Mecosta County MI Archives Biographies.....Hyde, Hannibal November 5, 1810 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Jan Cortez http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00020.html#0004939 March 28, 2009, 12:55 am

Author: Chapman Brothers

HANNIBAL HYDE, farmer, resident on sec. 10, Mecosta Twp., is the son of James 
and Eunice (Puck) Hyde, 

natives of Connecticut; they settled in Vermont where the son was born in 
Orange County, Nov. 5, 1810.  

On reaching his 21st year he set out to seek his fortune.  His first exploit 
was to walk to Glens Falls, 

N. Y., 90 miles distant, and thence to Albany, but he soon retraced his steps 
and engaged in lumbering for 

a few months, finally finding regular employment on a farm at $11 per month.  
At the expiration of his 

engagement he went to wok in a saw-mill, where he was occupied some months.  
In the summer of 1835 he left 

Glend Falls with a vague determination to make his way westward.  He set out 
with several companions but 

became dissatisfied with appearances and took his own route back to 
Rocherster, N. Y., and returned to 

Detroit, via Buffalo.  In company with seven others he chartered a team to 
take him to White Pigeon, Mich. 

 Mr. Hyde with several of his fellow travelers went to Indiana, whence they 
shortly returned to Niles.  

Not yet satisfied with the outlook he continued his prospecting to St. Joseph 
County, and pushed on to 

Chicago.  His own statement is that he was "disgusted with the awful windy 
little village" and left in a 

few days for Sheboygan, Wis.  Here he was engaged eleven months in the 
management of a saw-mill.  His next 

remove was to Chicago, making the journey partly on foot and partly by sail-
boat.  He worked there a short 

time as a carpenter, then came to Muskegon Co., Mich.  He arrived in this 
State in the summer of 1837 and 

went to work on the river.  The winter following he came to Newaygo County, 
and managed a saw-mill one 

year, when he decided on a visit to Vermont, where he spent some months, going 
thence to New York, and 

thence to St. Louis, Mo., and Louisville, Ky.  This rambling existence he 
continued until 1844, when he 

married and made preparations for a permanent settlement in life.  He purchase 
80 acres of wild land in 

Newaygo County, where he lived and pursued agriculture until 1856.  In that 
year he settled in Mecosta Tp. 

 That section was then in its infancy.  The township was unorganized and 
settlers were few especially 

permanent ones.  Lumber interest invited transient comers, but for a period of 
ten years there were few 

who considered the place as having claims upon their interest, and no steps 
were taken toward arranging 

the municipal affairs of the township for five years after the settlement of 
Mr. Hyde.  He was one of the 

most active in the movement for the organization of Mecosta, as he had been in 
that of the townships of 

Newaygo County.  He is the oldest living inhabitant of his township, and his 
youngest son was the first 

white child born within its borders.

Mr. Hyde was married in 1844, to Sophia Russell, who was born in April, 1829, 
and reared in Newaygo 

County, in the vicinity of the Big Muskegon River.  Mrs. Hyde became the 
mother of seven children.  She 

was a member of the Catholic Church, and died Sept. 4, 1881.  Three children 
who survive her were borns as 

follows:  Daniel, Oct. 4, 1845; Francis E., Jan. 19, 1850; Miranda J., March 
20, 1858.  The deceased 

children were Eunice, Amanda S., Amos H. and James.  Mr. Hyde is an adherent 
to the principles of the 

Democratic party.

Additional Comments:
1883 Portrait & Bio Album of Mecosta Co.

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mi/mecosta/bios/hyde407nbs.txt

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