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Wellemeyer, Elmer Haefner

Male 1895 - 1963  (68 years)


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  • Name Wellemeyer, Elmer Haefner 
    Born 25 Mar 1895  Hancock County, Iowa, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 2, 3, 4] 
    Gender Male 
    Occupation a chemical engineer in the oil industry.  [5] 
    • The following is a transcription supplied by Frances Gretchen (Klein) Leenerts of an article for Elmer H. Wellemeyer which she reported had appeared on Wednesday, 1 August 1951 in the Garner Leader.

      Elmer H. Wellemeyer, one time Garner farm boy, who is now vice-president of Cities Service Oil Company, is the subject of a lengthy article in the current issue of the Cities Service Company magazine. Wellemeyer was graduated from Garner High School a few years before World War I. Upon graduation he taught Liberty Township School Number Two, according to his cousin, Arthur Wellemeyer of Klemme. Elmer Wellemeyer is the son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Ed Wellemeyer of Garner. His mother died at Washington, Iowa in October of 1950, and is buried in Concord Cemetery here. His father died several years ago. He has one sister, Viola Bickell of Washington, Iowa. The magazine article is an old fashioned success story of a farm boy who made good in the big city. We quote "Picture a pre-machine-age farm, circa 1910. The only tractor a sway-back horse. The only milking machine, a small boy named Elmer -- his hands already muscular from the job of milking eight cows night and morning -- farm life was no bed of hay in those days. 'I had college dinned into me -- oh, as far back as I can remember,' says Wellemeyer. 'Dad had a flock of brothers -- a bishop, a publisher, a professor, a musician and a merchant. Mother said what they could do I could do. Since everybody agreed that chemical enginering held the promise of a big future, I went to Iowa State to see if they could make a chemical engineer out of me.' This was Iowa State's first class in chemical engineering, and according to Wellemeyer probably its best. For the students not only made wallboard out of cornstalks and extracted acid from cornstalks, but set up the equipment for their experiments. It was here that Wellemeyer made his first analysis of lubricating oil. 'Today's oil engineers seem to think they are doing something new when they road-tested lube oils in one of the first automobiles in my part of Iowa -- and I wrote my first major thesis on the results.' World War I snatched Elmer from college. When the war ended, he finished at Iowa State, answered a newspaper ad for a chemical engineer, and his work as an oil man began in earnest. He invented and patented several stills, to expedite his work of analyzing Mexican crude oil. He was then given a job as chief chemical engineer of a refinery in Tampico, Mexico. But halfway to Tampico, he was transferred to Good Hope, Louisana where he first came in contact with Cities Service. Later he was asked to take over the laboratory of the refinery of a Cities Service subsidiary. In 1931 he was sent to India to check on the interests of a company connected with Cities Service. After his India assignment, he returned to Texas and Louisiana, where he opened the Houston office of Cities Service. During World War II Wellemeyer's executive capacities were instrumental in setting up a new refinery on the Gulf coast to produce aviation gasoline for the government. He was noted for his ability to slash through red tape. After the war he was sent to New York and became assistant to Hi Brandli, vice-president in charge of the Cities Service export department. Soon Brandli was made general manager of the company, and Wellemeyer was elected vice-president. As a vice-president Wellemeyer's secretary characterizes him with one word: determine. No use telling him a thing can't be done, because he'll step right in and prove you are wrong by doing it himself. His methods are often unorthodox -- but they work. Wellemeyer starts his day at 4:30 a.m. by helping milk cows on his New Jersey farm before going to his city office. Once a farmer, always a farmer, Wellemeyer states. He launches into an enthusiastic description of his dairy farm, its head of Guernsey cows, 40 head of beef cattle -- and his Reserve Champion bull of the state of New Jersey last year. Wellemeyer's son, William, is his farm manager, with very able assistance from his younger son, John. 'My daughter, Marilyn, has the brains of the family. Four colleges offered her scholarships. She chose to finish at the Sorbonne -- on another scholarship.' Elmer Wellemeyer has a genius for friendship. An incident is recounted which shows he was a vocational ag teacher in his own way, back at Liberty number two. He was teaching eight grades in a one-room schoolhouse for the salary of $52.80 a month. When the time came to teach arithmetic, he threw away the book -- literally. He reasoned this way: his boys were farm boys and would probably be farmers all their lives. So he took them out to a cornfield and taught them arithmetic by the number of rows of corn, number of stalks to a hill, number of ears to a stalk. He opened account books for the boys, borrowed money for them (on paper of course) and set them up in business. This was long before the days of earn-as-you-learn, remember?"
    Died 25 May 1963  New Jersey, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [6] 
    Person ID I5767  Fiegenbaum
    Last Modified 18 May 2008 

