Mary Henriette Hermine Hegeler was born in LaSalle, IL, in January 1861. She was born on the grounds of the Matthiessen & Hegeler Zinc Co. (M&H), and grew up around the plant. She often accompanied her father in his work at the plant. By the age of 16, she was working in the weigh office and later worked in many other departments throughout the factory. Mary Hegeler was the first woman graduate from the University of Michigan's Department of Chemistry and Engineering. In 1886 she became a director at M&H Zinc Co. She married Dr. Paul Carus in 1888. In 1903, Mary Hegeler Carus was elected president of M&H Zinc Co.and served from 1903 to 1914, 1916 to 1918 and 1933 to 1936. She died in 1936. Both in her lifetime and today, her accomplishments have been marginalized.
The Daily Post Tribune, Monday, June 29, 1936
MOURN PASSING OF MRS. CARUS AT LAST RITES
Death of Distinguished Citizen Was Shock To Community
FRIEND OF MANKIND
Won Wide Distinction in World's Industrial Affairs
While the entire community mourned the passing of one of its most revered citizens, Mrs. Mary Hegeler Carus was borne to a grave in Oakwood Cemetery during a private service conducted at 1:00 o'clock Monday afternoon.
Officiating at the solemn rites at the Carus mansion, Seventh and Sterling Streets , and at the cemetery was the Rev. Paul Brauns, pastor of the Zion Evangelical Church , Peru, for many years one of the decedent's closest friends.
The active pallbearers were drawn from the executive personnel of the Matthiessen and Hegeler Zinc company , whose board of directors Mrs. Carus headed, from the Carus Chemical Works of which she was vice president, and from the La Salle and Bureau County Railroad, of which she was president, while the honorary pallbearers were various department heads of the three companies.
Heartfelt Tribute
The Rev. Brauns, in his funeral sermon, paid tribute to Mrs. Carus as a mother and as a philan-thropist. He recalled her generosity to soldiers during the World War , especially in the sending of blankets, and told of her efforts, with Mrs. George A. Wilson, Sr., in establishing the La Salle Industrial school, where children were given an opportunity to develop their talents.
At the home brief services were conducted, opening with a prayer in German, a short sermon in English, in which tribute was paid to mother love and the importance of a mother to a family.
At the cemetery a quartet composed of Carl Hoesch, Adolph Baginski, Mrs. Walter Hoberg and Mrs. Rudolph Dobberstein, sang in German ―A Mighty Fortress is Our God, by Martin Luther. A pray-er in German was followed by a funeral sermon in English.
In the sermon at the grave the Rev. Brauns, lauding the memory of Mrs. Carus, said, in part: ―I know not what may be done or spoken elsewhere of the great and good woman whom we were so proud to call our neighbor and friend, but I cannot believe that you are willing that she should be laid in the tomb without some words of heartfelt sorrow, some expression of love and reverence, some offerings of praise to God for the gifts with which He was pleased to endow her.
Great and good women like our departed sister should have their monuments not merely in the mute and icy marble, but in the warm, living hearts. Our departed friend is not dead. She had just begun to live. God has given to her a two fold life the life of the glorified and the life of an undying memory in the hearts of all who knew her and her generous heart. I believe we are commemorating today the life of a woman who looks larger now than when she died. There are reasons for this. One was her exceeding quietness; she sounded no trumpets made no noise, called no attention to her doings. She was a qui-et woman in all her activity: quiet in her natural shrinkage from publicity or any kind of self-advertisement.
Like some long, swelling wave that rises on the dark bosom of the deep until it crests in whiteness and at its climax flings its crystal toward the sky, our sister's life, gathering volume and value through all the years now at its summit breaks into the heavens. From the zenith of attainment and the top of action she passes to render her account to her Master.
Her best and truest eulogy is that she had a vigorous intellect, sustained by lofty purposes, and based upon an honest and feeling heart.
Following the sermon the quartet sang Lead, Kindly Light, before the consignment to the grave.
Pallbearers, Honor Guard
Bearing the beautiful, gray zinc casket were Charles Vohs, master mechanic at the M. and H. plant; Julius L. Whalen, furnace foreman; Hessler Larson, assistant superintendent of the rolling mill; Karl Langham, foreman of the acid, refining, roasting and cindering departments; Karl Kleimenhagen, superintendent of the Carus Chemical Works, and Herman Dickman, foreman of the L.S. and B.C. rail-road yards.
The guard of honor was comprised of E. Gebhardt, Edwin Cassel, C. Reinhard, William Schoening, B.F. Taylor, John Gable, Albert La Flamme, William Sanders, R. Hoban, M. Heffron, John Marenda, A. Woeckel, Arthur Vohs, R. Washkowiak, E. Nelson, R. Hart, A. Meyers, Dr. A.C. Schoch, John Loskill, C. Schoening, F. Szuda, William Smith, C. Brenn, I. Stachowiak, J.A. Welter, J. Liss, J. Stambor, J. Born, S. Gruschka, M. Washkowiak, C. Quimby, William Ulrich, E. Smudzinski, F. Jagodsinski, C. Olivero, L. Witt, F. Echenfels, A. Lundberg, O. Sutton, F. Koenig and S. Lewis.
Plants Closed
Out of respect to the memory of this outstanding woman whose entire life was wrapped around the local zinc industry which her father helped found, the M. and H. plant, the Carus chemical plant and the L.S. and B.C. railroad suspended operations Monday afternoon.
Banked high around the bier in the luxurious hallway on the second floor of the Carus home-stead over the weekend were floral tributes from employees of the concerns with which Mrs. Carus was so long affiliated and other pieces from her many friends in this community as well as in distant places. Mourning relatives received dozens of messages of condolence.
In deference to Mrs. Carus' wish that she be remembered in death as she was in life, the casket made of the M. and H. product was sealed.
The death of the distinguished woman at 10:45 o'clock Saturday morning, came as a great shock to her wide circle of acquaintances, many of whom had not been aware of her illness. Relatives said today that Mrs. Carus first became ill several months ago but her condition did not become serious until about two weeks ago and finally necessitated her confinement to bed six days before her demise. They attributed her death to a weakening of the heart and a general breakdown of health.
Born Here
Seventy-five years ago, in a two-story frame dwelling which was located just north of where the pottery department of the M and H. Zinc company now stands, a structure which afterward was used for many years as the general office of the firm, the decedent — destined to win a place of distinction in the world's industrial affairs and of reverence as a benefactress of mankind – was born.
The date of her birth was January 10, 1861 and her parents were the late E. C. Hegeler, who, with F. W. Matthiessen, founded the zinc company three years earlier, and Camilla Weisbach Hegeler, both of her parents being natives of Germany. Her mother was the daughter of Julius Weisbach who was the head of the School of Mines at Freiberg, Saxony, Germany, where Mr. Hegeler and Mr. Mat-thiessen later studied and many of his writings on mechanics, hydraulics and mine survey, done while he taught those subjects at Freiberg, later were translated into English and widely used in schools of the United States.
