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Source:
History of
Hocking Valley, Ohio -
Published Chicago: by Inter-State Publishing
Co.
1883 BIOGRAPHIES
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HARRY S. HAMILTON
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock
Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated -
Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916
- Page 1159 |
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CHARLES W. HARDEN
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock
Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated -
Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916
- Page 1180 |
| |
JOSEPH
HEWITT. The most enduring success is
that wrung from years of patient industry, many
acts of self denial, thrift and intelligent
enterprise. When to these characteristics
have been added those of kindly fellowship and
public spirit in behalf of community affairs, it
constitutes a commendable degree of success in
whatever sphere and station the fortunate man
may be. Representing this type of citizen
in the Hanging Rock Iron Region is Joseph
Hewitt, general farmer and stock raiser, of
Swan Township, Vinton County. His
homestead is one of the historic old farms
located near Creola, though he himself has owned
it for only about a dozen years. It
contains 125 acres, well improved, and passing
through the farm is the Brushy Creek or as more
commonly known Silvery Creek. His country
home comprises a seven-room residence, with good
bar and other out buildings, and he makes a
specialty of first class crops and stock.
Joseph Hewitt was born in Swan Township, in the
northern section Apr. 2, 1841. He has
spent practically all his life in the county,
and since early manhood his career has been that
of farmer and stock raiser.
When all Southern Ohio was a wilderness, and the few
white men were battling not only with the
material obstacles in the way of the conquest of
new land, but also with hostile Indians, the
first of the Hewitt family sought
settlement in Athens County. The pioneer
was Moses Hewitt. In those early
days while following his chief vocation as a
woodsman and hunter he was captured by the
Indians and carried by them into the wilds of
what is now either Ross or Vinton County.
He was tied to a stake and it was the immediate
intention of his captors to burn him.
While they were hunting fagots to heap around
his feet, he managed to slip the knot in his
bonds and by the exercise of all those crafts
and arts which his long experience in the
western wilds had given him he made his escape.
For a number of hours he lay in a hollow log
while the woods were being combed by the red
men, then after days of suffering and hardship
he found his way back home, where he arrived
nearly famished, so that for several days he had
to be fed with a spoon. This experience
created in him an inveterate enmity of Indians
and he and they were implacable foes as long as
he lived or as the Indians remained in the
country.
A son of this Indian fighter and pioneer was
Aaron Hewitt, who was born in Athens County,
Ohio. He also grew up trained and versed in all
the arts of the hunter and was one of the most
skillful in his time in the hunting of bear and
deer. He spent nearly all his life in Athens
County, but when quite old he came to Vinton
County and died there in 1863. He was twice
married. His first wife was the mother of
Robert
Hewitt, who in turn was the father of Joseph
Hewitt. Robert was their only child.
Robert Hewitt was born in Waterloo Township of Athens
County about 1810, was reared there, and in
young manhood moved to Vinton County. Here
he married Miss Mary Dalton, who was born in the
State of Maryland and when quite young came to
Southern Ohio with her parents, Nathan Dalton
and wife. Nathan Dalton was a
farmer in Swan Township and died there when
about ninety years of age, having survived his wife. He was a whig
and later a republican. After his marriage
Robert Hewitt located on a new farm in Swan
Township and on that homestead all his ten
children were born. Five of them died young.
Robert Hewitt was quite an old man when in 1862
he volunteered his services in defense of the
Union as a member of Company B, Ninetieth Ohio
Volunteer Infantry. He served until the close of
the war and participated in many battles,
though escaping without wounds. With slightly
impaired health he returned home, but a few
years later he was stricken with lung fever and
died in 1870. His widow died about ten years
later in Swan Township when past seventy years. They were active members of the Methodist
Episcopal Church and in politics he was a
republican who was entrusted with several
township offices. The surviving children of
Robert and Mary (Dalton) Hewitt are Mary,
Joseph, Hulda, William and
Newton, all of whom
are married.
Joseph Hewitt married in Swan Township Miss
Mahala Steele. She was
born in Swan Township Dec. 22, 1842, and was reared and educated
there and had spent practically all her life in
Swan Township. Her parents were Nathan and
Elizabeth (Steele) Steele. Her father
was born in Maryland and her mother in Ohio and they
were married in Vinton County, starting their
careers in Swan Township not far from Ebenezer. There
Mrs. Steele died about 1844 when
Mrs. Hewitt was an infant. There were two other
daughters, Harriet and Jane, both now deceased.
