EMANUEL HOOVER, b 16 Jun 1824

HOOVER, GREEN, WILLIAMS, HOSE

Posted By: Donna Moldt Walker (email)
Date: 6/5/2004 at 08:10:18

Emanuel Hoover, an industrious and honest member of the farming community of Perry Township, is well worthy of representation in this Biographical Album of Jackson County. His farm on section 24 comprising 103 acres of land under excellent cultivation is situated amidst some of the most beautiful scenery in this section of the country, and he was very fortunate in the selection of such a pleasant site for a home.

Mr. Hoover comes of an honorable Holland ancestry, but is himself a Pennsylvanian by birth. His great-grandfather was a native of Holland, and at some period of his life he emigrated to this country, probably in colonial days, and settled in New Jersey. His son, Henry Hoover, grandfather of our subject, was born in the State of New Jersey. He was a blacksmith by trade, and moving to Mercer County, Pa., spent his last years there. His son, William, father of our subject, was born in that county. He became a farmer, clearing a farm from the Pennsylvania forests which was rendered valuable by the discovery of a rich vein of coal. He had learned the trade of a blacksmith of his father, and was thus enabled to be his own blacksmith. He served with credit in the War of 1812, when a young man, and returning to his Pennsylvanian home after the cessation of hostilities, continued to reside there until he closed his eyes in death, having rounded out a useful and honorable life of seventy-three years. The maiden name of his wife was Susan Jane Green, and she was born in Maryland, and died in Mercer County, Pa. She was an esteemed member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in every respect a truly good woman. Her father, John Green, was born in Maryland and was of German antecedents. During some period of his life he removed to Mercer County, Pa., and was there engaged in farming until his death. Eleven children were born to the parents of our subject, as follows: James, Katie, Tilda, John, Margaret, (all of whom are deceased), Emanual, Betsy, Mary A. and Susan J., (deceased) Perry, and Sarah.

The subject of this sketch was born near the town of Sharon, in Mercer County, Pa., June 16, 1824, and was reared on the old homestead to a stalwart, self-reliant manhood, receiving the advantages of a common-school education. At the age of twenty-one he began an independent existence and sought to earn his livelihood by mining coal and by farming. He continued to reside in his native county until 1857, when he resolved to try life in the West. Accompanied by his family he started for his destination with a team, and traversing the intervening forests and prairies, finally arrived in the western part of Illinois, and located in Hanover, Jo Daviess County. He remained there five years, actively engaged in farming, and then decided to try the same pursuit still further westward, and crossing the Mississippi, came into this State, and in Springbrook, Jackson County, rented land until 1868, when he bought his present farm in Perry Township. It was partly improved at the time, and by steady application to this work he has still further increased its value, and now has fifty acres under plow, and capable of yielding abundant harvests in return for his hard labor. The farm is well-fenced, and is watered by Brush Creek, and in the point of fertility is all that could be desired. Mr. Hoover carries on general farming, and pays especial attention to cattle-raising, and has a well-graded herd.

To the wife who has encouraged and aided him in his work Mr. Hoover was united in marriage in Mercer County, Pa., in 1846. Her maiden name was Leah Williams, and she was born in Trumbull County, Ohio. Ten children have been born of this happy marriage, as follows: Julia E. and Perry D. are deceased; George; Charles, (deceased); Joseph E. is running a grubbing machine in Perry; Samuel S., Elmer E., Blanche, Emma, the wife of Fred Hose, of Perry Township; Mary A.; the others are living at home with their parents.

Mr. Hoover is a man of true piety, whose moral, upright life is worth of emulation, and commands the respect of all with whom he associates. He is a member of the Free Will Baptist Church, and his fellow-members always find him a ready helper in their work of sustaining the Gospel. Politically, he is a strong Republican.

("Portrait and Biographical Album of Jackson County, Iowa", originally published in 1889, by the Chapman Brothers, of Chicago, Illinois.)