HEATH John Edward, Jr.

1883 - 1973  (90 years)

• Name	HEATH John Edward  [1, 2]
  Suffix	Jr.
  Birth	30 Sep 1883	Sumner, Christian, Illinois, USA   [2]
  Gender	Male
  Lived(s) In	1930	Flora, Clay, Illinois, USA   [1, 2]
  Death	22 Dec 1973	Flora, Clay, Illinois, USA   [2]
  Notes	L. S. (Lawrence Seymour) Heath The Heath bar, produced since 1928 by L. S. Heath & Sons, a small family-owned company in Robinson, Ill. Heath Brothers Confectionery was established in Robinson, Illinois, in 1914. The recipe for the HEATH English toffee bar was perfected by the Heath brothers in 1928. In 1932, the Heaths inched their way into the national market. The candy bar was made completely by hand until 1942 when the plant was modernized. During World War II, the U.S. Government contracted with Heath to produce bars for military distribution. This was the beginning of a new base of consumers. During the 70s and 80s the business grew and many new products and package types were added. Heath was purchased by Leaf in 1989. Hershey Foods Corporation acquired the Leaf North American confectionery operations from Huhtamaki Oy of Helsinki, Finland in 1996. In 1913 , L. S. Heath, a school teacher, bought an existing confectionery shop in Robinson, Illinois as a likely business opportunity for his oldest sons, Bayard Heath and Everett Heath. The brothers opened a combination candy store, ice cream parlor, and manufacturing operation there in 1914. With the success of the business, the elder Heath became interested in ice cream , and opened a small dairy factory in 1915. His sons worked on expanding their confectionery business. At some point they reportedly acquired a toffee recipe, via a traveling salesman, from a Greek confectioner in another part of the state. In 1928, they began marketing it locally as "Heath English Toffee", proclaiming it "America's Finest". In 1931, when Bayard and Everett were persuaded by their father to sell the confectionery and work at his dairy, they brought their candy-making equipment with them, and established a retail business there. The Heaths came up with the interesting marketing idea of including their toffee on the order form taken around by the Heath dairy trucks, so that one could order Heath bars to be delivered along with one's milk and cottage cheese. Early salesmen, confronted with the small bar, occasionally wondered if it were something like Ex-Lax rather than real candy. The oil boom in southern Illinois provided more customers from further afield. Early ads promoted Heath as a virtual health bar - only the best milk chocolate and almonds, creamery butter, and "pure sugar cane." The motto at the bottom of one ad read "Heath for better health!" It was surrounded by illustrations of milk, cream, butter, cheese, and ice cream, and off in a special corner - a Heath bar and a bottle of soda. The latter was probably Pepsi , as the Heath Co. bottled the drink for a number of years. The Heath bar started to grow in popularity nationally during the Depression , despite its one-ounce size and the five-cent price, equal to larger bars. Made by hand until 1942, the candy was produced on a major commercial scale for good after the U.S. Army placed its first order of $175,000 worth of the bars. The Heath bar had been found to have a very long shelf life, and the Army included it in soldiers' rations throughout World War II . Popularity of the Heath bar grew after the war, although the manufacturing process remained largely a hands-on, family-run operation. All four of L.S. Heath's sons, his two daughters, and several grandchildren were involved in the business. In the 1950s, the Heath Toffee Ice Cream Bar was developed, and eventually franchised to other dairies. In the 1960s, the huge national success of the Heath bar led to family in-fighting of some heat, with at least one grandchild of L.S. Heath thrown out of the business. In the 1970s, the company bought the South Dakota company "Fenn Brothers", which had produced a clone of Heath toffee - Butter Brickle . Elsewhere, the Heath bar was making its way into other products. Already in use crushed up as a "mix-in" in Boston ice cream shops, the bar became the base for one of Ben & Jerry's most popular flavors when they opened their first shop in 1978. According to the ice cream's container, in the early years of Ben & Jerry's , Jerry would climb a ladder to hurl Heath bars to the floor and break them into pieces. The original Heath Bar Crunch has gone to the Flavor Graveyard, but Coffee Heath Bar Crunch and Vanilla Heath Bar Crunch are still manufactured. A Dairy Queen dish was developed using the candy. Heath bar cakes date from at least the 1960s on. In the 1980s, a Heath Toffee Ice Cream Sandwich appeared, along with Heath Soft 'n Crunchy - a Heath bar for those who didn't enjoy the hardness of the original bar. The Heath Bar has also been used for a variation of the Klondike bar involving a toffee flavored ice cream square and a chocolate coating with bits of toffee. Today, in addition to recipes for Heath bar cake and various Heath Bar ice cream desserts, there are Heath bar coffeecakes, pies, cookies, brownies, frosting, cheesecake, milkshakes, tortes, and, in a strange twist, Toffee Crusted Chicken Breast (sic), requiring half a cup of crushed Heath toffee combined with bread crumbs to coat six chicken breasts. In 1989, with the diminishing and splintering of the Heath family, the business was sold to a Finnish company, Leaf, Inc. , which in turn was acquired by Hershey in 1996. The Heath bar, however, as manufactured by Hershey, remains much the same as it was in 1928. Hershey had initially created the Skor bar to compete with the Heath bar, before it bought out Leaf, Inc. Facility Information Facility NameL. S. HEATH & SONS Address1401 W. MAIN STREET City, State, ZIPROBINSON, IL 62454 . Permit Number:95090149County: Facility ID:033025AAPFacility SIC Code:2064 Permit Information Permit TypeVersion TypeIEPA Contact FESOP ROBINSON, Ill. \emdash This American dream come true still leaves a sweet taste in mouths of people living around L.S. Heath's hometown. Seventy-nine years ago, in a small shop on the southwest corner of town square, Heath's sons cooked up a candy recipe that made Robinson famous. It happened in a very Mayberry way. Heath, a schoolteacher, mortgaged his house to buy the confectionery at 125 Court St. in 1914. He wanted the business to give his two oldest sons, Bayard and Everett "Skiv," a trade. It was primarily a dairy outlet, where they operated a soda fountain, and sold and delivered milk, cheese, butter and ice cream. But the place also came with candy-making equipment in its back room. Bayard and "Skiv" put that equipment to use. A salesman from a Greek-owned candy company in Champaign stopped into the shop and shared a recipe with the Heath sons for "trail toffee." The Heaths spent months perfecting their own formula of sugar, butter and almonds covered in milk chocolate. In 1928, they unveiled their Heath English Toffee. The world eventually called them, simply, Heath bars. L. S. Heath & Sons, Inc. remained majority-owned by the Heath family until 1989. The only family member active in the day-to-day operation of the company at that time was Chief Executive Officer and Chairman John R. Morris, Jr., a grandson of the Founder. his mother, Mary Heath Morris, and brother, Robert Morris, were on the Board. Mrs. Morris and her sister Ruby Heath Dowling, formerly a Board member, are the only surviving children of the Founder. As the 75th year began, the Heath family said farewell. On January 24, 1989, L. S. Heath & Sons became a subsidiary of Leaf, Inc. Headquartered in Bannockburn, Illinois, Leaf's parent company is Huhtamaki Oy of Helsinki, Finland. Leaf sold their North American operations in January of 1997 to Hershey Chocolate, U.S.A under the leadership of Hershey the Robinson plant manufacturers a variety of candies including, of course, the original Heath Heath Bars history continued... In 1932, the brothers began inching their way into the national market. During the depression years their business flourished while others began failing. There was nothing else like it in the national marketplace. The bar's uniqueness and superb quality served to push the product up the ladder of success. As the candy bar grew in popularity, the production facilities on South Jackson Street grew to keep up. This was still a hand-operation from beginning to end. It was ten years later that the plant was partially mechanized for the first time. It was a sales achievement obtained during World War I that was credited for growth to an international market. Heath English Toffee "America's Finest," would now become popular world wide. In 1946. L.S. his four sons two daughters and grandchildren formally incorporated L.S. Heath and Sons Inc. The company grew, and changed, acquiring other confectionery firms. In 1967 a new production plant was built on West Main street where it remains today. The operations and equipment were extensively modernized in the late 1970s. The plant was now fully automated and a chocolate processing plant was added. The popularity of the candy continued to grow. In 1989 the Heath family sold the company to Leaf, Inc., a division of Hutamaki Oy of Helsinki, Finland. American operations were headquartered in Lake Forest, Illinois.
  Person ID	I6211	Booth Family
  Last Modified	22 Aug 2013