Nathan Steele after the death of his first wife
married Ruth Ellis. He died in Swan Township
July 27, 1895, and his second wife three years
later. They were both honest, upright Christian
people and Nathan Steele's advice was widely
sought because of his good judgment and thorough
integrity. He was a republican, and was for a
great many years a member of the Ebenezer
Methodist Church. He and his wife are both
buried in the cemetery there. Nathan
Steele by
his second wife had three children: Sarah, who
died after her marriage to Richard Tinkham;
Elizabeth, who is the wife of Will
Cox, a farmer
in Swan Township; and Finley Steele, who is
unmarried and lives on the old Steele homestead.
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Hewitt are members of no one
church, though with their family they usually
attend the Christian Church at Creola. In
politics he is a republican and has always borne
a substantial reputation in his community.
Joseph Hewitt and wife are the parents of six
children: Ira T., who was educated in the
Zaleski schools and is now in business at
Columbus, has been twice married, first to Olie
Bartlett. by whom there is a son named Alfred
now twelve years of age and living with Mr. and
Mrs. Joseph Hewitt, and the name of his second
wife was Florence Banner. Robert N., who
completed his education in the public schools,
is now an engineer with the Baltimore & Ohio
Railway, is unmarried and lives at Chillicothe,
Ohio. Riley W. lives on a farm of his own in
Swan Township, and by his marriage to Millie
Shull has children named Levera, now deceased;
Joseph, Adelbert, and an infant.
George W.
Hewitt is given particular mention in
following paragraphs. M. Elizabeth, who resides with
her father and mother, is the wife of William E.
York, who is now an engineer on the Cincinnati,
Hamilton & Dayton Railway. Homer is a Swan
Township farmer and by his marriage to Cora
Ellis has children named Bernice,
Harold, Lueile
and Mary Elizabeth.
George W. Hewitt, who is one of the most progressive
general fanners of Vinton County, has an
excellent home in Jackson Township, section 24,
near McArthur. There he owns 130 acres of well
improved land, growing wheat, corn and other
staple crops and residing with his family in a
substantial six-room house and with a good barn
and other buildings attached. This has been
Mr.
George Hewitt's home for the past ten years and
he has owned the farm five years.
He was born in Vinton County Jan. 10, 1874, and has
spent practically all his life in this locality.
After getting his education in the local schools
and reaching manhood he started aut as a farmer
on his own account.
George W. Hewitt was married in Jackson Township
to Miss Mary E. Kelley. She was
born in Swan Township in 1878, a daughter of
Flem and Celesta (Sill) Kelley, who now live
in Jackson Township on a farm. They have
spent all their lives in Vinton County and are
now past sixty years of age and still vigorous
and well. The father is a republican and
the mother a member of the Methodist Episcopal
Church. Mrs. Hewitt was the third
in a family of four children, the others being:
Hattie, wife of Lewis Ranchell of
Hocking County, where by a former marriage she
had two sons; Samantha, wife of
Charles Witherspoon, a farmer in Swan
Township; and Anna is the wife of
Joseph Snipp, a farmer near Locust Grove in
Jackson Township, and they have one son and two
daughters.
Mr. and Mrs. Hewitt have five children: Retha
M., aged fourteen, is now in the eighth
grade of the public schools; Coral F.,
aged ten, is in the fifth grade; Mary,
aged six, is also in school; and the two younger
are Rhoda M. and Helen M.
Mrs. Hewitt is a member of the Methodist
Episcopal Church at Lotus Grove. In
politics he is a republican.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock
Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated -
Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916
- Page 1320 |
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JESSE B. HILL.
It was more than seventy-five years ago that
Jesse B. Hill, then an infant, came into
Vinton County. Here e has since witnessed
the unfolding of practically every important
phase of civilization in this section of Ohio.
Now in venerable years, he enjoys the fruits of
well spent endeavors as a farmer in Jackson
Township, and is the owner of the fine homestead
of 160 acres situated at Locust Grove.
He was born on the old Jesse Sanderson Farm on
Sunday Cree in Perry County, Ohio, Nov. 25,
1838. In the spring of 1839 his parents
came to Vinton County and located in the wilds
of Jackson Township, their first habitation
being a log cabin. They had four
neighbors, and there were very meager facilities
in the way of market towns, schools, churches,
and postal communication was very slow and
irregular.
For years a part of the meat which went on their
table was supplied from the wild game of every
kind which could be found with a short distance
from home. The children of the family when
they came to Vinton County were named Joseph,
Matilda, Jacob, Isaac, Margaret, Eli and
Jesse. The last is the only survivor.
All the children married except Eli, who
died a bachelor when past seventy years of age.
All the others had children of their own.
