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Richland County,  Ohio
History & Genealogy

BIOGRAPHIES
 
Source
Centennial Biographical History
of Richland Co., Ohio
Illustrated
By A. J. Baughman, Editor
Published Chicago - The Lewis Publishing Co.
1901
 
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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Thomas & Rachel Hammon		  

R. G. Hancock
 		  

J. P. Henry		  
  GEORGE W. HOFMAN.   George W. Hofman, the efficient postmaster of Plymouth, is a trust worthy officer who discharges his duties with promptness and fidelity, thus winning the commendation of all concerned.  He was born in October, 1831, in Mansfield.  His grandparents came from Maryland to Richland county, and died in Mansfield.  The grandfather was a German Lutheran clergyman and his death occurred about the year 1832.  He is the son of John H. Hofman, who worked at the jewelry trade in Mansfield at a very early date with John R. Robinson. In 1824 the parents of our subject were living in the Key stone state, but removed to Ohio, locating in Mansfield, where they resided until April, 1843, when they came to Plymouth.  After a few years they removed to Bucyrus, Ohio, where the father died in 1852, the mother passing away in 1875, at the age of seventy-nine years.
     George W. Hofman, whose name introduces this review, is indebted to the public-school system for the educational privileges he received.  In 1858 he was united in marriage to Miss Susan E. Fry, the wedding ceremony being performed by the Rev. Mr. Peters, a Lutheran clergyman.  Unto them were born two daughters.  Clara Belle, the eldest, was married in 1879 to Robert McDonough, and they have two sons, George and Charles, and they now reside in Plymouth.  Maud was married, in Plymouth, in 1893, to W. F., Reed, and they are living in that place, having three children,—Helen, Floyd and Donald.
     During the Civil war Mr. Hofman of this review responded to his country's call for aid, enlisting in 1862 as a member of the First Ohio Independent Battery.  He took part in all of the hotly contested engagements in which that famous battery participated, and his service was arduous, but he met duty uncomplainingly, being ever found at his post in defense of the old flag.  At the close of the war Mr. Hofman returned to Plymouth and his fellow citizens. recognizing his worth and ability, elected him to the office of mayor in 1866.  He has served in many positions of public trust, including both school and municipal.  He was appointed by General Benjamin Harrison to the position of postmaster and served for four years, after which he was succeeded by a Democrat, during President Cleveland's administration.  By President McKinley Mr. Hofman was again appointed to the office, of which he took possession on the 1st of January, 1898.  He is a popular postmaster, courteous and obliging, and his administration is one which has gained for him high commendation.  Since the organization of the party he has always been a stanch Republican, keeping well informed on the issues of the day and doing all in his power to secure the growth and success of the party.  For many years he has been a valued representative of the Grand Army of the Republic.  In ante-bellum days he became identified with the Masonic order, whose beneficent principles he exemplifies in his daily conduct.  His family are members of the Presbyterian church at Plymouth, and the members of the Hofman household are people of high social standing, occupying a leading position in the circles of society.  Their true worth and intelligence are received as passports.  Mr. Hofman has long been in service, both municipal and national, and has ever been found true to the trust reposed in him.  He has a creditable record and he justly deserves the high regard of his many friends.
 Source: A Centennial Biographical History of Richland Co., Ohio - Publ: Mansfield by A. A., Graham & Co. - 1901 - Page 461
  GIDEON E. HOOVER.  Gideon E. Hoover was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, on the 28th of arch, 1847.  The family is of German descent and was established in America by Jacob Hoover, the grandfather of our subject, who was born in Germany and with his parents came to the new world during his early boyhood, the family locating in Franklin county, Pennsylvania.  There he was reared to manhood and for many years followed farming.  In early life he also became a minister of the Brethren of Christ church and until called to the home beyond he devoted much of his time to gospel work, carrying the glad tidings of joy to his fellow men.
