Johnson County << 1893 Index
Poweshiek County
Iowa County

Portrait and Biographical Record of Johnson, Poweshiek and Iowa counties, Iowa
Chicago: Chapman Bros., 1893.

H

Unless otherwise noted, biographies submitted by Dick Barton.

James P. Hedges, our subject, is a venerable and esteemed citizen of East Lucas Township, who lives surrounded by stalwart and worthy sons, who have profited by his good teaching and example. He was born in Fayette County, Pa., February 27, 1817, being the son of Joseph b. Hedges, a native of Berkeley County, W. Va., who was reared in that State, and went to Pennsylvania, where he married, dying at the early age of twenty-five. His mother, Elizabeth (Piper) Hedges, a native of Pennsylvania, died at the age of seventy, in Delaware County, Iowa, at the home of our subject, having after the death of Mr. Hedges married Benjamin Dorsey, of West Virginia.

Our subject is the first and only child of his mother, and was reared and educated in his native county. He came to Iowa in 1857, locating in Delaware County, and remaining there until 1870, when he came to Linn County, three and one-half miles from Cedar Rapids, where he owned a farm of five hundred and sixty-seven acres. Disposing of this, he came to Johnson County in 1871, and bought a farm of three hundred and forty- three acres, four miles southeast of Iowa City, which he still owns. Then, in 1872, he bought the farm of one hundred and five acres where he now lives.

Mr. Hedges was married December 22, 1840, to Sarah A. Barton, a native of Fayette County, Pa. Her father was a large mill-owner on Redstone Creek and a man of prominence in his community. Mr. and Mrs. Hedges are the parents of nine children, four daughters and five sons, viz: Joseph, Jane, Arthur, James, William, Charles, Aramintha, and Elizabeth D. and Rachel, both deceased. Mr. Hedges is carrying on the farm with the help of his sons. He is a man of activity and energy, considering his years. His political record is unbroken, his Democracy dating back from the beginning of his manhood. He remembers most pleasantly the fact that the old hero of New Orleans once bestowed upon him a graceful bow, the recollection being the more pleasing in that Gen. Jackson was the leader of the party he so heartily supports.

An evening spent with our subject would be a very profitable one, he having not only a store of rich experiences, but he is also a man who has read a great deal and thought much. He talks well and is never at a loss for an idea or a word. Our subject is a kind, considerate, charitable man, sociable and hospitable. He is keenly alive to the issues of the day and in sympathy with the movement of mankind to a better and happier estate. His life has been an industrious and economical one, and he now enjoys in comparative case the fruits of past labors.

SAMUEL H. HEMSTED submitted by Merrilee Miller

SAMUEL H. HEMSTED, a successful agriculturist, leading business man and junior partner of the widely known and prosperous firm of Andrews, Ohl & Co., is an honored citizen of Graham Township, in which part of Iowa he had resided for nearly a half century. His pleasant home is located upon section 14, where he owns a fine farm of two hundred and forty acres under and excellent state of cultivation, and well improved with substantial and commodious buildings.

Our subject was born December 19, 1837, and was but four months old when his parents removed to Ohio, where they settled due north of Columbus. In this locality Mr. Hemsted spent the first six years of his life. In 1844 his parents again made a change in their location, then journeying to the West and finding a permanent home in Johnson County, Iowa, entering into agricultural work in what is now Newport and Graham Townships. From nineteen years of age Mr. Hemsted was entirely self supporting, and was then engaged in farming, giving his entire attention, up to 1880, to agricultural duties and stock dealing.

September 1, 1880, Samuel H. Hemsted engaged in business with William Andrews and Alfred R. Ohl, being the third partner in the highly successful firm of Andrews, Ohl & Co., dealers in stock, grain, lumber, seeds, wagons, agricultural implements, buggies, harness, coal and rock salt. Although mainly occupied by the cares of daily business, our subject continues the cultivation of the farm, the homestead annually yielding excellent returns for the labor expended in the tilling of the soil. Mr. Hemsted comes of good old Pennsylvania stock, and possesses the sturdy virtues of his ancestors. His father, Frederick W. Hemsted, was born in Pennsylvania, and his mother Elizabeth Akers, was also a native of the Quaker State. They came to Johnson Co., in the fall of 1844, and after many years the mother died in Graham Township, about 1884, but the venerable father still survives.

