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BIOGRAPHIES *
Source
1798
History of Ashtabula County, Ohio
with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches
of its
Pioneers and Most Prominent Men.
by Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers -
1878
(Transcribed by Sharon Wick)
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REV. JOHN HALL
* The Rev. John Hall was born at
Lee. Berkshire county, Massachusetts, on the 5th of November, 1788.
He was descended from Welsh ancestry, his great grandfather.
Ichabod Hall, having emigrated from Wales and settled
in Falmouth, Massachusetts. His grandfather, Ebenezer
Hall, was a commander of Massachusetts volunteers for
frontier defense, and became distinguished as a successful Indian
fighter. His father, Moses Hall, was a soldier
of the Revolution, having enlisted in the Continental army at the
age of eighteen, near the close of the war. After the close of
the war he was a cloth-dresser, and had a factory at Lee.
Later on he removed to Lenox, in the same county, and engaged in
farming.
John was the oldest of a family of fourteen
children. At an early age he began to develop a taste for
literature. When old enough to work his labor was required
upon his father's farm; but he devoted all his leisure to the
pursuit of his studies—often under difficulties. He studied
the higher English branches and the Latin and Greek languages under
partial direction of the Rev. Dr. Hyde, a prominent
Congregational clergyman at Lenox. At nineteen he commenced
the study of medicine, which at the end of about two years was
interrupted by his removal to Ohio, in 1809. His journey alone
on horseback, through an almost unbroken wilderness, consumed more
days than the number of hours that would now be required to
accomplish the same distance by rail. He came to Ashtabula and
engaged as a clerk in the store of Hall Smith.—a man
well known to all the early settlers,—which position he retained for
several years.
In 1811 his father and family followed him to
Ashtabula. His father purchased tracts of lands in Ashtabula
and Dover, Lorain county, which, like nearly all the wild lands on
the Western Reserve, were covered with heavy timber. He gave
to each of his sons one hundred and fifty acres, and to each
daughter one hundred acres, to be cleared for farms, and sold the
remainder from time to time to other settlers. The subject of
this memoir cleared a large part of his one hundred and fifty acres,
and otherwise improved and stocked it.
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* 'Written by his son, J. B. Hall.
Source: 1798 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio with Illustrations
and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men by
Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 128 |
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Kingsville Twp. -
EDWARD HAMMOND,
INFIRMARY DIRECTOR.
In connection with the view of the county infirmary is
shown a portrait of the gentleman whose name appears at the head of
this sketch. Of him we learn that he was the fifth child of
John and Sarah Hammond, of West Worldham,
Hampshire county, England, was born on the 16th day of August, 1817,
and derived the principal part of his education in England,
embarking with the family for America on the 1st day of June, 1836.
The date of their arrival and location in Kingsville was on the 1st
day of the following August. The parents died,—the mother in
1851, and the father in 1856 . The life-occupation of Mr.Hammond
has been that of a farmer. He was elected to the office of
trustee of Kingsville in 1862, and served for the succeeding eight
years in that position; was elected to his present position in the
year 1873, and re-elected in the fall of 1876. He has been
twice married: the first time on July 11, 1842, to Harriet Gunn,
daughter of Comfort and Sarah Gunn, of
Kingsville; from this wife were born two children: John B.,
born July 11, 1843; he married Maria Van Slyke,
and now resides in Michigan. Ellen E. was born Aug. 31, 1844;
her husband is Sabin Holmes. They live in
Kingsville. Mr. Hammond was married to his
present wife, who was a sister of his former one, on the 15th day of
May, 1851. The following are the children of this marriage:
Charlotte, born Apr. 1, 1857; Margaret G., born Oct. 16,
1859, died Aug. 22, 1864; Gess and Gessie were born
Sept. 28, 1862. Mr. Hammond is Republican in
politics; is a member of the fraternity of Freemasons, and has taken
the Royal Arch degrees.
Source: 1798 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio with Illustrations
and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men by
Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 208 |
H. F. Hardy |
Monroe Twp. -
HANCE F. HARDY. The son of
Captain William Hardy, born near Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Nov.
3, 1797. Hance F. Hardy was left an orphan at the age
of seventeen. He early acquired habits of industry, and no
sooner was he bereft of his parents than he took a contract to carry
the mail from Sandusky to Fort Meigs, a distance of about one
hundred and fifty miles. The route lay through the Maumee
swamp, and at certain seasons of the year was almost impassable.
The journey was made on horseback, following notched trees, and many
of the streams could be crossed only by swimming. The trip was
made once per week. When twenty years of age he bought a farm
in Monroe township, this county, when he made it his home for sixty
years. He was one of the early settlers of that part of the
county, and had his full share of the privations and hardships of
pioneer life. He was an industrious, law-abiding citizen, and
lived a useful life. He died Dec. 23, 1876,
nearly eighty years of age.
Jan. 1, 1819, he was united in marriage to Acenoth
Chapin, and the following are the names of Mr. Hardy’s
children, with dates of their birth: Chloe P., born Oct. 8,
1819; Laura A., born Sept. 30, 1821; Margaret, born
Sept. 8, 1823; William, born Aug. 30, 1825; Julia,
born Jan. 28, 1828; Caroline, born May 29, 1830; Matilda
E., born Apr. 29, 1835; Jane M., Apr. 24, 1837.
Mr. Hardy was a member of the Congregational church, in which he
was for many years a deacon.
Source: 1798 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio with Illustrations
and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men by
Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 203 |
Res. of
Austin Harmon,
Andover Tp.,
Ashtabula Co., Ohio |
AUSTIN HARMON.
This gentleman became a resident of the township of Andover in the
year 1825, and has had his full share of pioneer hardships. He
was born in Wheatland, Genesee county, New York, on the 12th day of
June, 1822, and is the third of a family of eight. His
parents, Samuel and Clarissa Harmon, formerly from Berkshire
county, Massachusetts, removed to Ohio, locating in Andover
township, in the year 1825. The farm upon which they made
settlement is now occupied by the subject of this sketch, the death
of the elder Harmon occurring in the year 1834.
Austin, with his brothers and sisters, were left to battle,
unaided, with the difficulties of life.
Gradually step by step has he acquired his ample
competence. His has not been a remarkably eventful life.
