My Genealogy Hound

HYDE, CHARLES J., far., S. 34; P. O. Fort Madison; son of Reuben C. Hyde, whose father was Captain Jedediah Hyde, born at Norwich, Conn., and a descendant of the pilgrim Hydes, who came over from England in the Mayflower. Captain Jedediah settled at Hyde Park, Vt.. where he was granted a township of land for services rendered in the French and English war, and where he married Miss Maria Waterman, also a native of Connecticut; the issue of this marriage was sixteen children, eleven sons and five daughters — Reuben C. was the seventh child, and was born in 1784; he remained with his parents at Hyde Park until he was 12 years of age, when Col. Udney Hay took him to Burlington Vt., where he was educated until 23 years of age, when he married Miss Jane Ann Hay, only child of his benefactor. Col. Hay was a native of Aberdeen, Scotland, and came to America as a British officer in the navy; he was assigned to the command of a fleet on Lake Champlain; but, refusing to fight against the Americans, he was imprisoned at Quebec; he was afterward released, and, leaving the British service, joined Gen. Washington, by whom he was appointed Quartermaster General, with the rank of Colonel; after the war he purchased a township of land in Vermont, from Jacob Underbill; he subsequently settled in the city of New York, where he was employed as a land agent, and took an active interest in political affairs. Col. Hay married Miss Margaret Montgomery, who was born in Ireland in 1743, and emigrated to America with her brother Richard, a British officer, who joined the American forces, and fell at the battle of Quebec. The subject of this sketch was the first born of Reuben C. and Jane Ann Hyde, and was born in New York City Sept. 28, 1801; after the death of his father, who received a fatal wound while leading his regiment at the battle of Bridgewater, his mother being left without means, removed to Ticonderoga, N. Y., where Charles J., then about 15 years of age, engaged in a lumber-yard; there he remained until 1825-26, when he was admitted as a partner and placed in charge of the company’s interests at Henry, near Montreal. In 1830, he married Miss Lucy, a daughter of Rev. Henry G. Sherwood, of the M. E. Church, who afterward became a Mormon Apostle; soon after his marriage he returned to New York City, where he continued in the lumber business; subsequently, he removed to Kirtland, Ohio, where he became owner and manager of the saw-mill erected by Bishop Whitney, of the Mormon Church; he afterward returned to New York, and in 1837, with a carriage and nine horses, started for Iowa, reaching the Mississippi River in two months; soon after his arrival, he secured the claim to the land he now occupies, and, in 1838, started a livery-stable at Fort Madison, and a stage-line between Fort Madison and Keokuk; in 1841, he established a second stable at Nauvoo, renting a stable from Jo Smith, and boarded in his family. When Jo Smith was killed at Carthage, June 27, 1844, he conveyed the news of his death to Mrs. Smith; in 1840, he settled his family on his present homestead, where two years afterward, his wife died, leaving five children — Henry S., Jane A , Udney H., Sallie A. and William S.; he afterward, in 1844, married Miss Elizabeth, daughter of John and Barbara Lamb, from Pennsylvania, by whom he has had two children — Emma L. and Charles J. Mr. Hyde was elected Justice of the Peace under Territorial jurisdiction, but declined to serve; he was elected and served three terms on the County Board of Supervisors, and various township offices; in his 78th year, he served as Road Supervisor. He is Democratic in politics; Mrs. Hyde is a member of the Baptist Church. His homestead consists of 160 acres of land valued at $25 per acre.