HOSFORD, ABRAM P.

HOSFORD, PERKINS CARTER, DAVIS, BONNEY

Posted By: Administrator
Date: 10/3/2001 at 22:04:58

From the book "The History of Clinton County Iowa" by L. P.
Allen (1879) Pages 669-697
Biographical Sketches of Clinton Residents

ABRAM P. HOSFORD, President of the Clinton Lumber Company; is a native of Orange County, Vermont, and is a son of John and Lydia (Perkins) Hosford, and was born Dec. 8, 1811 ; he attended the common schools of the neighborhood, and afterward received a thorough and practical course of instruction, both literary and scientific, in an academic institution intermediate between the common school and college; when 19 years of age, he engaged in teaching, and continued for five years; in the fall of 1836, he left home and started for Chicago, coming from Buffalo by lake; owing to the lateness of the season, he could come no further than Toledo, or where the city now stands; from there, he continued his journey on foot to La Salle Co., Ill., where he determined to settle; he walked back to where Toledo is now located, and, taking twenty-eight pounds of baggage on his shoulders, returned to La Salle Co. on foot, averaging thirty-five miles daily for the entire distance and requiring some seven days to accomplish the journey. He began making a farm, built a log house, and, in 1837, married Miss Julia C. Carter, daughter of Joel Carter, of New York; she died Jan. 24, 1844. He continued in agricultural pursuits, adding to his original purchase until he owned between seven hundred and one thousand acres of land, finely improved; in 1853, he disposed of his interests in Illinois, and, in 1854, he came to Iowa and located in Black Hawk Co.; in 1857, he established himself in Lyons, Clinton Co., and built a saw-mill; in 1859, he removed his saw-mill to Clinton, and the firm of Miller & Hosford continued until 1866, when he purchased Iris partner's interest, and, the same year, organized the Clinton Lumber Company, a majority of the stock being held and owned by himself; the mill having a capacity of manufacturing, annually, 15,000,000 feet of lumber, independent of a large amount of lath and shingles, employing 125 men and boys. Mr. Hosford. in addition to his extensive lumber business, is President of the Union Iron Works, which do an extensive business, and is also President of the Clinton Paper Company; he is actively identified with tine interests of the city and county. He is a Republican in politics, and is a consistent member of the Congregational Church. On the 10th of September, 1844, Mr. Hosford, while living in La Salle Co., Ill., married Priscilla N. Davis, a native of Maine; she died Feb. 13, 1863. He was again united in marriage to his present wife, Lucy M. Bonney, from St. Lawrence Co., N. Y., May 10, 1864. He has three children living, two daughters and one son.