Bio, George Lorenzo Hitchcock 
 
GEORGE LORENZO HITCHCOCK, Biography / Surrey Twp, Clare Co, MI 
 
Submitted for use by USGENWEB Clare County, Michigan November 2002 
wilkinschw@aol.com 
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Portrait and Biographical Record of Northern Michigan. Chicago: Record 
Publishing Co., 1895. 
 
GEORGE LORENZO HITCHCOCK, who died March 18, 1889, at Farwell, was 
one of her most honored citizens. He was the first permanent settler to build a 
house here. With his wife and family he came to this point in January, 1871, on 
the first passenger train stopping here, and on the 14th of the same month they 
embarked in housekeeping in a log house. In the spring of 1871 he platted the 
village, and from that time onward he was foremost in whatever industries or 
local improvements were set on foot. In 1877 he built the Farwell Mills, and 
became manager of the business. He also built the first sawmill in this locality. 
Going into the timberland, he picked out the wood to be used in the construction 
of his home.  
 
James Hitchcock, the father of G.L., was a native of New England, but in 1828 
removed with his family to Columbia, Tenn., where he died, leaving three 
children, of whom our subject was the eldest. Nancy E., the only daughter, is now 
Mrs. Chapman, a resident of Huntington, Ohio. The youngest, John S., is now 
living in Manhattan, Kan. The family were left in very straitened circumstances. 
As the mother had near relatives in Ohio, she removed with her children to Lorain 
County in 1834. She bore the maiden name of Lorinda Foot, and, like her 
husband, was a native of New England. 
 
The birth of George L. Hitchcock occurred in Watertown, Conn., January 28, 
1825. He was only three years old when taken to Tennesee, and was nine years 
old when his family removed to Ohio. He was early obliged to go out in the world 
and make his own living. He earned his first $15 by working for five months at $3 
per month, at an employment which was very distasteful to him. He learned the 
carpenter's trade, and when only in his eighteenth year planed the lumber and 
built a house therewith at Huntington, Ohio. Though his educational privileges 
were meager, he made the most of his opportunities, and attended Oberlin 
College to some extent. 
 
Mr. Hitchcock became interested in railroading about 1849, and was engineer on 
the Baltimore & Ohio Road for two years. As he did not believe in working on 
Sunday, he left that company and took a position on the Cleveland, Columbus & 
Cinncinnati Railroad. He had charge of the construction train which built the 
Cleveland, Norwalk & Toledo Railroad, and in recognition of his ability he was 
made engineer on the first train which went between Cleveland and Toledo, and 
was presented with a Bible by the citizens of Oberlin, Ohio, on that occasion. 
 
In 1857 Mr. Hitchcock first came to Michigan, and, in company with his brother, 
ran a drug and book store at Owosso for eleven years. In 1868 he went to 
Isabella County, and three years later, with his family, came to Farwell, as 
previously stated. In 1851 he had married Martha, daughter of Edmund F. and 
Martha (Smith) Hall, who with her family removed to the territory of Michigan in 
1833. She was born in Waterloo, N.Y., August 25, 1826, and was married in 
Wayne County, Mich., May 21, 1851. A Republican in politics, Mr. Hitchcock was 
the first Treasurer of Clare County, and served as such for two terms, besides 
holding many local, yet more or less important, public positions. He was an 
enthusiastic worker in the temperance cause, and from 1847 until the end of his 
life was a member of temperance societies. In character he was generous and 
strictly honorable in all his dealings, and though an enterprising and shrewd 
business, never overstepped the limites of right and justice. He was always 
regular in his attendance at the services of the Congregational Church, of which 
he was one of the organizers, and rarely failed to be present during the sessions 
of the Sunday-school and at the prayer-meetings.