Emerson B. Fritchman has been identified with business activities in the fine little industrial Town of Sebring, Mahoning County, since the time of its inception, and has been prominently concerned in the upbuilding of the large and prosperous business of the Leonard Hardware Company, of which he is a leading stockholder and executive. He was born in Andrew County, Missouri, March 7, 1868, his parents having there established their residence in 1866, upon removal from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. In 1872 the family home was established on a farm near Winona, Columbiana County, Ohio, and there the parents, Joseph and Mary Fritchman, passed the remainder of their lives. Joseph Fritchman was born and reared in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and at Pittsburgh, that state, he enlisted for service in the Civil War. He proceeded with his command to the front and continued in active service until he was severely wounded in the battle of Gettysburg. He was taken to a military hospital in the City of Philadelphia, and there received his honorable discharge. Mary Hutton, his wife, was also born in Westmoreland County, of Quaker parents, being the eldest daughter in a good old fashioned family of nine children. She was a gracious lady, beloved of all who knew her.
Emerson B. Fritchman was four years of age at the time of the family removal to Columbiana County, Ohio, where he passed his boyhood on the home farm, and he attended the excellent school maintained by the Society of Friends at Winona, as did he later a Friends’ school at Westtown, Pennsylvania. As a youth he learned the carpenter’s trade at Winona, and for several years he was employed at his trade at Salem, Columbiana County. There he next took a position as patternmaker in the factory of the Buckeye Engine Company, and as a skilled workman at this trade he came to Sebring at the time when this place was made a manufacturing center. In 1902 he here became associated with the pioneer hardware establishment of H. G. Leonard, and with this enterprise he has since continued his active alliance, the while he has contributed much to its development and upbuilding. The establishment is now modern in all equipments and facilities, and a specialty is made of tin and slate roofing, under contract stipulations, and the installing of plumbing and heating plants. From a small inception the business has grown to large proportions, and the company now employs an average force of fifteen men. A large stock of heavy and light hardware is carried, and all departments are under effective management, according to the best modern standards. The business was incorporated in 1918, with a capital stock of $50,000, and under the title of the Leonard Hardware Company. The company owns the building in which its business is conducted and Mr. Leonard has retired from active association, his home being now at Massillon, Stark County. Mr. Fritchman and his family reside on the beautiful old homestead of his father-in-law, the late Capt. John C. Hartzell, to whom a memoir is dedicated on other pages of this work. This home is situated about midway between Sebring and Beloit and is a center of representative social activity, with Mrs. Fritchman as its gracious and popular chatelaine.
June 22, 1898, recorded the marriage of Mr. Fritchman to Miss Lucy Hartzell, whose father, the late Capt. John C. Hartzell, was one of the honored and influential citizens of Mahoning County, and of the two children of this union Frederick died at the age of seven years. The daughter, Mary Louise, has received the best of educational advantages and is a popular factor in the social life of the community.
Title: Youngstown
Author: Anonymous
Edition: Special Limited Edition
City of Publication: Chicago
Publisher: American Historical Society
Date: 1920
Pages: 322
Reel/Fiche Number: Genealogy and Local History; LH10216
Subject Headings:
Youngstown (Ohio) – Biography
Ohio – Mahoning County – Youngstown