John and Christian Hormel

Note regarding last week’s column: In quoting William Henry Hormel I incorrectly identified his father as George A. when I should have said John George.  “John George was three years old when his parents brought him to America.”  I apologize for the confusion. 

Christian and Elizabeth-George A.’s grandparents-raised their two sons, John George and Christian with strict Christian principles bordering on sternness.  William Henry Hormel wrote “He [Christian Sr.] commanded the respect of his household, and at times was rather [more] feared than loved.  Father [John George] and his brother were obliged to wear the high standing collars which were in vogue in those days, and were so high that they reached to the ears.  The boys did not enjoy them, but their father was a tailor and this was the fashion.  Neither of them ever cared to learn their father’s trade, but craved a wider business experience.”

W.H. Hormel also wrote about his Grandmother, Elizabeth: “Grandmother Hormel was very earnest and an active worker in her church and community.”  He describes her as being a blessing to the family.  “She never weighed a hundred pounds and was short and slender in stature.  Her two sons were over six feet tall and often, in a jolly mood, one of them would pick her up in his arms and carry her about as he would a child.  When friends and neighbors would ask her how she got such tall boys, she would reply “Oh my, they just grew and kept going so big, so tall.” 

Christian died in December, 1856, and Elizabeth passed away on April 13, 1867, both in Buffalo.  A Hormel descendant who has done extensive research on the family has been unsuccessful in finding the gravesites of the two of them but feels they were most likely buried in public burial ground in the center of Buffalo.