In his township he has held several offices, filling them in an
acceptable manner. He was united in marriage on the 17th day
of December, 1848, to Hannah L. Stillman. Two children
were born to them, — Sarah Adelaide, born June 9, 1850; and
Lee Samuel, born Apr. 10, 1857. This latter yet
remains beneath the family roof. On the 8th day of November,
1873, occurred the death of Mrs. Harmon. The
present wife of Mr. Harmon was Eliza J. Case, of
Andover, to whom he was married Sept. 8, 1875.
Source: 1798 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio with Illustrations
and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men by
Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 217 |
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EDWARD HARMON.
Edward Harmon was the son of Samuel and Ruth Harmon,
and was born in New Marlborough, Berkshire county, Massachusetts,
Dec. 21, 1815. He was the oldest child, and removed with his
parents to Andover township, in this county, in the spring of 1825.
His father died at the place of his first settlement, Apr. 26, 1S34,
and Edward, being the eldest son, was called upon to assume
the chief part of the responsibilities and duties that had hitherto
devolved upon his father. His education was obtained at the
district school of his neighborhood, and was necessarily limited.
When seventeen years of age he went to Wheatland, Genesee county,
New York, at which place his father had resided a short time prior
to his removal to Ohio, accomplishing the journey on foot. He spent
the winter of 1822—23 at that place, and attended the winter’s
school.
Aug. 15, 1823, he was united in marriage with Miss
Eve Border, who then resided in Andover, but who was born at
Little Falls, Herkimer county, New York. From this union were
born two children,—the elder, Charles E. Harmon, born Feb.
21, 1854; and William Henry, born Aug. 23, 1855. The
younger child lived but a short time. The surviving son was
married to Lucinda Vickery, Apr. 16, 1874, and he and
his wife now reside on the farm where his father made for himself
his first improvement. Edward Harmon was a man
of great and untiring industry. By prudent management,
assisted by exemplary habits, he amassed a fine property, the
inheritance of his son, and lived a useful and honorable life.
He died in Andover, July 19, 1872.
Source: 1798 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio with Illustrations
and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men by
Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 218. |
Residence of
Cynthia Hart,
Geneva Tp.,
Ashtabula Co., OH
E. H. Hart
E. Hart
Mrs. E. Hart
W. M. Hart |
Geneva Twp. -
ELIJAH HART, a fine portrait of whom, with
wife and two sons, Erie and William, accompanies the
view of their pleasant homestead in another portion of this work,
was born at Little Hero, Vermont, on the 17th day of January, 1803,
and is the fourth child of Thomas and Mary Hart. His
mother died when Elijah was but three years of age, in
consequence of which the family was broken up, and he went to live
with his uncle, Stephen Hart. Remained with him
until he had attained his majority. His education was derived
from the common schools of the Green Mountain State. In the fall of
1828 Mr. Hart came to Ohio, and with Unionville (Lake
county) for a headquarters, pursued the occupation of stage-driving
until his marriage, which occurred on the 9th day of June, 1829.
The lady who became at this time the partner of his joys and sorrows
was Cynthia, daughter of Flavel and Martha Williams,
of Geneva. From this marriage have been born ten children,
whose names are as follows: Lovisa, who married Edwin
Chevalier, deceased in 1876, at Geneva, Ohio; Sidney,
the second child, married Caroline Cole,,and at present
resides at Osage, Iowa; Delphina married Arthur
Mitchelson, and resides at Garfield. Kansas; Diantha
married Alvin E. Shepard, resides in Erie, Pennsylvania;
Volney married Belle Hendry, killed by the cars in
July, 1874: Edwin married Ann Norton, lives at
present in Garfield, Kansas, as does Olivia, who married
Nathan Warner, and Elma, who died in Geneva, in
1874; Erie married Dora Squires, resides near
the old homestead, and is the proprietor of the fine billiard-hall
in Geneva village; and William, who has not yet launched his
bark on the sea matrimonial, still lives at home.
Upon the marriage of Mr. Hart. Sr.,
he began housekeeping in a log house which stood upon the spot now
occupied by the residence of Mrs. Upson, on West Main
street, Geneva, and remained there until he purchased the farm at
present occupied by his widow, which was in 1836,—had resided
continuously on this property until his death, which occurred Dec.
16, 1866. Mr. Hart pursued the peaceful occupation of
a farmer, and acquired a handsome competence thereby, as shown by
the well-kept farm of one hundred and twelve acres, the fine
buildings, and orcharding.
Mr. Hart was a life-long member of the
Masonic brotherhood, and at his death was a member of Grand River
lodge, No. 297. Free and Accepted Masons, of which he was a
charter member. Politically he was a Republican, and his
sympathies were ever with that party from its formation. He
was also a member of the Methodist church.
Source: 1798 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio with Illustrations
and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men by
Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 180 |
S. G. Holbrook |
STEPHEN GRIGGS HOLBROOK, M. D.
The subject of this sketch was born in Tolland, Connecticut, May 21,
1798. His father dying, he, though but a lad, with an elder
brother, Ralph, resolved to seek their fortunes in what was
then the “New Connecticut.” Arriving in Windsor they halted,
each engaging in teaching district schools, by which employment they
were able to provide for the journey of their mother and the
remaining family, who arrived in Windsor in the year 1816.
Here for some years these two sons filially supported their family
by alternate labor of teaching winters and felling forests and doing
farm work in summer. Finally, one day, holding out his
blistered hands to his brother, Stephen G. announced his
solemn purpose (which no doubt had been long secretly maturing) to
earn his living in some other way. The practice of medicine
was determined upon, and he at once commenced its study with Dr.
Brown, of Morgan. Some little time of preliminary study
was also spent at Burton academy, in Geauga county. From this
time on till his settlement in Kelloggsville, about 1824, he was
engaged in study, attending medical lectures, and teaching common
schools. He also studied for a time with Dr. Allen, of
Trumbull county, and Dr. O. K. Hawley, of this county, who as
president of the medical society signed his diploma and license to
practice medicine and surgery, which was given May 21. 1825,—his
twenty-seventh birthday.