After attending the local schools, including the Old La Salle City high school, which was locat-ed on the present site of Jefferson school, Third and Tonti street, Mrs. Carus entered the University of Michigan and was graduated from that institution in 1882, the first woman ever to receive from that Uni-versity a B. S. degree in engineering. From the University of Michigan she went to Germany and did post-graduate work at the Freiberg school, which at that time was one of the world's three outstanding mining schools.
Worked With Father
Returning to the United States, she later became closely associated with her father in the operation of the local zinc industry and throughout her lifetime she maintained an intimate contact with all the phases of operation at that plant, having served as president of the company from 1903 to 1917, succeed-ing her father upon his retirement from that office, as secretary from 1917 to 1933 and again as president from 1933 until recently when at the annual meeting of the M. and H. directorate, she was chosen chairman of the board. The presidency of the company is still vacant.
Her marriage to the late Dr. Paul Carus, who died in 1919, occurred on March 29, 1888. He was a doctor of philosophy at Tuebingen and the University of Strassburg, in Germany, and after coming to the United States he founded the Open Court Publishing Company, which publishes the monthly Open Court magazine and the quarterly Monist in Chicago. Since her husband's death, the late Mrs. Carus had headed the Open Court company as its president, at the same time retaining her executive connection with the local zinc plant, the chemical works and the shortline railroad.
Most important of Mrs. Carus' official duties was that as head of the M. and H. company. Always she devoted her chief attention to that position, which she found particularly trying in recent depression‖ years. She herself initiated many major policies of the company and in every important decision she took a hand. She was in no sense of the word a mere figurehead,‖ as all who knew her and admired her will vouch, and there was not a day that passed, until her last illness, that did not find her spending many hours immersed in the affairs of the industry.
It was largely because of her expert guidance that the local zinc company managed to weather the stormy era since 1929 while dozens of other industries elsewhere throughout the land suspended op-erations or abandoned them entirely, unable to withstand the onslaught of the depression.
Avoided "Frills"
Through out her lifetime, Mrs. Carus avoided frills,‖ always content with only the fundamen-tals of living. Hers was a life dedicated to doing things for her fellow humans and scores of her works of benefaction‖ never came to public light. She found keen satisfaction in making life easier for others, in giving, not taking.
She is remembered lovingly by the hundreds of young men from the Tri-Cities who served their country in the World War , for through her each received a warm, woolen blanket before entraining for camp. The first of these blankets was made by her and her friends in the Carus home but when the draft increased it became impossible to continue supplying home-made blankets and she met the situation by buying blankets and directing the distribution of them.
Mrs. Carus, with Mrs. George A. Wilson, initiated the first classes in sewing for girls and in manual training for boys, financing this project for many years before the local board of education absorbed domestic science and manual training in the school curriculum.
It was Mrs. Carus' father, the late Mr. Hegeler, who gave to the city what has since been known as Hegeler Park, that beautiful tract which adjoins St. Vincent avenue to the east between Twelfth and Fourteenth Streets, scene of many public recreational activities.
Grew Up With Industry
Mrs. Carus grew up with the zinc industry. During her early girlhood the plant yard was her playground. When she was but 16 years old she was in the ore weighing office of the plant and frequently assumed various tasks about the busy plant yard, working side by side with sweating men. Her zealous father found in her an able aide and after his retirement from the company she carried on with an efficiency that stamped her as one of the outstanding women of the industrial world.
While her marriage to Mr. Carus served to somewhat lessen the attention she devoted to the industry, she never lost interest in it. In 1925 she purchased the Matthiessens' half-interest in the corporation, which operates the world's largest zinc rolling industry, these shares of stock, together with those she held previously giving her controlling interest.
She had a keen memory and found enjoyment in reflecting upon the great strides the local plant has made since its small beginning in 1858 with two small rolls, one for packs‖ and the other for slabs. She reflected often upon the great number of new uses which have been found for zinc since the days when her father and Mr. Matthiessen during the Civil War era, found their largest market in the army which used great quantities of zinc for the manufacture of rifle and pistol cartridges as well as other ammunition.
Today, zinc is used for scores of purposes and there is a tremendously larger market for the metal. Automobiles of modern manufacture contain approximately 20 pounds of zinc each and there is a promise that that industry will find even wider use for the material. Other present day uses to which zinc is put include the manufacture of fruit-jar lids, washboards, table tops, galvanizing, brass and other alloys, dye-castings, etchings for engraving, batteries, refrigerators, weather-stripping, hardware in vari-ous forms, plumbing fixtures, roof-shingles, gutters, etc.
In the old days, she pointed out some time ago in an interview when the Matthiessen and Hege-ler partnership was struggling for a foothold, the industry did exceptionally well if its daily output reached the 7,000 pound mark. The capacity of the present gigantic plant, La Salle's largest, is approxi-mately 300,000 pounds over a 24 hour period of operation, or about 100,000,000 pounds a year.
The force of men employed during the early days was not more than 150, as compared with the present force of approximately 800, this number including coal mine employees .
Originated Furnace
Her father, Mr. Hegeler, originated what is commonly known as the ―Hegeler furnace, used much in districts where gas furnaces are operated. He also developed a type of roasting kiln in 1904 known as the Hegeler Kiln and used in both America and Europe by virtually every zinc plant on the two continents.
The decedent's surviving children are Edward Hegeler Carus, of La Salle, president of the Carus Chemical Works and a member of the La Salle-Peru High School board; Gustave K. Carus, of Chicago, connected with the Open Court Publishing company; Mrs. E. Talcott Barnes of Eagle River, Wis.; Miss Elizabeth Carus, of La Salle and Chicago; Herman D. Carus, secretary and superintendent of operations at the M. and H. company, and Alwin C. Carus, of La Salle, associated with his brother, Edward, in operation of the Carus Chemical Works. There was also another child, Robert, who died in infancy.
The sisters and brothers who survive are Mrs. Annie Cole, of New York wife of Dr. Rufus Cole, head of the Rockefeller hospital; Julius W. Hegeler, of Danville, head of the Hegeler Zinc Company; Mrs. Olga H. Liehma , of New York; Mrs. Camilla Bucherer of Bonn, Germany, widow of Professor Alfred Bucherer, who was a professor of physics at the University of Bonn; Baroness Zuleikha von Viet-inghoff, of Berlin, Germany, wife of Dr. Karl von Vietinghoff,
editor of the Chemiker Zeiting, a chemical journal.
