History of Knox County, Ohio, its past and present, Part 139

Author: Hill, N. N. (Norman Newell), comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A.A. & Co., Mt. Vernon, Ohio
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Mt. Vernon, Ohio : A. A. Graham & Co.
Number of Pages: 1096

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HILDRETH, WASHINGTON, Milford township, mer- chant, Lock post office, was born in Monroe county, New York, in 1829. In 1835 he came to Richland county, Ohio, and sub- sequently to Brandon, Knox county. From twelve to fifteen years of age he was in the family of Hon. Columbus Delano, and attending school in Mt. Vernon. At about fifteen years of age he entered the store of Freeman & Ward, of Mt. Vernon, and was with them for some years. He was next employed by George W. Potwin, who sent a stock of goods to Danville and placed Mr. Hildreth in charge.

In 1852 he purchased this stock of Mr. Potwin and remained in Danville two years, and then removed to Brandon, where he remained until 1856, when he removed to Lock, where he has since carried on the business of merchandising. Mr. Hildreth started business with but a few hundred dollars, going in debt for the greater part of his stock, but by prudent management and strict attention to business he was enabled to liquidate the amount. He is practically a self-made man, and has been suc- cessful in building up a good trade, understands the business of merchandising, and from his well selected stoek he can sup- plv the wants of his customers. His trade increased so that it became necessary to have a more commodious business room. In 1871 he built his present room, a model of good taste and judgement. It is fifty by twenty-five feet, two story, with an ad- dition of twelve by twenty-five feet, one story. The second story is for a lodge room. Mr. Hildreth is a business man in every sense of the term. He is reliable, allows no misrepresentation, has the confidence of the publie, and is one of the leading men

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HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.

of the community. In 1860 he was appointed postmaster, and has held the office ever since. He was twice married, his first wife, Hattie B. Harder, to whom he was married March 20, 1855, was the mother of four children, two of whom are living: Ida E., wife of W. H. Mitchell, who is a son of Alnion Mitchell, of Milford township, and Hattie B. The deceased are Ells- worth and Edward, who died young.

His second wife was Mattie Smith, sister of Dr. Eber Smith, to whom he was married May 10, 1874.

HILL, NORMAN NEWELL, Mt. Vernon, Ohio. His father, Aaron Hill, was born in Charlestown, near Boston, Massachusetts, in 1782, and subsequently removed to Corn- wall, Addison county, Vermont, where he married Sarah Newell about 1801, and where the subject of this sketch was born Sep- tember 28, 1803. In 1807 Aaron Hill removed to Pennsylvania, where he remained two years and then moved to Zanesville, Ohio, with his family, in company with Mr. Gideon Mott and family. His funds gave out before arriving at Zanesvillle, and he borrowed, of Mr. Mott, fifty cents to liquidate a hotel bill, thus arriving at his new home pennyless and with a family on his hands. He appears to have understood the blacksmith trade, and probably found work in Zanesville, where he re- remained until 1811, when he came to Mt. Vernon, his future home. Here he found shelter for his family in a cabin on the southwest corner of Gay and Chestnut streets, now known as the Dr. Burr lot. At that time the forest extended almost up to the door. Here the family remained two years, when they removed to the southwest corner of High and Mechanic streets, now known as the Anthony Banning lot. Land was cheap and Mr. Hill, by his industry, was soon enabled to purchase a farm in Miller township, to which he removed, and where he re- mained about two years, when he purchased a quarter section in Milford township, upon which the family lived about fifty years. These farms were in the woods, as were all farms in those days, and had to be cleared of timber by great labor.

The Milford township farm is located on what is known as Bishop street, and subsequently passed into the hands of his son David, whose family occupied it untill 1866.

In their declining years Aaron Hill and wife made their home at the residence of his son, N. N. Hill, in Mt. Vernon, where they died in 1870, within a few days of each other, aged eighty- eight and eighty-six respectively.

Aaron Hill's family consisted of Norman Newell, David L., Sarah, Lurena, and Lovina.

At the age of sixteen Norman N. Hill left his father's farm and took up his residence with the family of Samuel Mott, in Mt. Vernon, Mr. Mott being at that time a leading lawyer and merchant of the place. Mr. Hill received the rudiments of his education in the old log court house that then occupied the public square, and was used, as were such buildings generally in those days, for courts, schools, and public meetings. At the age of twenty-nine he entered Mr. Mott's store as clerk; soon made himself master of the business and became managing clerk. About 1832 he purchased the stock, and began a mer- cantile career on his own account, which was successfully con- tinued about forty years. Six years of this time he owned and conducted a large wholesale establishment in Cincinnati.

