BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, BELMONT COUNTY, OHIO

"History of the Upper Ohio Valley" Vol. II, 1890.

Presented by Linda Fluharty from hard copies provided
by Mary Staley & Phyllis Slater.

Pages 718-719.

The leading furniture and undertaking business of Barnesvllle, Ohio, is conducted by
F. W. HIBBARD, who is also one of Barnesville's most active and public-spirited men.
Mr. Hibbard is a native of Barnesville, having been born there January 26, 1844. He
graduated from the Hopedale school, in Harrison county, taking the college-preparatory
course with the expectation of entering some eastern college, but he changed his
plans and left school in 1865. His father, Hiram Hibbard, was born in Tuscarawas
county, Ohio, in 1821, removing to Cadiz, Ohio, he served a six years' apprenticeship
as a cabinet-maker. In 1843 he came to Barnesville, and established a cabinet shop,
which he afterward enlarged and conducted a furniture business in connection with
the other. He died April 5, 1868, at which time he held the office of township
treasurer, which he had filled for many years. His death left a vacancy in a large
circle of friends who loved and respected him for his sterling integrity. In 1843
he took Sarah Hamilton, daughter of Francis Hamilton, of Harrison county, to wife.
By her he had six children: E. T., a stock farmer of Hastings, Neb.; Mary F., wife
of William Reed, of Martin's Ferry; Nellie, widow of George McClelland, former editor
of the Barnesville Enterprise; John H., of Columbus, Ohio, with the Ohio Natural Gas
& Fuel company, married Miss Alice Beeson, step-daughter of W. P. Huntington, a banker
of Columbus; Jessie L., and F. W. Mrs. Hibbard married a second time, and died in
March, 1888, having survived Robert Thompson, her second husband. In 1865 Mr. Hibbard
entered the freight department of the Central Ohio division of the B. & O. railroad at
Bellaire, Ohio, where he remained until October, 1867, when he returned to Barnesville
and entered into partnership with his father. After the death of the latter he continued
the business under the firm name of Hibbard & Son, and paid his mother her share of the
profits until 1872, when he moved his business from the old stand into a frame building
which stood upon the site of his present magnificent edifice, which was completed in 1888.
It is not surpassed by any building of its size and cost in the state. Since moving, Mr.
Hibbard has conducted the business under his own name. His specialty is undertaking,
having every facility for carrying on this business in the most approved manner. Mr.
Hibbard is a stockholder in the Barnesville Glass company, the Warren Gas & Oil company,
and has served one term as a member of the town council, and if he had the disposition
to do so, could be constantly in public office, and is also a member of Barnesville
lodge, No. 185, of the I. O. O. F., and of the Warren lodge, No. 76, of the K. of P.,
and of the Robert Hilles post, No. 220, of the G. A. R., having served during the late
war in Company H, One Hundred and Seventieth Ohio National Guard. He is secretary of
the board of the "Soldiers' Relief Commission" of Belmont county. In 1866 he was married
to Miss Delia A. Ogle, at Bellaire, Ohio. Seven children were born to them, they are:
Maud 0., now the wife of Charles Heed; Claude S., associated with his father; Gale H.,
book-keeper and correspondent for her father; Blanche P., Grace C., Fay F. and Madge D.
Caleb Hibbard, grandfather of the above, was born in Chester county, Penn., in 1781, and
settled in Tuscarawas county, Ohio in 1819, near Westchester, where he purchased property
and also in Barnesville. A part of the land in the latter town is now owned by F. W.
Hibbard. He was a watch and clock-maker by trade, his grandson still has a clock in his
possession which was made by him. He married Matilda Stowe, who was a relative of John
Quincy Adams, and also of Harriet Beecher Stowe. Mr. Caleb Hibbard was a Quaker, and
was one of the first of his family to break away from its restraints, he having been
compelled by them to serve an apprenticeship of seven years at cabinet-making.