Upon his arrival in Kelloggsville he boarded in the
family of Martin Kellogg, with whose only daughter,
Charlotte, he formed an acquaintance which ripened into an
attachment and subsequent marriage. In this connection it is
but just to bear testimony to the many virtues and excellences of
this noble woman. In every high sense she was his help-meet,
visiting with him the sick in the neighborhood, and ministering to
the needy and afflicted as only a woman can do. In the home
she was an affectionate and considerate wife, a wise and judicious
mother. With one accord they together labored wisely and well
in laying the foundations of their prosperity and happiness, which
united labor was sadly and abruptly terminated by her decease in
1840. Though now nearly two score years have elapsed since she
passed away, her memory lingers like a fragrance in the community
that she adorned, and especially in the hearts of her children, now
grown to maturity. Of this union are now living two daughters
and one son, Rev. Martin Kellogg Holbrook, a minister in the
far west. Of a subsequent marriage, one son and one daughter
were born, Stephen A. Holbrook and Flora, the wife of
S. L. Fobes, both of Geneva, Ohio.
Were we asked to give the more prominent
characteristics of Dr. Holbrook, we should say he was of the
strictest integrity, severely conscientious, with an unyielding
sense of justice and right. To a high standard of action he
held himself and every one accountable. His word was as good
as his bond. A shrewd observer of human nature, whenever he
recognized in others, and especially in the young commencing the
up-hill struggle of life, those qualities that he himself signally
exemplified, his generous counsel and assistance were never wanting.
To such he was a kind and revered friend. To those whose moral
principles came not up to his high standard, his judgments,
doubtless, sometimes appeared harsh and severe. The mysterious
workings of the law of heredity, upon which he laid so much stress
in his treatment of the physical man, he may have too often
overlooked or underestimated in the realm of morals. To a mind
so constituted, his early religious training of the strictest
Calvinistic type lent great influence. He was naturally a
believer in the doctrine of a hell. Indeed, his convictions
upon this point were held with an earnestness and sincerity which
might cheer and uphold its faint-hearted advocates to-day. But
in the sick-room were his gentler and best qualities abundantly
manifest. Cautious in his treatment, gentle and sympathetic in
his manner, humorous, and ever ready with a joke or story to chase
away the gloom and sorrow; multitudes will remember him for these,
when the harsher aspects of his character have long been forgotten.
For his professional brethren, with whom he counseled
in difficult cases, he cherished great respect and affection.
On his death-bed, fully aware of his approaching dissolution, to his
attending physician, Dr. Hubbard, he exclaimed, “Coleman
is gone, and Spencer and Fifield and Farrington,—-all
are gone,—and why should I stay longer?” Then affectionately
embracing, and charging him with a message of love to “A. F.,”
his brother, he bade him a long adieu; and so, after fifty years of
a professional career in Kelloggsville and vicinity, his
well-rounded and useful earthly life closed at the ripe age of
seventy-seven. As he was fond of quoting, so will we: “Let
his virtues be inscribed in marble, but his faults—let them be
written in sand."
Source: 1798 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio with Illustrations
and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men by
Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 126 |
Residence of
A. W. Howard,
Eagleville, Ashtabula Co., O
A. W. Howard
Mrs. Elmira G. Howard |
Austinburg Twp. -
ABIAL WILLIAMS HOWARD. The subject
of this sketch, a view of whose fine residence, with portraits of
self and wife, appear in another portion of this work, is the fifth
of a family of eight, the children of Hezekiah and Margaret
Spring Howard, of Preble, Cortland county, New York. He
was born Jan. 7, 1819, and resided in New York and Pennsylvania
until 1838, when he came to Ohio, making his first stop with an
uncle in Concord, Lake county. His education was received at
common school prior to his coming to Ohio. About Jan. 1, 1839,
he came to Austinburg, where he remained some three years. On
the 11th day of January, 1842, he found a wife in the person of
Almira G., daughter of Salmon and Damaris Pitkin Hills,
of Austinburg, and taking his young bride, removed to a wild farm in
Crawford county, Pennsylvania, and here, some three-fourths of a
mile from a traveled road, they began the battle of life, and we may
judge something of his success by the fact that he now owns some
five hundred acres of land, which, with the mill property, etc.,
aggregates the snug sum of thirty thousand dollars. In the
township he has held numerous offices, among which has been township
trustee for many years. He is public-spirited, a kind and
indulgent husband and father. His children are as follows:
Emily A., born Aug. 26, 1844, married Hubert E. Wadsworth,
and resides at Eagleville. The next were twins,—Eugene L.
and Emogene L., born Oct. 2, 1846. The former is doing
an extensive business in Bridgeport, California. The latter
yet remains at home, as do the remaining three children comprising
this interesting family. Salmon Hills, the next
child, was born Nov. 29, 1848; Edward F., born July 25, 1855;
and Dwight A., the youngest, born Feb. 28, 1859.
Politically Mr. Howard is a Democrat. His father
was born in Tolland, Tolland county, Connecticut, in 1784, and is
still living,—resides in Franklin, Pennsylvania. The mother
was a native of Connecticut, and died in 1852. The father of
Mrs. A. W. Howard was born in Farmington, Hartford county,
Connecticut, July 30, 1788, died 1864, in Austinburg. Her mother was
born Sept. 11, 1790, died Mar. 1, 1874, also in Austinburg.
Source: 1798 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio with Illustrations
and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men by
Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 193 |
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AMOS K. HOWELLS, M. D.
born Sept. 12, 1832, in St. Clairsville, Belmont county, Ohio,—the
oldest son of William C. and Mary Dean Howells. His
father was born in the town of Hay, in Wales; his mother in New
Lisbon, Columbiana county, Ohio.
In 1840, Mr. Howells’ father moved to Hamilton,
Butler county, Ohio, where he published the Hamilton Intelligencer
for nine years. During this time J. A. Howells attended
the public schools and worked in the office. In those days the
printing business was much as it is now. It was hard to make
it pay. Feeling a deep interest in everything that concerned
his father, while still a mere boy he assisted him in the office,
and was soon a full hand at the old-fashioned Washington hand-press.
He has ever since been connected with his father in business.
June 29, 1852, he came with the family to Ashtabula, and worked in
the office of the Ashtabula Sentinel, his father entering into
partnership with the Hon. Henry Fassett.
Jan. 1, 1853, the office being removed to Jefferson, he came with
it. In October, 1854, he purchased J. L. Oliver’s
interest in the office, and began the publication of the Sentinel
under the firm-name of J. A. Howells & Co.
Mr. Howells is a man of good business
qualifications, and has been quite successful in building up a large
business, the credit of which he equally divides with his father,
with whom, in all business enterprises, he has always been
associated. The great ambition of his life has been to publish
a large, well-printed, and carefully edited newspaper. Those
who know the Ashtabula Sentinel of to-day can
judge how successful have been his endeavors. A prosperous
business has been built up, although a large amount is constantly
being spent in the production of the paper. Yet they have
built a fine building where are located a printing-office and
book-store, the business of the firm being publishing, job-printing,
and bookselling.
