The Hover Family of Allen County, Ohio

CYRUS H. HOVER, farmer, P. O. Kempton, was born in Trumbull County, Ohio, March 5, 1822, and came to Allen County with his parents in 1838, locating at Lima, where he entered on his career of life in 1846, commencing in the foundry business. In 1850 he removed his business to Delphos, where he remained thirteen years. He then purchased a farm in Amanda Township, and turned his attention to agricultural pursuits. The greater portion of his farm was at that time wild and uncultivated, but now it is under a state of cultivation, being second to none in his township. Mr. Hover was married August 4, 1847, to Martha Past, who was born in Knox County, Ohio, August 7, 1827, and this union has been blessed with eleven children: Elizabeth C. (wife of Rev. Philip Lemasters), Laura (deceased), Joseph O. (deceased), Mary E. (wife of R. H. Gamble), Charles A., Kate P. (wife of D. H. Crites), Bryant G., Minnie L., Florence, Ada L. (deceased), and Mattie J. Mr. Hover is a man of sound judgment, honorable and upright to a fault in all business transactions, and is one of the most influential as well as substantial farmers of his township. He is a stanch advocate of the principles of the Republican party. Religiously he and his family are identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

JAMES A. HOVER, farmer, P. O., Lima, was born near Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio, April 1, 1828; son of Joseph and Caroline (Adgate) Hover, natives of Pennsylvania, who were married February 7, 1809. Joseph Hover located in Trumbull County, Ohio, in 1802 and in 1833 came to this county, settling in Shawnee Township, on the farm now occupied by our subject, and here lived and died. Joseph and Caroline Hover had eight children: Eliza M., deceased wife of Rev. John Alexander, a missionary in this county in the interest of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1833-34 (she died May 27, 1852, aged forty-one years), Josiah C. (died September 24, 1834, aged twenty-six years), Julius A. (died June 29, 1843, aged twenty seven years), Joshua B., Cyrus H., William U., James A. and Joseph O. (died April 23, 1851, aged twenty years). The paternal grandfather of our subject was Manuel Hover, a native of New Jersey, of German descent, captain of a company during the war of the Revolution, and a pioneer of Trumbull County, Ohio, where he lived and died; the maternal grandfather of our subject was John Adgate, also a pioneer of Trumbull County, Ohio. James A. Hover was reared in Shawnee Township, this county, from five years of age and was educated in the country schools. He has resided on the old homestead since 1833, with the exception of two years spent in Lima, Ohio, (in which city he was engaged in the milling business) and two years in California, where he went in 1849, and while there was engaged in mining. He has been twice married, his first wife, whom he married April 6, 1852, being Isabel K., daughter of Thomas and Catharine (King) Ferguson, of this county, and by this union were born three children: Ida A. (Mrs. W. H. Breese, born April 29, 1853), Alma A. (Mrs. D. C. Ford, born March 16, 1856), and Cyrus A. (born August 27, 1860). His second wife, to whom he was married, March 8, 1865, was Nancy, daughter of Matthew and Elizabeth (McKibben) Dobbins, of Lima, Ohio, and by her he has one child, Alfred C., born December 23, 1865. Mr. and Mrs. Hover are members of the Presbyterian Church. In politics he is a Republican.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

OSCAR HOVER, one of the leading and influential men of Lima, vice-president of The Lima Trust Company and The Hall & Woods Company, operating the Model Mills, interested in many other enterprises, and for years closely identified with the oil developing in the Ohio and Indiana fields. He was born at Lima, April 19, 1850, and is a son of the late William Ulysses Hover.

The father of Mr. Hover come to Lima among the early settlers, locating here in 1833, when the present city of some 22,000 people was represented by only eight families. Migrating from Trumbull County, Ohio, he established a foundry and tin-shop at Lima, but subsequently engaged in farming and devoted the remainder of his life to agricultural pursuits. His death occurred in 1896.

