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by their five young children, all of whom were sick on the way. In Graji-Ohio, six more children wereville,born by Mrs. Hillyer. Beginning withihe.Ertd.-bom .,,and[„pi:o!CiL€.dinK.„iJb(y.,,§g|]t-iority, the names of the children were: Rodah; Adah; Justin, Jr.; Truman; Sarah; Orlena; Virgil; Lydia; Horace; Lewis; and George S.Now here is the most remarkablevotes for General Harrison.”fact about this remarkable family: all of the children lived to be more thanfifty years old. The first break in the family circle was the death ,of the father in 1846. The mother followedAll the sons of Justin Hillyer left Granville, most of them to follow agricultural careers in the west. This israther surprising, for they were allroadGLie!charAle:!WhjpAH vfortourban«Bintoforhim to that home eternal in 1855. Thefirst child to die was George, who passed on at the age of fifty. All the eleven children resided in Licking Co., until after the father’s death. Here is afamiliar with farming in Granville and certainly Granville township offered then, as it does today, a combinationof advantages unsurpassed in the world —g o o d soil, favorable (albeit sometimes capricious) climate, diversified topography, a location easily accessible I befc to the best markets, splendid educa-1 of Sj tional opportunties and a superior citi- I the zenry. No doubt they su6cymfoed to j visi the lure of free, rich land in the West and theFrecord for longevity not equalled, not even approached, by any other family in Granville’s history. For some years I have been interested in vital statistics and I have never met with a record so phenomenal as this. It becomes all the more surprising when we consider the contrast between infant mor-pioneer spirit was in their blood. Certainly, they were not frivolous adventurers, but solid, industrious, sedate settlers. JustinHillyer, Jr. went to G r a s s h o p p e r I terrFalls, later Valley Falls, K a n s a s, j clos Horace to Nevada, Lewis to Iowa, Truman to Columbus, O., and Virgil j in 1 to New York, where he established a nialt; successful mercantile business. This he dayJsold at the close of the war and moved in 1866, to Camden Co., Georgia where, I beetality in the early part of the last cen- in connection with his sons, he bought tury and today. To be sure, our pioneer^ a plantation of 2140 acres. In 1875 hefrom the survival of the fittest. Never-stock was hardy,-because it resulted received an appointment in the-interiortheless, pioneer children perished from diseases which medical science has.within recent years, conquered or at least controlled.. These include diphthe- Mass., in ria, scarlet fever, measles and smalldepartment of the federal government at Washington. His son, Virgil Mores Hillyer, was the family’s most famous scion. He was born in Weymouth,1875, was graduated from]\ lett lad1last»tatipox* ' W ** • ** -Harvard in 1897 and became hea^mas-.Among the pioneers, scientific ter of Calvert School, Baltimore,^Md.,suscluofconceded, however, that they did enjoy some decided advantages. They were not troubled by malnutrition, for there was an abundance of food for-«*4U9v.. HzLwaa.ait jate.rpaljQ.nal repu-J. • « • . « « r • *'iall; and, although it might have lacked variety, it did furnish all dietary essentials, since there was plenty of meat, milk, cereals, vegetables and wildtation through a system of primary education which he developed. His instruction methods were in use with the 300 pupils of Calvert School and with 6000 in China, Persia, Japan, Afghanistan, South Africa, Egypt and otherlands, including children of army and navy officers, consuls, missionaries and government employes. The pupils werefruits. In ,s p i t e of their congenital hardihood, their invigorating out-door' enrolled in a correspondence courselife and their abundant and well-balanced diet, however, the death rate among children was lamentably high. The first three deaths in Granville werecalled the Calvert School System of Home Instruction. Lessons were prescribed for daily routine and paperswere sent periodically to the local• m • aof children. The first interment in our headquarters from every section of theOld Colony Burying Ground was that globe, examined, marked and return-of an infant’ son of Ethan Bancroft who i ed. He was the author of books ofdied April-6, 1806. By the way Ethanjrare charm and unique value education-Bancroft was the great grandfather of ally for children. These included AChild’s History of the World, Aour fellow-citizen, Mr. E. S. Reed.When we consider that tbe five Hill- Child’s Geography of the World, Kin-yer children who migrated from Gran-1 dergartep aLHome, Common Trees,vitle, Mass^_^re ‘^clr^hroughouT thejChild Training, Royal Road to Writ-1f1journey and that they spent the entire I ing, Royal Road to Reading, FirstReader, The Calvert Speller, The Dark Secret, and his last work, A Child’s1aswinter after their arrival in Granville,Ohio, in a hastily built cabin whose south side was open and which, toquote Bushnell, “would shed a great death and completed by his friend E.History of Art, nearly finished at hisdeal of rain”, we must attribute their G. Huey. These books are very popu-survival either to their hardihood or lar. Three of them are in the Granvilleto the “providentially mild winter”, toTPublic Library, namely A“Child’s quote Bushnell again. Moreover, the Geography of the World, A Child’sHistory of the World and The DarkGranville colony had no resident physi-* '* * * ~* * — • ’i' | .--...-I nlt; ^ mill n I__..cian until 1809 when Samuel Lee ofPoultney, Vermont, came and remain-1, | ed until he removed to Coshocton, O., in 1811. The only professional medicalSecret. These three were illustratedby Mary Sherwood (Wright) Jones,*'*“ mi B , i -I , r. ... — ____1of Newark, O., a gifted illustrator, whois a lineal descendant of Justin Hillyer,Sr., and consequently a distant cousind I services available to the colony until1809 were rendered by Dr. Topping, of Virgil Hillyer, the author. She alsoitof Worthington, O., 27 miles distant. In 1811 Dr. William S. Richards, ofNew London, Conn., joined the colony l' I ahd dedicated himself to the care ofdid the cover illustration of his Child’sHistory of Art, and the mural decorations of his school-room in Baltimore.LSdescendants of Justin Hillyer, Sr., in Granville and Newark, O. In Granvillethe sick until 1852, when he died at y I the age of sixty-five. Dr. Richards’ daughter. Marv Ann, became the wifet j of Virgil, seventh child of Justin Hill- we have’ Mrs. M a rt h a (W right)^lyer. Sr. BushneH says of Dr^ Richards that “he was a man of unblemished^he Hillyer name has vanished from Granville and Ohio, but there are linealleThompson and Mrs. Clara (Sinnett)mMiss Grace Wright; William E.Wright; Hubert H. Wright; Fredericcharacter and great influence in all the *» J relations of life; and when he died, left a noble record behind him.” Regard:at I ing the paucity of physicians during Wright and three children; Mrs. Helen 10 the early years of the colony, it is inly teresting to note that later the situationWhite. Newark has Edwin C. WriglU;Mrs. Helen (Wright) Leavenworth;a- was reversed. Charles W. Bryant, theGill (Wright) Ashbrook and three children; Mary Sherwood (Wright) Jones and two children; Mrs. Martba^Wricrlit^ Mitrhpll nnH fnnr rhilHrlt;*n.
Newspaper Details
Granville Times
Granville, Ohio, US
Thu, Mar 02, 1939
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Rosenberg L.
TX, USA 08 Mar 2022
Other Publications Near Granville, Ohio
Granville Commencement Daily
Granville Licking Pioneers Minutes and Isaac Smucker Scrapbooks
Granville Times and Denisonian
Granville Denisonian
Granville Times
