ABSTRACT
On May 2, 1889, in Cleveland, Ohio, Katherine Radermacher Doll gave birth to her youngest son, Edgar Arnold. Although Katherine had humble origins, her father-in-law was well-known in Cleveland’s German-American circles as one of those featured in a memorial issue of a German newspaper. Katherine’s husband, Arnold, worked for a Portland cement company, where he created an invention that reportedly quadrupled the output of the factory, and then was immediately dismissed. So, to save their newly finished fine house in suburban Lakewood, Ohio, the entire family had to go to work. Edgar took on a newspaper route. All five of the children picked berries in the summer and gleaned income wherever else they could. Meanwhile, their father set about establishing a concrete block factory.