J. Oscar Hover was educated in the public schools of Lima, and of Shawnee township, his entrance into business life being as a clerk in a mercantile establishment of his native city. After an experience of five years, he became associated with his brother, T. L. Hover, under the firm name of Hover Brothers, in a general mercantile business at Cridersville, Ohio, which was successfully continued for 25 years. In 1897 the brothers sold their business in order to give their attention to the oil interests in which they had commenced to invest in 1887. In that year they assumed ‘the first leases in the vicinity of Cridersville, and to them is mainly due the development of the rich oil field of Auglaize County. Mr. Hover also became interested in the oil field in the neighborhood of Geneva, Indiana. At one time they operated 100 wells in Ohio and Indiana, and of that number still retain 50. In 1897 Mr. Hover removed to Lima, where he has a pleas- ° ant home and has ever since been connected with the city’s business and civic life.

In 1878 Mr. Hover was married to Ella Brown, who is a daughter of the late Hon. D. I. Brown, formerly a prominent attorney and Democratic politician at Ottawa, Ohio. Mr. Brown served three terms in the State Legislature—first during the Civil War, and again from 1876 until 1880—and died in 1901. Mr. and Mrs. Hover have one daughter, Hazel. Mr. Hover is connected with several fraternal organizations, and is prominent in business and social societies.

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

DAVID EZEKIEL HOVER, a well-known resident of Shawnee township, where he carries on general farming and stock-raising on his estate situated in sections 14 and 15, was born November 22, 1837, in an old Indian cabin in Shawnee township, and is a son of Manuel Hover.

Ezekiel Hover, the grandfather of our subject, with his brothers, Emanuel and Joseph,’ who at an early date had removed from Pennsylvania to Trumbull County, Ohio, settled in Allen County in May, 1833. All married members of the Adgate family. The children of Ezekiel and Sarah (Adgate) Hover were: Emanuel, born May 18, 1808; Maria Belinda, born December 15, 1809, who married Abraham Boyd; Sarah Ann, born February 9, 1818, who married Amos Alvord; Caroline, born March 28, 1814, who died young; St. Clair, born September 13, 1815; Charles Adgate, born May 13, 1818; Newton, born December 18, 1820; Columbia Ann, born October 7, 1827, who married George Lathrop; and William Ulysses, born March 18, 1830.

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Ann. The latter was "born in August, 1839. She taught school at Lima in 1861. and 1862, married John. Hanson and died in 1881.

In 1840, at the death of his father, David E. Hover went to live with his grandfather, residing with the latter and an. uncle until 1860. On December. 18th of this year he married Susan Boyd, who was born in Mahoning County, Ohio, and died in 1886. She was a daughter of- John Boyd, who moved from Mahoning to this county. The five children of the above marriage were: Charles Adgate, born November 22, i86i„who resideson a farm adjoining hisfather; Frank- M., born October 13, 1863, who died October 8, 1865; a third child, who died in infancy; Margaret Arina, born March 3, 1868,. who resides at home; and Howard B., born March 3, 1868, who is a druggist at Lima.

After their.marriage Mr. and Mrs. David E. Hover commenced housekeeping in the old Shawnee Council House, but two years later came to the present farm in sections 14 and 15. The land was partly, cleared, but Mr. Hover has made all the improvements. He has given much attention to the growing of sheep, and shortly after the Civil War, in 1870, sold wool at 90 cents a pound. He is one of the township’s reliable citizens, and at various times, has been appointed to a number of honorable positions. Since 1895 he has been a trustee of the Children’s Home. He is secretary and clerk, as well as trustee, of the Shawnee Cemetery. Politically he is a Republican, and cast his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln.

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

CHARLES A. HOVER, merchant, Spencerville, a son of Cyrus and Martha (Past) Hover, was born in Delphos, Ohio, October 25, 1856. He was raised on a farm, and having obtained a fair education in the common and academic schools, taught more or less for several years. His first business enterprise was at Spencerville, with R. H. Harbison, to whom he sold out his interest after fifteen months’ partnership. In August, 1883, he purchased a stock of groceries and again embarked in mercantile business, and in February of the year following, took in as partner J. M. Biner; Their trade is steadily on the increase, as a result of close attention to business and the courteous manner in which they attend to the wants of their customers. Mr. Hover was married September 21, 1881, to Miss Mercy E., daughter of James and Jennie (Baker) Sunderland, born in Auglaize County, Ohio, March 28, 1856. They have been blessed with one child, Mercy W., born March 1, 1884. Mr. Hover is a member of the K. of P., Lima.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

CHARLES ADGATE HOVER, one of the prominent farmers and representative citizens of Shawnee township, resides on his valuable farm in section 14, which adjoins that of his father. Mr. Hover was born in the Shawnee Council House, on the home place, November 22, 1861, and is a son of David Ezekiel Hover and a member of one of the oldest settled families of the county.

