USA > Ohio > History of the Upper Ohio Valley, with family history and biographical sketches, a statement of its resources, industrial growth and commercial advantages, Vol. I > Part 40
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George W. Hess, proprietor of one of the leading meat-markets of Wheeling, was born at that city March 10, 1858. He is the son of Otto Hess, who was the first man to open a meat market in the city of Wheeling, and was one of the honored citizens of his day. George W. Hess learned the trade with his father and has ever since carried on the business at Wheeling, ranking now among the active and success- ful business men of the city. He is well-known and popular socially, is a member of the order of Odd Fellows, and the Knights of Honor, and in politics is republican. Mr. Hess was married May 7, 1888, to Mollie M. Ball, and they have two children, Otto and Edna.
Eugenius Augustus Hildreth, M. D., born at Wheeling, Septem- ber 13, 1821, died at that city August 31, 1885, was one of the most distinguished practitioners of medicine of the upper Ohio valley. He was the son of Ezekiel Hildreth, a graduate of Harvard college in 1814, who married a daughter of Jonathan Zane, one of the founders of Wheeling. Dr. Hildreth, after receiving an education at Kenyon college, studied medicine with Dr. Townsend, of Wheeling, and in 1844 received the degree of M. D. from the medical college of Ohio, at Cincinnati. After a year's practice as resident physician at the state hospital, he returned to Wheeling, and began a practice which was continued without interruption for forty years. He possessed broad qualifications for success in life, was eminent in his profession, wise and far seeing in his business enterprises, scholarly and refined in his social relations. High in his conception of the duties of life, there was always evidence, however distinguished he might become in any department of action, professional or civil, that his noble character as a gentleman outranked all other distinctions. Besides performing faithfully all the requirements of his profession he made many valuable contributions to medical literature, particularly in re- gard to the climatology and epidemic diseases of West Virginia, and the annals of his profession in this region. He was a member and president of the Wheeling and Ohio county medical society, an orig- inal member and president of the state medical society, became a member of the American medical association in 1850, and was an hon- orary member of the California medical society. In 1871 he attended the meeting of the American medical association at San Francisco, and became a member of the Rocky Mountain medical association. Dr. Hildreth filled notable positions in the service of the city and state, being for thirty years a member and for many years president of the city board of education; one of the board of directors that or- ganized the West Virginia hospital for the insane in 1864; a director of the state penitentiary from 1868 to 1872, and from 1873 until near the time of his death, secretary of the board of examining surgeons for pensions. In 1851 Dr. Hildreth was married to Susan L. McMechen, of one of the oldest and most distinguished families of Wheeling, and to them were born three sons and two daughters. The eldest son is in the Commercial bank at Wheeling, the second is secretary of the Nickle Plate Glass works of Fostoria, Ohio. The youngest son, a namesake of his father, was born in Wheeling July 10,
21 -- A.
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1864, received his education in the city schools and read medicine with his father and Dr. Dickey. He graduated at Jefferson Medical col- lege, Philadelphia, subsequently entered Brooklyn hospital where he was house physician one year and then returned to Wheeling where he has attained high rank in his profession.
George Hill, an honored old citizen of Wheeling, has been a resi- dent of that city since 1827, when he came to America with his par- ents, Thomas and Hannah (Lazenby) Hill. These parents had eleven children, John (deceased), Thomas (deceased), Mary (deceased) , Hannah, George, Nancy, Charles (deceased), Diana, Sarah (de- ceased), Elizabeth and Matilda. After the death of the mother in- 1832, the father was married to Nancy Logan, who bore him two children, Margaret J. and Thomas (now deceased). The father, a farmer by occupation, died December 3, 1858. George Hill was born in Yorkshire, England, October 22, 1816. In his youth at Wheeling he was occupied as a plasterer and so continued until the breaking out of the war, when in the spring of 1861 he enlisted in Company A, First West Virgina infantry. He served three months and then re- enlisted in Company E, First West Virginia infantry, and was honora- bly discharged, November 26, 1864. He served in many engagements and distinguished himself as a brave soldier. After the war he fol- lowed his trade four or five years and then embarked in the grocery business, in which he has since been successfully engaged. Mr. Hill was married September 22, 1844, to Margaret Ann West, who was born at Hagerstown, Md., February 21, 1827, the daughter of Mat- thew and Prudence Elizabeth (Hawthorn) West. Her father died when she was about ten years old, and her mother died in December, 1883. They had six children, Nancy Jane, Margaret Ann, David James, John Joseph, William Henry and Sarah Elizabeth. Mr. and Mrs. Hill have had eleven children: William Henry (deceased), Elizabeth Ann, Sarah Olelo,' Alverda Virginia, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson (deceased), Charles Edward, Thomas Jefferson, Mary Belle, Lillie May and Harry Grant. Mr. and Mrs. Hill are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
George W. Hill, a well-known retail druggist of Wheeling, doing business on the Island, at No. 41 Virginia street, was born in Tyler county, W. Va., November 11, 1862. His parents, William and Mary Hill, both now living, were natives, the former of Morgantown, Monongalia county, W. Va., and the latter of Hancock county, W. Va. Ten children were born to them, all of whom are still living. The subject of this mention, the third in age, was reared on the farm of his parents in Tyler county. He was given a good education, com- pleting the common schools at the age of sixteen, and then taking up the higher branches, and pursuing a course in a normal school. From 1882 to 1886 he taught school, and during the same time car- ried on the study of medicine, preparatory to entering the drug busi- ness. In the spring of 1886 he embarked in his chosen calling by taking charge of a drug store at Sistersville, and he conducted the same until the summer of 1887. In October, of the same year, Mr.
