Hoover and Woodward, Wholesale Grocers

 In 1880, Frederick E. Hoover and William W. Woodward started a wholesale grocery business on Water Street in Sandusky, Ohio. Frederick Hoover had moved to Sandusky from Sidney, Ohio. He was a Civil War veteran, having served in Company D of the 20^th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, under Manning Force, who was the first commandant of the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home in Erie County, Ohio, now the Ohio Veterans Home.

William W. Woodward lived in Dayton, Ohio, before he moved to Sandusky. He too was a Civil War veteran. W.W. Woodward served as an officer in several different units during the war. He was 2^nd Lieutenant in the 1^st Ohio Infantry; Captain in the 44^th Ohio infantry; Captain in the 8^th Ohio Cavalry; and he was a Colonel in the 166^th U.S.C.T.

Mr. Hoover and Mr. Woodward married sisters, both daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Elijah Zinn from Shelby County, Ohio. Mrs. Jennie Zinn Woodward died in the West House in Sandusky, when she was only forty one years old. She left behind two young children. After Frederick Hoover’s death in 1894, his widow Margaret Zinn Hoover assisted W.W. Woodward in the wholesale grocery business. Mr. Woodward married Florence Hadley in 1898.  In 1910, W.W. Woodward went into a partnership with M.J. Bender, with Mr. Bender serving as the president of the company, and Mr. Woodward serving as vice-president. The Bender Woodward wholesale grocery store was much larger than the original building of the Hoover Woodward store.

 W.W. Woodward died on April 5, 1913. He was buried in the family lot at Oakland Cemetery. Mr. Woodward's daughter Cora married another Sandusky businessman, Gustav Jarecki. Frederick E. Hoover, in his estate, left an amount totaling several thousand dollars to the College of Wooster to be used towards a dormitory for women and the education of men.