Walter C. Hormell

Notes:

Newspaper Article
When Eugene Mitchener and Walter Hormell sold shoes in the Neck as Mitchener & Hormell they carried bicycles as a sideline. It was the era of bicycle racing and the starting tape for the endurance run to Little Washington was right in front of their store. I have watched the starts from my father's office window across the street. Bob West, son of Frank West, the cooper, was my cycling hero.

It has taken me many years to learn that Gene Mitchener and Walter Hormell were brothers-in-law. Gene's wife was Walter's sister. Oddly, her given name was Gene. She was daughter to Nathan Hormell of the Washington county Hormells. She and Walter were Nathan's only children. Harrison Hormell, who kept a men's clothing store a door or so south, was Walter's uncle. I often saw Harrison Hormell arrive for work on horseback. Burleigh Gordon, his stableman, would meet him at the store and ride the horse back to the house.

The name Hormell has an interesting history. It derived gradually from that of the French ancestor who settled four miles south and west of Brownsville in 1789. his name was Jacob Hor Mell. On his tract he built a one-room log cabin, but the modesty of his abode didn't keep him from giving his estate a name. It was Garland. Jaco Hor Mell lived alone in the cabin for eight years. Then, at the age of 60, he married, in 1797, Jane Miller.

From that union stemmed all the Hormells of the Brownsville region. Hor Mell became Hormell. this transition is told me by Howard Dusenberry, of Newell. His wife is granddaughter to John Hormell and great great granddaughter to the founder.

As far as I know, the Hormell clan were all Washington county and old Bridgeport people with the exception of Walter. Born in 1870, Walter married Elizabeth Acklin, of the North Side Acklins. They had two children, Sarah and John, the latter known to the boys on Brownsville Hill as Buddy. They lived in the ancient brick house at Front and Third. This is the house once occupied by Dr. C. C. Reichard, father of the late Dr. Lewis N. Reichard. It was in that house that Isaac Reichard, known as "Cap", after his grandfather, Capt. I. C. Woodward, died of a gunshot wound received while hunting on his grandfather's farm south of Bridgeport.

When on consults telephone books of larger cities, one finds a few Hormels but rarely the Brownsville spelling. This suggests that the leap from Hor Mell to Hormell belongs to the special category of foreign names so if one speaks Hor Mell aloud one gets the notion that the accent on Hormell should have been on the second syllable. Brownsville usage placed it on the first. [Source: "And That Was Brownsville" by McCready Huston, Brownsville, author and newspaperman]

Family/Spouse: Elizabeth Acklin. Elizabeth was born on 10 Apr 1870 in Pennsylvania, United States; died on 10 Oct 1918 in Redstone, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States; was buried on 12 Oct 1918 in Brownsville, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Elinor Jackel. Elinor was born in 1877; died on 23 Sep 1941; was buried in Sep 1941 in Brownsville, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Frederick O. Wilson. Frederick was born on 28 Nov 1894 in West Brownsville, Washington County, Pennsylvania, United States; died on 27 May 1955 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Buried:
Application for Headstone for U.S. Military Veterans was filed on 8 March 1935 by Homer J. Ross