On the 23d day of June, 1856. he was united in marriage
with Miss Eliza W. Whitmore, by the late William Barton.
The result of this marriage has been four children, three of whom
are now living, viz., William Dean, Jr., Mary Elizabeth, and
Beatrice H.
Mr. Howells’ father and grandfather were
Abolitionists in their day. and he has followed, as a radical
Republican. He gives all whom he meets a cordial welcome, and
generally endeavors to get an “item” out of them, for it appears the
Sentinel and its readers are ever uppermost in his mind, and,
in true editor fashion, he always stands ready to capture a straw.
Mr. Howells is a member of no secret society. He
has held various places of responsibility in the village of
Jefferson, has been a member of the board of education for a great
many years, chairman of the county Republican central committee, and
postmaster since Mar. 1, 1869.
Source: 1798 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio with Illustrations
and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men by
Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 121 |
J. A. Howells |
JOSEPH A. HOWELLS
born Sept. 12, 1832, in St. Clairsville, Belmont county,
Ohio,—the oldest
son of William C. and Mary Dean Howells. His father was
born in the town of Hay, in Wales; his mother in New Lisbon,
Columbiana county, Ohio.
In 1840, Mr. Howells’ father moved to Hamilton,
Butler county, Ohio, where he published the Hamilton
Intelligencer for nine years. During this time J. A.
Howells attended the public schools and worked in the office.
In those days the printing business was much as it is now. It
was hard to make it pay. Feeling a deep interest in everything
that concerned his father, while still a mere boy he assisted him in
the office, and was soon a full hand at the old-fashioned Washington
hand-press. He has ever since been connected with his father
in business. June 29, 1852, he came with the family to
Ashtabula, and worked in the office of the Ashtabula Sentinel, his
father entering into partnership with the Hon. Henry
Fassett. Jan. 1, 1853, the office being removed to
Jefferson, he came with it. In October, 1854, he purchased
J. L. Oliver’s interest in the office, and began the publication
of the Sentinel under the firm-name of J. A. Howells & Co.
Mr. Howells is a man of good business
qualifications, and has been quite successful in building up a large
business, the credit of which he equally divides with his father,
with whom, in all business enterprises, he has always been
associated. The great ambition of his life has been to publish
a large, well-printed, and carefully edited newspaper. Those
who know the Ashtabula Sentinel of to-day can
judge how successful have been his endeavors. A prosperous
business has been built up, although a large amount is constantly
being spent in the production of the paper. Yet they have
built a fine building where are located a printing-office and
book-store, the business of the firm being publishing, job-printing,
and bookselling.
On the 23d day of June, 1856, he was united in marriage
with Miss Eliza W. Whitmore, by the late William
Barton. The result of this marriage has been four
children, three of whom are now living, viz., William Dean, Jr.,
Mary Elizabeth, and Beatrice H.
Mr. Howells’ father and grandfather were
Abolitionists in their day. and he has followed, as a radical
Republican. He gives all whom he meets a cordial welcome, and
generally endeavors to get an “item” out of them, for it appears the
Sentinel and its readers are ever uppermost in his mind, and,
in true editor fashion, he always stands ready to capture a straw.
Mr. Howells is a member of no secret society. He
has held various places of responsibility in the village of
Jefferson, has been a member of the board of education for a great
many years, chairman of the county Republican central committee, and
postmaster since Mar.1, 1869.
Source: 1798 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio with Illustrations
and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men by
Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 121 |
Hon. William Cooper
Howells |
W. C. HOWELLS
was born on the 15th of May, 1807, in the Welsh village of Hay,
county of
Brecon, Great Britain. In the following year his father,
Joseph Howells, came to the United States to live, and
settled, with his little family, consisting at that time of his wife
and one son, the subject of our present sketch, upon Manahattan
island. A few years later he removed up the Hudson, several
miles from New York. There he remained until 1812, when he
again moved, this time to Loudoun county, Virginia, but only to find
himself, in the spring of 1813, on the way to Jefferson county,
Ohio.
It is needless to recount the trials and hardships met
with in the life of “an early settler,” for these are well known to
us all. It is only necessary to say that Mr. Howells
and his rapidly-growing family did not escape their full share of
them. The capital he had brought with him from England was
soon exhausted, and he was left to his own resources. But
fortunately he had at his command a knowledge then exceptionally
valuable in our new country. Not only was he versant in the
art of making woolen cloth and able to superintend its manufacture,
but he could draw plans of the necessary machinery and take charge
of establishing new factories. As these machines could not at
that time be imported from England, his skill was often called into
requisition.
During these early years of his life, Wm.
Cooper Howells was learning the lessons of untiring
industry and economy,—those proficient teachers in the great
practical school of life whose teachings, when heeded, will often
take one farther in the path of knowledge and progress than would a
more classical education under other circumstances. His
parents were both people of refined tastes, and he did not thus feel
greatly the loss of regular schools, since in his home an atmosphere
of cultivation always prevailed. It was the pride of his
mother that she had taught him to read before he was quite four
years old. The home training inspired him with a love of
books, and especially poetry, which led him into useful studies and
established a taste that was itself one of the best of
schoolmasters.
Young Howells was about twenty-one years
of age when his family, which up to this time lived in Jefferson and
Harrison counties, removed to Wheeling, West Virginia. Here he
availed himself of the first opportunity to learn the art of
printing, then the important avenue to a literary life. At
this place he was tempted to start a printing-office without
sufficient support, and from it he issued for one year a monthly
paper called The Gleaner. This was followed by the
Eclectic Observer, a weekly sheet, independent and free from any
party in politics or religion. It was very radical withal, and
did not succeed; it was abandoned at the end of six months.
The printing of a book that was never paid for closed this first
enterprise.
But all the world knows that it is very difficult to
wash printers’ ink from his hands if it once gets there, and
fortunately for the history of the press in Ohio, Mr.
Howells never removed the dingy traces, nor did he try to do it.
He was one of the newspaper men who loved their profession and
elevated it, and wherever his career is known it is easy to point to
an honorable, consistent, and quietly able course.
