Biography - John Hitchings
John P. HITCHINGS, farmer, P. O. Raymond, was born in Onondaga County, N. Y., May 20, 1810, to John and Lydia (RAMSDELL) HITCHINGS. John HITCHINGS was born at Malden, Mass., July 8, 1773; he was a farmer; he removed to Otsego County, N. Y., in about 1800, where he remained six years, and then removed to Onondaga County, N. Y., where he remained to the time of his death, which occurred in 1852; he was married, in Onondaga, N. Y., by Jonathan A. NICHOLAS, April 18, 1809, to Miss Lydia RAMSDELL, the mother of our subject; she was born in Greenwich, Mass., September 30, 1783, and she died in Onondaga, N. Y., in 1854; they were the parents of the following children: John P., our subject, May 20, 1810; Horace V., born July 8, 1812, dead; Daniel E., February 3, 1815, dead; Jane, October 27, 1817, now of Syracuse, N. Y.; Francis, August 8, 1819, dead; Eliza, June 6, 1821, now in Syracuse, N. Y.; James, May 14, 1824, Iowa; Joseph O., August 2, 1826, died in California; Mary, December 17, 1828, Memphis, N. Y.. John P. HITCHINGS received his education at a select school, Skaneateles, N. Y.; he remained with his parents, receiving an education and assisting in tilling the soil of his father's farm; on June 13, 1831, left home and removed to the State of Vermont; there he engaged in farming, raising stock and general dairy farm. In 1834, he returned to the old homestead in New York, and remained two years; in 1836, bought a farm of fifty acres in the town of Cicero, N. Y.; remained but one year; in 1837, again returned to the old homestead for only one year; in 1837 went to Michigan, bought farm of 160 acres, and removed there in spring of 1839; here he remained until 1854, and removed to his present residence; he there bought 200 acres of wild prairie, thirty-one acres of timber; here he has since remained, engaged in agricultural pursuits; he has also taught school winters since 1830, and every winter, with the exception of three. In 1833, August 22, in Vermont, he married Miss Eliza Ann HOUGHTON; she was born at Rowe, Mass., July 3, 1815, and died in Montgomery County, Ill., in December, 1858; she had borne him the following children: Lydia M. (dead), Frances C., Henry H., Horace E., Lydia M. (No. 2 - dead), John P. (dead), Ann Eliza, Laura J. (dead), James C., Charles E., Joseph M., Leon L. Mr. HITCHINGS was elected to the House of Representatives in Michigan in 1851, and served for one term, and in his town in Michigan held the following offices: School Inspector and Supervisor, held for fifteen years; Justice of the Peace, eight years; and in Montgomery County, was first Supervisor elected to the Raymond Township, and held only term; in politics, is identified with the Greenback party; was a member of Independent Order of Odd Fellow and Grange Lodges. In 1868, he married his second wife, Mrs. Elizabeth E. KINSER, a native of Ohio, who was born in 1838. He is a member of the Universalist Church. She is a member of the Methodist Church.
Extracted 20 Nov 2016 by Norma Hass from 1882 History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois, Part 2 Biographical Department, pages 221-222.