Among out of town relatives who arrived over the
weekend to attend the funeral were Mrs. Liehme , Mrs. Cole
and daughter, Elizabeth, of New York; Mr. and Mrs. Gustave
Carus, and children, of Chicago; Mr. and Mrs. E. T. Barnes,
of Eagle River, Wis.; Mr. and Mrs. Julius Hegeler and
son, Edward, of Danville.
The Daily Post Tribune, Monday, June 29, 1936
MOURN PASSING OF MRS. CARUS AT LAST RITES
Death of Distinguished Citizen Was Shock To Community
FRIEND OF MANKIND
Won Wide Distinction in World's Industrial Affairs
While the entire community mourned the passing of one of its most revered citizens, Mrs. Mary Hegeler Carus was borne to a grave in Oakwood Cemetery during a private service conducted at 1:00 o'clock Monday afternoon.
Officiating at the solemn rites at the Carus mansion, Seventh and Sterling Streets , and at the cemetery was the Rev. Paul Brauns, pastor of the Zion Evangelical Church , Peru, for many years one of the decedent's closest friends.
The active pallbearers were drawn from the executive personnel of the Matthiessen and Hegeler Zinc company , whose board of directors Mrs. Carus headed, from the Carus Chemical Works of which she was vice president, and from the La Salle and Bureau County Railroad, of which she was president, while the honorary pallbearers were various department heads of the three companies.
Heartfelt Tribute
The Rev. Brauns, in his funeral sermon, paid tribute to Mrs. Carus as a mother and as a philan-thropist. He recalled her generosity to soldiers during the World War , especially in the sending of blankets, and told of her efforts, with Mrs. George A. Wilson, Sr., in establishing the La Salle Industrial school, where children were given an opportunity to develop their talents.
At the home brief services were conducted, opening with a prayer in German, a short sermon in English, in which tribute was paid to mother love and the importance of a mother to a family.
At the cemetery a quartet composed of Carl Hoesch, Adolph Baginski, Mrs. Walter Hoberg and Mrs. Rudolph Dobberstein, sang in German ―A Mighty Fortress is Our God, by Martin Luther. A pray-er in German was followed by a funeral sermon in English.
In the sermon at the grave the Rev. Brauns, lauding the memory of Mrs. Carus, said, in part: ―I know not what may be done or spoken elsewhere of the great and good woman whom we were so proud to call our neighbor and friend, but I cannot believe that you are willing that she should be laid in the tomb without some words of heartfelt sorrow, some expression of love and reverence, some offerings of praise to God for the gifts with which He was pleased to endow her.
Great and good women like our departed sister should have their monuments not merely in the mute and icy marble, but in the warm, living hearts. Our departed friend is not dead. She had just begun to live. God has given to her a two fold life the life of the glorified and the life of an undying memory in the hearts of all who knew her and her generous heart. I believe we are commemorating today the life of a woman who looks larger now than when she died. There are reasons for this. One was her exceeding quietness; she sounded no trumpets made no noise, called no attention to her doings. She was a qui-et woman in all her activity: quiet in her natural shrinkage from publicity or any kind of self-advertisement.
Like some long, swelling wave that rises on the dark bosom of the deep until it crests in whiteness and at its climax flings its crystal toward the sky, our sister's life, gathering volume and value through all the years now at its summit breaks into the heavens. From the zenith of attainment and the top of action she passes to render her account to her Master.
Her best and truest eulogy is that she had a vigorous intellect, sustained by lofty purposes, and based upon an honest and feeling heart.
Following the sermon the quartet sang Lead, Kindly Light, before the consignment to the grave.
Pallbearers, Honor Guard
Bearing the beautiful, gray zinc casket were Charles Vohs, master mechanic at the M. and H. plant; Julius L. Whalen, furnace foreman; Hessler Larson, assistant superintendent of the rolling mill; Karl Langham, foreman of the acid, refining, roasting and cindering departments; Karl Kleimenhagen, superintendent of the Carus Chemical Works, and Herman Dickman, foreman of the L.S. and B.C. rail-road yards.
The guard of honor was comprised of E. Gebhardt, Edwin Cassel, C. Reinhard, William Schoening, B.F. Taylor, John Gable, Albert La Flamme, William Sanders, R. Hoban, M. Heffron, John Marenda, A. Woeckel, Arthur Vohs, R. Washkowiak, E. Nelson, R. Hart, A. Meyers, Dr. A.C. Schoch, John Loskill, C. Schoening, F. Szuda, William Smith, C. Brenn, I. Stachowiak, J.A. Welter, J. Liss, J. Stambor, J. Born, S. Gruschka, M. Washkowiak, C. Quimby, William Ulrich, E. Smudzinski, F. Jagodsinski, C. Olivero, L. Witt, F. Echenfels, A. Lundberg, O. Sutton, F. Koenig and S. Lewis.
Plants Closed
Out of respect to the memory of this outstanding woman whose entire life was wrapped around the local zinc industry which her father helped found, the M. and H. plant, the Carus chemical plant and the L.S. and B.C. railroad suspended operations Monday afternoon.
Banked high around the bier in the luxurious hallway on the second floor of the Carus home-stead over the weekend were floral tributes from employees of the concerns with which Mrs. Carus was so long affiliated and other pieces from her many friends in this community as well as in distant places. Mourning relatives received dozens of messages of condolence.
In deference to Mrs. Carus' wish that she be remembered in death as she was in life, the casket made of the M. and H. product was sealed.
The death of the distinguished woman at 10:45 o'clock Saturday morning, came as a great shock to her wide circle of acquaintances, many of whom had not been aware of her illness. Relatives said today that Mrs. Carus first became ill several months ago but her condition did not become serious until about two weeks ago and finally necessitated her confinement to bed six days before her demise. They attributed her death to a weakening of the heart and a general breakdown of health.
Born Here
Seventy-five years ago, in a two-story frame dwelling which was located just north of where the pottery department of the M and H. Zinc company now stands, a structure which afterward was used for many years as the general office of the firm, the decedent — destined to win a place of distinction in the world's industrial affairs and of reverence as a benefactress of mankind – was born.
The date of her birth was January 10, 1861 and her parents were the late E. C. Hegeler, who, with F. W. Matthiessen, founded the zinc company three years earlier, and Camilla Weisbach Hegeler, both of her parents being natives of Germany. Her mother was the daughter of Julius Weisbach who was the head of the School of Mines at Freiberg, Saxony, Germany, where Mr. Hegeler and Mr. Mat-thiessen later studied and many of his writings on mechanics, hydraulics and mine survey, done while he taught those subjects at Freiberg, later were translated into English and widely used in schools of the United States.
