John Payne Hovey

Two men who came to Tacoma in 1881, John P. Hovey and William H. Harris, were destined to have a considerable share in the community business in the years to come. They came on the Idaho, a short vessel that had the reputation of guaranteeing seasickness no matter how calm the sea. She rolled in all directions. When Mr. and Mrs. Hovey climbed the "202 steps," with their two children, they were struck by the roughness of the place. There was not a graded street and scarcely a leveled lawn. Hovey became manager of the merchandise department of the Hanson, Ackerson & Co. mill, and he opened a clearing in the woods to build an eight-room house where the present fine home of Mr. and Mrs. George Dickson now stands. In after years this house was removed to the lower side of Tacoma Avenue, between Tenth and Eleventh streets, where it remains. Hovey cut a trail between his home and Old Tacoma and walked. He was the pioneer in that section of the city, now the center of the city's best residence district.

Bibliographic information:

• Tacoma, its history and its builders; a half century of activity
• by Hunt, Herbert, b. 1869
• Publication date 1916
• Publisher Chicago, Ill., The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
• Contributor New York Public Library
• Possible copyright status NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT
• Copyright-evidence Evidence reported by rebecca.m for item tacomaitshistory01hunt on February 22, 2008: no visible notice of copyright; stated date is 1916.
• Pages 748
• Page 274
• https://archive.org/details/tacomaitshistory01hunt/page/272/mode/1up

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1277

John Dustin Hovey, Esq. 8, born in Londonderry, N. H., June 19, 1821. He was a teacher and lawyer. He married Susan Cotton, daughter of Norman and Lydia Payne in Marietta, O., April 27, 1845. She was born in Marietta Oct. 10. 1825; and died at Milford, O., Jan. 14, 1888, aged sixty-two. He died in Milford Dec. 19, 1898, at the age of seventy-seven.

Their children were born as follows:—

1816— I. Laura Dustin 9, born March 20, 1846, near Cincinnati, O.: married John Yakey at Goshen, O.; died Feb. 5, 1902, and was buried at Milford, O.

1817— II. John Payne 9, born Aug. 31, 1847, near Milford, a suburb of Cincinnati. See family numbered "1817."

1818— III. Maria Rhoda 9, born Feb. 12, 1850, near Cincinnati; married Isaac Jefferson Grimes at Belton, Mo.; and died at Waverly, Kan., Nov. 21, 1899, aged forty-nine.

1819— IV. Annie Cushing 9, born Sept. 17, 1852, at New Albany, O.; married Isaac Newton Anderson at Goshen, O.; and died at Madisonville, O., Sept. 27, 1897, aged forty-five.

1820— V. Franklin Stark 9, born Aug. 21, 1855, at New Albany; married Sadie Baldwin at Belton, Mo.; and lives at Alexandria, Minn.

1821— VI. Nannie 9, born Nov. 20, 1857, at New Albany; married Anson Henry Baldwin at Ottawa, Kan.; and lives at Long Beach, Cal.

1822— VII. Charles 9, born April 23, 1860, at Batavia, O.; died Aug. 12, 1860.

1823— VIII. George Milton 9, born Aug. 10, 1861, at Batavia; died at Perins Mills Sept. 23, 1865, and buried at Zion Church, Clermont county, O.

1824— IX. Virginia E. 9, born April 3, 1864, at Zion Church; and died there April 3, 1865.

1825— X. Florence A.9, born Feb. 2, 1866, at New Boston, O.; married William J. Alford at Ottawa, Kan.; and lives at Winfield, Kan.

1817

John Payne Hovey 9, born near Milford, Ohio, Aug. 31, 1847. His early education was obtained at Batavia, O., and in the high school at Russellville, O. At the age of sixteen, he went to Nashville, Tenn., and was appointed messenger in the department of quartermaster of the Union army, under Gen. George H. Thomas. He continued in the service until the close of the war, when he returned to Russellville, and finished his education. He then went to Frankfort, Ky., where he taught school for about two years. Returning again to Ohio, he accepted a position in the store of W. F. Curtis & Company at Marietta, and two years later went back to Russellville. There he formed a partnership with John D. Seip, in the general mercantile business. In 1871, he removed from there to Lafayette, Ind., and engaged in the dry-goods business until 1877, when he went to Kansas. He located in Wichita and engaged in the loan business, being appointed agent for the Kansas Loan & Trust Company of Boston, and was later connected with the mercantile establishment of George Y. Smith & Company. In the spring of 1881, he removed to Tacoma, Wash., traveling by steamer from San Francisco, and has lived there ever since. At Tacoma he was employed by the Tacoma Mill Company as manager of its store. which was operated as an adjunct to its extensive lumber mills.

Mr. Hovey built up the business to large proportions, not only locally, among the retail trade, but also an extensive jobbing business throughout the Puget Sound country. In 1887, he withdrew from mercantile business, and engaged in the real estate and loan business, which he still carries on. For some time he was in a partnership in this line with Thomas L. Nixon and A. C. Brokaw. Buying Mr. Nixon's interest in the business, Hovey & Brokaw conducted a successful business until 1898, and since that date Mr. Hovey has carried on the business alone. Having made large purchases of city property, farms and timber lands throughout the state, his operations of late years have been mostly in his own property. He was one of the organizers of the National Bank of Commerce of Tacoma, and has at various times held the office of director.

Mr. Hovey married Rebecca Meharry, daughter of John A. and Margaret (Bower) Miller at Russellville March 12, 1871. She was born in Russellville Aug. 9, 1850. They worship at the First Presbyterian church of Tacoma.

Their children were born as follows:—

2121—I. Arthur Miller 10, born Jan. 10, 1873, at Russellville. See family numbered "2121."

2122— II. Ivy Susan 10, born March 27, 1879, at Wichita; graduated from the University School of Music, Ann Arbor, Mich.. in 1902; married James Grimes, son of Capt. Asa Betts and Amelia (Grimes) Fitch of Los Angeles, Cal., Oct . 31, 1906, at Tacoma. He was a student of the University of Michigan. Child: 1. Robert Hovey 11, born July 12, 1907, at El Paso, Texas.

2123— III. John Miles 10, born July 19, 1887, at Tacoma.

Bibliographic information:

• Title The Hovey Book: Describing the English Ancestry and American Descendants of Daniel Hovey of Ipswich, Massachusetts
• Author Daniel Hovey Association
• Publisher Press of L.R. Hovey, 1914
• Original from the University of Wisconsin - Madison
• Digitized Jan 8, 2008
• Length 487 pages
• Pages 344 and 390
• https://books.google.com/books?id=-VVVAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&...

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KZ98-27N