Mr. Hover has been a resident of Shawnee township all his life and since his school days has been actively engaged in agricultural pursuits. He owns 67 acres in section 14,. which farm he operates himself, also assisting in the operation of the homestead.

On February 29, 1888, Charles A. Hover, was married to Jennie McCoy, a daughter of Alexander H. and Margaret A. McCoy, of whom extended mention will be found elsewhere in this work. Mr. and Mrs. Hover have two children, viz: Myra Ethel, born August 30, 1892; and Harry Howard, born May 20, 1895.

Mr. and Mrs. Hover commenced housekeeping in an old log cabin which stood on the farm at that time, but in 1891 their present comfortable residence was built. All of the substantial improvements, to be seen here on every side, are the result of Mr. Hover’s own industry — with the exception of the orchard,

-: which was set out by his father many years ago. In the patent to his farm of 67 acres, Mr. Hover possesses a very valuable and interesting document. It was given first to Griffith Breese, passed then into the Hover family, and bears the signature of Andrew Jackson, President of the United States in 1835-. -

Like his father, Mr. Hover is identified with the Republican party. He has taken little interest in politics, but his active participation in educational matters is evidenced by his present membership on the School Board. In religious faith he is a Methodist.

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

HOWARD B. HOVER, pharmacist, controls one of the largest drugstore in the city of Lima, his business having a very favorable location at No. 38, Public Square. Mr.

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Bo FE. DHOMAS within 1,000 yards of the old Shawnee Council House, on the first ground cleared by the Indians.

The Hover family claims Scotch descent, but the founders of it in the United States sailed from Holland. The American forefathers were John, Emanuel and Peter, who probably settled in New Jersey some time prior to the Revolutionary War, in which they all participated. John Hover was killed by the Indians in the early period of the conflict, and Emanuel Hover, the head of the branch from which our subject sprung, was a captain under Washington.

Ezekiel Hover, the great-grandfather of our subject, removed in 1800 from Sussex County, New Jersey, to Western Pennsylvania, and then to Trumbull County, Ohio, in the Western reserve. In 1833 he located in Allen County as one of the first settlers. His son, Emanuel Hover, was born in the Western Reserve and accompanied the family to Allen County. In 1836 he returned to Trumbull County, there married Margaret Carlisle and then returned to Allen County, locating first in Amanda township and later removing to Shawnee township. Two children were born to him and his wife: David Ezekiel and Sarah Ann (Hanson) the latter deceased in 1881.

David Ezekiel Hover, was born in the cabin of the Shawnee chief, Pht, in Shawnee township, in 1837, but he was mainly reared in Trumbull County. In 1859 he returned to Allen County. He resides in Shawnee township near Lima and is a member of the board of trustees of the Allen County Children’s Home. He married Susan Boyd, and to them were born five children, of whom Howard B. and his twin sister, Margaret Anna, are the youngest.

Howard B. Hover was reared and cdneated in Shawnee township. His literary training was obtained at the Ohio Normal University at Ada, where he also took a course in pharmacy. He then entered the drug-store of Mr. W. M. Melville, and in 1893 became connected with Mr. Truesdale, at Lima. In 1897 he purchased Mr. Truesdale’s entire interest and has not only continued the business, but has greatly enlarged its scope. He is recognized as a reliable pharmacist and compounded of prescriptions and an enterprising and honorable business man. His professional standing is evident by his close association withthe leading drug organizations of the country; he is a member of the National Association of Retail Druggists, and the Ohio State and Lima pharmaceutical association, and has served as secretary of the last named body.

In 1897 Mr. Hover was married to Florence Fisher, a daughter of George Fisher, who is a hardware merchant of Auglaize County. They are members of the Lutheran Church. Mr. Hover’s fraternal connections are with the Elks and Knights of Pythias.

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.