After attending the local schools, including the Old La Salle City high school, which was locat-ed on the present site of Jefferson school, Third and Tonti street, Mrs. Carus entered the University of Michigan and was graduated from that institution in 1882, the first woman ever to receive from that Uni-versity a B. S. degree in engineering. From the University of Michigan she went to Germany and did post-graduate work at the Freiberg school, which at that time was one of the world's three outstanding mining schools.
Worked With Father
Returning to the United States, she later became closely associated with her father in the operation of the local zinc industry and throughout her lifetime she maintained an intimate contact with all the phases of operation at that plant, having served as president of the company from 1903 to 1917, succeed-ing her father upon his retirement from that office, as secretary from 1917 to 1933 and again as president from 1933 until recently when at the annual meeting of the M. and H. directorate, she was chosen chairman of the board. The presidency of the company is still vacant.
Her marriage to the late Dr. Paul Carus, who died in 1919, occurred on March 29, 1888. He was a doctor of philosophy at Tuebingen and the University of Strassburg, in Germany, and after coming to the United States he founded the Open Court Publishing Company, which publishes the monthly Open Court magazine and the quarterly Monist in Chicago. Since her husband's death, the late Mrs. Carus had headed the Open Court company as its president, at the same time retaining her executive connection with the local zinc plant, the chemical works and the shortline railroad.
Most important of Mrs. Carus' official duties was that as head of the M. and H. company. Always she devoted her chief attention to that position, which she found particularly trying in recent depression‖ years. She herself initiated many major policies of the company and in every important decision she took a hand. She was in no sense of the word a mere figurehead,‖ as all who knew her and admired her will vouch, and there was not a day that passed, until her last illness, that did not find her spending many hours immersed in the affairs of the industry.
It was largely because of her expert guidance that the local zinc company managed to weather the stormy era since 1929 while dozens of other industries elsewhere throughout the land suspended op-erations or abandoned them entirely, unable to withstand the onslaught of the depression.
Avoided "Frills"
Through out her lifetime, Mrs. Carus avoided frills,‖ always content with only the fundamen-tals of living. Hers was a life dedicated to doing things for her fellow humans and scores of her works of benefaction‖ never came to public light. She found keen satisfaction in making life easier for others, in giving, not taking.
She is remembered lovingly by the hundreds of young men from the Tri-Cities who served their country in the World War , for through her each received a warm, woolen blanket before entraining for camp. The first of these blankets was made by her and her friends in the Carus home but when the draft increased it became impossible to continue supplying home-made blankets and she met the situation by buying blankets and directing the distribution of them.
Mrs. Carus, with Mrs. George A. Wilson, initiated the first classes in sewing for girls and in manual training for boys, financing this project for many years before the local board of education absorbed domestic science and manual training in the school curriculum.
It was Mrs. Carus' father, the late Mr. Hegeler, who gave to the city what has since been known as Hegeler Park, that beautiful tract which adjoins St. Vincent avenue to the east between Twelfth and Fourteenth Streets, scene of many public recreational activities.
Grew Up With Industry
Mrs. Carus grew up with the zinc industry. During her early girlhood the plant yard was her playground. When she was but 16 years old she was in the ore weighing office of the plant and frequently assumed various tasks about the busy plant yard, working side by side with sweating men. Her zealous father found in her an able aide and after his retirement from the company she carried on with an efficiency that stamped her as one of the outstanding women of the industrial world.
While her marriage to Mr. Carus served to somewhat lessen the attention she devoted to the industry, she never lost interest in it. In 1925 she purchased the Matthiessens' half-interest in the corporation, which operates the world's largest zinc rolling industry, these shares of stock, together with those she held previously giving her controlling interest.
She had a keen memory and found enjoyment in reflecting upon the great strides the local plant has made since its small beginning in 1858 with two small rolls, one for packs‖ and the other for slabs. She reflected often upon the great number of new uses which have been found for zinc since the days when her father and Mr. Matthiessen during the Civil War era, found their largest market in the army which used great quantities of zinc for the manufacture of rifle and pistol cartridges as well as other ammunition.
Today, zinc is used for scores of purposes and there is a tremendously larger market for the metal. Automobiles of modern manufacture contain approximately 20 pounds of zinc each and there is a promise that that industry will find even wider use for the material. Other present day uses to which zinc is put include the manufacture of fruit-jar lids, washboards, table tops, galvanizing, brass and other alloys, dye-castings, etchings for engraving, batteries, refrigerators, weather-stripping, hardware in vari-ous forms, plumbing fixtures, roof-shingles, gutters, etc.
In the old days, she pointed out some time ago in an interview when the Matthiessen and Hege-ler partnership was struggling for a foothold, the industry did exceptionally well if its daily output reached the 7,000 pound mark. The capacity of the present gigantic plant, La Salle's largest, is approxi-mately 300,000 pounds over a 24 hour period of operation, or about 100,000,000 pounds a year.
The force of men employed during the early days was not more than 150, as compared with the present force of approximately 800, this number including coal mine employees .
Originated Furnace
Her father, Mr. Hegeler, originated what is commonly known as the ―Hegeler furnace, used much in districts where gas furnaces are operated. He also developed a type of roasting kiln in 1904 known as the Hegeler Kiln and used in both America and Europe by virtually every zinc plant on the two continents.
The decedent's surviving children are Edward Hegeler Carus, of La Salle, president of the Carus Chemical Works and a member of the La Salle-Peru High School board; Gustave K. Carus, of Chicago, connected with the Open Court Publishing company; Mrs. E. Talcott Barnes of Eagle River, Wis.; Miss Elizabeth Carus, of La Salle and Chicago; Herman D. Carus, secretary and superintendent of operations at the M. and H. company, and Alwin C. Carus, of La Salle, associated with his brother, Edward, in operation of the Carus Chemical Works. There was also another child, Robert, who died in infancy.
The sisters and brothers who survive are Mrs. Annie Cole, of New York wife of Dr. Rufus Cole, head of the Rockefeller hospital; Julius W. Hegeler, of Danville, head of the Hegeler Zinc Company; Mrs. Olga H. Liehma , of New York; Mrs. Camilla Bucherer of Bonn, Germany, widow of Professor Alfred Bucherer, who was a professor of physics at the University of Bonn; Baroness Zuleikha von Viet-inghoff, of Berlin, Germany, wife of Dr. Karl von Vietinghoff,
editor of the Chemiker Zeiting, a chemical journal.
Among out of town relatives who arrived over the
weekend to attend the funeral were Mrs. Liehme , Mrs. Cole
and daughter, Elizabeth, of New York; Mr. and Mrs. Gustave
Carus, and children, of Chicago; Mr. and Mrs. E. T. Barnes,
of Eagle River, Wis.; Mr. and Mrs. Julius Hegeler and
son, Edward, of Danville.
