Abraham Hine, Jr.

Source: Vol 4th Historical & Biographical Collections by C.C. Bronson of Tallmage ABRAHAM HINE The town of Milford in New Haven County, Conn. was one of the oldest towns in the State. The original settlers were mostly from the counties of Essex and York, England. And they settled in Milford Conn in 1639. Many decendants of these old Puritan Planters have and are residing in Tallmadge. Among the settlers of Milford we find the name of Thomas Hine; about 1648 there was a famous battle fought between the Milford Indians and the Mohawks. The Mohawks were defeated and a stout captive, was stripped and tied by the Milford Indians in the Great Meadow (salt marshes) for the muquitoes to eat and torment to death. But he was discovered and relieved by a man named Thomas Hine. This man may be the first of the name in this country. The Rev. Sylvester Hine, a Cong. minister of Conn. has a genealogy of the Hines, commencing with Thomas Hine of Milford. It would be desirable to trace the genealogy of the Hines to the families of Abraham, and Aaron Hine who both settled in Tallmadge, Aaron in 1817 and Abraham in 1820. We can, I think, very reasonably infer that these brothers were lineal decendants of Thomas Hine. Their fathers.name was Abraham Hine, was born in the town of Milford, where he lived all his life. He was by trade a shoemaker, he married Sarah Bristol, and lived north of Milford town, a mile where they raised a family of ten children, all lived to middle life. Abraham Hine Sen. died in June of 1811. Abraham Hine Jr. was born in Milford Jan. 4th, 1775. His education like others of that period was all obtained in the common schools, and limited at that. The education of the people in Connecticut was looked upon with deep interest, but their means were so limited that if they could read and spell, and write and understand enough of arithmetic to keep accounts, they had to be satisfied. Mr. Hine on arriving at his majority, 1796, there being no other prospect before him but to earn his own livelihood and lay up for future use and to obtain a home. This inspired him with hope and as he had examples before him of those who had begun life as he was compelled to had risen to comfortable circumstances and even affluence. He in accordance with the idea of helping himself went and hired out to Capt. Jonah Treat, a wealthy farmer living in that portion of the old town of Milford, now called Orange. He worked for sixty dollars a year. In the early spring of 1796, Capt. Jonah Treat, being in want of a girl to assist in the house work, he employed a Miss Abagail Ann Elton, and in the fall of 1796, Mr. Hine and Miss Elton were married. The Elton family settled in New Haven at an early day. Her father William Elton, the son of Ebenezer Elton was by trade a tailor and he settled in that part of the town of Bristol, which by act of the Legislature in 1806 was set off for a township and called Burlington. Mrs. Hine was born in Burlington, Nov. 16th, 1775. They continued to work for Capt. Treat, and Mr. Hine, bought an acre of land, and then three acres, on which he built a house and by their industry, close economy and strict honesty, they were able to raise a family of seven children and lived to see them all settled in life. Mr. Hine being a healthy man he was subject to Millitary durt, when the law demanded that every able bodied man from the age of 18 to 45 should perform millitary duty unless legally discharged, Mr. Hine enlisted into a company of Grenadiers in Milford, and his health permitted him to be with this company at all their trainings untill near the time his age would exempt him. In 1817, his brother Aaron Hine, having disposed of his farm in what is now the town of Orange, and designed to move his family to Tallmadge, then the County of Portage, Ohio. Mr. Abraham Hine, came with them to see the country, with a view of removing his family, if the appearance of country was favorable. Having arrived safely at their destination, on the 14th of July, 1817. He was pleased with the country and he was not long in making up his mind that for the benefit of his three sons, who would soon arrive at manhood, and as he and Mrs. Hine had confered on the subject of changing their place of residence for the good of their children. Mr. Norman Sackett had bought of Col. Benj. Tallmadge of Litchfield Conn. Lot 1 in Tract 12 on which he had cleared some acres, built a log house, he liking the land and Mr. Sackett being willing to sell, Mr. Hine bought the farm and returned to Conn, to his family. Mr. Hine remained in Conn. untill he disposed of his place and he made his preparations for the journey before them. Their team consisted of two yoke of oxen and one horse, and a waggon of sufficient strength and capacity, which made a good Yankee team, and good for the 2,500 pounds of chattel, besides the live weight with which their waggon was laden. A11 being in readiness they on the 23rd of May, 1820 bid adieu to their native place and the scenes of childhood, and all their early associations and left for their new home, and new associations in Ohio. The family enjoyed their usual health and nothing occurred while on the road, but such incidents as are common to all emigrants, and arrived in Tallmadge on the 27th day of June after a journey of 35 days. Mr. and Mrs. Hine from their earliest childhood had been taught that labor was necessary in order to obtain a living and as they had not been born in affluence, and as neither