Sandusky History

William F. Schoenemann was born in Westphalia, Germany in 1851. He came to the United States in 1870, and soon settled in Sandusky, Ohio. As a young man, William worked for Klotz and Kromer’s machine works. After briefly working in the grocery business with Frank Herberlein, William F. Schoenemann operated his own grocery store on Market Street from the late 1870s to the 1890s. In 1896, he was also associated with Hans Paysen in the fish business. By 1900, William F. Schoenemann was an agent for Fleischmann & Company’s Pressed Yeast. Records at Erie County Probate Court indicate that William F. Schoenemann married Louisa Biglin on September 21, 1877.

Mr. and Mrs. Schoenemann had a large family of seven children.  William F. Schoenemann died at the age of 51 on December 21, 1902, after suffering a stroke. An obituary for Mr. Schoenemann, which appeared in the December 22, 1902 issue of the Sandusky Register, stated that the news of his death brought much regret. He was “well known, beloved, and highly respected by all who knew him.”  Besides his many business ventures, Mr. Schoenemann had been a director of the Wagner Lake Ice and Coal Company, the Erie County Investment Company, and the Citizens Banking and Trust Company, and was a member of the Ogontz Lodge of the I.O.O.F. He was survived by two sons and five daughters.  Mrs. Louise Biglin Schoenemann (sometimes spelled Schoeneman) died on April 4, 1953 at the age of 95. At the time of her death, Mrs. Schoenemann had been the oldest living member of Zion Lutheran Church. Her obituary appeared in the April 6, 1953 issue of the Sandusky Register Star News.