     Henry Hoover, the father of our subject, was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, in 1820, and upon a farm and in a Christian home he was reared.  Owing to his father's ministerial duties much of the work of the farm devolved upon him when he was yet very young, and his education was therefore necessarily limited.  He attended school only three weeks, but through experience and observation he became a man of good general knowledge.  After attaining his majority he married Lydia Byers, who was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, Jan. 26, 1821.  Her father, Andrew Byers, was one of the well known farmers of that county and was also a blacksmith by trade.  He entered upon his business career with only half an acre of land, yet at his death was a wealthy man.  At the time of his marriage Henry Hoover purchased a farm in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, and began its development.  In 1850 he emigrated to Ohio and purchased in Mifflin township, Richland county, the old homestead, upon which his son Jacob now resides.  It comprises at the present time one hundred and seventy-one acres, but at the time of the father's purchase was only one hundred and twenty acres in extent.  Mr. Hoover prospered in his undertakings and adding to his property form time to time he became one of the leading land-owners of this township, his possessions aggregating between four and five hundred acres.  He was a member of the German Baptist church and one whose daily life was in harmony with his Christian profession.  He was straightforward in all his dealings and his honesty was above question.  He passed away Mar. 5, 1884, and his wife died Mar. 24, 1880, at the age of sixty-four years, ten months and ten days.  This worthy couple were the parents of ten children, of whom six are living:  Lydia, the wife of John Lantz, who carries on agricultural pursuits in Madison township, Richland county; Benjamin, who is a farmer in Mifflin township and also a minister of the German Baptist church; Gideon E.; Andrew, a resident farmer of Mifflin township; Mary M., who is the widow of Joseph C. Zook and resides in the same township; and Jacob, who occupies the old homestead farm.  Catherine married Christian Brenner, a farmer of Wayne county, Ohio, and she is now deceased.
     On the farm Gideon E. was reared, his boyhood days being passed amid the scenes of rural life.  He worked in the fields from the time of early planting in the spring until crops were harvested in the autumn, and in the winter season pursued his education in the district schools.  He gave his father the benefit of his services until he ha attained his majority, after which his father gave him twenty dollars per month.  He was thus employed for one year, and on the expiration of that period he was married and located upon his present farm, a tract of seventy-one acres which belonged to his father.  He operated the place on the shares for five years, during which time he made enough to purchase the farm by paying one-half down, the remainder to be paid in five years.  About 1880 he bought fifty acres of his brother Jacob, adjoining his farm, and in 1895 he purchased another tract of forty-four acres.  A month later his residence was destroyed by fire.  This loss, added to the debt he had contracted, would have proved a source of great discouragement to many men, but the resolute spirit of Mr. Hoover enabled him to take up his work with renewed energy.  He has since built a handsome residence and to-day he was one of the best improved farms in his township, supplied with all modern accessories and conveniences.
     On the 27th of February, 1869, he married Miss Mary J. Lutz, a daughter of John P. Lutz, a well known farmer of Mifflin Township.  They now have four children:  William, a carpenter and pattern-maker of Mansfield, Ohio; Samuel, who is a bookkeeper for the American Biscuit Company, of Mansfield; and Anna and George, at home.  Mr. Hoover gives his political support to the Republican party and was made its candidate for the position of trustee but withdrew his nomination before the election.  He belongs to Madison Grange, No. 63, of the Patrons of Husbandry, and has served as a lecturer and chaplain of the lodge.  He also holds membership in the Lutheran church and for the past five years he has served as one of its deacons, contributing liberally to its support and doing all in his power to advance its interests.  In his business dealings Mr. Hoover has, on all occasions, proven strictly honest, and wherever he is known his word is as good as his bond.  Strictly temperate, though never allied with any temperance movement or society, he has by means of his own will power continued throughout his life as abstainer from the use of both tobacco and liquor in any form; nor has he ever paid for tobacco or liquor for any one's use, for what he would not do for himself he would not do for others.  A splendid example to young men and old alike has been his course as to the use of tobacco and liquors, both of which are so ruinous to both health and morals.
 Source: A Centennial Biographical History of Richland Co., Ohio - Publ: Mansfield by A. A., Graham & Co. - 1901 - Page 339