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Hill came to Weeeling and assumed the management of the estab- lishment of Frank Falloure, and after a year's employment in that capacity, he purchased the business, which he has since conducted with much success. Mr. Hill is popular socially, and a worthy citizen. He is a member of Island council, No. 4, O. U. A. M.
John Henry Hobbs, president of the Hobbs Glass company, the Wheeling Electric company, the Standard Axle Manufacturing com- pany, and of the Ohio Valley Clay company, the three former of Wheeling, W. Va., and the latter of Steubenville, Ohio, and more or less interested in several other incorporated industries of the upper Ohio valley, is a native of Cambridge, Mass., where he was born October 17, 1827. His father, John L. Hobbs, was a native of Sulli- van's Island, South Carolina, and his mother, Mary (Page) Hobbs, was born in Massachusetts. John L. Hobb's father came from England to South Carolina, and from Sullivan's Island migrated to Cambridge. At the latter place the son learned something of the manufacture of glass, and in 1845 came to Wheeling with his father, who embarked in this industry. At Richietown, now a part of Wheeling, associated with others, his father established the Barnes, Hobbs & Co. Glass works, now known as the Hobbs Glass company. The elder Hobbs died in Philadelphia, whither he had gone for medical treatment, November 1, 1881, having lived to the ripe old age of seventy-seven years. John H. Hobbs was educated in the schools of Cambridge and Boston, early in life joining his father in the glass industry. Turning his attention to the practical part of the business, he readily mastered its details and was soon recognized as a skillful and a suc- cessful manager. He accompanied his father to Wheeling in 1845, and in 1849 became a member of the firm of Barnes, Hobbs & Co. Upon the retirement of the senior Mr. Hobbs, in 1863, the style of the firm name was changed to J. H. Hobbs, Brockunier & Co., and in 1888 it was incorporated as at present. Mr. Hobbs was married at Wheeling in 1851 to Miss Mary A. Leech, and has two sons and one daughter, viz .: J. Harry, a hardware merchant of Kansas City, Mo .; Charles L., a manufacturer of Wheeling, and Helen F., wife of T. W. Phinney, of the Wheeling Axle company. He is the proprietor of the Windsor hotel, and in 1889 was president of the West Virginia Fair association.
Louis Hoelsche, a prominent merchant of Wheeling, and member of the firm of D. L. Rattcliff & Co., was born in Germany, August 3, 1843. His parents, Gregor and Ursula (Eger) Hoelsche, emigrated with their family to the United States in 1847, and settled near Zoar, Ohio, whence they removed to Allegheny City, and from there in 1854 to Wheeling. Gregor Hoelsche was a potter by trade, and for many years conducted a pottery on the corner of Thirty-first and Chapline streets. The mother died in 1877, and about 1879 the father retired from business, and now makes his home at Pittsburgh, with a daugh- ter. Both parents were members of the Catholic church. Four children were born to them, three of whom survive. Louis Hoelsche was educated in the Catholic schools of Pittsburgh and Wheeling, and
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at about fourteen years of age began to work for his own mainten- ance in the employment of F. Lobenstein, a tanner. Two years later he was apprenticed to Joseph Vogler, a shoemaker, with whom he finished his trade, and then worked at the same about one year. He then took a course in the commercial school of I. I. Hitchcock, and subsequently obtained a position with J. & W. C. Handlan, general merchants, on the corner of Thirty-sixth and Jacob streets. When the junior Handlan withdrew a year later, Mr. Hoelsche and D. L. Rattcliff were taken in as partners, the firm being known as Handlan, Rattcliff & Co. In 1880, John Handlan died and Messrs. Rattcliff & Hoelsche succeeded to the whole business. He has other important business connections, being a stockholder in the Hobbs Glass com- pany, the West Virginia Tobacco company, and the Riverside Glass company, at Wellsburg. October 12, 1871, Mr. Hoelsche was mar- ried to Josephine Coleman, of Wheeling, and they are the parents of eight children. He and wife are members of St. Mary's Catholic church.