Mary Henriette Hermine Hegeler was born in LaSalle, IL, in January 1861. She was born on the grounds of the Matthiessen & Hegeler Zinc Co. (M&H), and grew up around the plant. She often accompanied her father in his work at the plant. By the age of 16, she was working in the weigh office and later worked in many other departments throughout the factory. Mary Hegeler was the first woman graduate from the University of Michigan's Department of Chemistry and Engineering. In 1886 she became a director at M&H Zinc Co. She married Dr. Paul Carus in 1888. In 1903, Mary Hegeler Carus was elected president of M&H Zinc Co.and served from 1903 to 1914, 1916 to 1918 and 1933 to 1936. She died in 1936. Both in her lifetime and today, her accomplishments have been marginalized.
The Daily Post Tribune, Monday, June 29, 1936
MOURN PASSING OF MRS. CARUS AT LAST RITES
Death of Distinguished Citizen Was Shock To Community
FRIEND OF MANKIND
Won Wide Distinction in World's Industrial Affairs
While the entire community mourned the passing of one of its most revered citizens, Mrs. Mary Hegeler Carus was borne to a grave in Oakwood Cemetery during a private service conducted at 1:00 o'clock Monday afternoon.
Officiating at the solemn rites at the Carus mansion, Seventh and Sterling Streets , and at the cemetery was the Rev. Paul Brauns, pastor of the Zion Evangelical Church , Peru, for many years one of the decedent's closest friends.
The active pallbearers were drawn from the executive personnel of the Matthiessen and Hegeler Zinc company , whose board of directors Mrs. Carus headed, from the Carus Chemical Works of which she was vice president, and from the La Salle and Bureau County Railroad, of which she was president, while the honorary pallbearers were various department heads of the three companies.
Heartfelt Tribute
The Rev. Brauns, in his funeral sermon, paid tribute to Mrs. Carus as a mother and as a philan-thropist. He recalled her generosity to soldiers during the World War , especially in the sending of blankets, and told of her efforts, with Mrs. George A. Wilson, Sr., in establishing the La Salle Industrial school, where children were given an opportunity to develop their talents.
At the home brief services were conducted, opening with a prayer in German, a short sermon in English, in which tribute was paid to mother love and the importance of a mother to a family.
At the cemetery a quartet composed of Carl Hoesch, Adolph Baginski, Mrs. Walter Hoberg and Mrs. Rudolph Dobberstein, sang in German ―A Mighty Fortress is Our God, by Martin Luther. A pray-er in German was followed by a funeral sermon in English.
In the sermon at the grave the Rev. Brauns, lauding the memory of Mrs. Carus, said, in part: ―I know not what may be done or spoken elsewhere of the great and good woman whom we were so proud to call our neighbor and friend, but I cannot believe that you are willing that she should be laid in the tomb without some words of heartfelt sorrow, some expression of love and reverence, some offerings of praise to God for the gifts with which He was pleased to endow her.
Great and good women like our departed sister should have their monuments not merely in the mute and icy marble, but in the warm, living hearts. Our departed friend is not dead. She had just begun to live. God has given to her a two fold life the life of the glorified and the life of an undying memory in the hearts of all who knew her and her generous heart. I believe we are commemorating today the life of a woman who looks larger now than when she died. There are reasons for this. One was her exceeding quietness; she sounded no trumpets made no noise, called no attention to her doings. She was a qui-et woman in all her activity: quiet in her natural shrinkage from publicity or any kind of self-advertisement.
Like some long, swelling wave that rises on the dark bosom of the deep until it crests in whiteness and at its climax flings its crystal toward the sky, our sister's life, gathering volume and value through all the years now at its summit breaks into the heavens. From the zenith of attainment and the top of action she passes to render her account to her Master.
Her best and truest eulogy is that she had a vigorous intellect, sustained by lofty purposes, and based upon an honest and feeling heart.
Following the sermon the quartet sang Lead, Kindly Light, before the consignment to the grave.
Pallbearers, Honor Guard
Bearing the beautiful, gray zinc casket were Charles Vohs, master mechanic at the M. and H. plant; Julius L. Whalen, furnace foreman; Hessler Larson, assistant superintendent of the rolling mill; Karl Langham, foreman of the acid, refining, roasting and cindering departments; Karl Kleimenhagen, superintendent of the Carus Chemical Works, and Herman Dickman, foreman of the L.S. and B.C. rail-road yards.
The guard of honor was comprised of E. Gebhardt, Edwin Cassel, C. Reinhard, William Schoening, B.F. Taylor, John Gable, Albert La Flamme, William Sanders, R. Hoban, M. Heffron, John Marenda, A. Woeckel, Arthur Vohs, R. Washkowiak, E. Nelson, R. Hart, A. Meyers, Dr. A.C. Schoch, John Loskill, C. Schoening, F. Szuda, William Smith, C. Brenn, I. Stachowiak, J.A. Welter, J. Liss, J. Stambor, J. Born, S. Gruschka, M. Washkowiak, C. Quimby, William Ulrich, E. Smudzinski, F. Jagodsinski, C. Olivero, L. Witt, F. Echenfels, A. Lundberg, O. Sutton, F. Koenig and S. Lewis.
Plants Closed
Out of respect to the memory of this outstanding woman whose entire life was wrapped around the local zinc industry which her father helped found, the M. and H. plant, the Carus chemical plant and the L.S. and B.C. railroad suspended operations Monday afternoon.
Banked high around the bier in the luxurious hallway on the second floor of the Carus home-stead over the weekend were floral tributes from employees of the concerns with which Mrs. Carus was so long affiliated and other pieces from her many friends in this community as well as in distant places. Mourning relatives received dozens of messages of condolence.
In deference to Mrs. Carus' wish that she be remembered in death as she was in life, the casket made of the M. and H. product was sealed.
The death of the distinguished woman at 10:45 o'clock Saturday morning, came as a great shock to her wide circle of acquaintances, many of whom had not been aware of her illness. Relatives said today that Mrs. Carus first became ill several months ago but her condition did not become serious until about two weeks ago and finally necessitated her confinement to bed six days before her demise. They attributed her death to a weakening of the heart and a general breakdown of health.
Born Here
Seventy-five years ago, in a two-story frame dwelling which was located just north of where the pottery department of the M and H. Zinc company now stands, a structure which afterward was used for many years as the general office of the firm, the decedent — destined to win a place of distinction in the world's industrial affairs and of reverence as a benefactress of mankind – was born.
The date of her birth was January 10, 1861 and her parents were the late E. C. Hegeler, who, with F. W. Matthiessen, founded the zinc company three years earlier, and Camilla Weisbach Hegeler, both of her parents being natives of Germany. Her mother was the daughter of Julius Weisbach who was the head of the School of Mines at Freiberg, Saxony, Germany, where Mr. Hegeler and Mr. Mat-thiessen later studied and many of his writings on mechanics, hydraulics and mine survey, done while he taught those subjects at Freiberg, later were translated into English and widely used in schools of the United States.
