William J. Dingle, Granite Cutter

According to the September 19, 1904 Sandusky Star, Mr. W. J. Dingle purchased the monument works of A. Hornig, near Oakland Cemetery. The article continued, "The shop has been fitted up with pneumatic tools and other new and modern machinery." W.J. Dingle followed in his father's footsteps, as an article in the May 6, 1919 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal states that William J. Dingle's father, Mr. J. H. Dingle, was a granite cutter at the Hughes Granite Works in Clyde, Ohio. The Hughes Granite Works was later known as the Hughes Granite and Marble Company.

In the 1900 U.S. Census, we find William J. Dingle, age 18, living with his parents, James and Sarah Dingle (spelled Dingel in the 1900 census), with his sister Olive, and an adopted sister named Martha. James H. Dingle's occupation was listed as stone cutter, while William's occupation was stone cutter apprentice. By the time of the 1910 U.S. Census, William J. Dingle was living in Sandusky with his wife Katherine. It was William's first marriage, and Katherine's second. William J.Dingle listed his occupation as granite cutter at a monumental works. In the 1920 Census, William J. Dingle indicated that he had come to the U.S. in 1884 and had become a naturalized citizen in 1908.


Mrs. Katherine Dingle passed away in Sandusky on May 29, 1929. She was survived by her daughter from her first marriage, Mrs. Eugene Christen of Lima, Ohio. Following the death of Katherine, William J. Dingle moved to Arizona, and by 1934, the Balconi Brothers were the proprietors of the Sandusky Monumental Works. (The Balconi family has been connected with the monument business in Erie County for well over 80 years.) William J. Dingle died in Tucson, Arizona on July 17, 1943. His cause of death was asthma and silicosis. Mr. Dingle's death certificate is accessible via Family Search Labs.


















The remains of William J. Dingle were brought back to Ohio, so that he could be buried with his parents at McPherson Cemetery in Clyde, Ohio.


Though William J. Dingle was not born in Sandusky, Ohio, nor was he buried there, his granite business was important to the residents of Sandusky and Erie County in the first part of the twentieth century.