BIO: James W. HUM, Beaver County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja & Joe Patterson Copyright 2005. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/beaver.html http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/beaver/bios/bbios.htm Index for this bio book. _________________________________________________________________ BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES. This Volume Contains Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Beaver County, Pennsylvania. Buffalo, N.Y., Chicago, Ill.: Biographical Publishing Company, 1899, pp. 333-337. _________________________________________________________________ JAMES W. HUM, deceased, an early resident of Beaver, Beaver county, Pa., was for many long years a very prominent business man of Western Pennsylvania, conducting a large wholesale and retail lightning-rod house at No. 19 Market street, Pittsburg, Pa. He was born in Deerfield township, Columbiana county, Ohio, February 16, 1827, and was a son of David and Mary Ann (Hickox) Hum, and grandson of Jacob Hum. Jacob Hum, with a brother, early in life emigrated from their native country, Germany, and settled in Ohio, where he worked at his trade, that of a hatter. He established a business at Columbiana, Columbiana county, Ohio, but subsequently engaged in the same line of work at Salem, Ohio. He formed a matrimonial alliance with a lady of Scottish birth, and those of their children who grew to maturity were named as follows: David; John; Jacob; Adam; Margaret; and George. Mr. Hum lived to reach the advanced age of eighty-three years. David Hum, the father of James W., was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, and at Columbiana followed his father's business for some years. Later in life, however, he became a merchant of Lisbon, Ohio, where he died when eighty years old. His first wife's maiden name was Mary Ann Hickox, who died at thirty-six years of age, leaving the following offspring: Angelina (Hatcher); James Winnard, who married Margaret Briggs; Richard Winchester, an early settler of Lowellville, Ohio; Columbus C., who resides near Toledo, Ohio; Martha (Throne), of East Palestine, Ohio; and Elizabeth, deceased. By his second wife, Rebecca Thorn, Mr. Hum had one son, John. His third wife's given name was Esther, and his fourth union was with Mary Silverthorn. James W. Hum left home at the age of ten years to live with his uncle, John Hum. He remained with him until he reached the age of fourteen years, when he obtained employment on a steamboat on the Ohio River, as a cabin boy. Later he learned the trade of boat 334 BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES carpenter, a vocation for which he was naturally well qualified. Subsequently he established himself at Bridgewater, and displayed considerable genius by manufacturing fanning mills, by the means of which grain, then threshed by hand, could be cleaned. His business became very prosperous, and he employed a large number of hands, as his product was extensively used in Western Pennsylvania. The lightning rod business next claimed his attention, and he was one of the founders of the American Lightning Rod Company, of Philadelphia, in 1849. The western section of the United States was his exclusive territory, and he established a wholesale and retail store at No. 19 Market street, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Under successful management the business expanded, and, in 1882, he took his son, Edward Knox Hum, into partnership with him, and they continued together until 1892, when the subject of this sketch retired from active labors. It was in 1868 that he built the handsome residence in which his widow now lives, and he also owned considerable valuable realty in Bridgewater and Beaver at the time of his death, which occurred March 17, 1895. He was a man of high principles, a loving husband and a fond father, and his friends throughout the state were very numerous. James W. Hum formed a marital union with Margaret Brigs, a daughter of Henry and Mary (Westcoat) Briggs. Henry Briggs was born in Dighton, Mass., and was a son of Matthew and Cecelia (Reed) Briggs, and a grandson of Matthew Briggs, a blacksmith by trade, who came to this country from England. Matthew, Jr., was born in Dighton, Mass., and was also a blacksmith, following that vocation all of his active days. By his first wife he had three children, as follows: Matthew; Elizabeth; and Deliverance. By a second marriage, with Cecelia Reed, he had five children, namely: Henry; Nancy; Mary; Joseph; and Cecelia. Henry Briggs, the father of our subject's wife, learned the trade of a blacksmith, and, in 1836, removed to Western Pennsylvania, locating in South Beaver township, Beaver county. He purchased a farm, and, in addition to general farming, was engaged at his trade all of his active life, but lived his last days in retirement, dying at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Hum, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. His wife survived him several years, and died at the remarkable age of eighty-nine years. She had made several trips to her native state, Massachusetts, and had returned from one of these trips but two months before her death. Their children were: Henry, who died young; Mary; Julia; William; Elizabeth; Margaret; and Spencer. Mr. and Mrs. James W. Hum were the parents of the following: Henry Thornton, now of Pike county, Ill., who first married Josephine Blake, by whom he had one child, Harry C., and second, married Elizabeth Hughes, by whom he had one child, Carl D.; Edward Knox, whose life is also recorded in this Book of Biographies; Mary Elizabeth, deceased, the wife of Frank Robinson, by whom she had one child, Lois; James Weston, BEAVER COUNTY 337 a farmer of Columbiana county, Ohio, who married Matilda Hineman, and had the following children, - Edward K., Guy H., Mary A., Martha T., James W., and Wayne A.; Fred Cook, deceased, who married Florence King, by whom he had a son, Forrest, deceased; Arthur Westcoat, an electrical engineer, of Bridgewater, who married Mary Doing, deceased; and Margaret Mott, the wife of Samuel P. Provost, a flour manufacturer and merchant, of Pittsburg. Politically, our subject was a Democrat, and was a public-spirited man. He was also a Mason, and was a charter member of St. James Lodge, F. & A. M., at Beaver.