THE ELDER SOLOMON HOBBS, born in the cabin of one of the earliest settlers where now is Cincinnati, Ohio, and 1834
pioneer in Pike county, died at Perry April 16, 1869, in his 78th year. He left surviving him his wife, who was
Mary L. Young of Kentucky; his sons, Hinson S., Jacob, David K., Eli, Downey C., Alexander Chapman; and his two
daughters, Mrs. Elizabeth G. Simons and Mrs. Mary D. Gratton.
Another son, Finis Lowry Hobbs, had died early in 1859, leaving one child, Emily Josephine Hobbs, born May 3, 1857.
Emily Josephine's mother was Mary Margaret Elledge, a daughter of Uriah Elledge and a great granddaughter of the
Boones. The mother later married William H. White. Emily Josephine was raised in the home of Mrs. Hinson S. Hobbs
at Perry and under the guardianship, at first, of Leonard T. Gratton, who married Hinson Hobbs' sister, Mary D.
Hobbs. Lewis H. Baldwin was later Josephine's guardian and he was succeeded by John G. White. Josephine in 1876
married Edward G. Allen and they removed to the state of Kansas.
Elizabeth G. Simons, daughter of Solomon Hobbs, resided at Calhoun in Henry county, Missouri. Mary D. Hobbs, on
December 6, 1849, married Leonard T. Gratton (this name is usually spelled "Greaton" in the early records),
with the Reverend John Van Clive officiating.
Downey C. Hobbs, a son of Solomon, was four times married. On March 13, 1851, he married Mary Jane Wadsworth, a
relative of the early Scholls and Boones, with Justice J. K. Cleveland of Perry officiating. They had a daughter,
Harriet A. Hobbs, born at Maysville, who at the age of 26 married James Tucker of Perry, a son of Charles Tucker
and Emily Long. They were married at Pittsfield September 26, 1889 by Squire C. W. Patterson.
Downey Hobbs' second marriage was to Lassely Black on December 8, 1864, with Justice R. M. Atkinson officiating;
his third wife was Malinda Neighbors, to whom he was married July 11, 1872, by Justice J. S. Roberts; on November
15, 1894 he married Mrs. Fronia J. Seaman, with the Reverend Niles Kinne performing the ceremony. Downey C. Hobbs
died at Perry October 11, 1907, aged 77; he is buried at Perry.
Alexander Chapman Hobbs, another son of the elder Solomon, was never married. He died in Shelby county, Illinois,
September 1, 1892.Levi W. McMahan of Griggsville was administrator of his estate.
Hinson Hobbs, born in Kentucky, married Sarah Jane Johnston in Pike county October 10, 1844, she a daughter of
David Johnston and Sarah Day, pioneers from Kentucky who came to Sangamon county, Illinois, in 1826 and in 1828
located on a farm near present Griggsville in Pike county.
David Johnston, the father of Mrs. Hobbs, was one of Pike county's early county surveyors, a position which he
held for 13 years. A number of Pike county's early town plats bear the endorsement of Surveyor David Johnston.
He was born in Wythe county, Virginia, July 13, 1797, a son of Larkin and Mary (Davis) Johnston. He emigrated to
Kentucky, where he married Sarah Day, daughter of Joseph and Margaret Day. Locating on the river road up from Philips
Ferry in 1828, two years later he moved to what is now Perry township, where he resided until his death, which
occurred in September, 1879, when he was in his 83rd year.
David Johnston and his wife had nine children, namely: Mary, who married David Winslow and located in DeWitt county,
Illinois; Margaret E., who married H. J. Chenoweth of Perry; Sarah J., who married Hinson Hobbs, son of Nicholas,
and located in the state of Kansas; Minerva A., who married William Taylor of Perry; Delilia, who married James
Hughes and located in Clay county, Nebraska; Harvey D., who married Maria Swakyer and settled in Missouri; Thomas,
who married Mary E. Chenoweth and located at Marysville, Missouri, where he practiced law; Artemisia, who married
James B. Chenoweth and resided at Lathrop, Missouri, and Ann Eliza, who married Thomas Seaborn and moved to McDonough
county, Illinois.