  ROBERT HUGHES.  This worthy and honored resident of Weller township, whose home is on section 24, is a native of Richland county, his birth having occurred in Blooming Grove township, Mar. 4, 1833.  He is the only survivor in a family of ten children whose parents were John and Elizabeth (Rogers) Hughes.  The father was born in 1793, in Pennsylvania, where he was reared and married.  The mother was born in Ireland in 1796, and when a child of seven years came to America with her parents, who spent the remainder of their lives as farming people in Beaver county, Pennsylvania.  Mr. and Mrs. Hughes began their domestic life upon a farm in Beaver county, where seven of their children were born, and in 1832 came to Richland county, Ohio, locating in Blooming Grove township, one mile north of Shenandoah, where he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land, but five years later he sold that place, and removed to the farm on section 24.  Weller township, where our subject now resides.  Here he made his home until the fall of 1860, when he sold the place to his son and took up his residence in Shelby, where he died in August, 1862.  The mother of our subject had died in 1852, and for his second wife he married Mrs. Hester (Hunter) McCready, who survived him some years.  In early life both parents were active members of the Presbyterian church, but after coming to this county, there being no church of that denomination here, they united with the Methodist Episcopal church.  Politically the father was first a Whig and later a Republican.
     Robert Hughes attended the public schools of this county in early life, and, his brothers having left their paternal home, he remained to look after the cultivation of the farm.  In the fall of 1860, on his father's removal to Shelby, he purchased the place, and has since successfully engaged in its operation.
     On the 23d of April, 1861, Mr. Hughes was united in marriage with Miss Jane Palmer, a native of Franklin township, this county.  Her father, Charles Palmer, was born in London, England, and came to America in 1819, in company with a brother.  They were left orphans during childhood and on attaining their majority received a small fortune, which they brought with them to this country.  Coming to Richmond county, Ohio, the brother located in Weller township, while Mrs. Hughes' father settled on the farm in Franklin township, now owned by Wesley Ferree, where he made his home until 1856, when he removed to Washington township, three miles south of Mansfield.  He spent his declining years, however, with our subject and his wife.  He was a man of firm convictions, was an ardent abolitionist and an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
     Of the five children born to Mr. and Mrs. Hughes four are living, namely:  Wilbert G., who is now serving as the postmaster of Epworth, is engaged in general merchandising at that place, and is also interested in farming, threshing and the sawmill business; Carrie M., at home, is a talented musician and artist, and many portraits and scenes from her hands now adorn the home; Fred C. is living on and operating the old home farm; and Anna E. is the wife of Edwin A. Clingan, who runs a farm and stone quarry in Weller township.
     Politically Mr. Hughes is identified with the Republican party, and fraternally is a member of Weller Grange, No. 1070, P. of H.  For half a century both he and his wife have held membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he has served as a trustee and steward for many years.  They stand high in the community where they have so long made their home, and no citizens of Weller township are more honored or highly respected.
 Source: A Centennial Biographical History of Richland Co., Ohio - Publ: Mansfield by A. A., Graham & Co. - 1901 - Page129
  CHARLES H. HUSTON.   Richland county, Ohio, has been singularly fortunate in the personnel of her professional men, who have stood for honor and integrity of character and for exceptional ability in their chosen fields of endeavor.  An able representative of the legal fraternity in the county is he whose name introduces this paragraph.  He is a member of the well-known firm of Laser & Huston, who control a representative clientage as identified with the bar of the county, with headquarters at Mansfield.
     Charles Henry Huston is a native son of Richland county, having been born in Butler township, in the year 1870.  The year subsequent to his birth the family removed to Blooming Grove township, where his father, James Huston now resides, aged fifty-eight years.  He also claims Richland as his native county, his birth having taken place in Franklin township, on the 18th of February, 1841.  He devotes his attention to the basic art of agriculture, carrying on operations on an extensive scale and being recognized as one of the leading and influential farmers of the county.  James Huston has taken a public-spirited interest in all that has conserved the progress and prosperity of the county, and he has figured as one of the leading factors in the local ranks of the Democratic party, of whose principles and policies he has been a stalwart advocate.
