Introduction to the 1923 Biographical Sketches
This biographical sketch was published along with many others in the 1923 History of Auglaize County, Volume II, edited by William J. McMurray and published by the Historical Publishing Company of Indianapolis. In most cases the subject of the biography was of the first generation born in this country to German immigrants. In some cases the subject may have been born in Germany and came to this country at a young age. In most cases the story tells of the immigrant parents of the subject and also the children and grandchildren of the subject named at the beginning of the story. In some cases comments have been added after the biography to explain the locations of the farms where the immigrants settled. New Knoxville did not have rural addresses until 1955, and therefore the settlers had rural route addresses of St. Marys, Botkins, etc.
H. J. HINZE, senior member of the H. K. K. Roofing Company of New Knoxville, general roofing contractors and dealers in plumbing and electrical supplies, a member of the town council of New Knoxville and for years one of the active figures in the general industrial and commercial life of that village, was born on a farm down in the neighboring county of Shelby, three miles south of New Knoxville, March 12, 1882, and is a son of William and Fredericka Hinze, the latter of whom also was born in Ohio. She died when the subject of this sketch was a small boy. The late William Hinze was born in Germany, where he grew to manhood. As a young man he came to this country and proceeded on out into Ohio, locating this county and becoming employed as a farm hand in the New Knoxville neighborhood. He married there and then bought a farm in the woods down in Shelby county and there established his home, becoming in time the owner of about 100 acres, which he cleared and developed and on which he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1894. He and his wife were the parents of nine children, six of whom are living, the subject of this sketch having five sisters, Caroline, Lena, Elizabeth, Sophia and Anna. Reared on the home farm in Shelby county, H. J. Hinze received his schooling in the neighborhood schools and as a young man took a prospecting trip out into South Dakota, where he spent two years working at Huron with a view possibly to locating there, but finding conditions to his liking returned to Ohio and located at New Knoxville, where he became engaged in the tinning business partnership with George Luecke. Four years later this firm entered into partnership Samuel Katterheinrich and thereafter did business under the firm name of the H. L. & K. Roofing Company. 1913 Mr. Luecke sold his interest in the firm to C. D. Katterheinrich and the business since has been carried on under the name of H. K. K. Roofing Company. In 1916 this firm took over the agency for the installation of Delco lighting plants and also being engaged in the general plumbing and electrical line, together with general furnace work, in addition to its old established tinning and roofing business, and has built up a very desirable trade, one of the most progressive and go-ahead concerns in the town.
Mr. Hinze married Catherine Margaret Holtorf, daughter of Albert Holtorf, a member of one of the pioneer families of this county, and has three children, Beatrice, Howard and Kenith. Mr. and Mrs. Hinze are members of the First Reformed church of New Knoxville and are Republicans. Mr. Hinze has long given close attention to local civic affairs and for the past ten years and more has been serving as a member of the village council.
NOTE: Mr. Hinze’s son Kenith was an owner of New Knoxville Supply Company and was an expert tinner.