Genesee County MI Archives Biographies.....Hitchcock, Lyman J. 1832 - 
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Author: Chapman Bros. (1892)

LYMAN J. HITCHCOCK. This prominent old settler who is now filling the office of
Superintendent of the Poor of Genesee County, has been on the Board for live
terms of three years each. He makes his home at Flint and is one of the
directors of the First National Bank. He owns a fine property in Genesee
Township, comprising three hundred and forty acres in all.

  Mr. Hitchcock was born at Henrietta, Genesee County, N. Y., then known as
Monroe County, August 23, 1832. His father was Lyman and his grandfather Bethuel
Hitchcock and the latter was a soldier in the War of 1812. Four of his sons
joined him in the army, leaving at home to carry on the farm only two small lads
of eight and ten years. The father never returned but the sons came back.

  The father of our subject farmed on the old place in Henrietta and in 1833
removed to Chautauqua County, N. Y., where he engaged in farming. In 1850 he
sold his property and went back to Alabama, Genesee County, where he carried on
farming until his death, which occurred in November 1890. In his politics he was
first a Whig and later a Republican.

  The mother of our subject bore the maiden name of Sarah Cabot and she was born
in Fairfield, N. Y. Her father was from Connecticut and at an early day removed
to Herkimer and then to Monroe County, N. Y. This family traces its descent from
one of the famous brothers John and Sebastian Cabot, the explorers. The mother
of Lyman Hitchcock died in New York, in 1884, at the age of eighty years. She
had ten children, eight of whom grew to maturity and four of them are now living.

  Lyman J. Hitchcock was reared upon his native farm in Chautauqua County until
he reached the age of eighteen years and attended the district schools with
regularity until he was fourteen years old, after which he had their benefit
only in the winters. At the age of eighteen he returned to Genesee County and
helped his father during two winters in clearing fifty acres of new land, and in
the summers he worked out for neighboring farmers, receiving from $14 to $16 a
month, the highest wages then paid.

  After reaching his majority this young man undertook various jobs, one of
which netted him $500 in the course of the year. He put one-half of this sum in
the bank and the other half into his pocket and in 1854 started on a western
trip. He visited Dubuque, Iowa, which was as far as the railroad went in those
days, and then started out on foot, and walked about a thousand miles through
Minnesota and Wisconsin. At LaCrosse he found his pocket-book empty and began
work as a stage driver and afterward as a dealer in horses but returned home in
December of the same year. The young man now rented some land and began dealing
in stock and lands, and shipped cattle and hogs by shiploads to the New York
market, and in seven years he had accumulated $3,500, with which he bought a
house and lot in Smithville, N. Y.

  In 1865 Mr. Hitchcock sold his Eastern property and came to Michigan, locating
in Grand Blanc Township, where he bought property and located in 1866. While
living on this place he was several times elected to office but declined to
qualify.

  Removing to Grand Blanc he undertook the grain business and built the first
elevator there, and carried on this business for over seven years.

  In 1872 Mr. Hitchcock bought a farm in Genesee Township, and there combined
dealing in stock and grain with his farming operations, making Flint his
headquarters and removing to that city in 1878. He entered the firm of
Hitchcock, Kline & Co., which continued until the fall of 1889, and had the
reputation of being the heaviest dealer in grain, hay and farm produce in that
region.

  Our subject has since 1889 paid his whole attention to his farm of two hundred
and sixty acres. Here he has a fine grade of stock and an excellent orchard.
During the Civil War he furnished hundreds of horses to the Government. For
years he was one of the Directors of the Genesee County Agricultural Society.

  This gentleman was married March 5, 1855, to Mrs. Matilda P. Hitchcock,
daughter of Alvin Bam, a New Yorker who had become a farmer in Alabama Township,
and died here at the age of fifty-eight. Mrs. Bam's maiden name was Annie Sample
and her father Hugh Sample, who was of Scotch descent, was the first settler at
Sample Hill in Cattaraugus County, N. Y. The two children of our subject are
Martha J. who died at the age of seventeen years, and Effie who is a graduate of
the Deaf and Dumb Institute of Michigan, and of the Washington Heights Deaf Mute
Institute and is now Mrs. William Gibney, of Chicago. Mr. Hitchcock is a true
blue Republican and is a frequent delegate to conventions. In 1878 he was
appointed Superintendent of the Poor and under his administration matters have
been greatly improved.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

Portrait and Biographical Record of Genesee, Lapeer and Tuscola Counties,
Michigan, Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative
Citizens, Together with Biographies of all the Governors of the State, and of
the Presidents of the United States

Chicago:
Chapman Bros.
1892

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