After attending the local schools, including the Old La Salle City high school, which was locat-ed on the present site of Jefferson school, Third and Tonti street, Mrs. Carus entered the University of Michigan and was graduated from that institution in 1882, the first woman ever to receive from that Uni-versity a B. S. degree in engineering. From the University of Michigan she went to Germany and did post-graduate work at the Freiberg school, which at that time was one of the world's three outstanding mining schools.
Worked With Father
Returning to the United States, she later became closely associated with her father in the operation of the local zinc industry and throughout her lifetime she maintained an intimate contact with all the phases of operation at that plant, having served as president of the company from 1903 to 1917, succeed-ing her father upon his retirement from that office, as secretary from 1917 to 1933 and again as president from 1933 until recently when at the annual meeting of the M. and H. directorate, she was chosen chairman of the board. The presidency of the company is still vacant.
Her marriage to the late Dr. Paul Carus, who died in 1919, occurred on March 29, 1888. He was a doctor of philosophy at Tuebingen and the University of Strassburg, in Germany, and after coming to the United States he founded the Open Court Publishing Company, which publishes the monthly Open Court magazine and the quarterly Monist in Chicago. Since her husband's death, the late Mrs. Carus had headed the Open Court company as its president, at the same time retaining her executive connection with the local zinc plant, the chemical works and the shortline railroad.
Most important of Mrs. Carus' official duties was that as head of the M. and H. company. Always she devoted her chief attention to that position, which she found particularly trying in recent depression‖ years. She herself initiated many major policies of the company and in every important decision she took a hand. She was in no sense of the word a mere figurehead,‖ as all who knew her and admired her will vouch, and there was not a day that passed, until her last illness, that did not find her spending many hours immersed in the affairs of the industry.
It was largely because of her expert guidance that the local zinc company managed to weather the stormy era since 1929 while dozens of other industries elsewhere throughout the land suspended op-erations or abandoned them entirely, unable to withstand the onslaught of the depression.
Avoided "Frills"
Through out her lifetime, Mrs. Carus avoided frills,‖ always content with only the fundamen-tals of living. Hers was a life dedicated to doing things for her fellow humans and scores of her works of benefaction‖ never came to public light. She found keen satisfaction in making life easier for others, in giving, not taking.
She is remembered lovingly by the hundreds of young men from the Tri-Cities who served their country in the World War , for through her each received a warm, woolen blanket before entraining for camp. The first of these blankets was made by her and her friends in the Carus home but when the draft increased it became impossible to continue supplying home-made blankets and she met the situation by buying blankets and directing the distribution of them.
Mrs. Carus, with Mrs. George A. Wilson, initiated the first classes in sewing for girls and in manual training for boys, financing this project for many years before the local board of education absorbed domestic science and manual training in the school curriculum.
It was Mrs. Carus' father, the late Mr. Hegeler, who gave to the city what has since been known as Hegeler Park, that beautiful tract which adjoins St. Vincent avenue to the east between Twelfth and Fourteenth Streets, scene of many public recreational activities.
Grew Up With Industry
Mrs. Carus grew up with the zinc industry. During her early girlhood the plant yard was her playground. When she was but 16 years old she was in the ore weighing office of the plant and frequently assumed various tasks about the busy plant yard, working side by side with sweating men. Her zealous father found in her an able aide and after his retirement from the company she carried on with an efficiency that stamped her as one of the outstanding women of the industrial world.
While her marriage to Mr. Carus served to somewhat lessen the attention she devoted to the industry, she never lost interest in it. In 1925 she purchased the Matthiessens' half-interest in the corporation, which operates the world's largest zinc rolling industry, these shares of stock, together with those she held previously giving her controlling interest.
She had a keen memory and found enjoyment in reflecting upon the great strides the local plant has made since its small beginning in 1858 with two small rolls, one for packs‖ and the other for slabs. She reflected often upon the great number of new uses which have been found for zinc since the days when her father and Mr. Matthiessen during the Civil War era, found their largest market in the army which used great quantities of zinc for the manufacture of rifle and pistol cartridges as well as other ammunition.
Today, zinc is used for scores of purposes and there is a tremendously larger market for the metal. Automobiles of modern manufacture contain approximately 20 pounds of zinc each and there is a promise that that industry will find even wider use for the material. Other present day uses to which zinc is put include the manufacture of fruit-jar lids, washboards, table tops, galvanizing, brass and other alloys, dye-castings, etchings for engraving, batteries, refrigerators, weather-stripping, hardware in vari-ous forms, plumbing fixtures, roof-shingles, gutters, etc.
In the old days, she pointed out some time ago in an interview when the Matthiessen and Hege-ler partnership was struggling for a foothold, the industry did exceptionally well if its daily output reached the 7,000 pound mark. The capacity of the present gigantic plant, La Salle's largest, is approxi-mately 300,000 pounds over a 24 hour period of operation, or about 100,000,000 pounds a year.
The force of men employed during the early days was not more than 150, as compared with the present force of approximately 800, this number including coal mine employees .
Originated Furnace
Her father, Mr. Hegeler, originated what is commonly known as the ―Hegeler furnace, used much in districts where gas furnaces are operated. He also developed a type of roasting kiln in 1904 known as the Hegeler Kiln and used in both America and Europe by virtually every zinc plant on the two continents.
The decedent's surviving children are Edward Hegeler Carus, of La Salle, president of the Carus Chemical Works and a member of the La Salle-Peru High School board; Gustave K. Carus, of Chicago, connected with the Open Court Publishing company; Mrs. E. Talcott Barnes of Eagle River, Wis.; Miss Elizabeth Carus, of La Salle and Chicago; Herman D. Carus, secretary and superintendent of operations at the M. and H. company, and Alwin C. Carus, of La Salle, associated with his brother, Edward, in operation of the Carus Chemical Works. There was also another child, Robert, who died in infancy.
The sisters and brothers who survive are Mrs. Annie Cole, of New York wife of Dr. Rufus Cole, head of the Rockefeller hospital; Julius W. Hegeler, of Danville, head of the Hegeler Zinc Company; Mrs. Olga H. Liehma , of New York; Mrs. Camilla Bucherer of Bonn, Germany, widow of Professor Alfred Bucherer, who was a professor of physics at the University of Bonn; Baroness Zuleikha von Viet-inghoff, of Berlin, Germany, wife of Dr. Karl von Vietinghoff,
editor of the Chemiker Zeiting, a chemical journal.
