Some websources have it as the earliest glass company in Ohio. However, there were clearly other earlier glass makers in Ohio, but few if any of these ever reached the incorporation stage. Much of the early glass industry was sole proprietorships, and the nature of early Ohio Industry was such that almost all of the really early glass makers left few records. Such was the nature of the craft that it was a rarity for the early glass makers to be able to read or write. However John Hamm and Isaac Van Horne, were unlike the average early Ohio glass manufacturers, both literate. They also had fairly deep pockets and were members of the State and local government. As such they went into the enterprise mostly in the way of the modern businessman, as entrepreneurs, rather than as workers.