Sarah (Day) Johnston died September 9, 1865 and on September 14, 1871, Mr. Johnston married Mrs. Sarah E. (Adams)
Lucas, widow of J. B. Lucas. Mr. Johnston for some years prior to his death engaged in the mercantile business
at Perry. The second Mrs. Johnston was born in Harrison county, Kentucky, in 1831. By her last marriage she had
one son, David L. Johnston, born March 15, 1874. She also had one son, James P. Lucas, by her first marriage. David
L. was shot and killed accidentally while hunting with two other boys.
David J. Hobbs, a son of Hinson Hobbs and Sarah Jane Johnston, on December 2, 1868, married Elizabeth Ann Wilkins,
who was born in Ohio December 22, 1848. David J. was born in Pike county in 1848 and in 1857 was taken by his parents
to Missouri whence he returned to Pike county in 1861. He worked two years in a woolen mill at Perry and in 1870
embarked with Thomas J. Smith in the wagon and carriage manufacturing business at Chambersburg, under the firm
name of Smith & Hobbs. Brothers and sisters of David J., who went with the family to Missouri, included Elizabeth,
Nicholas Doan, Thomas, Wayne, Kittie and Anna Hobbs.
Charles Milton Hobbs, a son of David J., at the age of 23 married Anna Fahnestock, a daughter of John W. Fahnestock
and Mary Cannon. They were married at Chambersburg July 2, 1893, by Reverend J. Gresham.
Louretta (Lou) Hobbs, a daughter of David J. Hobbs and Bettie Ann Wilkins, at the age of 18 married Oscar Eugene
Swan of Chambersburg, a son of William C. Swan and Rebecca Thompson. They were married at Chambersburg December
21, 1890, by the Reverend T. M. Johnson. William C. Swan was a twin brother of C. I. Swan, former county clerk
and newspaper editor and father of the late Judge Burr Harrison Swan, who at the time of his death was editor and
publisher of The Pike County Republican.
Grace A. Hobbs, another daughter of David J., at the age of 19 married G. W. Turner of Fish Hook, a son of Harvey
Turner. They were married at Chambersburg September 12, 1895, by the Reverend A. C. Rooch.
Artemisia B. Hobbs, daughter of Nicholas and Elizabeth Hobbs, married Francis Marion Cooper in Pike county September
21, 1858, with Justice P. G. Athey performing the ceremony. He was a son of George W. and Mahala (Clayton) Cooper,
and a native of Morgan county, Illinois, where he was born January 19, 1831. His father was a native of North Carolina,
his mother of Georgia. He was a farmer and plasterer. Artemisia became the mother of six sons and one daughter.
William F. Hobbs, a son of Nicholas, married and located in Smith county, Kansas, where he was living at the time
of his father's death in 1879. He had a daughter, Kate Hobbs, who married her cousin, Campbell (Cam) Hobbs, who
also went to Smith county, Kansas, to take up government land. Campbell Hobbs was a son of Elder David Hobbs, who
was a brother of the elder Solomon and Nicholas Hobbs.
Mahala Jane Hobbs, daughter of Nicholas, born July 31, 1822, married Jotham B. Bradbury February 28, 1847. The
ceremony was performed by the bride's uncle, Elder David Hobbs. They had five children, Cornelia E., Lillie Ann,
Ernest Carpenter, Mollie Luella and Nicholas Scott Bradbury.
Cornelia E. Bradbury married William H. Wilson May 13, 1869; Lillie Ann married George W. Oliver, December 29,
1880; Ernest Carpenter married Mary H. Lewis March 5, 1885; Mollie Luella married William H. Allen October 21,
1890 and they moved to Yuba City, California; Nicholas Scott Bradbury married Ida M. Allen April 1, 1890 and they
located in Peoria.
Jotham Bradbury, born at Wilthamsville, Clermont county, Ohio, died August 13, 1905, in his 82nd year, death being
due to accident shock sustained in a run-away. He had been 70 years in Illinois.
Mahala (Jane) Hobbs Bradbury died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Cornelia E. Wilson of Perry, march 31, 1919,
aged 96 years and eight months. She was buried beside her husband in Walnut Grove cemetery.