In addition to his mercantile business he has been engaged in various business enterprises in Mt. Vernon, in all of which he has been quite successful, and has amassed considerable wealth. He wasa stockholder and director in the old Knox County bank,

and still continues a stockholder and director of the Knox County National bank, his connection with these institutions covering a period of twenty-eight years. For nineteen years past he has been a director in the Knox county Mutual Insur- ance company.

When the Springfield, Mt. Vernon & Pittsburgh railroad was in process of construction he was made secretary and treasurer of the company. About 1845 he erected the large brick build- ing at the foot of Main street, formerly known as the Mt. Ver- non woollen mills, but for many years past occupied as a ware- house. Here for nearly two years he was engaged in the man- facture of woollen fabrics, and did a large and successful busi- ness.

For twenty-two years, and until within a few years, he was superintendent and successful manager of the city gas works.

During all his business career he has been extensively engaged in the purchase and shipping of wool and other products, Dur- ing the early days of his mercantile career, that business was conducted very differently from what it is to-day. Exchange was the rule, money the exception, and the merchant was com- pelled to buy all the produce of the farm and the chase if he did business.

Mr. Hill was a large shipper, to various narkets, of hogs, cattle, sheep, horses, etc., and often accompanied his shipments and superintended the sale. He remembers with lively satisfaction an occasion of this kind. He had purchased some three hundred head of hogs and driven them to Huron (now Sandusky city), the only market then convenient. Quite a number of merchants were, at that time, doing a pork-packing business at Huron; and, although the market was lively, prices high, and merchants anxious to buy, yet when they found Mr. Hill on the ground with three hundred hogs, which they were aware he must sell at some price, or be at considerable expense in feeding and attend- ing to them, they rather leagued together, concluding they had the advantage of him, and would compel him to sell at their own prices.

Compretending the situation, and being well known at Huron as a merchant of considerable means and good credit, he determined not to be imposed upon, and therefore announced that he would not only slaughter and pack his own pork, but would buy and pack all the pork that came to that market that he could get-in other words, he would become a competitor in the pork-packing business-and with that end in view made arrange- ments at the warehouse of Jenkins & Tracy for receiving and paying for pork that he might purchase on the street. This brought the Huron pork-packers to terms, and before night of the day he had determined upon becoming a competitor in the business, he had sold all his pork at the highest market price, the packers being glad to get him out of town so easily.

After an honorable and successful business career of nearly half a century among the business men of Mt. Vernon, he has retired from active business, and now resides on North Main street. February 12, 1833, he married Mary Shaw, a daughter of John Shaw, a prominent citizen of the county. Mr. Shaw was elected sheriff in 1815, reelected in 1817, and again, for a third term, in 1828. In 1817 and 1824 he was also county col- lector. In 1821-2 he represented Knox and Richland counties in the Ohio senate, and in 1825 was a member of the Ohio house of representatives. In 1807 he came to Mt. Vernon from Mary- land. His wife was a daughter of Michael Cramer.

Mary Shaw was born June 26, 1816, and is therefore one of the oldest persons at present living in the city who was born

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here. At the date of her birth her father occupied a small tene- ment house on the lot now owned by Mr. John Boyd, east side of Mechanic, and south of Vine street. From there he moved to a small two-story log dwelling on the lot now occupied by Dennis Corcoran's store, on the south side of West Vine street.

Of the three children of Norman and Mary Hill but one is living, John S., who resides on a farm in Morris township, about three miles from the city.

Sarah Newell, the mother of N. N. Hill, was the daughter of Riverius Newell, a well known and well remembered pioneer of Knox county, a Revolutionary soldier, who had fought at Bunker Hill and suffered at Valley Forge. He was also in the War of 1812.

Sarah Newell was a woman of great strength of mind, cheer- ful disposition, and a model pioneer mother. During the War of 1812, when the Indian raid was expected, she was living in the great woods, in a cabin on the Miller township farm, and remained at home alone many days and nights, with her chil- dren, while her husband was working at his trade in Mt. Ver- non. N. N. Hill says they had scooped out a hole under the puncheon floor of their cabin large enough to admit a straw bed, and when bed time came a puncheon was raised, the mother and children descended into this underground bed-room, and carefully replacing the puncheon, remained there during the night. Many nights were thus passed in those early days.

Regarding the remainder of the family of Aaron Hill; David married Laura Jeffres, and died in his thirty-fifth year; Sarah married Madison Miller and died many years ago, leaving one child, Rose, now the wife of Henry Bostwick, of Newark; Lurena married the late Dr. E. Woodward, of Mt. Vernon, and died many years ago; Lovina died young.

