Home » Blog » Traveling Salesmen: Francis Herendeen

Traveling Salesmen: Francis Herendeen

By Becky Chapin, Archivist

Edward Herendeen moved to Geneva before 1870 with his wife and four children. While he started out in the nursery industry, Edward moved into the steam boiler business where he became very successful. All four of his sons worked for the family business at one point or another, but Francis and William were the most involved. After Edward’s death, Francis and Will continued the business until 1910 when Henendeen Manufacturing it merged with the United States Radiator Corporation.

Francis was mainly in charge of the export portion of the business, but when he was just out of school he worked as a traveling salesman for his father. In 1887, he embarked on a trip throughout the northeast making stops in New York City, Rhode Island, and Philadelphia. He wrote home to his mother regularly using local stationery that allowed me to identify his location easily from one letter to the next.

In Providence, Rhode Island he met another William H Herendeen when his letters were delivered to William. When they met up to exchange letters, they discussed how their families may be connected. Francis also talked about what he was selling, from a single boiler for a home to larger boilers for churches. During his travels, he regularly spoke about his health. Since he had to walk many places with his samples, Francis lost quite a bit of weight; a topic which was frequently brought up in his correspondence in the late 19^th and early 20^th century.

After the holidays in the winter of 1887-88, Francis went on a tour of the United States to sell his wares. In April he started out in Connecticut and by June he was in the hot Chicago heat. He spoke of the great political excitement in town where he saw a sign for candidates on every corner (that year it was a race between Grover Cleveland and Benjamin Harrison).

Francis had a lot of success in Omaha, Nebraska and Denver, Colorado which he had visited in the span of two weeks. Mid-July, he sprained his ankle in Leadville, Colorado and couldn’t walk for a couple of days. He expressed sadness that he hadn’t heard from home in two weeks. His next stop was Kansas after a 24-hour ride on the train from Denver. He described the immense houses on the flats and the cable cars that were the feature of Kansas City.

The heat followed him to St. Louis where it was over 100 degrees; he started experiencing sunstroke and couldn’t eat much. The weather impacted his sales because who wants to buy a boiler in the middle of summer? On August 5, Francis arrived in Keokuk, Iowa where the weather finally changed. By the time he reached Chicago, his brother Edward and wife Ida were in town on their own trip.

After six months of travel, Francis missed his first train to Waterbury, Connecticut. But during his time there, he heard Rev. John Hector, a Black pastor, speak on Prohibition. Reverend Hector had resigned from his church for one year in 1888 to go into the field for the National Committee of the Prohibition Party.

In Massachusetts in October, he escaped a railroad accident that “befell the train just ahead of mine”; a switchman operated his switch incorrectly and an express train hit another train, demolishing several cars. Miraculously no one died.

Francis spent the holidays at home again for 1888-1889. His correspondence picks up in May 1889 when he attends a friend’s wedding in Philadelphia before continuing his sales in Providence, Rhode Island. His next stop was to Cleveland and from there he explores many new cities all the way over to the west coast.

With stops in Chicago and Kansas City, Francis spent several August days in Salt Lake City which he described as “distinctly Mormon.” Conversations of train robberies were all his fellow train passengers could talk about. Francis continued into Colorado where he rode on a railroad line that had just been completed.

Francis then followed a similar route home through the fall from Kansas City to New York. Instead of returning home, Francis was making plans to go abroad. During his time away, he would meet his future wife, Annie Boynton. (For that story check out our new exhibit I’ve Been Everywhere: Traveling Genevans!)

After being abroad and getting married, Francis continued his traveling sales route along the east coast. He wrote home begging his father to allow Annie to come with him. “Annie and I are terribly lonesome since we have been separated…” he wrote his mother. Edward refused Francis’ request, but Francis and Annie had other plans. In November 1891, Francis wrote to Annie to come anyway and told his father he could pay for her out of his own pocket.

Annie had her own funds (her family was very well off) and made her own way to meet Francis in Baltimore, Maryland in November. After her arrival, Francis continued working while Annie visited tourist places on her own. They traveled to Old Point Comfort where Francis had to stay in bed for a few days from some sort of sickness while Annie took care of him. From there, they traveled to Atlanta then to Chattanooga where they were able to do some sightseeing together; they saw Lookout Mountain, relic stores, and war museums.

Francis and Annie traveled back north through Asheville, where Annie became sick for a little bit, then through Philadelphia before returning home again for the holidays. In the coming years, Francis, Annie, and his parents continued to travel to Europe and around the States. Their travels had such an impact on their own lives that Francis and Annie took their daughter Frances to Europe in 1914. And if you know your history, you know what happens in the summer of 1914. You can read all about that trip here!

Come view I’ve Been Everywhere: Traveling Genevans, now open at the Geneva History Museum through December. We did something different for this exhibit and included stories from the Prouty and Walker families in the Prouty and Walker Parlors, so be sure to walk through the whole first floor to see those stories! Thanks to our archival interns this summer, Maya and Andrew, who arranged most of the artifacts and panels.

This article was brought to you in part by our supporters. Be our partner in telling Geneva’s stories by becoming a Historic Geneva supporter.