Mrs. Sidney S. Jackson

SIDNEY S. JACKSON, a horticulturist of Green township, was born in the year 1803 in the city of Philadelphia.  His father, Isaac H. Jackson, was a native of that city, and was bred to the mercantile profession.  In 1804 he removed to New York, where he established himself in that business and continued in the same until the breaking out of the last war with Great Britain, when he sold out and quit the business altogether.  In 1813 he removed his family to the State of Ohio, purchased three quarter sections in Green township, and after settling upon them remained there until his death, which occurred in the seventy-ninth year of his age, Oct. 20, 1849.
     Although Mr. Jackson was unacquainted with the business of farming he soon gained sufficient knowledge of it to support his family very nicely by that kind of employment, and, notwithstanding much of his time was taken up with commercial transactions of life, there were few men of his day who found time to read so  extensively as he had  done; very few men read so much to so good advantage,  he becoming simply by his fondness for reading a walking history of the transactions of his country and of  matters pertaining to his government ever since he arrived at the age of maturity. He was also designated by his fellows as a leader in the affairs of his county, having held among other offices that of commissioner of Hamilton district.  Mr. Sidney S. Jackson received some education in Long Island before coming west, but it was limited, as he was but ten years old when he left for Ohio, which was but a barren wild region for great schools or colleges; nor had he ample opportunities for receiving much of the log cabin instruction then in vogue, but was compelled to be content with what he could obtain from contact with the world and by reading good books and papers.
     He remained with his father until the age of maturity and in the year 1826 married Miss Elizabeth Hutchinson, whose father, John Hutchinson was an early settler of Whitewater near Harrison; he came to Cincinnati about 1807, and to this place one year before she was born; she is now in the seventy-fourth year of her age.  In 1830 Mr. Jackson began the nursery business, and his green-house established then is now one of the oldest in the United States.  He deals extensively in rare exotic plants, and is a widely and well known horticulturist of the great west.  He was one of the founders of the Horticultural society of Cincinnati, and has been identified with it many years.  His farm consists of about eighty acres of which his nursery comprises thirty plat of this acres, and contains three green-houses.  He had also one of the best amateur workshops in the country; formerly he was divided in his inclinations for following the floral business with that of the mechanical; being of an ingenious turn of mind he was capable of handling tools in many kinds of manufacture, and has his shop well supplied with them.  Mr. Jackson has now but two children living - having lost three sons, two of whom, John H. and Isaac H., born July 22, 1836, were twins, and were much alike, the family always found difficulty in distinguishing them apart.  They were much in each other's company, dressed alike, and took pride in their similarity of resemblance; their loss to the family was keenly felt.  John H. was shot during the desperate attack his regiment, the Eight-third Ohio volunteers, made at Vicksburgh, and from the effects of which he died.  He had received a flesh wound at Arkansas Post, and could have received a furlough to come home, but preferred to remain, and soon after engaged in the siege of Vicksburgh.  He was sent to the Cincinnati hospital, but died a few days after reaching that place.  The Cincinnati Horticultural society, Peter Gibson in the chair, upon receiving news of this sad occurrence, passed resolutions very eulogistic of his character, both as a citizen and as a member of that body.
     Isaac, the other twin, and his brother Lewis, the youngest of the family, were drowned in the Big Miami, while bathing.  They were in company with a number of their companions on a gala excursion, but the brothers going too near a whirlpool were drawn in and under one after the other and were lost before help could reach them, and thus lost their lives.
     Mr. and Mrs. Jackson lately celebrated their golden wedding.  Rev. Mr. Challen, the pastor who officiated at the former nuptials fifty years before, was present to sanctify the occasion and assist in bringing remembrance of the former times.
Source: 1789 - 1881 History of Hamilton County, Ohio, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches - Publ. L. A. Williams & Co. - Publ. 1881 - Page following 306