In Wheeling, on the 10th of July, 1831, he married
Mary Dean, a native of Columbiana county, Ohio, a woman
of exceptionally fine mind, who brought into his life the most
enduring and beautiful traits, faithfully and cheerfully sharing his
varied fortunes until Oct. 10, 1868, when her earthly life ended,
though not its influence and lesson, for with her husband, children,
and friends they will ever remain.
After leaving Wheeling he filled situations upon
different papers in St. Clairsville, Mount Pleasant, and Chillicothe
until 1840, when, upon the nomination of General Harrison,
he bought the Hamilton Intelligencer, the Whig paper of Butler
county, Ohio, and entered upon the campaign with great spirit, and
with difficulties to encounter which only those who know what were
at that time the narrow prejudices of the opposing party in that
part of Ohio can realize. From his early youth he was strongly
anti-slavery,—so much so that at times he found it difficult to
harmonize with his party,—and in 1848, when General Taylor
was nominated by the Whigs, he refused to support him, and joined
his interests with the Free-Soil organization then formed.
This obliged him to sell the Intelligencer, when he bought
the Dayton Transcript, a paper not strongly Whig. But
ever ahead of his party in radical spirit this change proved for him
a most disastrous one financially, and the failure which followed
swamped the labor of years. But halting not to rest from the
political battle in which he had enlisted all his energies, he was
soon upon his feet again. His next move was to Columbus, where
he remained for a time upon the Ohio State Journal, chiefly
preparing the legislative reports.
While living in Columbus he made the acquaintance of
Hon. L. S. Sherman, then in the senate, who recommended him to
join Mr. Fassett on the Ashtabula Sentinel; and
upon visiting Mr. Fassett at Ashtabula, he as a
partner assumed charge of the Sentinel on the 15th of May,
1852, the day he was forty-five years of age. This partnership
continued until the following January, when Mr. Howells
and James L. Oliver bought the Sentinel and moved it
to Jefferson, where Mr. Jos. A. Howells soon entered Mr.
Oliver’s place, as his father’s partner in the ownership of the
paper, which has ever since continued to be under the editorial
management of Mr. Howells, Sr.
From 1840, Mr. Howells’ life has been
political, and from 1856 until 1865 he almost constantly occupied a
legislative office, first as journal clerk and afterwards as
official reporter. In 1863 he received the Republican
nomination for the senate from this twenty-fourth district.
This nomination was indorsed by a majority of eleven thousand votes,
the largest ever given in the State for a district office, “a figure
which showed the strength of the party at that time,” Mr.
Howells modestly says, when the fact is alluded to. It did
show strength in the ranks, but it showed also the esteem in which
he was held by the party he had always labored so faithfully to
sustain.
The honor of his life which Mr. Howells
best loves to recall, is that it was his privilege while a senator,
he the life-long slavery-abolitionist, to introduce the joint
resolution by which his State ratified the thirteenth amendment to
the constitution, abolishing slavery in the United States.
In 1874, on the 2d of June, he was appointed United
States consul at the old Canadian port of Quebec, at which post he
is at the present time; still keeping up, however, a constant
connection with the Sentinel by weekly letters.
His wife, Mary Dean, died Oct. 10, 1868,
in her fifty-sixth year. Mr. Howells' family
consisted of five sons and three daughters. His oldest son,
Joseph A., is publisher of the Ashtabula Sentinel,
residing in Jefferson; his second son, William Dean,
is the well-known author and editor of the Atlantic Monthly,
residence, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Samuel Dean is
connected with the Sentinel office, and resides in Jefferson;
John Butler died in his eighteenth year, in Cleveland,
in 1864; Henry I. and Victoria M. and Aurelia H.
reside with their father in Quebec; Annie T. (now Mrs.
Achelle Freichette) lives in Ottawa, Canada.
Source: 1798 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio with Illustrations
and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men by
Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 103 |
 |
HON.
W. P. HOWLAND. This gentleman is the son of Paul
Howland, who traces his ancestry back to John
Howland, a member of the “ Mayflower” pilgrim band. In
1821, Paul came to Pierpont, Ashtabula County, and in 1829
was united in marriage with Diademia Ellis.
W. Perry, the oldest child, was born in Pierpont, in 1832.
His early education was not neglected, and at the age of fourteen he
made an engagement to teach a district school, but his father’s
opposition was such that he could not fulfill it. However,
when he was eighteen, he taught the school where hitherto he had
been a pupil, his wages being twelve dollars per month. He was
a very successful teacher, and his services were eagerly sought by
competing school districts. Until he became twenty-one his time was
spent in teaching and in attendance upon select schools, and in
performing such work as his home duties demanded. At this time
he entered the Kingsville academy, then a most flourishing school,
and prosecuted his studies with diligence. In 1854 he became
the principal of the Jefferson high school, and retained this
position, the duties of which he discharged with great credit to
himself and eminent satisfaction to the patrons of the school, for
three successive fall and winter terms. While thus engaged his
father died, and he was made the executor of the estate. It
was while engaged in this important trust that he was led to the
study of the law. His father had been a justice of the peace,
and he had frequently listened to Wade and Giddings
and other prominent attorneys in cases tried before his father, and
his mind became inflamed with an earnest desire to reach a high
standard as a lawyer. His leisure moments were devoted to
earnest application to his favorite study, and in the spring of 1857
he entered the office of Simonds & Cadweil as a
student, and in the following spring was admitted to practice in
Canoil county, Ohio. In 1861 he began the practice of law at
the county-seat of his native county, since which time his rise in
the profession has been certain and rapid. He has held the
position of secretary of the board of school examiners for a number
of years, as well as that of justice of the peace. In the
spring of 1862 he purchased a home in Jefferson, and on the 12th of
May was married to Esther E. Leonard, daughter of the Hon.
Anson Leonard, of Penn Line. Their children are
Leonard Paul Howland, born December 5, 1865;
William Seth Howland, born May 21, 1867; Anson
Perry Howland, born February 3, 1869; and Charles
Roscoe Howland, born February 16, 1871.
In 1865 he was defeated for the nomination for
prosecuting attorney by the Hon. E. H. Fitch, but was
nominated and elected to that office in the fall of 1867, and was
renominated by acclamation and re-elected in the fall of 1869.
