Individual Details

Death

Obituary:Herman Frederick Borneman, Sr., who was actively identified with the business interests of Elkhart, Indiana, for more than 55 years, passed away at 7:30 this morning, May 12, 1934, at his home, 300 West Franklin street, following an illness which had begun to sap his strength in the later months of 1932. For several months his life had held by a slender thread of the vitality that had sustained him through the protracted ordeal.The funeral will be held Monday. The service will be conducted at the home at 2 o'clock, in charge of the Rev. Paul C. Barth of the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran church of State street, of which Mr. Borneman was long a prominent member. Burial will be at Grace Lawn cemetery.Wife's Death a Blow - The death of Mrs. Borneman, a year ago last Aug. 16, was a blow from which Mr. Borneman could not rally. His health, already impaired by advancing years, steadily declined from the date of his bereavement. However, he made it a practice to visit the business house he had founded, almost daily, until the middle of the following January.Finally, auto intoxication developed as a result of failure in organic functioning, thus provoking a delirium which made it necessary to remove him to the Elkhart General hospital, Feb. 15, 1933. Nine months later he was taken back to his home.The passing of Mr. Borneman brings to a close a career that formed a representative connecting link between the Elkhart of an early era and the large community that is the fruition of the ambitions and labors of such civic builders as he had proved himself to be.A native of Germany, he was but 23 when he first came to Elkhart in 1875, in search of employment as a tinner. This he found in a local shop, but he soon took a similar job at Fremont, Ind. Returning in a few months, he laid the foundation for a career that elevated him to the highest status among local business men.Active in Business and Church - Not only did he prosper in the hardware and tinning business, but he acquired a number of business blocks and many residence properties, and was interested in various manufacturing concerns. For many years he was a director of the First National bank, and was a senior vice-president at the time of his death.He held a high place in the affairs of the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran church of State street., and in earlier years was a director of the Chamber of Commerce and a vice-president of the Elkhart General hospital board.One endeavor of large community importance was his relation the Allendale improvement association, legal financial responsibility for which was assumed by Mr. Borneman and the late A. R. Beardsley, without pecuniary return to them, in order that that important addition to Elkhart might be successfully promoted.During the six years from 1896 to 1902 Mr. Borneman served as city councilman from the Second ward, and in at least two subsequent campaign years he was strongly importuned to consent to nomination for mayor, the leaders of the republican party believing him the most potent candidate they could name. However, he had no ambition for political preferment, and did not think the city's interests required his services in that office.Born in Saxon Thuringia - Mr. Borneman, who was born in Allstedt, Grand Dukedom of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, on Aug. 10, 1852, was brought from his native Germany in 1868 to Monroe, Mich., by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. William Borneman. There he learned the tinner's trade and first met the late George Doll, who was destined to be his business partner in the years to come. Because of a business depression in 1875, the two young men lost their jobs at Monroe and set out in search of employment elsewhere. Indifferently successful in Toledo and Cleveland, they set out for "the West" but decided to stop off at Elkhart.Mr. Borneman took a job under John Clinger, proprietor of a local shop, and Mr. Doll found similar employment under Thomas Bigelow. A little later, Mr. Bigelow engaged Borneman to help Doll put a tin roof on the residence of Dr. F. C. Eckelman, now the city hall annex.A few weeks later Mr. Borneman went to Fremont, but in 1876 he returned, and he and his friend Doll combined their savings to purchase the Bigelow shop. Three years later they moved into a larger place, an old frame building that stood on the northeast corner of Main street and Lexington avenue. After three more years their business required still more room, and they purchased the lot at the northeast corner of Main and High and erected the building now there, remodeled and increased by additions from time to time. This establishment became the largest retail hardware store in northern Indiana.Firm Dissolved - Thirty-two years ago, in 1902, the firm of Borneman & Doll was dissolved, Mr. Doll retiring in order to devote time to realty interests., in which he was engaged until his death, Jan. 5, 1931.The hardware business has been continued under the name Borneman & Sons, under the management of Herman F. Borneman and Edward C. Borneman. Later, the other two sons, George O. and Fred A., were established in the Electric Hardware Co., at 515 South Main street.There is a daughter, Mrs. Rosa Schutes, wife of the Rev. George Schutes, a Lutheran minister at Valparaiso .In addition to the five children above, there are 11 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.Mr. Borneman's marriage to Katherine Wagner, a native of the Grand Dukedom of Baden, Germany, took place May 4, 1880, in Elkhart. Mr. Borneman's aged father died Jan. 7, 1908, and his mother in 1881, in Elkhart.Elkhart Truth  Family links:  Parents:  William Borneman (1827 - 1908)  Theresa Rosina Hoffmann Borneman (1828 - 1881)  Spouse:  Katherine Wagner Borneman (1852 - 1932)  Children:  Herman Frederick Borneman (1881 - 1969)*  Edward Carl Borneman (1882 - 1949)*  Theresa Rosa Borneman Schutes (1884 - 1958)*  George Otto Borneman (1888 - 1954)*  Frederick Andrew Borneman (1890 - 1935)*  Louie A. Borneman (1893 - 1893)* *Calculated relationship Burial:Grace Lawn CemeteryElkhartElkhart CountyIndiana, USAPlot: Block H&I, Lot 73, #2 Edit Virtual Cemetery info [?] Created by: Wm. B.Record added: Jun 07, 2014Find A Grave Memorial# 130994801