  
  

  Father	HEATH John Edward, Sr.,   b. Dec 1852, Lufkin, Christian, Illinois, USA d. 25 Aug 1878, Richland, Illinois, USA (Age ~ 25 years)
  Mother	TAYLOR Sarah Isabelle,   b. 28 Oct 1860, Mason City, [county], Illinois, USA d. Yes, date unknown
  Marriage	25 Aug 1878	Olney, Richland, Illinois, USA   [2]
  Family ID	F2232	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	WAINMAN Marie Katheryn,   b. 2 Aug 1894, Indiana d. 16 Sep 1931, Flora, Clay, Illinois, USA (Age 37 years)
  Marriage	21 Nov 1911	Daviess, Indiana, USA   [2]
  Children	1. HEATH William Edward,   b. 15 Nov 1912, Flora, Clay, Illinois, USA d. 3 Jun 1989, Flora, Clay, Illinois, USA (Age 76 years)   2. HEATH John Vernon,   b. 2 Oct 1914, Flora, Clay, Illinois, USA d. 14 Dec 1992, Washington, [county], Indiana, USA (Age 78 years)   3. HEATH Robert Raymond,   b. 31 Aug 1921, Flora, Clay, Illinois, USA d. 9 Oct 1982, Quincy, Adams, Illinois, USA (Age 61 years)   4. HEATH Martha Jane,   b. 25 May 1924, Flora, Clay, Illinois, USA d. 19 May 1996, Effingham, Effingham, Illinois, USA (Age 71 years)
  Family ID	F2230	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	13 May 2008

  
  

• Event Map

  Birth - 30 Sep 1883 - Sumner, Christian, Illinois, USA Marriage - 21 Nov 1911 - Daviess, Indiana, USA Lived(s) In - 1930 - Flora, Clay, Illinois, USA Death - 22 Dec 1973 - Flora, Clay, Illinois, USA  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Sources

  [S930] Rebecca Hart Fox, Rebecca Hart Fox (Reliability: 3). [S534] Ancestry.com, (Internet site), Heath Family Records (Reliability: 3).