John G. Hoffmann, one of the prominent business men of Wheeling, came to that city in 1849, and at once began business, by opening a small tannery on the Island. He was born January 4, 1824, in the Grand Duchy of Baden, on the river Rhine. At the age of thirteen years and three months, he began an apprenticeship as a tanner, and then traveled for three years and eleven months, working at different places at that vocation. In June, 1844, he came to America, and was employed two years and a half at Philadelphia, and a somewhat shorter period at Pittsburgh, after which he came to Wheeling, No- vember 5, 1849. Embarking in business as above stated, he formed a partnership with Jacob Burger. The Island property of the firm was four and a half acres on the pond. The business was continued, gradually increasing to its present position, among the foremost in that line in the state, but with various changes in site and ownership. In 1857, the business was removed to the present location of the tannery, and in 1867, the senior partner died, and was succeeded by Jacob Bur- ger, Jr., who remained one of the firm until 1876. Mr. Hoffmann is also interested in other enterprises of importance. For about twelve years, he was connected with the Belmont Glass works, and is now, and has been for eight years, president of the Benwood Iron works. He is also one of the founders and heavy stockholder in the Ætna Iron works. His connection with the iron industry, so prominent in the development of the valley, is of a conspicuous character, and evidences business capacity and executive ability of a high order. Furthermore, Mr. Hoffmann is connected with, and has extensive stockholdings in, the Exchange bank, the German bank, and the Street Car company. Mr. Hoffmann has taken a valuable part in the munic- ipal affairs, discharging the duties of a good citizen, for ten years, as a member of the city council, and for six years as a member of the water works board. He is the only survivor of his father's family, in this country, two brothers who came with him to America, having since died. In 1866, he made a visit of much interest to him, to his
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native land. Mr. Hoffmann was married June 5, 1850, to Catherine Schlelein, a native of Bavaria, who came to America when young, and they have had ten children, of whom there are living six sons and three daughters. The sons, John and Frank, are in business with their father, and W. E. and Peter G. are proprietors of the Des Moines saddlery company, of Des Moines, Iowa.
Henry H. Hornbrook, a prominent citizen and manufacturer of Wheeling, and vice president of the Wheeling Iron and Nail com- pany, was born in this city December 16, 1842, being a representative of one of the oldest and most prominent families of the upper Ohio valley. His parents were Jacob and Ann M. (Killen) Hornbrook. The father was one of the pioneers of Ohio county. He was an Englishman by birth, having emigrated to the United States at an early age. Ann M. Killen was born near Dublin, Ireland, in 1820, and died in Wheeling March 14, 1886. She came to this country with her father and two brothers when about twelve years old. Jacob Horn- brook died November 3, ISSS. The parents were married August IO, 1836, and the following children were born to them: Corrina, now the widow of John E. Wilson, residing in California; Henry R., de- ceased; India H., the wife of John G. Kelley, of Philadelphia, and Henry H. The subject of this biography was reared in Wheeling, and was educated at Morgantown and at Washington college. April 13, 1861, he enlisted in Company C, First Virginia regiment, and participated in the fight at Phillippi, the first engagement that took place in what is now West Virginia. Serving out the first three months' enlistment, he re-enlisted for three years in Company H, of the First regiment, and was elected second lieutenant of his company. He was in the Shenandoah valley and took part in the engagements of that campaign as aide-de-camp to Gen. Thoburn, and was in the field of battle when Gen. Sheridan made his famous ride up that val- ley. After receiving an honorable discharge at the close of the war, Lieut. Hornbrook returned to Wheeling and remained there until 1866, when he went to Missouri, where he spent some years in stock- raising and farming. Returning to Wheeling in 1875, he engaged in steamboating in the Wheeling Tow Boat and Barge company, and subsequently he was in the same business with his uncle, Edwin Horn- brook, until October, ISSI. He then took a position as clerk in the Top mill, and becoming a stockholder in that concern was made a di- rector in January, 1882, and vice president in 1883. Mr. Hornbrook was married to Abbie H. Carter, September 14, 1866; she was a daughter of S. H. B. Carter, a pioneer of Ohio county, who settled in Elm Grove. Her death occurred May 11, 1876, in her thirty-first year. Five children came to this union. Mr. Hornbrook again mar- ried April 22, ISSo, this time to Alice J. Cracraft, a sister of Dr. Cra- craft, of Elm Grove. One child has come to bless their home.