Norman N. is the only survivor, and has lived to see Mt. Vernon grow from a little hamlet in a wilderness of stumps, logs, and hazel-bushes, to the present beautiful city.

HILL, DAVID-family of-Milford township. David Hill, son of Aaron Hill, and brother of Norman Newell Hill, whose biography appears above, was born in Vermont in 1807, came with his father to Ohio, and March 12, 1830, married Laura Jeffres, settling on the old Hill farm in Milford township, where he lived until his death, May 4, 1842. His life was a promising one, but was cut short by death. He was of medium height, slender, fine looking, very active and had accumulated some property. His wife, Laura Jeffres, who was thus left with a family of six children, was born January 28, 1811, in Douglass, Saratoga county, New York, and came with her father, John Jeffres, to this county when quite young, settling on a farm adjoining-or rather cornering-that of Aaron Hill. Their family consisted of Joan, born November 26, 1831; Charles Mortimer, December I, 1833; Edwin L., February 15, 1835; Aaron, jr., August 7, 1837; Norman N., jr., April 29, 1840, and Josephine E., January 2, 1843.

Joan married James Lemon, is now living in Kansas and has one child, Estella, born October 20, 1858. Charles M. died at the age of two years.

Edwin L. went to Illinois on coming of age, settling in Mon- ticello, Piatt county, in that State, where he engaged in the mercantile business, and where he married Eliza Moffit. They had no children. Upon the breaking out of the war in 1861, he enlisted in the Forty-second Illinois infantry, and while the regi- ment was encamped at Paducah, Kentucky, contracted a camp disease from which he died January 23, 1862, having first been

brought home to Monticello. He was buried in the graveyard of that place.

Aaron, jr., worked on the old farm in Milford township until the war broke out, when he enlisted in the One Hundred and Forty-second Ohio National guard, and went into the hundred day service. His health not being good, the exposures of this campaign probably hastened his death. He died March 11, 1870, in Mansfield, Ohio, but was buried in the old Dry Creek graveyard, five or six miles west of Mt. Vernon.

Norman N., jr., went west in 1859, where he was engaged in school teaching near Monticello, when the war began in 1861, he enlisted as a private in a company raised in Champaign City, Illinois, which company was subsequently attached to the Third Missouri cavalry volunteers, and became company D of that regiment. He enlisted September 24, 1861; was in nearly all the battles and skirmishes in which the regiment was engaged; was promoted from time to time until he reached a first lieuten- antcy; resigned on account of ill health, and was mustered out of the service April 20, 1864. October 16, 1873, he married Dollie Rogers, of Plymouth, Ohio. They have three children: Walter R., born June 20, 1875; Florence J., March 9, 1877, and Laura Rose, September 19, 1880.

Josephine married Elijah Crable, of Mt. Liberty, who was a soldier in the late war where he contracted a disease which hastened his death. She is now living with her mother in Mans- field, Ohio, and has one child, Maud, born November 26, 1866.

The farm in Milford township was sold in 1866 to Arnold and William Bishop, and the family removed to Mansfield, Ohio, where they have since resided.

HILL, CHANCEY P., Fredericktown, hardware merchant, born in New York in 1820; came to Ohio in 1836 and located in Fredericktown; was married in 1842 to Ann Sargent, who was born in Knox county in 1818. They have one child-Mary Blanch.

Mr. Hill was a soldier in the late war and a member of com- pany H, One Hundred and Forty-second regiment, Ohio volun- teer infantry. He served out his time and was honorably dis- charged.

HILL, JOSEPH, Fredericktown, retired farmer, was born in Trumbull county, Ohio, 1818; was married April 26, 1838, to Mary Ann Dwigins, who was born in Guernsey county in 1821. They had the following family, viz .: Margaret, born in 1839; Elizabeth, in 1840; Orlando .F., in 1845; John W., 1847; Francis A., in 1849; Mary M., in 1852; Charles E., in 1854; Lorain A., in 1857; Lambert, in 1859; Joseph G., in 1863.

Mrs. Hill died in 1873, and Mr. Hill was married to Mary C. Snyder, who was born in Virginia, and came to Ohio at the age of two years.

The following children are dead: Charles, February 20, 1855; Orlando, June 13, 1864. Margaret died in Knox county, at the residence of her father, in 1878.

