Charles M. Ingersoll

Charles Ingersoll was born in Madison, Ohio on July 27, 1896. His father, Francis Siegel Ingersoll, was an executive of the Madison Wheel Company. Francis had a disagreement with the president, sold his company stock, and moved the family to Rocky River in 1906. He bought the John Deere Agency from W.J. Geiger, the hardware store originally at the corner of Blount and Detroit, and his livery stable. The family lived on the southeast corner of Wooster and Telbir. 

In 1922, “Charlie” married Ethel Sayers. His parents gave him a lot on Wooster Road, second lot north of Shoreland. He had a house built before the wedding, by tradesmen who owed his father money on their accounts. Charlie and Ethel had two children, Frances Sara and Charlene Ethel. 

In 1927, Charlie bought his father’s John Deere equipment dealership. His father was used to horse-drawn equipment and the engine-driven tractors were frustrating to him. Charlie’s first customer was Fred Schneider and sons on Northview Road. They bought an engine-driven tractor, made by the Dodge Co. of Boston, for $128.00. As a result, Charlie got the distributorship for the state of Ohio and set up dealerships in Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton, Youngstown, and Cleveland. He later got state tractor distributorships for the Bolen Co. of Wisconsin, and Gibson from Colorado. Charlie had a lot of energy and drive. He wheeled and dealed his way around the country besides Ohio. He dealt in many types of heavy equipment, including tractors of various kinds, lawn mowers, front end loaders, rock crushers, seed planters, pumps, road graders, scrapers, etc.; and dynamite, that he stored in Caldwell’s Gully off Detroit Road across from Linda Street.

Written by Gay A. Christensen-Dean