The son Joseph became a soldier in the
Civil war, going out with an Ohio regiment, and
after many narrow escapes in the battles in
which he participated was finally seriously
wounded and died in a hospital in Maryland from
the effects of the wound. He was a school
teacher by profession and a member of the
Masonic order.
The father of these children was Eli Hill, who
was born in Greene County, Pennsylvania, about
1800. He was reared as a farmer, and
acquired only a common school education, though
by much reading and study and observation he
became noted for his wide and thorough
information and knowledge. He possessed a
fine mind and good judgment and naturally took a
place of leadership in the early community of
Vinton County where he lived so many years.
He died at the old home now occupied by his son
Jesse near Locust Grove in the fall of
1884 at the age of eighty-seven. He was a
member of the Methodist Church and all his life
was a strong upholder and supporter of every
moral and religious movement in his community.
He was first a whig and afterwards a republican,
and filled such local offices as justice of the
peace and township trustee. He married in
Perry County, Ohio, Eliza Ball. She
was born in that county, and was a few years
younger than her husband. Her parents had
also come from Pennsylvania and were pioneers in
Perry County where they spent their lives.
She died at the old home at Locust Grove when
sixty-three years of age. Both she and her
husband had helped to organize and were charter
members of the Methodist Church which has long
been the chief institution and distinction to
the community of Locust Grove. Eli
Hill had a number of brothers and several
of them became active railroad men. He
helped to construct the first log church which
stood there for many years until it was
supplanted by a larger and better constructed
edifice. This church was the scene of many
religious gatherings and also social
assemblages. At one time more than sixty
years ago a great revival was held attended by
the people for miles around, and more than 100
persons were converted.
Jesse B. Hill's early recollections are all
associated with the Locust Grove community.
He attended the schools kept in this community,
and as soon as he took up the responsibilities
of an active career he became a farmer. He
was married in Benton Township of Hocking
County, Ohio, about fifty years ago to Miss
Melissa Moody. She was born in Morgan
County, Ohio, Nov. 2, 1845, and died at the home
at Locust Grove, Feb. 1, 1908. Not only
her family but a wide circle of friends had
reason to lament the loss of this good woman,
who was a devoted wife and mother and extended
her wholesome kindness and charity far beyond
the circle of her own home. Her parents
were Bernard and Sarah (Woolfort) Moody,
who were natives of Pennsylvania and of Dutch
stock. They settled in Hocking County,
Ohio, in the woods along Goose Creek at a very
early date and in time they improved a farm near
Liberty Hill. That was their home during
the rest of their days, and her father died Feb.
21, 1883, when nearly sixty-eight years of age,
while her mother survived until 1912 and was
then ninety-three. They were both members
of the United Brethren Church.
The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Hill were as
follows: Pearley died when four years of
age; Dora has never married and is still
at home with her father; Ross died at the
age of thirty-two, after his marriage to May
Ralph, who is also deceased, and the
children that survived her were Nora, Goldie,
Clarence (deceased), Charles, Ethel
and Walter. Nannie is the wife of
George Phipps of Elk Township. Cora
is the wife of Charles Kain of
Williamsport, Pickaway County, Ohio, and both
were married before, Mr. Kain having four
children and Mrs. Kain having two
children by the first marriage.
Garfield, who lives in Jackson Township,
married Josie Bishop, and their children
are Kenneth, Hamlin, Mary
(deceased), Melba and Ralph.
Blaine, whose home is in Jackson
Township, married Caroline Bullocks.
Lulu C. is the wife of Claud
Wing, a farmer and stock dealer, and they
live with Mr. Hill; their children
are Hiram G. and Jesse Willis.
All the members of the Hill family have
been identified with the work and activities of
the Locust Grove Methodist Episcopal Church. Mrs.
Wing has been the caretaker of this
church for the past twelve years. In
politics Mr. Hill is a very decided
republican and at different times has used his
influence in behalf of party success and for the
support of his many friends in this community.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock
Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated -
Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916
- Page 1155 |
| |
JOHN H. HOWELL.
Numbered among the prosperous and representative
business men of the thriving little City of
McArthur, Vinton County, Mr. Howell here
has a large and well equipped establishment in
which he hands general lines of merchandise,
each department being admirable in its
appointments and service and the business being
one of extended and important order, the trade
being substantially based on fair and honorable
dealings and effective service, the while the
personal popularity of the owner constitutes a
distinct commercial asset. The business
now controlled by Mr. Howell was
established in 1901, by the firm of Perkins
& Howell, of which he was the junior
member. After an interval of five years
Mr. Howell purchased the interest of
his partner and he has since conducted the
enterprise in an individual way, his progressive
policies and careful business methods having
been the dominating forces in the development of
a large and substantial trade. His store
is 26x125 feet in dimensions, and he is known as
one of the enterprising business men and liberal
and loyal citizens of his native county, where
his circle of friends is virtually limited only
by that of his acquaintances.