of them had any expectations of the first dollar by inheritance, their prospects by some would not be looked upon as very flattering. But thanks to our free government, the door is open for all to pursue their chosen path to wealth, honor and happiness in a lawf ul way. This course Mr. and Mrs. Hine pursued to carve out their own fortune by honest industry and strict economy and that indomitable perseverance that insures success. His family were instructed by presept and example to pursue the same course of life and all have succeeded. His sons inform me thak when they left Connecticut, their Fathers real and personal property was valued at 1,400 dollars. On their arrival at the somewhat delapidated log cabin in the woods, and not a dwelling in sight in any direction , they were not appalled at the prospect before them, but went to work with the full determination to make the wilderness a fruitful field. Health, industry, perserverance, and prosperity crowned their efforts with abundant success. Mr. Hine was under the necessity of drawing logs over two miles to a saw mill to obtain lumber for his buildings. His barn was the first frame building erected on Tract 12, which was built in 182? which is still standing (1877). His house, he built of brick in 1830 in which he lived untill his death. They were able by their uniforms good health to perform labor to some extent through life. He continued the oversight of his farm and other business untill his death. Mrs. Hine also had the control of household affairs untill she broke up housekeeping after his death. They were quiet and peaceful in their intercourse with their fellow men; they had great reverance for religion and the Sabbath, always attending meetings regularly and help support the preaching of the Gospel and other objects of benevolence. And they were always ready to help the needy and distressed, As his children became disposed to go forth and form other family relations, they were ready to assist them in setting their own houses. Mr. Hine late in life, made a public profession of religion by uniting with the Cong. Church in Tallmadge April 6th, 1834. Mrs. Hine never made a profession but the well ordered life may have been as acceptable in the eye of him who is omneicient as some who are professors. On the 27th day of June 1870, it being the fiftieth anniversary of their arrival in Tallmadge, the sons and daughters had a reunion at the house of D. A. Hine in Middlebury. An account was given in the Summit Beacon of July 20thr 1870 from which I will make a few extracts. "The younger members of the family, were all taken down with the measles the day after their arrival, but soon recovered. The family went to work in earnest, having settled on a wilderness farm of 147 acres. In common with the early settlers of Tallmadge who vied with each other in seeing who could clear up the woods the fastest, they did not wish to be outdone by their neighbors. In 1849, after an absense of 29 years, Mr. Abraham Hine and his wife Abagail went to Conn. and visited in their native towns of Milford and Burlington, their respective native places. The changes were great but they enjoyed their visit among the scenes of their early life and they remarked on their return that it seemed to them that the stones had grown to be much larger than they were when they left in 1820. They are so situated with the exception of one of the sisters (Mrs. Margaret Wolcott of LaGrange Ia.) that they can meet together and make a visit and return to their homes the same day. They talked over the past and brought to mind many of the scenes which in those early days and years they have enjoyed as a family. The hopes, the joys and some of the sarrows, which have since experienced. After the repast they were all weighed, the average weight of the family being 156 pounds. The average age is 63 years and 8 months. The average height of the brothers is five feet nine inches. The avera e hight of the sisters is five feet three inches". Mr* Abrafam ~ine after spending a long life, a useful and respectable member of the societies in which he lived, died on the 14th of April, 18561 aged 81 years. Mrs. Hine in consequence of the infirmities of age, did not think it best to keep house any longer; she went to live with her daughter Julia, the wife of Jonathan E. Minard of Revenna; where she spent the remainder of her life. She died in Revenna on the 22nd day of NOV, 1863, aged 88 years.

THE CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM AND ABAGAIL A. (ELTON) HINE I - Alvan, born July 16thl 1797 Died Oct. 8th, 1813, aged 16 I1 - An infant son Died I11 - William, born July 22nd, 18011 Died June 27, 1888 aged 87 IV - Margaret, born Nov. 12th, 1803 V - Daniel, born May 23rd, 1806 VI - Dennis A., born April llth, 1808 VII - Abigail Ann, born Oct. 28th, 1809 VIII - Julia, born May 2nd, 1811 IX - An infant son, born Oct. 16th, 18131 Died Nov. 12th, 1813 Agea 26 days X - Louisa, born June loth1 1816 MARRIAGES Wm married Phila Mela Root, Dec. 24th, 1823. Lives in Tallmadge Margaret married George Wolcott Daniel married 1st Sally Carruthers, Sept. 16th, 1830. He married 2nd Mrs. Sarah (Titcomb) Cleaves of N. Yarmouth, Me. May 1871. Lives in Tall. Dennis A. married Lucy Ann Smith Dec. 29th, 1831. Lives in Middlebury Abagail A. married N. S. Sherman, April 22nd, 1835, is a widow lives in Coventry. Julia married Jonathan E. Minard April 19th, 1836. Lives in Revenna . Louisa married Charles A. Collins Jan 16th, 1839.