C. A. House, of Wheeling, W. Va., the leading dealer in musical in- struments in the region covered by these volumes, was born in the state of New York in the year 1837. His father, Jacob House, was a prosperous farmer of that state, where he and his wife were born also.
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HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY.
The subject of this sketch spent his early years upon the farm and at school, receiving an academic education. Subsequently he was en- gaged at Syracuse in the study and practice of the profession of architec- ture, and in about 1856 he went to Minnesota, where for about four years he was engaged in contracting and building. Returning east in 1861 he lived in Ohio two years, and then settled at Meadville, Penn., where he followed his profession and business until the winter of 1869-70. At that time he became general local agent for a sewing machine company, and remained in that business for five years. In the spring of 1876 he first embarked in the sale of musical instruments, and meeting with success transferred his business to Wheeling in 1883, opening a store on Market street. He next removed to his pres- ent quarters, at 1324 and 1326 Market street. From a small begin- ning Mr. House has built up the largest music trade in the state, and besides this large establishment operates branch stores at Washington, Penn., and Keyser, W. Va. He does business in the four states of West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland, and has a considerable wholesale trade. The instruments he handles are recognized as the best of their kind, in all respects, and to this fact, and also in a con- siderable degree, to his notable energy and business tact, the success of his establishment is to be credited. Mr. House was married in 1859, while a resident of Ohio, to Sarah, daughter of Rev. Daniel H. Miller, a Baptist minister. She died in 1881, leaving three daughters.
George E. House, of Wheeling, senior member of the extensive furniture and house-furnishing house of House & Herman, first visited this city in August, ISSS, on a prospecting tour, having the intention of establishing at some promising point an establishment which should be a branch to his store in Washington, D. C. In walk- ing about the city to obtain an accurate idea of its condition and pros- pects, he strolled out upon the suspension bridge, and the view he there obtained of the situation of the city and the magnitude of its manufactures as revealed by the smoke from the busy hives of indus- try in the city and at Bellaire, Benwood, Martin's Ferry, Ætnaville, and other suburbs, so impressed him that he at once decided that Wheeling was the city he was in search of. In the following Septem- ber the branch house was established here, and its prosperity has con- firmed the soundness of his judgment. Mr. House was born at Baltimore, Md., August 2, 1859. He is a son of George W. House, a native of Baltimore, born in 1832, died October 10, 1887, who was a builder by trade and for many years engaged in that vocation at Baltimore. He was a son of Jesse House, also a Marylander, who was a soldier in the war of 1812. The mother of George E. House was Mary E. Peregoy, who was born in Baltimore in IS38, and died June 6, 1878. By her marriage to Mr. House she had seven sons and two daughters, all of whom but one daughter survive. George E. House was educated in the Baltimore schools and at the age of thir- teen years became engaged in a furniture store, a business which has occupied him ever since, with the exception of two years in the pic- ture trade. He left Baltimore in 1883, and settled at Washington
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City, and after clerking for a while formed a partnership with J. P. Her- mann, opening a furniture establishment in 1885. Mr. House is at the head of the establishment in this city, which deals in furniture, car- pets, draperies, stoves, table-ware, and in fact everything necessary to the complete furnishing of a house, and the business is principally done on the installment plan. Though comparatively a new comer, he has proved himself a live and energetic young merchant, and is entitled to a prominent place as such among Wheeling's citizens. Mr. House is a member of the Junior Order of American Mechanics, Knights of the Golden Eagle and Order of Elks, and socially is highly esteemed.
