Hoyt, William F.

HOYT, FULFORD, CAPP, PECK, BROWN, BENNETT, HALL, LAWSON

Posted By: Volunteer Transcribers
Date: 1/31/2003 at 01:42:08

Source: "The 1901 Biographical Record of Clinton Co., Iowa, Illustrated" published: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1901.

WILLIAM F. HOYT

William Frederick Hoyt, deceased, was for many years one of the leading representative citizens of Clinton, and was successfully engaged in the insurance business. A native of New York, he was born in Oneida county, March 1, 1832, and was one of a family of seven children. Those still living are Ephraim, a resident of Des Moines, and Mrs. Lydia Fulford, Mrs. Elma Capp and Miss Thecla Hoyt, who make their home in Chicago.

During his childhood our subject removed with his parents to Marshall county, Illinois, where he grew to manhood. He received a good practical education in the public schools of that county, and also graduated from the Bryant & Stratton Business College of Chicago. H was a great reader and was well posted on current topics and the leading questions and issues of the day. He was always a very observing man, and took quite an active interest in political affairs. As a young man he represented the American Insurance company, and when he came to Iowa in 1865, organized a home company, becoming its president. Later for twenty-one years up to the time of his death, he was a traveling representative of the Hawkeye Insurance Company of Des Moines, and was one of the best posted men on insurance in the state. In addition to this he was also engaged in the real estate business, and met with excellent success in both enterprises. Mr. Hoyt was well known throughout the county as an up- (p. 119; photos p. 115-118) right, reliable and conscientious business man, and wherever he went he commanded the respect and confidence of those with whom he came in contact either in business or social life.

On the 1st of January, 1866, Mr. Hoyt was united in marriage with Miss Frances Peck, who was born in Clinton, November 11, 1846, and is a representative of one of the old and honored families of this county, being the daughter of Franklin K. and Frances E. (Brown) Peck. There are three different branches of the Peck family in America, and it is to Joseph Peck that Mrs. Hoyt traces her ancestry. He came to this country from England with others in 1638 and settled in the east. Dr. George Peck, Mrs. Hoyt’s paternal grandfather, was a surgeon in the war of 1812. He died in October, 1838, and both he and his wife were buried in the Camanche cemetery, where her maternal grandparents were also laid to rest. The father, Franklin K. Peck, was born in Rome, New York, May 10, 1812, and in 1837 came to this county, erecting the first house in Camanche. He was married in 1838 to Miss Frances E. Brown, who was born in Kentucky, April 10, 1818, but spent the most of her girlhood in Tennessee. Their marriage was celebrated in Morrison, Illinois. When the land office was opened at Dubuque, Mr. Peck entered about a half section of land, and his daughter still has the government deeds for this property. Upon this farm he continued to make his home throughout life, his time and attention being devoted to agricultural pursuits, and there he died March 20, 1888, honored and respected by all who knew him. His widow remained on the old homestead with her daughter until she too was called to her final rest in 1899. Of the fourteen children born to them only five are now living, namely: William B., a resident of Clinton; Wesley H., a physician of Chicago; Mrs. Marietta Bennett, of San Diego, California; Mrs. Elizabeth Hall, of Denver, Colorado; and Mrs. Frances Hoyt, of this review.

Mr. and Mrs. Hoyt began their domestic life upon the old Peck homestead where she has spent her entire life. They became the parents of two children, namely: Nellie Evangeline, born December 23, 1866, is a graduate of the Clinton high school and taught in the public schools of the city for twelve years. She is a lady of literary tastes, who has contributed a number of interesting sketches to periodicals and has also written poetry. She wrote the following for the Old Settlers’ picnic, the points brought out being suggested after the death of her grandmother:

The Passing of Our Pioneers

One by one they are slipping from us,

Pioneers of our middle west,
Often now we close weary eyelids

And fold the aged hands to rest.

Hands now wrinkled were once so sturdy,

Hardened young by the ax-man’s toil,
Bravely they guided the rude plowshare,

Which turned the prairie’s matted soil.

Fingers that spun the wool and linen,

Wove the homespun and garments sewed,
Washed and mended and churned and
Knitted,

Dipped the pails where open spring flowed.

Filled the kettles on crane aswinging,

Hung the spit and stirred the hoecake,
Raked forth the coals and where hearth

Fire glowed,

Smoothed the dough on a board to bake.

Lands they entered and to protect

With rifle met they Black Hawk’s braves’
Buried the dead on plain and hillsides,

And no one now knoweth their graves.

They built of logs our first school houses,

Of lumber hauled many a mile,
Made the rude benches, for the fire place

Cut oak and ash, a goodly pile.

Thankful they reared our humble churches,

Each giving labor of his mite;
There often they met for praise and prayer

By the candles’ flickering light.

One by one those voices grow silent,

Soon no more from their lips we’ll hear,
Tales of the early days recounted

Passed, the territorial pioneer.

Frances E., the younger daughter of our subject, was born November 15, 1868. She attended the public schools and also the Clinton Business College, at which she was graduated, and for seven years successfully engaged in teaching stenography there. She is now the wife of Fabian Lawson, a superintendent of the Moline Plow Company, having been married June 12, 1901, at Clinton, Iowa, but is now a resident of Moline, Illinois.

Mr. Hoyt died on the 19th of September, 1900, and in his death the community realized that it had lost one of its best and most valued citizens. He was one of the organizers and charter members of the Odd Fellows Lodge of Clinton, and was a faithful and consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church. In politics he was a Republican, but he cared not for the honors or emoluments of public office.

Mrs. Hoyt was educated at Dubuque and Lyons Seminary, and prior to her marriage she successfully engaged in teaching school in this county. Since her husband’s death she has carried on the real estate business, and in the management of her affairs has displayed remarkable business and executive ability. When young she began dealing in real estate, and has purchased and sold many town lots, besides dealing in farm property. She is well known in real estate circles as a larger dealer, and in her operations has been eminently successful. Since girlhood Mrs. Hoyt has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and is a lady of many sterling qualities.