     Jesse Huston, the grandfather of the immediate subject of this review, was of good old Scottish stock and was a native of the Keystone state, emigrating from Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, to Ohio, when a young man of twenty years, locating first in Weller township, Richland county, and later removing to Jackson township where he was a successful agriculturist for many years.  He married Margaret Thrush, and his death occurred in the year 1879, at which time he had attained the venerable age of seventy-five years.  Jesse and Margaret Huston were the parents of two sons and four daughters, James, the father of our subject, being the youngest in order of birth.  The others are noted as follows:  Ira Huston of Blooming Grove township; Mary, the wife of David Bowls, of Mifflin township; Maggie, the wife of David Sampsel, of Butler township; Nancy, the wife of John Wolfe, of Cass township; and Elizabeth, who married Shannon Weaver, of Blooming Grove township, now deceased.
     The mother of our subject bore the maiden name of Dorcas Zeigler, and she was born in Butler township, this county, on the 25th of January, 1842, the daughter of Henry and Margaret (Miller) Zeigler, who came here from Pennsylvania in an early day.  Mrs. Huston entered into eternal rest in 1880, aged thirty-six years, leaving four sons and two daughters, of whom Charles H. was the second in order of birth, a brief record of the other members of the family being here incorporated; Carrie is the wife of Jesse Esenshade, of Ashland county, Ohio; Rufus married Miss Sadie Oswalt, of Greenwich, this state; Ransom married Miss Maggie McCormack, and is a resident of Blooming Grove township, he being the twin brother of Rufus; and Jesse remains on the old homestead.  In 1882 James Huston consummated a second marriage, being then united to Miss Mary E. Lattimore, a daughter of James and Nancy Lattimore, of Blooming Grove township, and of this union two children have been born - Bertha and Ora, both of whom are still at the parental home.  James Huston served in the transportation corps, at Nashville, Tennessee, during the war of the Rebellion, and in the same great struggle a brother of his first wife was an active participant, being taken prisoner and sacrificing his life in Andersonville prison.
     Charles H. Huston grew up under the sturdy and invigorating discipline of the farm, receiving excellent educational advantages.  He secured his preliminary scholastic discipline in the common schools, completing the prescribed course in the high school at Shiloh, after which he put his acquirements to the practical test by teaching school for five terms, - covering a period form 1889 to 1892 - being successful in his pedagogic work.  His desire for a more advanced education led to his matriculation in the Tri-State College, at Angola, Indiana, in the scientific department of which institution he graduated, as a member of the class of 1894.  Having determined to make the legal profession his life work, he began reading law under the preceptorship of J. C. Laser, of Mansfield, devoting himself so assiduously to his studies as to secure admission to the bar of the state in 1897.  He at once entered upon the active practice of his profession, associating himself with his former preceptor Mr. Laser, under the firm name of Laser & Huston, and the clientage of the firm is of a distinctively representative order, the ability and professional prestige of the interested principals insuring the constant expansion of their business.
     The inherent patriotism of Mr. Huston was signally exemplified at the outbreak of the late Spanish-American war, when he enlisted as a member of Company M, Eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, proceeding with his regiment to Camp Bushnell, at the state capital.  Thence they went to Camp Alger, Virginia, where Company M was detached and assigned to guard duty and clerkships in the quartermaster's and commissariat department at Dunlowing station.  They left camp July 5, 1898, and embarked on the cruiser St. Paul, and New York, on the following day.  On the 10th of the month Company M and three other companies of the First Battalion landed at Siboney, fourteen miles from Santiago, and on the following day were ordered to the fighting line in the trenches, but owing to the swollen condition of the San Juan river did not reach their assigned position until the 12th, on which day General Miles arranged the terms of surrender with the Spanish.  On the 17th the entrance to Santiago was made and Company M participated in the occupation of the city.  Mr. Huston was promoted to corporal at Camp Alger.  Since the return of the Eighth Regiment a reorganization has been effected, and our subject is now battalion adjutant, with rank of second lieutenant.
     In politics Mr. Huston is an active worker in the ranks of the Democratic party.  Fraternally he is identified with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.  His family in religious matters are members of the Church of God, in Blooming Grove township.
     Mr. Huston was united in marriage, June 21, 1900, to Miss Marie F. Pettker, of St. Louis, Missouri.
 Source: A Centennial Biographical History of Richland Co., Ohio - Publ: Mansfield by A. A., Graham & Co. - 1901 - Page 322

 


 

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