In the year 1871, Mr. Howland was chosen
representative in the general assembly from Ashtabula County, in
which capacity he served for six years, being re-elected in 1873 and
again in 1875. At the close of his third term in the house he
was unanimously supported by the delegates from that county in the
nominating convention of the Twenty-fourth senatorial district,
composed of Ashtabula, Lake, and Geauga counties; was nominated and
elected a senator in the Sixty-third general assembly, which seat he
now holds. Early in his legislative career his studious
habits, strict attention to official duties, and unvarying fidelity
to principle attracted the attention of his fellow-members, and as
acquaintance grew these qualities rapidly attached to him the
earnest, thinking men of either party to such an extent that he has
for years held the acknowledged position of a leader in legislative
halls.
At the beginning of his first term, the Sixtieth
general assembly, he was appointed a member of each of the
committees on Federal relations, on municipal corporations, and on
roads and highways, and after the session had advanced some weeks he
was appointed a member of the judiciary committee.
On his return to the Sixty-first general assembly he
was appointed on the committees on corporations other than
municipal, on the judiciary, and on finance, — the last two being
recognized as the most important committees in the house. He
also held a position as member of the committee on revision and
codification of the laws.
At the organization of the Sixty-second general
assembly Mr. Howland was prominently pressed for the
speakership, but refused to make a personal canvass for that
distinction. In the organization of the committees he was made
chairman of the committee on judiciary, a place scarcely less
conspicuous and not less influential than the chair. Before
the close of the session he was furnished a most flattering proof of
the confidence of his fellow-members. In the contest for the
Republican nomination for the United States senatorship, to succeed
Hon. John Sherman, his name was brought forward as worthy to
make the roll with competitors like Hon. Alphonso
Taft, Samuel Shellaberger, Wm. Lawrence,
and Stanley Matthews. In the face of such
competition, Mr. Howland received on the first ballot
the highest vote cast for any candidate and within twelve votes of a
nomination, and in the final ballot his name was only second in the
race, Hon. Stanley Matthews being the winner.
As a legislator Mr. Howland has
distinguished himself by close attention to practical matters.
This is illustrated in the passage of several laws drafted by him
relating to the every-day interests of the people. Of this
class is the act passed March 31, 1874, to secure payment to persons
performing labor or furnishing materials in constructing railroads.
The necessity for such an act was brought to the attention of the
author of the bill, in the course of his practice as a lawyer, by an
incident connected with the construction of a branch of the Lake
Shore railroad. In that case the contractors, having obtained
pay from the railway company, failed to meet their obligations for
labor and materials, and so left a large number without recourse.
The act referred to enables sub-contractors, laborers, and material
men to protect themselves from such swindling. This act, which
has been sustained by the courts, fixes a liability in such cases
from the railroad company to the persons doing the work or supplying
the materials.
The law against swindling by false pretenses was so
defective as to invite adventurers and speculators to Ohio as a
comparatively safe field for their operations. Mr.
Howland’s attention was called to this in the course of his
duties as prosecuting attorney, and he framed the act of February
21, 1875, to meet the case, which it is found to do most
effectively.
Of an equally practical character is the act drawn up,
and its passage secured by him, to protect the consumers of mineral
oils for illuminating purposes. This act not only prescribes a
test of safety as to such oils, but so fixes the responsibility for
the kind of article sold, as to conduce greatly to the safety of the
thousands who rely upon this commodity for lighting their homes and
places of business. In the mania for railroad building, by
taxation of cities, counties, and even townships, which sprang out
of the ill-advised Cincinnati Southern railway project, and which
spread over the State to an extent that at one time threatened
nearly every locality with an oppressing burden of taxation and debt
outlasting this generation, Mr. Howland was the
recognized leader of a sturdy though ineffectual opposition to these
ruinous schemes. Taking his stand on the hard rock of
constitutional law, he firmly opposed all projects of evasion of the
constitution; and, while overborne by unreasoning majorities, bent
at all hazards on carrying out their projects, he none the less won
the respect of thinking men when they found that his arguments on
these questions were never successfully answered. His triumph
came when the Bursel bill was unanimously held by the supreme court
to be unconstitutional and void.
As a speaker, Mr. Howland is both strong
and persuasive, more, however, on account of his manifest
earnestness, sincerity, and the clearness of his utterances, than
from any effort to arouse the sympathies or from brilliancy of
rhetoric.
Source: 1798 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio with Illustrations
and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men by
Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 92 |
Henry Hubbard |
HENRY HUBBARD,
son of Isaac and Ruth Coleman Hubbard, was born in Trenton,
Oneida county, New York, July 19, 1803, at that time a newly-settled
country. He enjoyed such advantages of education as were
offered at a district school during the fall and winter terms, and
laboring upon the farm the remaining portions of the year, with the
exception of three terms at an academy in the adjoining town of
Steuben, and not far distant from the tomb of that famous
Revolutionary hero, Baron Steuben. He removed to
Ashtabula, Ohio, in November, 1825, and took charge of the
post-office, his brother being the postmaster. In December of
that year the Hon. Elisha Whittlesey, member of congress from
this, the nineteenth, district of Ohio, addressed a letter to
Colonel Matthew Hubbard, postmaster, requesting an estimate for
the construction of a harbor at the mouth of the Ashtabula river.
Mr. Hubbard assisted his brother in making the surveys
and estimates, and in the circulation of petitions to congress
praying for an appropriation of the necessary funds by the general
government. A grant was made by congress, May 20, 1826, of
twelve thousand dollars, and in the autumn of that year the work of
building the piers was commenced by Major T. W. Maurice,
United States engineer, Matthew Hubbard, disbursing
agent, and Captain Daniel Dobbins as foreman. In the
spring of 1830 Mr. Hubbard engaged in the forwarding
and commission business at the Harbor, which, in consequence of
these improvements, had become the entrepot for the produce of the
farmer and the merchandise of the tradesman for a large extent of
country. In 1832 a post-office (Middlesex) was established at the
Harbor, and Mr. Hubbard was appointed postmaster,
which office he held until 1835, when he resigned the office, and
was appointed deputy collector of the customs, and in 1844 received
the office of disbursing agent of the United States for the
expenditure of moneys appropriated that year for the repairs and
improvement of the harbor, which were expended by him to the entire
satisfaction of the government officials. Mr.
