Howard County IN Archives Biographies.....Hoon, Adolphus E. 1828 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/in/infiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com April 21, 2006, 4:35 pm Author: Jackson Morrow ADOLPHUS E. HOON. It is not an easy task to describe adequately a man who has led an eminently active and busy life and who has attained a position of relative distinction in the community with which his interests are allied. But biography finds its most perfect justification, nevertheless, in the tracing and recording of such a life history. It is, then, with a full appreciation of all that is demanded and of the painstaking scrutiny that must be accorded each statement, and yet with a feeling of satisfaction, that the writer essays the task of touching briefly upon the details of such a record as has been that of the honored veteran and venerable subject of this sketch whose eminently honored and successful career now comes under review. Adolphus E. Hoon is one of those sturdy and thrifty foreign citizens, who have been of such great value in the upbuilding of our country. He was born January 27, 1828, on the Atlantic ocean. while his parents were emigrating from Germany to the United States. His father was John Hoon, a native of France, and his mother, Mary Snyder, a native of Prussia, in which country they were married and from which they emigrated to America. John Hoon had the distinction of being Napoleon's chief bugler in the great armies of France, serving under Napoleon in several campaigns. He was a noted musician. After coming to America he organized a band in Philadelphia, where the family first settled after coming to this country. He later organized the first band known in Pittsburg. He died in the latter city, where he had gone to attend a celebration, leaving his family on the farm in Butler county. When news was sent the family of his pending death, they made an effort to reach Pittsburg but arrived after the end had come to the noted musician. This was in 1828, the same year he landed in America. He was a member of the Lutheran church. He and his good wife were the parents of the following children: Charles, William, Christopher, Caroline and Adolphus. After the death of John Hoon his widow settled in Sarvestville, Pennsylvania, with her father, who was Nicholas Snyder, a native of Prussia and a tailor by trade. She raised her children by hard work as a seamstress and dressmaker. She married a second time, her last husband being Godfred Frank, a tanner, by whom she had five children, namely: Mary, Christian, Edward, a soldier; Emily and Charlotte. Our subject remained with his mother until he was ten years of age, when he went to Pittsburg to learn the tinner's trade, but the work was not suited to his nature, so he returned home and in 1838 he was taken to Paris, Kentucky, through the kindness of a friend of the family. Here he worked three years learning the cabinet maker's trade. He then went to New Orleans. After working there awhile he came back to Pittsburg, later going to Philadelphia and New York City, also worked in many places in Kentucky, remaining there until 1873, having become an expert at his trade and making considerable money in the meantime. In the year mentioned above he came to Kokomo, Indiana, where he engaged with Alexander & Kelly, furniture manufacturers. This firm failed and the subject got control of the factory, which he successfully operated for two years, then the Hunt Brothers bought the plant and he has since worked at the carpenter's trade and contracting, but of late years he has been retired from active business, feeling that he has earned a just respite from life's arduous duties. He made a success at all his work as a cabinet maker, being regarded as one of the best in the country, for which he was always well remunerated. Mr. Hoon was united in marriage in 1849, at Ruddles Mills, Kentucky, to Emily McClintock, who was called from her earthly labors three months after her marriage. The second marriage of the subject was solemnized in 1854 with Josephine E. Bauder, who was born in Utica, New York. She passed away in 1900, after becoming the faithful mother of eight children as follows: Charles E., deceased: Francis is a preacher: Orian, deceased; Caroline Emily is the wife of Brice Williams, of Kokomo: Elmer lives with his father: William Lincoln Grant lives in Kokomo: Harriet is deceased: Alice Hope is the wife of Edwin Baugher. Mr. Hoon during the dark days of our nation's history showed his patriotism and pride in the stars and strips by enlisting in her defense, having rendered the Union forces valuable service at the battles of Nashville, by assisting in the fortifications. He also rendered inestimable service while in the engineering department of the Cumberland. The subject has been a life long Republican, and he has been a local minister in the Methodist Episcopal church for many years, having accomplished a great amount of good in this manner. He has been an active worker in this denomination during the major part of his life. He is a faithful member of the Masonic lodge and he is a Knight Templar. He is a strong temperance man, having taken the pledge as early as 1849 and has kept the same ever since. In all the relations of life Mr. Hoon has been found faithful to every trust confided in him, and because of his genuine worth, courteous manners and genial disposition he has won and retains the warm regard of all with whom he associated, the latter including the best people of the county. Additional Comments: From: HISTORY OF HOWARD COUNTY INDIANA BY JACKSON MORROW, B. A. ILLUSTRATED VOL. II B. F. BOWEN & COMPANY INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA (circa 1909) File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/in/howard/bios/hoon359nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/infiles/ File size: 6.1 Kb