Biography - The Hood Family
The HOOD Family. Of the ten children born to Lambert and Sarah HOOD, seven grew to mature years, and the four still surviving live in Litchfield. The family on the father's side were for several generations residents of the city of Philadelphia, where the four surviving children were all born; their mother was Welsh, coming in childhood with her parents to this country. The father was poor, and was able to support his family only by the constant labor of his hands, united with the strictest economy, and aided by his wife and older sons. In 1837, the parents, with four of the children (of whom H. H. and B. S. alone survive), removed to Alton, Ill., and afterward to Otter Creek Prairie, then in Greene, now in Jersey County. Their stay in the West was only for about eighteen months, at the end of which time they returned to Philadelphia. The mother died in 1844, and the father in 1850. Ann Hughes HOOD the eldest child, was for twenty years a teacher in the schools of Philadelphia; in 1857, she resigned her position as Principal of one of the secondary schools to accompany her brother (with whom she still lives) to Litchfield; she has been a member of the M. E. Church since her childhood. Joseph Lybrand HOOD, second child, was born August 22, 1819. In 1845, he was married to Miss Rebecca SHAPLEY, who died nine years later. Four children were born to them, of whom one died in infancy and two in womanhood; those who attained maturity were Herbert Shapley (still living), Sarah Hughes and Edith Prizer. In 1856, he left Philadelphia, and, with B. S. HOOD, engaged in the sale of drugs and books, under the style of HOOD & Brother; the successors of this firm, HOOD & Son (Joseph L. and Herbert S., are still in business. He united with the M. E. Church about forty years ago, and has been an active worker in church and Sunday school during most of that time. Humphrey Hughes HOOD, the fourth child, was born September 19, 1823. In 1848, after reading with a tutor, he entered Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, and was graduated in the spring of 1851. In the following autumn, he removed to Jersey County, Ill., where he had lived a short time during his boyhood. After teaching a winter school and having charge of a drug store in Jerseyville for one year, he removed to Hardinsburg, a village then about two miles southwest of the present site of Litchfield, and engaged in the practice of his profession. Late in the following autumn, Litchfield was laid out, and, in the summer of 1854, he removed his office to the new town. In June, 1855, he was married to Miss Matilda WOODHOUSE, eldest daughter of Charles S. JACKSON, of Jerseyville, who died January 2, 1867; by this union he had five children, of whom three survive, namely, George Perry, Sarah Frances and Annie Hughes. In September, 1862, he entered the army, with the appointment of Assistant Surgeon of the One Hundred and Seventeenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and, after one year, was appointed Surgeon of the Third United States Heavy Artillery, with quarters at Fort Pickering, Memphis, Tenn., holding that position three years, during a part of which time he was on the staff of Gen. John E. SMITH as Surgeon in Chief of the District of West Tennessee. In July, 1869, he was married to Mrs. Abigail Elvira PADEN, daughter of the late Joseph TORREY, of Springfield, Ill.; two children, both living, were the fruits of this marriage Harold Humphrey and Abigail Louise. Dr. HOOD has been three times elected Alderman of the city of Litchfield, and once Supervisor of the town of North Litchfield; the discharge of his official duties have invariably been with the most thorough and conscientious exactness, always making himself familiar with the business before him and the best method of disposing of it for the public good, before committing himself. The same traits, together with a warm fidelity to the interests of his friends, have characterized his conduct in private life. In politics, he and his brothers were originally Free-Soilers, and, since the organization of the Republican party, close adherents of the latter. Benjamin Smith HOOD, eighth child, was born in October 24, 1832; was educated in the public schools of Philadelphia; came West in April, 1852; taught school the following summer in Madison County, Ind., and afterward, till the spring of 1856, in Illinois, principally near Jerseyville, but, in the summer of 1854, in the old Lutheran Church, which stood on what is now Schere's Addition to Litchfield. In April, 1856, he, with J. L. HOOD, engaged in the drug business, from which he retired in January, 1867. Since that time, he has been a Notary Public and insurance agent. In April, 1859, he was married to Miss Mary Tanner, second daughter of Charles S. JACKSON, of Jerseyville, who died December 25, 1866; three children were born to them, of whom Mary, Louise and Charles are still living. In December, 1867, he bought the offices of the Union Monitor, of Hillsboro, and the Litchfield News, and consolidated the two under the name of the Litchfield Monitor. He sold this business in January, 1870, but again bought it in January, 1878, and has since conducted it, the last year in partnership with Mr. John G. CAMPBELL. He was Village Clerk in 1857, and at different times has filled the office of City Clerk for nine and a half years. In 1861, he served three months as private in Company D of the Seventh Illinois Volunteer Infantry.
Extracted 19 Nov 2016 by Norma Hass from 1882 History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois, Part 2 Biographical Department, pages 149-150.
