Albert H. Herman, ex-sheriff of Brown county, and a prominent contractor and builder of Hiawatha, is a native of Ross county, Ohio, where he was born on a farm, April 10, 1864. At the time of his birth, his father, Henry A. Herman, was a soldier in the Civil war, having enlisted in Company A, Eighteenth Ohio infantry, and while on duty at Chattanooga, Tenn., he was accidentally drowned in the Tennessee river. The untimely death of the father left a widowed mother and three children—all boys—the youngest being Albert H., who, although deprived of ever seeing his father, nevertheless reveres his memory in sacrificing his life to preserve the Union.

Albert H. Herman spent his boyhood and youth on the farm, and at the age of seventeen, or in 1881, he decided to visit his uncle, W. S. Brown, then residing on a farm a few miles south of Hiawatha. Upon his arrival there he soon secured employment by the month at farm work. Before he had been there three months he was stricken with typhoid fever, and as soon as he was able to travel he returned to his old home in Ohio. However, he was so well pleased with Kansas that in the spring of 1882 he returned to Brown county, and, with the exception of two years' service on the police force of Topeka, he has made Hiawatha and Brown county his home since 1882. While yet a youth he became apprenticed to learn the carpenter's trade, and after three years' apprenticeship he began working at that occupation. He soon began contracting independently and for the past twenty-five years he has been engaged as a general contractor and builder, having erected many of the best buildings in Hiawatha and Brown county. His business relations were such as to extend his acquaintance far and near, and being of a genial turn and a good mixer, as well as an active worker in the Republican party, he became his party's choice for sheriff of the county in 1898, and was elected by a handsome majority. He served his two-year term with credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of his constituents and was duly renominated for a second term. But his friends were too sure of his election and as a result did not wake up to the situation until after the vote was counted and it was found that he had been defeated by a majority of eleven votes. Mr. Herman has signified his intention to be a candidate again in 1912, and there is no one in Brown county that knows his popularity and strength but predicts his election.

In 1888 Mr. Herman chose as his companion and helpmate Miss Mary M. Dorei, of Germantown, Kan., and four children bless the union. They are: Mattie B.; Robert S., now engaged in the abstract and real estate business at Weiser, Idaho; Inez J., a student in the Hiawatha High School; and Nellie G. Mrs. Herman, the wife and mother, died in 1906. She was a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church, as is the whole family, and Mr. Herman has been the leader of the church choir for the past ten years. Fraternally, Mr. Herman is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Hiawatha, and within two years after joining the order he had passed all of the chairs, a remarkable record in a lodge with a membership of over 200. He is also a Knight of Pythias, and has served as one of the trustees of his lodge for a number of years. He belongs to the fraternal insurance order, the Modern Woodmen of America, in which he has filled all of the offices. Since July 1, 1901, he has been the captain of Company F, First infantry, Kansas National Guard, and is a member of the Kansas rifle team, in which he won a place in the team as an expert rifleman at two annual contests in competitive shooting. He was also a member of the Kansas revolver team in the national contest in 1906, when it won second place in that great competition. Thus briefly is covered the life of one of Hiawatha's best known citizens, a man of strict integrity and one who is ever ready to assist in the upbuilding of the community.