financial status. He has added somewhat to the area of the old homestead, to meet the demands of his business, and now has about nine and one-half acres of ground, improved with model hot-beds and otherwise excellently equipped for the market-gardening and nursery business. For a number of years Mr. Heiner gave more or less attention to work at the carpenter's trade, and his ability in this trade is indicated by his membership in the carpenters' union. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, holds membership in the Ironton Chamber of Commerce, and both he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Heiner has made excellent improvements on his residence property, and he is the owner also of the building utilized as a store.
Mr. Heiner shows characteristic loyalty and progressiveness in his effective service as a member of the city council, to which he was first elected in 1911. Popular appreciation of his labors in this municipal body, to which he was chosen from the city at large rather than from a specific ward, was shown in his re-election, by a gratifying majority, in 1913. He was formerly a member of the board of trustees of the Lawrence County Infirmary, having been for two years clerk of the board and for an equal period its president. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and he is well fortified in his opinions concerning governmental affairs, both local and national.
It is worthy of record that in 1877, when he was twenty-four years of age, Mr. Heiner found an effective means of recuperating his impaired health, by making the long overland trip, with horse and wagon, to Southern Florida. Another young man accompanied him on the journey and they traversed a distance of 3,000 miles, ninety days being consumed ere they reached their destination, and the return trip being made by railroad.
At Ironton, on the 26th of April, 1887, Mr. Heiner wedded Miss Caroline E. Ensinger, daughter of Christopher and Katherine A. Ensinger both natives of Germany, where the former was born in 1830, and the latter in 1832. Mrs. Heiner was the fifth in order of birth of the family of eleven children, the others being Mary B., Wilhelmina (deceased). George W., Agnes (deceased), Emma D., William F., Rosa R., Charles E., and Frank A. and John J., who are deceased. Christopher Ensinger was a pioneer of Lawrence County, and here conducted the well known Old Reliable Dairy from 1859 until his death, in 1907, his wife having passed to the life eternal in 1905. He was one of a company of fifteen enterprising citizens who first introduced into Lawrence County the pure-bred and registered Holstein-Frisian cattle, and he became an extensive and successful breeder of this fine type of stock, his fine herd having been a source of much pride to him and the same having attracted much attention on the part of breeders and farmers. Mr. Ensinger was an influential and honored citizen and served in various offices of local trust, including many years' incumbency of the position of director of the county infirmary. Mr. and Mrs. Heiner became the parents of two children,—Chester K., who died at the age of 11 months; and Karl W., who is engaged in the grocery business in the City of Cincinnati: he married .Miss Garnet Brimstead and they have no children.
From "A Standing History of the Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio" by Eugene B. Willard, Daniel W. Williams, George O. Newman and Charles B. Taylor. Published by Lewis Publishing Company, 1916