BIOGRAPHY: Hitchcock, Arad
From the A.T. Andreas Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Iowa, 1875

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     Judge ARAD HITCHCOCK.  - Judge Hitchcock is of a family of four 
brothers and four sisters; his ancestrage dating back to the early New 
England stock.
     His career, from early boyhood, has been one full of incidents, 
both startling and amusing, varying from the rough experiences of 
pioneer life in the West to the comforts and luxuries attendant on a 
residence in the Puritan New England States.  Being possessed of a 
large amount of vitality, a firm and compact physical organization, and 
a hardy constitution, in all trials and all circumstances his 
indomitable will-power, indefatigable energy, constant perseverance and 
industry combined have carried him through safely and successfully.  To 
him the City of Osage and its citizens owe a debt that can be paid only 
by the lasting remembrance of the great services he has rendered in all 
matters of public interest tending to the growth and prosperity of the 
town.  In all matters of benevolence one have given more largely, in 
matters of charity none more willingly, and in public enterprises has 
not only been instrumental in founding the proudest institutions of 
Osage, but to his energy and unsparing assistance they owe their 
completeness.  To no one man does it owe more, if as much, for being 
the county town and for its business prosperity.  Blocks he has built; 
business houses; founded financial enterprises; has been most 
influential in securing railroad communication; and been untiring in 
every effort to advance it; honorable in his connections, and unsparing 
of aid and assistance.
     In fact, he has been one of the pioneer guard of enterprise and 
sterling worth that left behind the pleasant enjoyments and social 
comforts of the Eastern States to build up a prosperous country, a 
promising young city, and at the same time without injury or disregard 
to the rights and feelings of his fellow-men, accumulate a competency 
on which to comfortably retire and witness the fruits of his labors.
     All this Judge Hitchcock has done, and retains the respect, 
confidence, friendship and deepest regards of his fellow-citizens of 
Mitchell County, and, as well, all Northern Iowa; and this department 
would be incomplete without his name appearing among the representative 
men that have built up to its present importance the great State of 
Iowa, and placed it in a position where its future will secure its 
development as one second to none in the Union. 
     Judge Hitchcock was born at Westfield, Orleans County, Vermont, 
October 21, 1800. He received a common-school education, and remained 
in Vermont until twenty years of age, when he struck out for the then 
'far West' alone, and settled for a time at Mount Vernon, Knox County, 
Ohio, where he taught school during the Winter, and during the Summer 
worked at his trade as a carpenter.  In July 1832, he performed a 
journey that well displays the disposition of the man, that, no matter 
how difficult a task he might have before him, his determination was to 
succeed.  He traveled from Mount Vernon, Ohio, to Hennepin, Putnam 
County, Illinois, a distance of nearly six hundred miles on foot, and 
completed the journey at the end of sixteen days.  How could a man at 
twenty-one years at the present time contemplate such a journey?  At 
Hennepin he worked at his trade, and  built the first store in that 
town.  He worked about Hennepin until October 28, 1832, when he took a 
steamer and went to St. Louis, thence up the Ohio to Mount Vernon, 
suffering severely with fever and ague.  In the Winter of 1833, he 
taught at the same school house he had the Winter before, and in May he 
returned to Vermont, bought a farm and was there married to Miss 
Matilda Buren.  Then for a time he made quite frequent changes for one 
of his character of determination and endurance.  After a two years' 
residence in Vermont, he moved to Mount Vernon, Ohio; lived there two 
years returned to Vermont; bought a farm.  Three years after he went 
into a mercantile line of life and opened a hotel in Vermont, and three 
years after sold out and moved to St. John's, Lowe, Canada.  There he 
conducted the hard ware business for almost a year and a half, when he 
sold out to his brother, returned to Westfield, Vermont, bought and 
settled on the old homestead.  After a three years' residence there he 
sold out, went to Troy, Vermont, opened a store and conducted a hotel.  
At the end of one year sold out all his interests in Vermont, and in 
1855 came to Iowa and settled at Osage, Mitchell County.  In the Spring 
of 1856 his family arrived, and he settled on a farm three and one-half 
miles southern from Osage, which place he still owns.  Since his 
residence here he has held the office of County Judge one term, and in 
1865 was instrumental in the organization of the Osage National Bank, 
of which he was for a number of years, President.  He has dealt largely 
in real estate and cattle and continues in a vigorous and busy business 
life.