John A. Howard, prosecuting attorney of Ohio county, W. Va., was born in Steubenville, Ohio, May 27, 1857, the son of John and Mary (McGarrell) Howard, both natives of Ireland. The father came to America when about nine years of age, and lived at Johnstown, Penn., until he had grown to manhood, when he settled in Steubenville. He came to Ohio county in 1858, and resided upon a farm in the county until 1868, when he removed to Wheeling, where he died in 1887, at the age of fifty-eight years. His widow, who came to this country at twenty years of age, now resides at Wheeling, in her fifty-fifth year. The children of these parents were eight in number, four sons and four daughters, and all are living but one daughter. The subject of this mention, John A. Howard, was reared in Wheeling and was edu- cated in the public schools. While a boy he found employment in the glass works, and during a portion of the time he was engaged in learning the trade of glass blowing he found time to take a commer- cial course in Frazer's Business college. He was engaged in the glass works until 1883, when he was given a clerkship in the office of the secretary of state. In May, 1885, he went to Charleston as the pri- vate secretary of Gov. Wilson, and while acting in the latter capacity he embraced the opportunity to read law in the governor's office, and was admitted to the bar at the capital. In 1887 he entered the Uni- versity of Virginia, and took a course in law, and on the following January, began the practice of his profession at Wheeling, in partner- ship with Hon. J. B. Sommerville, the firm being known as Sommer- ville & Howard. The office which he at present holds he was elected to in the fall of 1888 as the candidate of the democratic party, and took charge of on the Ist of January, 1889. Mr. Howard is prominent among the young attorneys of the city.
W. B. Howell, proprietor of the Howell House, one of the popular hotels of Wheeling, is a son of Squire John W. Howell, who was a prominent man in his day in Pennsylvania. The latter was a colonel in the Pennsylvania militia, and for twenty years discharged with ability the duties of a justice of the peace, being always elected in the face of an opposing political majority of considerable magnitude. He resided for some time at Claysville, Penn., and subsequently removed to McConnell's Mills, near Cannonsburgh, where his death occurred in March, 1881. His wife died about twenty years before his decease. Of the ten children born to them, six survive. W. B. Howell was
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HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY.
born in Washington county, Penn., in 1850, and was reared and given his education in his native county. Before he was of age he engaged in the marble business at Cannonsburgh, and remained there ten years, coming at the end of that time, in 1879, to Wheeling, where he took the position of manager of the marble business of Black Bros. In 1882 he and a brother embarked in the same business on their own account, and continued the same until 1884. In 1885 Mr. Howell leased the Green Hotel building and rebuilding the same, and hand- somely refitting it, opened to the public the Howell House, which he has made a first-class hotel and has found that his enterprise meets with substantial approval by the public. The hotel has fifty-six rooms, and in both cuisine and lodging accomodations, is of rank among the best. Mr. Howell was married in 1883, to Mrs. Lingeman, of Wheel- ing, by whom he had one child, Blanche, who is deceased.
The Howell family is one of the oldest and most distinguished of American families, members of it having from time to time been very prominently identified with the United States army and navy, and also with state government. Andrew Allen Howell, the subject of this biographical mention, was born in the state of New Jersey, July 26, 1821. His boyhood and youth were spent in the city of Philadelphia. In 1841 he removed to Uniontown, Penn., where he was engaged in the stage business with his uncle, Lucius W. Stockton. In 1844, after the death of his uncle, he removed to Wheeling, where he continued in the stage business until 1847. In the latter year he formed a part- nership with Henry K. List and William H. Stelle, in the wholesale grocery business, in which he was occupied until 1859. At the expira- tion of this time he was compelled to retire from active business life on account of failing health. Mr. Howell had a successful business career during the twelve years he was engaged in the grocery business in Wheeling, and his forced retirement was not only a misfortune to himself, but to the entire business community. He has been and is now associated with various important enterprises, being a stock- holder in the Riverside Iron works, the Benwood Nail mill, several different banking institutions, and a large stockholder in the Wheel- ing Bridge Co., of which he is a director. Mr. Howell was married in 1848, to Miss Sarah W. Paull, daughter of Thomas Paull, a descend- ant of an old and prominent family, and 'an uncle of Judge James Paull. Five children have been born to this union, they are: Allen S., living in the vicinity of Wheeling; Richard L., minister in charge of Grace Episcopal church, of Sandusky, Ohio, Thomas P., of Philadel- phia, where he was recently admitted to the bar; William P., a student of medicine at the university of Pennsylvania; and Sallie P., wife of Earl W. Oglebay, of Cleveland, Ohio, president of the First Na- tional bank of West Virginia. Andrew A. Howell is descended from revolutionary ancestry on both sides of his family. His father, Major Richard L. Howell, served in the American army during the entire war of 1812, and was in the Canada campaign. He was a vol- unteer on board Commodore Perry's ship in the victory on Lake Erie, and his brother, William B. Howell (the father of Mrs. Jefferson
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