Orlando was a soldier in the late war, a member of the Ninety-sixth regiment, Ohio volunteer infantry, aud was in the service till he died, June 13, 1864. He died from sickness at Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Mr. Hill came to Knox county in 1851, located in Monroe township, and engaged in farming. He removed to Wayne township in 1859, where he lived on a farm. From there he moved to Fredericktown in the spring of 1880. He has heen an active farmer of this county, and is now living a peaceful and quiet life.

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Elizabeth was married to A. J. Dicus, and resides in Guthrie county, Iowa.

John W. married Elizabeth Whitworth, and also resides in Guthrie county, Iowa.

Francis and Mary live in Minnesota.

Lambert lives in Iowa, and Lorain and Joseph live with their parents.

HILLIER, THOMAS C., Pleasant township, a native of New York city, was born August 9, 1804. In 1805 he was brought to Ohio by his parents, Richard and Anna Hillier, who, with his family, located in Zancsville, remained until 1808, then moved to Knox county and located in Hillier township. He gave the township its name. He remained in this county until his death, in September, 1811, leaving his wife and five children, the oldest then only fourteen years of age, alone in their forest home. In 1812 the mother, with her children, returned to Zanesville. One of her sons learned the shoemaking trade, which he followed as his vocation until 1837, when he engaged in the manufacture of brick, and burning lime, which he con- tinued several years. In 1848 he turned his attention to farm- ing, and has since been engaged in that business. He has been married twice-first in 1825, to Miss Bathsheba Crossley, of Zanesville, which union resulted in three children, viz .: Isaac, Mary A., and Bathsheba, who died. February 8, 1830, his com- panion departed this life. He was then united in marriage with Miss Sarah Lehew, of Zanesville, August 6, 1833. They re- niained in the city until 1848, when they moved on the farm where they are now living, in Pleasant township, Knox county, on the old Gambier road. Their marriage resulted in eight chil- dren, viz .: Spencer L., Emily, Thomas, George, Susan M., Albert T., Smith, and Henry-all living. Our subject had thirty grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He has been a constant member of the Baptist church since 1824.

HILLS, H. C., dealer in general house furnishing, Mt. Ver_ non, Ohio .- Mr. Hills is a native of Bristol, Ontario county, New York, and was born June 16, 1816. When he was about nine months old his father moved near Lockport, where he re- sided until the year 1840, when he went to Cass county, Michi- gan, and located on a farm and followed farming until 1866, when, in consequence of ill health, he sold the farm and came with his family to Mt. Vernon. He left his family here and re- turned to the pinery of Michigan and engaged in the lumber business, in which he continued four years. He then returned to Mt. Vernon and bought a half interest in the firm of Horner & Kelley, and did business under the firm name of Horner & Hills, in which they continued until 1872, when Mr. Horner sold his interest to Mr. Wells, and the business was conducted under the firm name of Wells & Hills until 1877, when Mr. Hills bought Mr. Wells' interest, after Mr. Wells death, and has since been sole proprietor.

The business in the hands of Mr. Hills has been a success, and he carries a stock of about four thousand dollars, consisting of a full line of queensware, glassware, silverware, cutlery, wood and willow ware, wall paper, toys and notions.

He married Miss Julia A. Chesbrough, and has a family of five children, all of whom are living and four of whom are mar- ried.

HIBBETS, HENRY, Union township, was born in Knox county, Ohio, in 1832, and was married in 1858 to Martha Gann, and settled on a portion of the homestead known as the Gann farm.

Martha Gann's father (George Gann) was born in 1810, in Pennsylvania, and came to this county in 1834. . He had four children-Jacob, Mary, Margaret, and Martha. He came here when the land was covered with timber, but he worked hard, and became one of the prominent citizens of the county. In 1873 he became dissatisfied living in Jefferson township, and wished to have a portion taken from Jefferson and attached to Union. This was much against the wishes of a majority of the people. But he circulated a petition, and by the assistance of others the south side of Jefferson township was at once attached to Unlon township. He was one of the most benevolent and charitable men of Knox county.

Henry Hibbets has three children-Osburn, born in 1859; Z. L., in 1866, and Charlie, in 1873. He has lived all his life on his present farm, his business being farming and carpentering.

Mrs. George Gann is living with him, and is about seventy- two years old.

HIGBIE, J. L., farmer, Liberty township, was born in Mus- kingum county July 14, 1820. His parents came from Duchess county, New York. Fleming Higbie, his father, married Sarah Bainey. About 1825 they came to Licking county, Ohio, re- mained there a short time, and subsequently lived in Clinton and Wayne townships. They have both deceased. They had a family of eleven children, six of whom are living.