    Father Wellemeyer, Edward Mathew,   b. 16 Nov 1860, Wapello Township, Louisa County, Iowa, USA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 23 Feb 1931, Washington, Washington County, Iowa, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 70 years) 
    Mother Haefner, Amelia H.,   b. 24 May 1864, Giard, Clayton County, Iowa, USA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 17 Oct 1950, Washington, Washington County, Iowa, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 86 years) 
    Married 27 Jun 1889  Giard, Clayton County, Iowa, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [3, 4, 7, 8] 
    Family ID F1874  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Hess, Edith,   d. Yes, date unknown 
    Married Y  [9] 
    Children 
     1. Wellemeyer, Marilyn Ruth
     2. Wellemeyer, William Robert
     3. Wellemeyer, John Charles
    Last Modified 6 Aug 2018 
    Family ID F1878  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Sources 
    1. [S175] Frances Gretchen (Klein) Leenerts, Descendants of Father Fiegenbaum (Chinook, Washington: F. Leenerts, 2002), pages 70, 116.
      Elmer Haefner Wellemeyer, child of Edward Matthew Wellemeyer and Amelia H. Haefner, was born on 25 March 1895 at Garner, Hancock County, Iowa.

    2. [S175] Frances Gretchen (Klein) Leenerts, Descendants of Father Fiegenbaum (Chinook, Washington: F. Leenerts, 2002), p. 69.
      A transcription supplied by Frances Gretchen (Klein) Leenerts of an obituary for Amelia (Haefner) Wellemeyer which she reported had appeared on 25 October 1950 in the Garner Leader [of Garner, Iowa].
           "Survivors include her daughter Viola and son Elmer of New York City and four grandchildren."

    3. [S175] Frances Gretchen (Klein) Leenerts, Descendants of Father Fiegenbaum (Chinook, Washington: F. Leenerts, 2002), p. 69.
      A transcription supplied by Frances Gretchen (Klein) Leenerts of an obituary for Edward Matthew Wellemeyer which she reported had appeared on 11 March 1931. Although Gretchen did not identify the exact source of the obituary, it appears to have been published in the Garner Leader, of Garner, Iowa.
           "June 27, 1889, he was united in marriage to Miss Amelia Haefner of Giard, Iowa. He and his bride took up housekeeping in a home which he had previously built. This was on the farm a short distance west of Garner now known as a J. N. Sprole farm and tenanted by Floyd Franklin. Into this home two children were born, Viola and Elmer."

    4. [S175] Frances Gretchen (Klein) Leenerts, Descendants of Father Fiegenbaum (Chinook, Washington: F. Leenerts, 2002), pages 68-69.
      A transcription supplied by Frances Gretchen (Klein) Leenerts of an obituary for Edward Matthew Wellemeyer which she reported had appeared on 25 February 1931 in the Garner Signal.
           "Many years ago E. M. Wellemeyer and Miss Amelia Haefner were married. To this union two children were born: Mrs. Viola Bickell of Washington, Iowa at whose house Mr. Wellemeyer died, and Elmer D. Wellemeyer of St. Rose, Louisana."

    5. [S175] Frances Gretchen (Klein) Leenerts, Descendants of Father Fiegenbaum (Chinook, Washington: F. Leenerts, 2002), pages 116-117.
      A transcription supplied by Frances Gretchen (Klein) Leenerts of an article for Elmer H. Wellemeyer which she reported had appeared on Wednesday, 1 August 1951 in the Garner Leader [of Garner, Iowa].

    6. [S175] Frances Gretchen (Klein) Leenerts, Descendants of Father Fiegenbaum (Chinook, Washington: F. Leenerts, 2002), pages 70, 116.
      Elmer Haefner Wellemeyer died on 25 May 1963 in New Jersey.

    7. [S175] Frances Gretchen (Klein) Leenerts, Descendants of Father Fiegenbaum (Chinook, Washington: F. Leenerts, 2002), p. 68.
      Edward Matthew Wellemeyer and Amelia H. Haefner were married on 27 June 1889 at Giard, Clayton County, Iowa.

    8. [S175] Frances Gretchen (Klein) Leenerts, Descendants of Father Fiegenbaum (Chinook, Washington: F. Leenerts, 2002), p. 69.
      A transcription supplied by Frances Gretchen (Klein) Leenerts of an obituary for Amelia (Haefner) Wellemeyer which she reported had appeared on 25 October 1950 in the Garner Leader [of Garner, Iowa].
           "She was married to Edward M. Wellemeyer 27 June 1889. The first years of their married life they lived on a farm west of Garner, later moving to Garner where they resided until the death of her husband in 1931."

    9. [S175] Frances Gretchen (Klein) Leenerts, Descendants of Father Fiegenbaum (Chinook, Washington: F. Leenerts, 2002), p. 116.
      Elmer Haefner Wellemeyer and Edith Hess were married. No date or place given.


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