Among out of town relatives who arrived over the
weekend to attend the funeral were Mrs. Liehme , Mrs. Cole
and daughter, Elizabeth, of New York; Mr. and Mrs. Gustave
Carus, and children, of Chicago; Mr. and Mrs. E. T. Barnes,
of Eagle River, Wis.; Mr. and Mrs. Julius Hegeler and
son, Edward, of Danville.
The Daily Post Tribune, Monday, June 29, 1936
MOURN PASSING OF MRS. CARUS AT LAST RITES
Death of Distinguished Citizen Was Shock To Community
FRIEND OF MANKIND
Won Wide Distinction in World's Industrial Affairs
While the entire community mourned the passing of one of its most revered citizens, Mrs. Mary Hegeler Carus was borne to a grave in Oakwood Cemetery during a private service conducted at 1:00 o'clock Monday afternoon.
Officiating at the solemn rites at the Carus mansion, Seventh and Sterling Streets , and at the cemetery was the Rev. Paul Brauns, pastor of the Zion Evangelical Church , Peru, for many years one of the decedent's closest friends.
The active pallbearers were drawn from the executive personnel of the Matthiessen and Hegeler Zinc company , whose board of directors Mrs. Carus headed, from the Carus Chemical Works of which she was vice president, and from the La Salle and Bureau County Railroad, of which she was president, while the honorary pallbearers were various department heads of the three companies.
Heartfelt Tribute
The Rev. Brauns, in his funeral sermon, paid tribute to Mrs. Carus as a mother and as a philan-thropist. He recalled her generosity to soldiers during the World War , especially in the sending of blankets, and told of her efforts, with Mrs. George A. Wilson, Sr., in establishing the La Salle Industrial school, where children were given an opportunity to develop their talents.
At the home brief services were conducted, opening with a prayer in German, a short sermon in English, in which tribute was paid to mother love and the importance of a mother to a family.
At the cemetery a quartet composed of Carl Hoesch, Adolph Baginski, Mrs. Walter Hoberg and Mrs. Rudolph Dobberstein, sang in German ―A Mighty Fortress is Our God, by Martin Luther. A pray-er in German was followed by a funeral sermon in English.
In the sermon at the grave the Rev. Brauns, lauding the memory of Mrs. Carus, said, in part: ―I know not what may be done or spoken elsewhere of the great and good woman whom we were so proud to call our neighbor and friend, but I cannot believe that you are willing that she should be laid in the tomb without some words of heartfelt sorrow, some expression of love and reverence, some offerings of praise to God for the gifts with which He was pleased to endow her.
Great and good women like our departed sister should have their monuments not merely in the mute and icy marble, but in the warm, living hearts. Our departed friend is not dead. She had just begun to live. God has given to her a two fold life the life of the glorified and the life of an undying memory in the hearts of all who knew her and her generous heart. I believe we are commemorating today the life of a woman who looks larger now than when she died. There are reasons for this. One was her exceeding quietness; she sounded no trumpets made no noise, called no attention to her doings. She was a qui-et woman in all her activity: quiet in her natural shrinkage from publicity or any kind of self-advertisement.
Like some long, swelling wave that rises on the dark bosom of the deep until it crests in whiteness and at its climax flings its crystal toward the sky, our sister's life, gathering volume and value through all the years now at its summit breaks into the heavens. From the zenith of attainment and the top of action she passes to render her account to her Master.
Her best and truest eulogy is that she had a vigorous intellect, sustained by lofty purposes, and based upon an honest and feeling heart.
Following the sermon the quartet sang Lead, Kindly Light, before the consignment to the grave.
Pallbearers, Honor Guard
Bearing the beautiful, gray zinc casket were Charles Vohs, master mechanic at the M. and H. plant; Julius L. Whalen, furnace foreman; Hessler Larson, assistant superintendent of the rolling mill; Karl Langham, foreman of the acid, refining, roasting and cindering departments; Karl Kleimenhagen, superintendent of the Carus Chemical Works, and Herman Dickman, foreman of the L.S. and B.C. rail-road yards.
The guard of honor was comprised of E. Gebhardt, Edwin Cassel, C. Reinhard, William Schoening, B.F. Taylor, John Gable, Albert La Flamme, William Sanders, R. Hoban, M. Heffron, John Marenda, A. Woeckel, Arthur Vohs, R. Washkowiak, E. Nelson, R. Hart, A. Meyers, Dr. A.C. Schoch, John Loskill, C. Schoening, F. Szuda, William Smith, C. Brenn, I. Stachowiak, J.A. Welter, J. Liss, J. Stambor, J. Born, S. Gruschka, M. Washkowiak, C. Quimby, William Ulrich, E. Smudzinski, F. Jagodsinski, C. Olivero, L. Witt, F. Echenfels, A. Lundberg, O. Sutton, F. Koenig and S. Lewis.
Plants Closed
Out of respect to the memory of this outstanding woman whose entire life was wrapped around the local zinc industry which her father helped found, the M. and H. plant, the Carus chemical plant and the L.S. and B.C. railroad suspended operations Monday afternoon.
Banked high around the bier in the luxurious hallway on the second floor of the Carus home-stead over the weekend were floral tributes from employees of the concerns with which Mrs. Carus was so long affiliated and other pieces from her many friends in this community as well as in distant places. Mourning relatives received dozens of messages of condolence.
In deference to Mrs. Carus' wish that she be remembered in death as she was in life, the casket made of the M. and H. product was sealed.
The death of the distinguished woman at 10:45 o'clock Saturday morning, came as a great shock to her wide circle of acquaintances, many of whom had not been aware of her illness. Relatives said today that Mrs. Carus first became ill several months ago but her condition did not become serious until about two weeks ago and finally necessitated her confinement to bed six days before her demise. They attributed her death to a weakening of the heart and a general breakdown of health.
Born Here
Seventy-five years ago, in a two-story frame dwelling which was located just north of where the pottery department of the M and H. Zinc company now stands, a structure which afterward was used for many years as the general office of the firm, the decedent — destined to win a place of distinction in the world's industrial affairs and of reverence as a benefactress of mankind – was born.
The date of her birth was January 10, 1861 and her parents were the late E. C. Hegeler, who, with F. W. Matthiessen, founded the zinc company three years earlier, and Camilla Weisbach Hegeler, both of her parents being natives of Germany. Her mother was the daughter of Julius Weisbach who was the head of the School of Mines at Freiberg, Saxony, Germany, where Mr. Hegeler and Mr. Mat-thiessen later studied and many of his writings on mechanics, hydraulics and mine survey, done while he taught those subjects at Freiberg, later were translated into English and widely used in schools of the United States.
After attending the local schools, including the Old La Salle City high school, which was locat-ed on the present site of Jefferson school, Third and Tonti street, Mrs. Carus entered the University of Michigan and was graduated from that institution in 1882, the first woman ever to receive from that Uni-versity a B. S. degree in engineering. From the University of Michigan she went to Germany and did post-graduate work at the Freiberg school, which at that time was one of the world's three outstanding mining schools.
