HINE, FRANK, one of the oldest and most worthy citizens of Jacksonville, Morgan County, Ill., now living in retirement, was born in New Haven, Conn., July 2, 1832. He is a son of Thomas and Harriet (Cole) Hine, natives respectively of Seymour and New Haven, both in Connecticut. Thomas Hine was born April 21, 1801, and followed the occupation of a carriage maker until 1852, when he located in Morgan County. His wife was born June 6, 1803, her father having served as a musician in the Revolutionary War. On arriving in Morgan County, Thomas Hine bought a farm three miles west of Jacksonville. Some years before his death he relinquished active work, spending his winters in Jacksonville, and his summers in Martha's Vineyard, Mass., where he died in September, 1884. His wife passed away at New Haven, in 1876.
In boyhood, Frank Hine received his early mental training in the public schools of Ohio, to which State his parents had taken him in 1838. At the age of fifteen years he became a salesman at Akron, Ohio, and was thus employed for two years. His parents then moved to LaFayette, Ind., where he continued for three years in the same occupation. In 1852 the family located in Morgan County, the young man working on the home farm until the fall of 1862. At that period he was appointed Chief Clerk in the Illinois Institution for the Deaf, and served ably and faithfully in that capacity until 1893. During this long period of thirty-one years Mr. Hine discharged the duties of this important position with zeal, energy and fidelity. After leaving the institution he traveled for two years, and then retired to live with his son, Frank, on a small farm east of Jacksonville.
On December 18, 1860, Mr. Hine was united in matrimony with Jane Bradshaw, of Hancock County, Ill., a daughter of Joel and Catherine (Dixon) Bradshaw. Three children were the issue of this union, namely: Harry Clinton, who was born October 20, 1861, and died April 22, 1872; Hattie Catherine, born January 14, 1863, died December 13, 1894; and Frank, before mentioned, who was born June 1, 1865.
Politically, Mr. Hine is a supporter of the Republican party. In fraternal circles, he is identified with the A.O.U.W. Religiously he is a member of the State Street Presbyterian Church of Jacksonville, in which he has been a Ruling Elder for fifteen years, and was Sunday-school teacher and Superintendent for a considerable period. Such lives as that of Mr. Hine are wellsprings of salutary influence in the community which is so fortunate as to harbor and honor them.