J. L. Higbie worked at home until he was about seventeen years old; then worked at the carding business for some time. In 1842 he married Miss C. Ewalt, daughter of Richard Ewalt, a pioneer. He worked for four years on a rented farm, then purchased a tract of land in Liberty township. Mr. Higbie was possessed of little property when he started in life. He purchased an axe by first borrowing one from a friend, and with it earned enough to pay for a new axe-a novel way of starting life. He has succeeded in making for himself a very comfort- able and beautiful home, and adding considerable to his first purchase. He has many friends. He was the father of five children, four of whom are living. He was a member of com- pany A, One Hundred and Forty-second regiment Ohio Na- tional guard, and served his time of enlistment.

HIGGINS, JOHN, deceased, a pioneer of Knox county, was born in Vermont in 1800. His father, Joseph Higgins, was born January 9, 1762. He served in the war of the Revolution, and was three times married. By his first wife he had eight children, one of whom is living-Polly McGee, who resides near Marietta, Ohio. By his second marriage he had four children: Two living, residing in Iowa. By his third marriage he had no children, and remained in Vermont until 1807, when he emi- grated to Marietta, Ohio, where he resided until 1810, when he came to Knox county, and settled about a mile east of where the village of Mt. Liberty now stands. He cut a road from where Homer now stands to the land which he had selected. The first cabin which was erected, was about the usual size of a pioneer's first habitation, probably sixteen by sixteen feet, in which a family of twelve persons lived for some time. This cabin was succeeded by a frame structure, which in turn has been succeeded by a beautiful residence occupied by J. O. Higgins, grandson of Joseph Higgins.

When Mr. Higgins settled on his land, there were but a few families west of him, in Knox county. The Houck settlement was about seven miles west, but these pioneers were not aware of each other's location for several years after. The subject of this notice, John Higgins, passed his early life on the frontiers,

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and his educational advantages were limited. In fact his eariy life was spent without attending school. When about twenty- one years of age, he attended school for about three months, and attended school after this long enough to learn to read and write and cipher. After this he was employed on several occa- sions to teach. Being a man of more than ordinary intellectual eapacity, he was made justice of the peace, and subsequently became familiar with the statutes of the State, and was called upon to take charge of almost every case within a range of ten or fifteen miles from his home, and is yet spoken of by many of the old inhabitants as one of the most successful contestants of his day. For many years the law business occupied almost his entire time.

He was twice married, and his first wife was Parnell Ashley, by whom he had four children: Orange, a Disciple minister, who resides in Monroe county, Iowa; Colonel Thomas W., attorney, Pike county, Ohio; Ethan A., editor Democratic Times, Toledo, Ohio, and Henry, deceased.

His second wife was Mrs. Charity Pierson, nee Jaggers, by whom he had one son: John Delano, who was born June 3, 1837.

Mr. Higgins died March 1, 1874, and was much esteemed for his uprightness of character and many good traits. His wife survived him until May 10, 1880. His son John D. re- ceived a common school education, and has always resided on the homestead, being engaged in farming. He was a member of company A, One Hundred and Forty-second regiment, Ohio national guard, and was married to Miss Corrinda Bird May 13, 1858. By their union they have been blessed with six children: John W. died when four years old; Ida B., Elmer F. and Willie C .; Frank D. died when eight months old, and Olive L.

Mr. Higgins is much esteemed, and is liberal in his views, pleasant and social in his manners.

HILDEBRAND, JOHN L., Brown township, secretary of the Jelloway Mutual Aid association, located at Jelloway, Knox county. Mr. Hildebrand was born in . Hanover township, Ashland county, Ohio, December 18, 1857. He was educated in the Jelloway high school. In 1872 he engaged as dry goods clerk with J. W. Stacher & Brother in Loudonville, where he remained two years. In 1874 he came to Jelloway and engaged as clerk in the office of the Farmers' Home Fire Insurance com- pany, and remained with it until in the fall of 1878. He then engaged as secretary of the Jelloway Mutual Aid association, which position he is filling at present. In July, 1879, he was united in marriage with Miss Martha A. Vincent, of Jelloway, daughter of Samuel M. and Rosannah Vincent.

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History of Knox County, Ohio, its past and present, Part 139

Author: Hill, N. N. (Norman Newell), comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A.A. & Co., Mt. Vernon, Ohio Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Mt. Vernon, Ohio : A. A. Graham & Co. Number of Pages: 1096

Author: Hill, N. N. (Norman Newell), comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A.A. & Co., Mt. Vernon, Ohio
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Mt. Vernon, Ohio : A. A. Graham & Co.
Number of Pages: 1096