Elam Herman Brackbill



Elam Herman Brackbill, commonly called Herman (born February 4, 1917; died January 9, 2008), was the sixth child and second son of Harry G. Brackbill and Esta Leona Leaman. He married Jane Young on May 20, 1939. He was the father of Evelyn Jane Brackbill, N. Marie Brackbill, and John Brackbill.

Herman was somewhat precocious, graduating high school two years early after skipping two grades in high school, and was chosen by his father to attend the Millersville Teacher's College along with two of his elder siblings. He received a two-year teacher's certificate when he was 17, but had to wait a year until he turned 18 to legally teach school.

According to his own reckoning (and a list compiled post-1987), Herman had held many professions, including:
 * Farmer (1934–35)
 * School teacher (1935–36)
 * Work at Hess's Mill (1936–40)
 * Kinzer Equipment Company (1940–75)
 * Spectrum Fidelity (1976–86)
 * Greenleaf (1987–etc.)
 * Ressler Mill Foundation (1987–etc.)

We know that Herman started work at Hess's Mill on July 13, 1936 because of his journal entry from July 13, 1939, when he says it is his third anniversary of milling.

In Herman's retirement, he returned to mills; specifically, he became an interpretive guide at Ressler Mill, where he demonstrated how the old water mill worked and how it supported the local farm economy.