Hubbard, in 1853, took an active part in the formation of the
Ashtabula and New Lisbon railroad company, and was elected a
director; in 1857 vice-president, and in 1859 president. The
results of the financial crisis of 1856 had so affected the finances
of the company that it became necessary to make a compromise and
settlement with the contractors to save the stockholders from
personal liability for the debts of the company. This was
effected by him, with the efficient aid of Henry Fassett,
Esq., the secretary of the company. The organization,
by this means and by the annual election of its officers, was
preserved until the year 1873, when the rights and franchises of
that company were transferred to the Ashtabula, Youngstown, and
Pittsburgh railroad company, by a vote of the stockholders of the
first aforesaid company. The last-named railroad forms an
important line of internal commerce between the waters of Lake Erie,
the Ohio river, and the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, passing
through a country rich in its agricultural and mineral productions.
Mr. Hubbard took an active part in the
formation of the last-named company and in the construction of the
said road, and has been a director in the company since its first
formation. In June, 1836, at Trenton, Oneida county, New York,
he married Julia A. Hulbert, daughter of Joseph C. and
Phiana Dewey Hulbert, who died July 4, 1858, and in March, 1862,
married Harriet C. Stanhope, daughter of John R. and
Harriet Cornell Stanhope, at West Williamsfield,
Ashtabula County, Ohio.
Mr. Hubbard has always taken an interest
in all the improvements which tend to the material growth of the
country. Is the youngest and only member of a family of nine
children, and now, at the age of seventy-four years, is in the
enjoyment of good health.
Source: 1798 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio with Illustrations
and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men by
Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 124 |
Dr. J. C. Hubbard |
JOHN COLEMAN HUBBARD.
Born in town of Trenton, Oneida county, New York, 1820.
Graduated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York city,
1844-15. Has practiced
his profession in Ashtabula since. Is a son of the late
William Hubbard, of this town, and grandson of the late
Isaac Hubbard, of Middletown, Connecticut.
Source: 1798 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio with Illustrations
and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men by
Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 119 |
Matthew Hubbard |
MATTHEW HUBBARD
oldest son of Isaac and Ruth C. Hubbard, was born in
Middletown, Connecticut, Apr. 29, 1783. At the age of fifteen
he moved with his parents to Trenton, Oneida county, New York.
There he first engaged in the war of civilization against the
wilderness. There, also, on the 4th day of November, 1803, he
married Mary Willard, daughter of Simon and Sarah R.
Willard. From this union twelve children were born, of
whom six survive, two being over seventy years of age.
After a married life of nearly sixty-two years, the
early portion of which was spent amidst the trials and deprivations
incident to a settlement of a wilderness, his wife died, Sept. 5,
1865, in the eighty-first year of her age. His death occurred
July 9, 1869, in the eighty-seventh year of his age. The
remains of both rest in Chesnut Grove cemetery, near the scenes of
their manifold cares and labors. They took part in and lived
to see an almost marvelous change in the condition of Ohio and the
more western country.
It was on the 4th day of May, 1804, that Mr.
Hubbard started for Ashtabula, then an unbroken forest, as the
agent of Nehemiah Hubbard, one of the extensive land
proprietors in the “New Connecticut.”
He afterwards became the agent of Samuel Mather
and Elijah Hubbard, who, also, like many other
capitalists in “old Connecticut,” had made large purchases of wild
land in the Western Reserve. This journey was made on
horseback in twelve days, and is described in the history of
Ashtabula; but a more extended account of it, and of the early
settlers and settlement of Ashtabula, may be found in the papers and
records of the Ashtabula County historical society.
During four summers Mr. Hubbard labored
in his duties as agent, clearing land, and while thus engaged he
built a log house on the land now known as the Scoville
farm, but spent his winters in the east. On his first
return in the fall of 1804, he drove fifty head of cattle from near
Hubbard, Mahoning county, Ohio, to Onondaga, New York, being the
second drove east from the Western Reserve.
In the winter of 1807-8, he took his wife and infant
son (leaving a daughter with grandparents) as far as Erie,
Pennsylvania, then a small village of log houses, where he left them
and continued on to Ashtabula, cleared eight acres of land, girdled
as much more, and built a log house on the south ridge. In
April following he brought his wife and son, then six months old, on
horseback, mostly over an Indian trail, to their future home; and
thenceforth, during years of joy and sorrow, they became part of the
band of permanent pioneers.
Among the first in opening and constructing highways
and turnpikes, he was, also, one of the chief early projectors and
promoters of a railroad from Ashtabula to the Ohio river, now, at
last, by another generation realized.
In the War of 1812 he went as a volunteer, under
Captain Payne, to defend the threatened frontier.
After the war there came an era of immigration, on foot, horseback,
and by wagon, and no opportunity to reasonably assist the settlers
was neglected by him. The Rev. John Hall,
who arrived in 1811, in a paper furnished to the Ashtabula County
historical society, and not published entire in this work, referring
as well to a later time, states, “He had a large family of small
children, was a farmer, land-agent, and surveyor. He was one
of the principal business men, public-spirited, liberal, helpful to
the poor, and hospitable and kind to strangers and wayworn
travelers."
At the organization of the township in 1808, then
including the territory of four or more present townships, he was
elected one of the appraisers of taxable property, and at the
ensuing election, township clerk. In after-years he was
elected to and acceptably filled several civil and military offices
up to 1842, when his term of three years as one of the associate
judges of the county court expired.
Under the administration of President Monroe
he was appointed postmaster, and held the office until he resigned,
in 1838, and his son received the appointment.
In common with other citizens in eastern Ohio, he early
saw the need of a harbor at this point on the lake. The plans
and schemes at different times suggested proved ineffectual, but the
growing necessity induced him to correspond on the subject with the
owners of unoccupied lands, and with Hon. Elisha Whittlesey,
long a faithful and pattern representative in congress, the result
of which, largely due to the labors of Mr. Whittlesey, was
shown in an impetus given to harbor improvements on our lakes, and
an increase of business over an extensive region. It is
sufficient for the purpose desired to quote again from the papers of
Mr. Hall: “It is no disparagement to others to
say that, with his innate public spirit, Colonel Hubbard
was enabled and disposed to be a distinguished patron and promoter
of this important enterprise, submitting himself to labors and
expenses without which such valuable results could not have been
realized.” He furnished surveys and estimates by the aid of
which Mr. Whittlesey obtained an appropriation of
twelve thousand dollars “for removing obstructions from Ashtabula
creek.” He was appointed agent in the fall of 1826, and
expended on the work that season over seventeen hundred dollars.
He continued in this agency during the application of this and
several other appropriations, including one for a beacon light,
until they were all expended in 1841.
