Longenecker, Harvey

Posted By: Wally Garchow
Date: 21 November 2004

transcribed from A Biographical History of Darke County Ohio, Lewis Publishing Company, part II, pp 525-527

HARVEY LONGENECKER.

Whitney, Stephenson, Morse and Edison and other great inventors have been the most valuable factors in insuring the marvelous growth and development which give basis to our magnificent commercial activities of today. The utility of their inventions is such that the curtailing of manual labor has almost revolutionized the methods and being of the commercial world. Mr. Longenecker of this review, is an inventor of useful and practical instruments which will be indispensible in the bank, the counting room, the office of the accountant and in the schools and commercial colleges and all places where accounts are kept. He invented the "Duplex" penholder and the "Special Duplex," which may cause his name to be a household word in the time to come.

Mr. Longenecker is a product of Darke county, having been born March 6, 1863, one of the three sons constituting the family of John and Elizabeth (Beam) Longenecker. The eldest of the sons is Frank, who is associated with his brother, Harvey, in the manufacture of the penholders and who is, likewise, of a mechanical turn of mind. He received a good common-school education, is married, is a Democrat in politics and is a member of the Knights of Pythias. Individual reference is made to him on another page of this work, and to this we refer the reader who would trace the family history in detail. Harvey, the immediate subject of this review, was the second in order of birth, and Theodore, the youngest, is a resident of Briceton, Paulding county, Ohio, where he is prominently concerned in business as a carpenter and joiner, being a practical workman and also having distinctive musical ability.

John Longenecker, the father of our subject, is a native of the state of Pennsylvania and is still living, venerable in years. He emigrated to Darke county about 1842. He was always a mechanic, as was his father before him, and his active life was devoted to his trade, that of a carpenter and builder. In his political views he is a stanch Democrat. Elizabeth B. Longenecker, the mother of our subject, is a native of Ohio, and she is sixty-four years of age at the time of this writing. The parents are members of the German Baptist church in Adams township and are among the old and honored residents of the county.

Harvey Longenecker, of this review, has been reared in Darke county, and he has followed in his father's footsteps, in that he is a natural mechanic, his talent in this line being instinctive. He has devoted much of his time to the art of architecture, and in the county are many specimens which give evidence of his skill and taste as an architect and builder. He has given particular attention to the building of mantels and staircases, in which lines the most artistic conceptions have been skillfully wrought out by him, his strength as a designer being equalled by that as a practical workman. The young man has found demand for his work in this line not only throughout Darke county but also in the city of Cincinnati. He is well known in Richland and adjoining townships by reason of his ingenious skill, and it was while he was engaged in his drafting that there came to him the essential idea of his present important invention, to which reference has been made. The idea was evolved within the year 1899 and within three days after the conception had come to him Mr. Longenecker had made a perfect penholder after the design he had formulated in his mind. It will be interesting to briefly recapitulate the story of this invention, which is destined to be one of the greatest practical value. One day Mr. Longenecker was in conversation with Hon. Henry McCoy, ex-clerk of the United States treasury at Cincinnati, the gentleman finally bringing up the matter of inventing a penholder of the sort, and he said : "Longenecker, if you could devise a penholder holding ink for black and red work on the books in the accountant's office, without changing penholders, you could have a fortune." Mr. Longenecker replied: "I think it can be accomplished," and through his efforts the result has, indeed, been attained. The invention is a perfect and signal success and is an article for which there will be a constant demand on the market. Our subject and his brother Frank, are the sole manufacturers of this useful article, and the demand already tests the capacity of their manufactory. The work of manufacturing was inaugurated within the last year, and a patent has now been secured on the Spiral Duplex Holder, which is a positive improvement upon the original design. It will be but a short time before the article is known and used throughout the length and breadth of our country. The holders are now manufactured at Beamsville and all correspondence in regard should be addressed to Longenecker Brothers, Beamsville, Darke county, Ohio, where It will receive prompt attention.

Mr. Longenecker was engaged in work at his trade until 1895, when he entered upon the general merchandise business in Beamsville, where a complete and select stock is carried, including all lines customarily found in a village store of the sort. By fair and courteous treatment of his patrons he has built up an excellent business and is known as an alert and enterprising young business man, and one worthy of the most implicit confidence.

January 27, 1884, Mr. Longenecker married Miss Laura Belle York, and of this union have been born two sons and three daughters, four of the number surviving: Nellie is a student in the Beamsville school and has shown marked musical talent; Nola E. and Jennie E. are also in school; and Otto E. is the youngest in the home circle. Mrs. Longenecker was born October 25, 1860, being the daughter of Squire and Mary (Gilbert) York. She received her education in the common schools and both she and her husband are consistent members of the Christian church at Beamsville. Mrs. Longenecker's father is deceased, but her mother is still living, as are also two brothers and two sisters, all of whom are residents of the county. Her grandfather, Judge York, was one of the first three judges in Darke county, the family being of English extraction, while the Longenecker family is of pure German origin. Four brothers of the name came from Germany about the opening of the sixteenth century, and from them have sprung the various branches of the family in the Union.

Our subject has always exercised his franchise in support of the Democratic party, having cast his first presidential vote for Grover Cleveland. He held official preferment from the time he was twenty-two years of age until the last year, having served as constable and justice of the peace, his aim in all the relations of life being to do credit to himself and to the honored name which he bears. He served with much efficiency as postmaster of Beamsville for a period of six years, having been the incumbent during the Cleveland administration.

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