spring of 1865. My first wife had died at our home in Hicks Street, Brooklyn, Sept. 17, 1864. In the spring of 1865 the firm of D. J. Garth & Co. was succeeded by Robinson, Garth & co., my son Edwin being the company. Nov. 21, 1865, I was married to Laura Ford, in the city, while my home was still in Brooklyn, from which place we moved back to Hannibal, Mo., in May, 1866. Being out of business and not liking the prospect of resuming again in Hannibal, we moved to this city (Sheeling, W. Va.), Sept. 2, 1867. I then formed a connection with the firm of Dowey, Vance & Co., which not long after became a corporation under the name of "The riverside Iron Works." Having retired several years ago from all active participation in the management of the Riverside, I am now president of the West Virginia China company, the works not yet completed.
My grandfather, Lowder Hearne, had four brothers, Joseph, Ebenezer, Clement and Thomas, whose great-grandfather, William Hearne, born in the city of London, England, came to this country shortly after 1681 and settled in the then colony of Maryland, on the Eastern Shore. Mason and Dixon's Line to settle disputes between Lord Baltimore and William Penn, cut off a portion of the territory previously claimed by the former and assigned it to Penn. In this strip was the home of my ancestry. Mason and Dixon's line is about one mile south of my grandfather's homestead, and consequently in the state of Delaware. My grandfather was persuaded to and did drop the final "e" in our name. The other four brothers and their descendants still retaining it. My grandfather and all of his sons, to the end of their lives, left off the final "e." I did not learn the fact till long afterwards, or I would have resumed the "e" as most of my children have done. Of the direct descendants of the original William Hearne I know nothing for the first two generations, which intervened between him and my grandfather, Lowder. I have seen three day-books or journals kept by the original William, while a resident of the island of St. Thomas, West Indies, in the year 1861. they were in the possession of my great-uncle Clement Hearne, and I saw them at his house in Bourbon County, Kentucky, in 1836 or 1837, when on a visit there I have seen also a walking cane owned by him; it was then the property of my Uncle George Hearne, my father's eldest brother, I have of late made inquiry, but have been unable to find out what
Thanks to Candy Hearn for transcribing this page.
Copyright (c) 1999, 2007 Brian Cragun.