Rachel Hobbs, another daughter of Nicholas and Elizabeth, married Dr. William D. C. Doan, April 10, 1851, with
her uncle, Elder David Hobbs, officiating. Dr. Doan was born in Ohio April 16, 1828, a son of William Doan and
Susanna Bennett, both natives of the East, the father a physician. Dr. Doan began the study of medicine at the
age of 18, with his father who died two years afterward; he then finished his course with his uncle, Dr. Elijah
Bennett, in Clermont county, Ohio, and at the age of 22 began practicing in Fairmount township in Pike county.
He first came to Pike county in 1848, and to Fairmount township in 1850.
Mr. and Mrs. Doan had four children, of whom the latest survivor was Effie Rachel Doan, who at the age of 19 married
Arthur L. Browning, a son of William Browning. They were married at Perry August 2, 1883 with D. L. Kincaid performing
the ceremony, and William Browning and W. D. C. Doan officiating.
Another daughter of Dr. Doan and Rachel Hobbs was Mary E. Doan, who on September 27, 1876, with H. R. Walling officiating,
married Albert G. Crawford, a son of John G. Crawford and Rhoda McLear, early settlers in north Pike county. The
groom came of a line that emigrated from the old world to the new prior to the Revolution. Mr. Crawford's grandfather,
Samuel Crawford, was of Scotch-Irish extraction. John G. Crawford was a native of Tennessee and his wife was born
in Pennsylvania. A. G. Crawford was born March 17, 1854.
Mary E. (Doan) Crawford died October 7, 1877, leaving an infant ten days of age who was raised in the home of the
grandparents, Dr. Doan and Rachel Hobbs. The father, A. G. Crawford, who became a prominent Pittsfield attorney,
later, on September 8, 1880, married Miss Charlotte Westlake, a daughter of Captain Benjamin F. Westlake. Albert
G. Crawford died at Pittsfield May 27, 1920.
Mary E. Doan Crawford, daughter of Albert G. Crawford and Mary E. Doan, at the age of 18 married Eugene L. Dorsey
of Perry, a son of Thomas L. Dorsey and Sarah Elizabeth (Lib) LaRue. They were married at Perry April 2, 1896 by
the Reverend Henry G. Griffin, with Frank C. Dorsey and Charles Read witnessing. Their children included Leslie,
Prentiss, Harry, Effie and Ruth Mary Dorsey. Ruth Mary married Neil Ham Sweeting July 29, 1926.
Rachel (Hobbs) Doan, born in Kentucky November 23, 1827, lived to a great old age, her death occurring at Perry
December 29, 1912, at the age of 92 years, one month and 26 days. She is buried at Perry.
Sarah A. Hobbs, another daughter of Nicholas Hobbs and Elizabeth Cooper, married Francis M. Hanna, kinsman of Robert
Hanna who married Celia Philips, daughter of Nimrod Philips of the early Illinois river ferry where now is Valley
City. The Hanna family located in Sullivan county, Indiana.
Veturia Hobbs, sister of Sarah, married Elmore D. Cooper, Proprietor of the early Chambersburg Mills. They were
married January 12, 1843 by the noted William Gale, associate of the Boone family and elder of the Christian church
at the dim beginning of that organization in Pike county. The groom was a native of Sumner county, Tennessee, born
there in 1812, a son of George and Elizabeth Cooper, the former of North Carolina, the latter a native of Tennessee.
With his parents he moved to Kentucky and in 1829 came to Illinois and worked at the carpenter's trade in Pittsfield.
He followed farming up to 1857 and then embarked in the grocery business, later went west, and in 1860 returned
to Illinois and again engaged in the grocery business until 1865. He went then into the milling business for two
years, farming for a year, engaged in milling at Versailles for about a year and a half, returned to the farm for
seven years and then sold out and bought the Chambersburg mills, which earlier had been operated by William Boone
Elledge. In connection with the Chambersburg flouring mill, he also operated a saw-mill on the north fork of McGee.
Veturia Hobbs was born in Kentucky the year that Illinois became a state (1818). Her husband, Elmore D. Cooper,
died June 11, 1880 and she later married again, her second husband being a Hinkle. They located at Naples, Illinois.
Elmore D. Cooper is buried in Dorsey cemetery at Perry.
Two sons of Nicholas Hobbs, Jacob and Solomon, died before their father; their children included Alice, Mary E.,
Peter G., Rachel E., J. H., Josephus and Elizabeth J. Hobbs, Lafrances C. Leech, Helen K. Winchester and Mary E.
Lanham.