Anton C. Hesing
| Anton C. Hesing | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
Anton Caspar Hesing January 6, 1823 Vechta, Grand Duchy of Oldenburg |
| Died | March 31, 1895 (aged 72) Chicago, Illinois |
| Resting place | Saint Boniface Cemetery, Chicago |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | Newspaper publisher and political boss |
| Spouse(s) | Louisa Lamping Hesing |
| Children |
Washington Hesing (1849-1897) |
Anton Caspar Hesing (1823-1895) was a German-American newspaper publisher and politician who became a prominent figure in Chicago, Illinois during the second half of the 19th Century. The long-time publisher of the Illinois Staats-Zeitung and political boss of the pro-liquor wing of the Republican Party, Hesing is remembered as one of the most influential figures of the 1870s in the emerging metropolis of Chicago.
During his final years the wealthy Hesing engaged in a number of philanthropic ventures, including a large role in financing of Chicago's Schiller Theater.
Anton Caspar Hesing was born January 6, 1823 in Vechta in the German Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, today part of Lower Saxony in Germany. His father was a brewer and distiller. His mother died when Anton was 6 and his father made him an orphan at age 15. Although he initially apprenticed as a baker and brewer, he came to feel the relationship oppressive and his master unjust and resolved to make a new life for himself across the sea in America.
Upon arrival in the United States in 1839, Hesing settled in the German enclave that was Cincinnati, Ohio, where he first worked as a grocery clerk. Hesing saved his money frugally and within two years had accumulated enough money to launch a grocery store of his own — a business which he maintained until 1848.
A visit to Germany in 1847 ended with marriage to Louisa Lamping, with the couple returning together to make a home in the USA. Together they had a son, Washington Hesing, born in 1849.
The year following his return, Hesing sold his grocery business and invested the proceeds in a hotel located on Race and Court Streets in Cincinnati. This enterprise came to an end with the death of his business partner by suicide in 1854, however, causing Hesing to sell his interest in the hotel and to move with his family to Chicago.
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