Seiberlings
(David P.)
inventor and founder. He is most famous for founding the
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company and the Seiberling Rubber
Company. He also built Stan Hywet Hall, a Tudor Revival
mansion, now a national historic landmark and historic
house museum.
A son of German immigrants, he attended Heidelberg College
in Tiffin, Ohio for two years, then became the secretary
and treasurer of J.F. Seiberling Company, in Akron, Ohio.
His father, John Seiberling, who owned the company, invented
one of the first reaping machines. While working for the
company, Seiberling invented a twine binder which tied grain
bundles with a bow knot. Many businesses failed in the
panics of the 1890s, including the street railway company
owned by Seiberling's father. In 1898, he was jobless,
nearing 40, with a wife & 3 children. Seiberling learned of
the availability of an old strawboard factory in East Akron,
which he purchased, together with the 7 acres it stood on,
for $13,500. He borrowed $3,500 for a down payment from
a brother-in-law, Lucius C. Miles, who would become the
company's third president in 1900. In a few days he had
decided what business he would go into, picked a name,
and was selling stock. The business would be rubber; the
company would be named for Charles Goodyear, the discoverer
of vulcanization, who had died penniless almost 40 years before.
In 1899, Raymond C. Penfield, another brother-in-law, became
the second president of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. In
1906, Seiberling became the fourth president of the company,
a position he held until 1921. He was known as the "little
Napoleon" of the rubber industry because of his small stature
and his unremitting determination to succeed. He played a
leading role in developing Akron, Ohio from a small town into
the rubber center of the world. 1921, Goodyear was refinanced
& reorganized, & Seiberling and his brother Charles resigned
from the company. He then began the Seiberling Rubber Company
in Barberton, Ohio. During his lifetime, Seiberling became
famous for his fair treatment of workers.
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http://www3.uakron.edu/schlcomm/womenshistory/seiberling_h.htm
Henrietta Buckler Seiberling, 1888-1979
When Alcoholics Anonymous wanted to mark its birthplace, it
looked to the gatehouse of Stan Hywet in Akron. It was there
that the two best-known characters in the Alcoholics Anonymous
movement -- Dr. Bob Smith and Bill Wilson -- first met. But
there was another person present; Henrietta Buckler Seiberling
arranged the meeting, helped nurture the early organization and
ever reminded the AA leaders of the need for a strong spiritual
underpinning for an alcoholic's recovery.
Seiberling was satisfied to work in the background. The social
customs of the day, her background as well as the background of
her husband, explained why she opted to play such a role.
Henrietta Buckler was born in Lawrenceburg KY on March 18,1888.
She was reared in Texas where her father, Julius A. Buckler,
was a judge of the Common Pleas Court. She was well educated,
graduating from Vassar, when she was only 15. She majored in
music, ideal for the well-bred lady of the day. In 1917, she
married John F. Seiberling, eldest son of Akron industrialist
F. A. Seiberling. The Seiberlings had made their fortune --
and lost it -- and gained it back in Akron's rubber industry.
By 1917, the Seiberlings had already earned their place in
Akron society. Matriarch of the clan, Gertrude Seiberling, was
already one of the leaders in the city's cultural and musical
scene. John Fredrick and Henrietta moved to Akron after their
marriage.
None of the Seiberlings did as well financially as their parents.
John Fredrick was no exception. He worked for his father's
company. It was the financial & family problems that Henrietta
faced in the early 1930s that eventually led to her involvement
in the creation of the AA. Seiberling was not an alcoholic;
she was, however, involved with the Oxford Movement, an evan-
gelical fellowship of intellectuals who believed in the respon-
sibility of Christians to solve social problems. Seiberling
helped organize the group's "alcoholic squad" in Akron.
Dr. Bob Smith and his wife came into the Akron Oxford Group.
A physician, Smith was an alcoholic. Aware of his drinking
problem, Seiberling invited the Smiths over for a small meeting
of the Oxford Group. Members shared their deepest secrets and
then Smith admitted for the first time that he was a "secret
drinker and I can't stop." The group then prayed together.
The Oxford Movement was not peculiar to Akron. It had groups
in many cities throughout the United States and Europe. The
Oxford Movement was also a kind of network. Members often
contacted others in other cities. It was through this network
that Seiberling met Bill Wilson, a stockbroker from New York
in Akron on business. Wilson was also a recovering alcoholic.
Wilson told Seiberling that he had had a religious experience
and found the strength to stop drinking.
Seiberling quickly arranged a meeting between Wilson & Smith.
The two worked together to support each other as they dealt
with alcoholism. Working with Seiberling, they also came up
with many of the tenets that still mark Alcoholics Anonymous
-- never to drink again, to lead a spiritual life and to share
their experiences with others. Initially working through Akron's
Oxford Group, Alcoholics Anonymous soon struck out on its own,
meeting at the old King School. Bill Wilson acted as the group's
promoter; "Dr. Bob" was the "homeyness" that the alcoholics
needed at the beginning, Seiberling recalled. Seiberling added
the religious dimension that both Dr. Bob and Wilson resisted
initially. The two thought that this might turn the alcoholics
away. To which, Seiberling replied, "Well, we're not out to
please the alcoholics. They have been pleasing themselves all
these years. We are out to please God. And if you don't talk
about what God does and your faith, and your guidance, then
might as well be the Rotary Club or something like that.
Because God is your only source of Power."
While Seiberling nurtured the AA movement, she saw her marriage
degenerate. Eventually, she and her husband separated and she
moved to New York in 1952. She died there in 1979. She was
survived by 3 children -- Mrs. George Huhn; Dorothy Seiberling,
art editor for the old Life magazine; and Rep. John Seiberling,
congressman from the Akron area. After her death, her son
publicized his mother's involvement with the founding of
Alcoholics Anonymous, now a worldwide organization helping
millions every year.
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