Worked With Father
Returning to the United States, she later became closely associated with her father in the operation of the local zinc industry and throughout her lifetime she maintained an intimate contact with all the phases of operation at that plant, having served as president of the company from 1903 to 1917, succeed-ing her father upon his retirement from that office, as secretary from 1917 to 1933 and again as president from 1933 until recently when at the annual meeting of the M. and H. directorate, she was chosen chairman of the board. The presidency of the company is still vacant.
Her marriage to the late Dr. Paul Carus, who died in 1919, occurred on March 29, 1888. He was a doctor of philosophy at Tuebingen and the University of Strassburg, in Germany, and after coming to the United States he founded the Open Court Publishing Company, which publishes the monthly Open Court magazine and the quarterly Monist in Chicago. Since her husband's death, the late Mrs. Carus had headed the Open Court company as its president, at the same time retaining her executive connection with the local zinc plant, the chemical works and the shortline railroad.
Most important of Mrs. Carus' official duties was that as head of the M. and H. company. Always she devoted her chief attention to that position, which she found particularly trying in recent depression‖ years. She herself initiated many major policies of the company and in every important decision she took a hand. She was in no sense of the word a mere figurehead,‖ as all who knew her and admired her will vouch, and there was not a day that passed, until her last illness, that did not find her spending many hours immersed in the affairs of the industry.
It was largely because of her expert guidance that the local zinc company managed to weather the stormy era since 1929 while dozens of other industries elsewhere throughout the land suspended op-erations or abandoned them entirely, unable to withstand the onslaught of the depression.
Avoided "Frills"
Through out her lifetime, Mrs. Carus avoided frills,‖ always content with only the fundamen-tals of living. Hers was a life dedicated to doing things for her fellow humans and scores of her works of benefaction‖ never came to public light. She found keen satisfaction in making life easier for others, in giving, not taking.
She is remembered lovingly by the hundreds of young men from the Tri-Cities who served their country in the World War , for through her each received a warm, woolen blanket before entraining for camp. The first of these blankets was made by her and her friends in the Carus home but when the draft increased it became impossible to continue supplying home-made blankets and she met the situation by buying blankets and directing the distribution of them.
Mrs. Carus, with Mrs. George A. Wilson, initiated the first classes in sewing for girls and in manual training for boys, financing this project for many years before the local board of education absorbed domestic science and manual training in the school curriculum.
It was Mrs. Carus' father, the late Mr. Hegeler, who gave to the city what has since been known as Hegeler Park, that beautiful tract which adjoins St. Vincent avenue to the east between Twelfth and Fourteenth Streets, scene of many public recreational activities.
Grew Up With Industry
Mrs. Carus grew up with the zinc industry. During her early girlhood the plant yard was her playground. When she was but 16 years old she was in the ore weighing office of the plant and frequently assumed various tasks about the busy plant yard, working side by side with sweating men. Her zealous father found in her an able aide and after his retirement from the company she carried on with an efficiency that stamped her as one of the outstanding women of the industrial world.
While her marriage to Mr. Carus served to somewhat lessen the attention she devoted to the industry, she never lost interest in it. In 1925 she purchased the Matthiessens' half-interest in the corporation, which operates the world's largest zinc rolling industry, these shares of stock, together with those she held previously giving her controlling interest.
She had a keen memory and found enjoyment in reflecting upon the great strides the local plant has made since its small beginning in 1858 with two small rolls, one for packs‖ and the other for slabs. She reflected often upon the great number of new uses which have been found for zinc since the days when her father and Mr. Matthiessen during the Civil War era, found their largest market in the army which used great quantities of zinc for the manufacture of rifle and pistol cartridges as well as other ammunition.
Today, zinc is used for scores of purposes and there is a tremendously larger market for the metal. Automobiles of modern manufacture contain approximately 20 pounds of zinc each and there is a promise that that industry will find even wider use for the material. Other present day uses to which zinc is put include the manufacture of fruit-jar lids, washboards, table tops, galvanizing, brass and other alloys, dye-castings, etchings for engraving, batteries, refrigerators, weather-stripping, hardware in vari-ous forms, plumbing fixtures, roof-shingles, gutters, etc.
In the old days, she pointed out some time ago in an interview when the Matthiessen and Hege-ler partnership was struggling for a foothold, the industry did exceptionally well if its daily output reached the 7,000 pound mark. The capacity of the present gigantic plant, La Salle's largest, is approxi-mately 300,000 pounds over a 24 hour period of operation, or about 100,000,000 pounds a year.
The force of men employed during the early days was not more than 150, as compared with the present force of approximately 800, this number including coal mine employees .
Originated Furnace
Her father, Mr. Hegeler, originated what is commonly known as the ―Hegeler furnace, used much in districts where gas furnaces are operated. He also developed a type of roasting kiln in 1904 known as the Hegeler Kiln and used in both America and Europe by virtually every zinc plant on the two continents.
The decedent's surviving children are Edward Hegeler Carus, of La Salle, president of the Carus Chemical Works and a member of the La Salle-Peru High School board; Gustave K. Carus, of Chicago, connected with the Open Court Publishing company; Mrs. E. Talcott Barnes of Eagle River, Wis.; Miss Elizabeth Carus, of La Salle and Chicago; Herman D. Carus, secretary and superintendent of operations at the M. and H. company, and Alwin C. Carus, of La Salle, associated with his brother, Edward, in operation of the Carus Chemical Works. There was also another child, Robert, who died in infancy.
The sisters and brothers who survive are Mrs. Annie Cole, of New York wife of Dr. Rufus Cole, head of the Rockefeller hospital; Julius W. Hegeler, of Danville, head of the Hegeler Zinc Company; Mrs. Olga H. Liehma , of New York; Mrs. Camilla Bucherer of Bonn, Germany, widow of Professor Alfred Bucherer, who was a professor of physics at the University of Bonn; Baroness Zuleikha von Viet-inghoff, of Berlin, Germany, wife of Dr. Karl von Vietinghoff,
editor of the Chemiker Zeiting, a chemical journal.
Among out of town relatives who arrived over the
weekend to attend the funeral were Mrs. Liehme , Mrs. Cole
and daughter, Elizabeth, of New York; Mr. and Mrs. Gustave
Carus, and children, of Chicago; Mr. and Mrs. E. T. Barnes,
of Eagle River, Wis.; Mr. and Mrs. Julius Hegeler and
son, Edward, of Danville.
Inscription
age 75yrs 5mo 17d's
Family Members
Spouse
Siblings
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Records on Ancestry
Advertisement
