William Bingham II (1879 - 1955)

Born 1 Jan 1879 in Ohio

Ancestors

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Nick Dann [send private message]

Biography

William was born in 1879. He was the son of Charles Bingham and Mary Payne. He passed away in 1955.^[1]

From Bethel, Maine, The Age of Philanthropy

William Bingham II was named for his grandfather, William Bingham (1816-1904). The elder Bingham was born in Andover, Connecticut and went to Cleveland when he was 20 years old. His father, Capt Cyrus Bingham helped him get established in business and in 1841 he and a partner Henry C. Blossom bought an existing hardware business which they organized as William Bingham & Co. It dealt in tools and metals. Bingham served on the Cleveland City Council where he was the leader in creating a city waterworks. He was the first president of the Union Club when 81 city business and civic leaders formed the club in 1870. He had married Elizabeth Beardsley in 1841. They had three children. Their son Charles William was to be William Bingham II’s father.

Charles W. Bingham (1846-1929) was a very active, capable person both in business and Cleveland’s cultural institutions. He graduated from Yale in 1868, spent three years in Europe studying geology, mining, and chemistry. He returned to Yale for an MA in 1871 then went to work for his father in Bingham & Co. From 1881 on he was president of the Standard Tool Co., producer of twist drills, a branch of Wm. Bingham & Co. The history of Cleveland indicates that he served on several banking boards and arranged business matters for family members. Another source says that after his father died he headed the Bingham company.

William Bingham 2nd’s early life is a mystery: there is mention later of his attending Cleveland’s Union School but there is no mention of him joining a Bingham family enterprise. He did not attend college. And he is not mentioned with other members of his family in the online Cleveland History. His name comes up there only in connection with the Bingham Foundation which was formed by his sister Elizabeth Blossom after William 2nd’s death in 1955. He never married. It does seem that he did not have a strong physical constitution and was concerned over his personal health.

In 1911, William Bingham 2nd, 31, and his friend William J. Upson of Cleveland came to Bethel as patients of Dr. John G. Gehring’s clinic. Both men ultimately decided to become Bethel residents. Until 1932 when Dr. Gehring died, Gehring, Bingham, and Upson along with Frank E. Hanscom, Principal of Gould Academy and Gehring’s wife, Marian True Gehring allied themselves as a unique leadership core within Bethel Hill village. For William Bingham II it meant that the rest of his life in Bethel would be concerned with the Bethel Inn, Gould Academy, health and medicine and philanthropic pursuits .

Bingham and Upson soon were part of the “Gehring family” (The Brotherhood as they were called in The Master of the Inn). In August 1911 a fire at the Prospect Hotel destroyed enough of the place for the owner to tear down the remainder of the plant and close the business. The hotel had been a key element in the operation of Dr. Gehring’s clinic since the clinic’s success had swelled the ranks of resident patients. All of course needed housing for their stay in Bethel.^[2]

This profile is a collaborative work-in-progress. Can you contribute information or sources?

Sources

• 1880 US Census: Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, OH, 14 Jun1880, Enumeration District 13, Pg. 51^[3]
• Find A Grave Memorial # 78095242; Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland OH, Plot: Section 10 Lot 32-0

See also:

• Add sources here.

Footnotes

1. ↑ Information from Beardsley family researcher Nick Dann, 22 Apr 2016.
2. ↑ The Age of Philanthropy; William Bingham II, Benefactor
3. ↑ Year: 1880; Census Place: Cleveland, Cuyahoga, Ohio; Roll: 1005; Family History Film: 1255005; Page: 340C; Enumeration District: 013; Image: 0195