Abraim P. Hosford, Clinton

ABRAIM P. HOSFORD, capitalist and lumber merchant, and one of the pioneer settlers of Iowa, was born in Orange county, Vermont, on the 8th of December, 1811. He is the son of John and Lydia Perkins Hosford, whose ancestry is among the most respected and earliest in that state. His paternal grandparent, Joseph Hosford, and likewise his maternal grandparent. Colonel Perkins, were both soldiers in the war of independence, and were highly esteemed in their day for their sterling integrity and disinterested patriotism. On his father's side his pedigree is of Welsh origin, his ancestors having emigrated to this country during the first settlement of the old Plymouth colony.

He was educated principally in common schools of his neighborhood, but subsequently received a thorough and practical course of instruction, both literary and scientific, in an academic institution, intermediate between the common school and college.

Having devoted the usual number of years, allowed New England youths, to qualify himself for the duties of life, at the early age of nineteen he engaged in teaching, and during the following five years made this his special vocation. He seems to have been remarkably gifted as a teacher, and his fitness for that pursuit was widely known and duly acknowledged. He possessed the happy faculty of making study attractive to the youths committed to his care, and his success as an educator may be attributed to the accuracy and thoroughness with which pupils were required to work, and above all, to the active sympathy between himself and his scholars.

In the fall of 1834, having long entertained the desire to visit the west, he left home, and on foot traveled throughout several of the southern counties of New York, possibly with the intention of locating, and also for the purpose of obtaining information regarding the country. His impressions of the various points examined not being satisfactory, he retraced his steps and finally returned to Vermont by way of Utica and Albany. His pedestrian powers were amply tested on his return route by a walk from Syracuse to Utica in one day, a distance of fifty-two miles.

In the fall of 1835, having devoted the previous winter in teaching school in New Hampshire, he again visited the west as far as Ohio, and after having engaged in teaching during the winter of 1835- 36, in Fairfield county, returned to his home in Vermont.

The west, with its rolling prairies, elysium fields and attractive climate, still haunting his imagination, he resolved to pass the following summer at the old venerated homestead, and then, after taking farewell of the parental mansion and the loved ones within its hospitable walls, to turn his face to the setting sun, and follow, for the third time, "the star of empire westward."

Having gathered together all the little worldly gear he possessed, he left home finally for the last time, and turned his steps toward Chicago, then the great Mecca of the entire west, as his point of destination.

The lateness of the season, at the time he embarked at Buffalo in a vessel for Chicago, intercepted the voyage, and he was left at the mouth of the Maumee river, where the city of Toledo is now located. Leaving his baggage at this point, he continued his journey on foot to La Salle county, Illinois, where he determined to settle. Having definitely decided upon the above location, he walked back to the Maumee river, and taking twenty-eight pounds of his baggage on his shoulder returned to La Salle county on foot, averaging thirty-five miles daily for the entire distance, and requiring some seven days to accomplish the journey. Such feats need no comment, they are their own commentators.

The history of his agricultural career in this locality; his progress, step by step, in opening up the virgin soil; his subsequently extensive investments, and, as years passed on, his costly improvements, vying with many an eastern establishment, all related in minute detail, would be exceedingly interesting, not only in each particular itself, as exhibiting the material growth and development of that locality, but also as showing the ability and energy, as well as business capacity and indefatigable industry and perseverance, of him who planned and achieved it all. But the studied brevity of this sketch will not permit in detail their introduction.

Soon after locating himself in this vicinity he built a log-house, and in 1837 married Julia C. Carter, daughter of Joel Carter, formerly a resident of New York. He subsequently built a commodious frame-house, and still later a large barn. During the following five years he added to his original purchase of two hundred and forty acres four hundred and eighty acres more, making his entire estate seven hundred and twenty acres.

In 1853, having found a favorable opportunity, he disposed of his entire landed property in this vicinity, with all the personal property, reserving only some twenty acres for his own use and convenience. This closing up of his agricultural business, with the intention of seeking some more genial occupation, was the necessary result of his growth of mind and unconscious mental development. His life required greater mental activity than agricultural pursuits could give, and thus a vague unrest of an unsatisfactory existence weighed heavily upon his spirits, and daily increased. Those who will study the philosophy of the human mind will learn that only in the midst of pressing activities and responsibilities is there either peace or happiness. Having dispossessed himself of all his material interests in Illinois, he located himself, in 1854, in Black Hawk county, Iowa, and during the subsequent three years was actively engaged in various enterprises, and especially in securing the removal of the county seat from Cedar Rapids to Waterloo.

While a resident of Waterloo his public spirit was manifested in the organizing of schools and churches and other public improvements.

In 1857 he established himself in Lyons, Clinton county, Iowa, and built a saw-mill. After having manufactured a large quantity of lumber the business prostration of the entire county during that financial crisis prohibited any sales, and in 1858 he returned to Waterloo.

In 1859, while his partner devoted himself to the mutual business interests in Waterloo, the subject of this sketch removed his saw-mill from Lyons to Clinton, Iowa, and the firm of Hosford and Miller continued in successful operation, increasing and extending its business during the following seven years.

In 1866 the company was mutually dissolved, A. P. Hosford having purchased the entire interest of his former partner. Soon after, during the same year, the Clinton Lumber Company was organized, a majority of the stock being held and owned by A. P Hosford.

In 1867 he took an active interest, and likewise a stock interest, in the Dubuque Lumber Company, and in 1868 became an active participant in the Clinton Paper Company. He is president of the I Clinton Lumber Company, and also of the Clinton Paper Company.

In 1870 he purchased the entire property of the Union Works for fifty-one thousand dollars, the original cost of which was seventy-two thousand dollars.

In all these varied business establishments he furnishes employment for not less than one hundred and seventy-five men. The amount of lumber manufactured annually is from thirteen to fourteen million feet, independent of the daily manufacture of thirty thousand shingles and eleven thousand lath, besides the productions of the planing machines.

As a developer of the resources of the west, great credit must be awarded to him. It is through the agency of men of his nature and energy that the material interests of our country are forwarded and expanded. He is emphatically a self-made man. His career has been most successful, and the problem of life may be said to be solved in his own experience. He ground his wealth out of poverty.

As a public-spirited citizen, few men have done more to advance the general interests of the community than he, and during his long business career he has been an active and liberal patronized of useful institutions. Every public improvement has found in him a quiet but influential advocate, and he has ever shown his readiness to extend substantial aid to all projects calculated to benefit the community.

In politics, he is a republican, although not a partisan. He has no sympathy with party "hacks" who make politics a trade.

In person, he has a strong and vigorous constitution of a solid, compact organism and a clear and active intellect; his countenance is pleasant and agreeable; his manners courteous and affable to all, indicating benevolence, generosity and kindness.

In religious matters, he belongs to the Congregational church, of which he is a valuable and conscientious member.

Source:

The United States Biographical Dictionary and Portrait Gallery of Eminent and Self-Made Men. Iowa Volume.

Chicago and New York: American Biographical Publishing Company, 1878