The identification of Colonel Hubbard
with the early settlement of the county of Ashtabula, and his
prominence and liberality in many of the enterprises that have
secured its growth and prosperity, would justify a more particular
history of his life. But the historical records of the county
and the memory of many still living will make amends for this
imperfect sketch.
Source: 1798 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio with Illustrations
and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men by
Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 123 |
William Hubbard |
WILLIAM HUBBARD.
William, son of Isaac and Ruth
Coleman Hubbard, was born in Middletown, Connecticut, in the
year 1787. When he was ten years of age his father, with three
other citizens of Middletown, removed with their families and took
up a large tract of land in what was called Holland’s
patent, in the town of Trenton, nine miles from the city of
Utica, Oneida county, New York. This new country was the scene of
his early and middle life. He married Katharine
Hulbert. In the year 1825 he was elected justice of the
peace, and served in that capacity nearly twenty years. In the
War of 1812 with England he went as captain of volunteer militia for
the defense of Sacket's Harbor, threatened at that time by
the English navy on Lake Ontario. The appearance of Commodore
Chauney, with the American squadron, relieved this service.
He received, in the year 1817, his commission as colonel of militia;
and as it has the “yellow look” and formality almost of old
Continental papers, the document is given in full as a thing of
antique curiosity.
“The People of the State of New York, by the Grace of God, Free and
Independent:
“To WILLIAM HUBBARD, Esquire, greeting:
“ We, reposing especial trust and confidence as well in
your patriotism, conduct, and loyalty as in your integrity and
readiness to do us good and faithful service, have appointed and
constituted, and by these presents do appoint and constitute you,
the said William Hubbard, colonel of the
Seventy-second Regiment of Infantry of our said State.
You are therefore to take the said regiment into your care as
colonel thereof, and the officers and soldiers of that regiment are
hereby commanded to obey and respect you as their colonel; and you
are also to observe and follow such orders and directions as you
shall, from time to time, receive from our general and
commander-in-chief of the militia of our said State, or any other
your superior officer, according to the rules and discipline of war,
in pursuance of the trust reposed in you. And for so doing
this shall be your commission, for and during our good pleasure, to
be signified by our council of appointment.
“ In testimony whereof, we have caused our seal for
military commissions to be hereunto affixed. Witness our
trusty and well-beloved John Tayler, Esquire,
lieutenant-governor of our said State, general and
commander-in-chief of all the militia, and admiral of the navy of
the same, by and with the advice and consent of our said council of
appointment, at our city of Albany, the Fourth day of March, in the
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventeen, and in
the forty-first year of our independence.
"JOHN TAYLER.
"Passed the secretary' office the 24th day of April, 1817.
"CHAS. D. COOPER, Secretary."
In 1834 he removed to Ashtabula, Ohio,
where he lived to see his only daughter and four sons settled around
him. He was a farmer and descended from a long line of
ancestors, almost invariably farmers back to the original George
Hubbard, who came from England in 1640, and settled in old
Middletown. Among active and enterprising men William
Hubbard felt himself a kindred spirit by reason of the
interest he took in the common object, and always sought to promote
the moral and material prosperity of the community; his disposition
was to be public-spirited, and he considered that to maintain a
character of unimpeachable integrity was the highest aim of a good
citizen. He died in the year 1862, in the seventy-sixth year
of his life.
Source: 1798 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio with Illustrations
and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men by
Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 124 |
|
|
Hartsgrove
Twp. -
EDWARD GRIFFIN HURLBURT was born Mar. 12,
1824, and is the seventh child of Erastus Grant
Hurlburt and Clarissa Goodwin Hurlburt,
originally from Goshen, Litchfield county Connecticut.
On the 13th day of May, 1842, Erastus G. Hutlburt
and family arrived in the township of Hartsgrove, and located on
parts if lots 96 and 106 which property is now owned by Nelson
Griswold. Mr. Hurlburt died Sept. 4,
1845, and his wife Dec. 13, 1856. The education of Edward G
Hurlburt was acquired principally in the common schools of his
native township, with two terms in the village academy.
Edward was eighteen years of age when he came to
Ohio with his father. At his father’s death, three years
later, he took charge of the estate, kept the family together, and
made a satisfactory settlement. Dec. 31, 1851, he was united
in marriage to Jane E., daughter of John and Lydia Babcock,
of Orwell this county. Eight children have been born from this
marriage, as follows- Frank Lincoln, Dec. 17, 1852;
Mary Luella, Apr. 5, 1855 Martha Jane, Jan.
31, 1857, died Sept. 30, 1862; Clara M., Sept. 2, 1862;
John Erastus Jul. 29. 1864; Edward G„ Jr.. Aug.
19. 1867 (died June 5, 1868) Lucy Jane, Sept.
29, 1868 (died Sept. 6, 1869); Ward E., Oct. 8, 1871.
These children all reside in Hartsgrove except Mary, who married
Mr. E. L. Lampson, a member of the legal profession in
Jefferson, where they now reside. Mr. Hurlburt made his
first purchase of land in Hartsgrove township Jan. 15, 1848, which
consisted of one hundred and fifty-seven acres, in lots 67 and 77,
and is still owned by him. He has made additional purchases
from time to time, until at present his real estate aggregates one
thousand and thirty acres of farming lands. The principal
business of his life has been that of a farmer and stock-dealer.
He has been quite extensively engaged in the stock
business for more than twenty years. As a sample of the
magnitude of his stock-dealing, we will state that in the spring of
1865 he and a partner of his made sales of cattle and hogs, which
they had fed in Iowa, the receipts of which were over twenty
thousand dollars.
In the spring of 1867 he engaged in the mercantile
business at Hartsgrove Centre. In the autumn following he
formed a partnership with H. H. Grover, which was continued
for two years, when Mr. Hurlburt sold out his interest to his
partner, Mr. Grover.
Mr. Hurlburt is a Methodist, of which church he
became a member over thirty years ago. He is an active an
efficient worker in the Sabbath-school, of which he has been
superintendent over twenty years. He is a member of Hartsgrove
lodge, No. 394, F. and A. M., and a Past Master of that body.
Politically, Esquire Hurlburt is a Republican, and has been
ever since the organization of that party. He has held all of
the offices of his township except that of township clerk. In
the fall of 1871 he was elected county commissioner. Upon the
expiration of his first term of office he was unanimously
renominated, and of course re-elected. HE has been an
efficient and worthy officer, and has served his county well.
Source: 1798 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio with Illustrations
and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men by
Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 256 |
NOTES:
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