Not too long ago, I wrote about a German lad who was apprenticed to a printer in New York City and went on to become a famous printer and civil rights leader. His name was John Peter Zenger. I thought we might look at another German lad who was also apprenticed to a printer. Unfortunately, this second lad was not a success in printing, but maybe it was all for the better.
He lived in the Pennsylvania Dutch country in Lancaster County. His parents had come much earlier from Switzerland (the ancestors were Anabaptists). Our lad was not a success in school and his mother arranged for him to be a printer's apprentice. He failed miserably. Perhaps he upset a tray of type or perhaps he could not spell. But his master saw the boy was hopeless and told him to go home.
He walked home, several miles, to his mother's house. He did have an aunt that believed in him and bailed him out more than once financially. Our lad went to candy making and after a bit bought out an operation making caramels. He studied what made a superior caramel and changed the recipe to improve the quality and taste. The caramel operation became a success and eventually he sold the place for a million dollars.
Somewhere along the way he married a New York lady. They never had any children.
Our man used what capital he had to start another candy factory. Again, he applied the same principle of finding what made the candy superior. He even went to Switzerland and other places to taste and to observe what was being done there. He applied what he learned to making better candy. He didn't advertise his wares; his philosophy was that the product should speak for itself.
As he succeeded in business, he decided to establish a town in 1903 where he could build his new factories. Noting the lack of children in his own home, he established an orphan boy's home for their education and training. The town, in Pennsylvania, grew and a few decades ago had a population of more than six thousand people, many of whom were engaged in his factories or in the support of the workers.
The man's given name was Milton. His last name went on every bar of Hershey's chocolate that was made in Hershey, PA. So if your children don't succeed in their first job, maybe they are in the wrong activities.
Forty years ago, I visited the factory and I couldn't believe how much chocolate I was seeing at one time. The chocolate was being mixed in an "infinite" line of pans, each holding about a ton of liquid chocolate.
(25 Sep 03)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.