HENDERSHOT-ROUNDS

[People’s Press, 15 January 1915]

             The marriage took place on Wednesday evening, Jan.6^th, 1915, at the Methodist parsonage, Dunnville, of Miss Fleeta B. Rounds and Mr. A. Abraham, both of Dunnville. Rev. Dr. S.A. Laidman, M.A., Ph.D., performed the ceremony. The bride is well known in Welland town and county, being connected with two of the oldest and most respected  families. Since residing in Dunnville she has conducted a large and successful millinery business and has made many warm friends. Mr. Hendershot spent several years of his life in the town of Welland, and we reprint below what one of the Welland papers said of him when he left Welland under the heading “Welland’s First Mayor.”

             “A. Hendershot, the first mayor of Welland town, was born in Pelham township on the Hendershot homestead, the farm settled on by his grandfather a century and a quarter ago, a farm of two hundred acres still held by the family and on which four generations of Hendershots have lived. It was in 1861 that Mr. Hendershot and his brother, J.H. Hendershot began a mercantile business in Welland. These young men for a number of years following carried on a large general store in the only brick business block then in the town. This property which was then theirs is now owned by J.H. Burgar. Besides their store business they were extensively engaged in dealing in wood, lumber, timber and grain sending each year over $50,000 worth to American markets, which was a large item for distribution of money in the district about Welland. They owned a large wharf and storehouse on the canal where they received all the merchandise shipped here by water. Other merchants in Welland and surrounding places took advantage of these facilities. Hendershot Brothers were among the first to ship a cargo of grain to a foreign market. After his brother had removed from Welland, Mr. Hendershot turned his attention largely to real estate. In 1878 he built and owned forty-two dwellings and business buildings in the town. He had one hundred acres of land in the corporation which he laid out in streets, lots and a park. A census of Welland taken at the time by J.D. Strawn, showed the population to be 3250, which is more than a thousand in excess of the population shown by the last assessment roll. We need not refer to the depression that set in at that time. The loss sustained by holders of real estate is a matter of history. Up to 1876 Mr. Hendershot had been a member of council and high and public school boards for several years. In 1876 and 1877 he was elected Reeve and during the latter term the municipality was incorporated as a town. At the end of the year a convention was called to elect a candidate for the office of Mayor.

             The late Dr. Frazer, M.P., and the Hon. J.G. Currie, M.P.P., were invited to be present. The last named was chosen chairman and after several names were brought before the convention, including that of the Honorable Richard Harcourt, a ballot was taken, and four remained in the contest, which was one of the fiercest in the history of Welland; Mr. Hendershot was elected and had thus the honor of being the first Mayor of Welland town. As well as setting the government machinery of the new town in motion, and seeing to its running, Mr. Hendershot acted as Police Magistrate. When he stepped down and out from the council he was given an extra one hundred dollars and presented with a very flattering resolution.”

             “It is due Mr. Hendershot to add the following facts. During the three years he was at the head of Welland’s Municipal affairs, he represented the town’s two terms in the County Council, and also acted as Police Magistrate. This was during the enlargement of the Welland Canal, and there being a large number of men employed in and around Welland, made it necessary to have three policemen in uniform placed under his charge. During those years his Magistrate’s record books shows that over 400 cases were brought before him, which he tried and disposed of. In all this large number of cases only one was ever appealed, and not one of his decisions were reversed. In the enlargement of the canal, they closed up the old canal that furnished the only water power for Welland, and Mr. J.J. Sidey and Mr. Hendershot were appointed to go to Ottawa and lay the matter before the government showing the injustice done Welland. After a long interview the government was induced to place in the estimates $30,000 to build a raceway, which has furnished the water power for Welland ever since. During all the many years Mr. Hendershot was in the mercantile business in Welland, he bought all his goods in Montreal, which city he visited twice a year, and during these visits he became interested in the Young Men’s Christian Association of that city. He induced Mr. Anderson, a leading man in that association, to come and help start a branch in Welland. In order to organize, a meeting was called in the Baptist church, attended by the leading men of the different churches. Mr. Hendershot was elected president which position he held for three years. He was also superintendent of the Sabbath school two different times. It is apparent that notwithstanding his busy life he did not neglect doing something for his native town toward bettering its condition. If nothing else, he takes pride in these two facts-first, although his financial transactions were many and on a large scale extending over 30 years, no one in Welland can say he owes them one dollar, second- he takes pride in the fact he was elected to every office in the gift of the people of Welland who knew him all his life.

             Since Mr. Hendershot has become a citizen of the town of Dunnville, he has occupied his time in improving and beautifying a small farm adjoining the town, which he has laid out in lots, and what was a few years ago a rough and unsightly piece of ground in the surrounding country, this, together with being buyer and financial manager of the F.B. Rounds millinery and Fancy Dry Goods business in Dunnville, has occupied his attention since he left Welland.”-Dunnville Chronicle.

[See related article on EARLY CITIZENS: WELLAND’S FIRST MAYOR PASSES AWAY]