On the homestead farm of his father, in Elk Township,
Vinton County, Ohio. John H. Howell
was born on the 15th of August, 1868, and the
period of his childhood and early youth found
him compassed by the influences and discipline
of the farm, the while he made good use of the
advantages afforded in the public schools of the
locality and thus waxed strong both in mental
and physical powers. Mr. Howell
was. however, entirely without business
experience when he established his residence at
McArthur, the county seat, and became associated
with Mr. Perkins in the general
merchandise business. He had never
previously sold a cent's worth of merchandise,
but his alert mentality and excellent judgment
enabled him to acquire and rapidly assimilate
knowledge of merchandising and to gain place as
one of the reliable and representative young
business men of McArthur, his energy and
progressiveness having never faltered and having
resulted in his upbuilding of his present
substantial and important business, to the
management of which he gives the closest and
most punctilious attention.
In politics, though never desirous of or an incumbent
of public office, Mr. Howell
accords staunch allegiance to the republican
party, and as a citizen he takes loyal interest
in all that touches the general welfare of the
community. He is quiet and unostentatious
in his bearing, genial and considerate in his
association with others, always ready to lend a
helping hand to those in affliction, and finding
in his home his chief interests and greatest
happiness. He and his family are members
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and for the
past decade he has been a member of the board of
trustees of the church of this denomination at
McArthur, besides having given effective service
also in the position of class-leader.
Mr. Howell is a son of Joseph and Louisa (Wescott)
Howell, both likewise natives of Ohio and
both representatives of old and sterling
families of this favored commonwealth. The
marriage of the parents was solemnized in Vinton
County and here they began their wedded life on
one of the excellent farms of Elk Township,
where Joseph Howell still maintains his
home and hold prestige as one of the
representative agriculturists and stock-growers
of the county. Mrs. Louisa (Wescott)
Howell died at the birth of her youngest
child, John H., of this review, and the
father later wedded Miss Sarah L. Wescott,
the children of the second union having been one
son and five daughters, all of whom are living
except one of the daughters. Joseph
Howell and his wife are well known
citizens of Vinton County and their pleasant
rural home is known for its generous
hospitality. Of the children of the first
marriage the subject of this sketch is the
youngest of the three surviving the mother. Sabert
L. is a successful farmer of Vinton County
and is still a bachelor. Joseph N.,
who is engaged in the barber business at
Nelsonville, Perry County, is married and has
one son.
In Elk Township, Vinton County, the year 1889 gave
record of the marriage of John H. Howell
to Miss Addah B. Crow, who was
born and reared in the same neighborhood as was
her husband, the date of her nativity having
been Dec. 9, 1870. She is a daughter of
George and Julia (Bowen) Crow, both of whom
were born and reared in Morgan County, Ohio,
where their marriage was solemnized. They
finally established their home on a farm in Elk
Township, Vinton County, and they now reside in
McArthur, where Mr. Crow is living
retired, after long years of earnest and
productive endeavor. He is eighty-six
years of age and his wife is eighty, and the
venerable couple have a wide circle of friends
in the county that has so long represented their
home. Both are earnest members of the
Methodist Episcopal Church and Mr. Crow
has been unfaltering in his allegiance to the
republican party.
In conclusion is given brief record concerning the
children of Mr. and Mrs. Howell: Mabel
is the wife of Alfred E. Livingston and
they maintain their residence at Washington,
District of Columbia, where Mr. Livingston
is identified with the Government laboratory
service. They have no children. M.
Livingston was graduated at Ohio University,
at Athens, Ohio, and at Cornell University, at
Ithaca, New York, and his wife was graduated in
Ohio University, at Athens, as a member of the
class of 1910, she having been principal of the
public schools at Jacksonville, Athens County,
prior to her marriage. Joseph L.
was graduated in the McArthur High School and
has for a number of years been a clerk in his
father's mercantile establishment. He
wedded Miss Blanche Martin, of McArthur,
and they have two children, Maxwell and
Addah J. Gladys M., who
remains at the parental home, was graduated in
the McArthur High School and also completed an
effective course in domestic science.
George W. is a member of the class of 1918
in the local high school, and John, Jr.,
is at his parents' home.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock
Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated -
Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916
- Page 1196 |
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FINLEY A. HUGHES
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock
Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated -
Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916
- Page 1144 |
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