Mary Hegeler Carus

Mary Hegeler Carus was born on January 10, 1861 in a two-story frame dwelling which was located on the grounds of the M and H. Zinc company, founded by her father and F. W. Matthiessen three years earlier.   After the family moved from the home in which she was born to the Mansion, it was used for as the general office of the firm.

Mary Hegeler married Paul Carus
in 1888 at the
Hegeler Carus Mansion.

 Her parents were Edward C. Hegeler and Camilla Weisbach Hegeler, who commissioned the construction of the Mansion in 1874.  Both of her parents were natives of Germany. Her mother was the daughter of Julius Weisbach who was the head of the School of Mines at Freiberg, Saxony, Germany, which Mary later attended.

After studying in local schools, including the La Salle City high school, which was located on Third and Tonti street, Mary entered the University of Michigan and graduated from that institution in 1882.  She was the first woman ever to receive a B. S. degree in engineering at U of M. From there, 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.

When she returned to the United States, she became closely associated in the operation of M&H Zinc 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, succeeding her father upon his retirement from that office, as secretary from 1917 to 1933 and again as president from 1933 until her death in 1936.

Throughout her lifetime Mary avoided frills, always content with only the fundamentals of living. Hers was a life dedicated to doing things for her fellow man and scores of her works of benefaction never came to public light. She found keen satisfaction in making life easier for others by giving quietly, a trait that many of her children and grandchildren have followed today.

 

She is remembered lovingly by the hundreds of young men from the area who served their country in World War I, 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 Mansion.  When the draft increased, it became impossible to continue supplying home-made blankets, so Mary met the situation by buying blankets and directing the distribution of them.

Mary also 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.

The information above is taken from her Obituary, which was published in 1936.  For more information on Mary Hegeler Carus, visit the Hegeler Carus Mansion in La Salle, IL. 

Camilla Hegeler



Camilla Weisbach Hegeler

 On March 12 we remember Camilla Weisbach Hegeler who was born on this day in 1835.

The Matriarch of the Hegeler Family, it was she and her husband Edward who commissioned W. W. Boyington to design and build the Hegeler Carus Mansion in 1874.

Camilla was the daughter of Julius Weisbach, a Professor for applied mathematics, mining engineering, mineralogy, crystallography, mine surveying and mechanics at Freiberg Bergakademie.  Edward Hegeler was his student in 1853 and became a frequent guest in the Weisbach home. 

It was at the Weisbach home, where Edward met Camilla and the two fell in love, and made secret plans to get married-but only after Edward established an adequate position in America.

Edward left Germany in the fall of 1856 and promised his fiancée that as soon as he established a solid foothold in America he would return to Freiberg and take her "home" to his new country as his wife.

Our archives contain six letters written by Edward from La Salle to Camilla in Germany in the time span from early 1859 to early 1860.  In these letters he reports on work and his ideas. He talks of the work of starting his new company and expresses a concern that Camilla might tire of waiting for him, marry someone else and stay in Germany.  The most exuberant letter of the six was one dated 20 January 1860, in which he told her that the new plant was finally running well and that he had made travel arrangements for the long awaited trip to Freiberg to get married and take her to America, stating "One is on the earth to enjoy life, which matter should not be put off too long-it might get too late."

The wedding took place on 5 April 1860 and the Hegeler's arrived in La Salle in July of the same year.  Their family eventually included 10 children.  She adjusted quite readily to the many roles she was expected to play: as the mistress of a major household; the mother of a large family; and as a helpmate to her husband in his ambitions and aspirations.  She was very practical minded and resourceful.  She died on 28 May 1908.

The information and facts above are taken from the biography of Edward Carl Hegeler, compiled by Arno Reidies in November of 1998 and revised and edited by family members in September of 2001.