Our subject has been thrice married. His first marriage gave him a faithful companion Miss Eliza Thompson, a native of Ohio. By this union Mr. Hemsted became the father of two children: Mary L. and Emeline. Mary L. Is the wife of W.F. Hindman. Emeline is Mrs. C.E. Endsley. Mrs. Eliza Hemsted died in May, 1864. The second wife of Mr. Hemsted was Miss Mary J. Haddock, a native of Ireland, who bore her husband five children, of whom four are yet living. Oscar, Agnes, Guy and Lillian. The eldest child of the second family, Jennie, died in childhood. Mrs. Mary J. (Haddock) Hemsted passed away in the spring of 1879, in Graham Township.

The present wife of our subject was Mary E. Grimes, a native of New York State, who was born in Troy. Mr. and Mrs. Hemsted are the parents of two children, Ellen and Mabel, bright and intelligent young daughters.

Our subject, although a very busy man, finds time to inform himself regarding the affairs of the day, and takes a special interest in both local and national issues. Highly respected for his sterling integrity of character, courteous in his bearing and affable in manner, Mr. Hemsted has in social, business and political relations the happy faculty of winning and keeping friends, and has received from his constituents and neighbors various offices of trust, the duties of which he has discharged to the universal satisfaction of his fellow citizens and co workers in the public cause. From his very earliest years closely associated with the advancement of the best interests of Johnson County, and an earnest advocate of progress and reform, our efficient subject long ago attained a high position in the regard of the general public.

George A. Hitchcock, an energetic and leading citizen and successful agriculturist of Scott Township, Johnson County, Iowa, has since February, 1882, been intimately associated with the best interests of his locality, and for many years has discharged with efficient ability the duties of Town Clerk and Assessor. Mr. Hitchcock is a native of New England, and was born in Maine, in the town of Yarmouth, eleven miles northeast of Portland, July 6, 1851. He was the fourth in a family of nine children born unto his parents, Gad and Mary E. (Davis) Hitchcock, long-time resieents of Maine, in which State the mother was born, the father being a native of Massachusetts. Our subject spent the early years of his life in Yarmouth, and in his birthplace received a good common-school education. An intelligent and ambitious boy, he determined to try his fortunes in the West, and as sixteen years of age, bidding adieu to the scenes of childhood, departed for Iowa.

West Liberty was our subject's first location, where he worked out as a farm laborer for nine months. He then came to Johnson County, and engaged in agriculture in Scott Township for the succeeding three or four years and then returned to Yarmouth, Me., where he found ready employment as a painter and continued in this line of work for three years and a-half. During this period of time Mr. Hitchcock was united in marriage in Yarmouth, November 17, 1874, with Miss Adalaide S. Tolman, a native of Maine. Mrs. Hitchcock was the second in order of birth of the three children of Reuben and Marilla (Seabury) Tolman, both natives of New England. Mr. Tolman was born in Massachusetts and died in his native State, in Sharon. Mrs. Tolman was born in Maine, and passed away in the State of her nativity. Our subject and his estimable wife, Adalaide, became the parents of three children: Laura E., Edwin T. and Florence W., bright intelligent and winsome little ones.

In January, 1876, Mr. Hitchcock and his wife journeyed to Johnson County, and made their home in Iowa City for a few months, then, removing to east Lucas, settled in the agricultural district, where our subject again resumed his former occupation of a tiller of the soil. In the early part of 1882, they removed to Scott Township, which has since been the continuous residence of Mr. Hitchcock, whose first wife passed away in Scott Township, December 19, 1889. Out subject contracted a second marriage in Washington, D. C., September 21, 1892, then wedding Mrs. Delia M. Pettis, widow of the late Andrew Pettis (who died in Scott Township) and a daughter of the late Ira Lincoln, and sister of Mrs. Pardon Alderman. Ira Lincoln was an earnest, energetic and upright man of New England birth. He located with his wife and family in Scott Township in 1865, and remained there continuously until his death, January 15 1881, when he passed away mourned by a large circle of friends and relatives. His wife, Cynthia (Tracy) Lincoln, had preceded him to the better land January 1, 1880. Mrs. Hitchcock was the mother of two children by her first marriage: Jennie J. and Christina R.

Our subject takes an active part in local politics and is a public- spirited citizen and a prominent factor in the promotion of home enterprises and improvements. In his conduct of office he has given universal satisfaction and rendered faithful service to the community of the township. He is a valued member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and has a host of friends within and without this time-honored order. Mrs. Hitchcock, an intelligent and accomplished lady, occupies a social position of usefulness and influence. Devoted to the cultivation of the fine homestead located upon section 23, Mr. Hitchcock enjoys but little leisure, yet few people are more thoroughly posted in the affairs of the day, or do their full duty as true American citizens more efficiently than our subject, who possesses the regard and esteem of the general public.