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James Hermes HESS (mother Elizabeth Grayliss Hess) (1839-1889) |
James Hermes HESS (mother Elizabeth Grayless Hess)
James married Elizabeth ( Eliza Jane) KENNY, daughter of James KENNY and Elizabeth Holly LEGG, on Oct 26, 1871 in Franklin Co., OH, USA. (Elizabeth ( Eliza Jane) KENNY was born on Mar 29, 1849 in Franklin Co., OH, USA, died on Apr 24, 1918 in Franklin Co., OH, USA and was buried on Apr 26, 1918 in Union Cemetery, Columbus, Franklin Co, OH, USA.) |
Noted
events
Elizabeth
Grayless Hess died in 1851 when James was 12 years old.
John Moses Hess (the father) died in 1856 and it is unclear from the US Census
if all four
children went to live with their, then married, step-brother Thomas Moore
Hess and
his wife Ann Amanda Kinnear Hess OR if only James lived with them and
the youngest 3 children went to live with a neighbor, the Andersons.
On the 1860
Ohio Census, (at age 19), the value of James Hermes Hess's real estate was
valued at $3,400,
which would have been inherited from their father John M. (Moses) Hess.
Photo on left is family Monument
Photo on right shows the inscription
Union Cemetery ~ Columbus, Ohio
In the Centennial
Biographical History of The City of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio of
1901
this was written of James H. Hess:
Among the prominent
and influential citizens of Clinton township, no man in his day was more popular
than James H. Hess,
who as a teacher and officer was actively identified with public affairs for
many years. He was born August 21, 1839 at the old homestead in that township,
where his widow and daughter still reside, and was the second son of Moses
Hess by his third wife, Elizabeth Grayless, and grandson of Balser Hess.
James was the
eldest child in his father's family and before he attained his seventeenth
year, lost both parents. His early
education, acquired in the common schools, was supplemented by a full course
at Otterbein University at Westerville, Ohio.
While a student there he paid his own way by teaching in that institution.
After completing his education he was the principal
of the Westerville public schools for a short time, and then accepted the
superintendency of the Shelbyville (Illinois) Seminary, which position he
retained for about two years.
On returning
to his home in this county, he was appointed a deputy clerk of the common-pleas
court, and when he retired
from that office, engaged in farming on his father's old homestead, the pioneer
farm of Clinton township.
For several
years he served as county school examiner and at the time of his death was
justice of the peace, succeeding
Justice John Starrett, who had succeeded Thomas Jeffries, all three of whom,
strange as it may appear, died during the
last 6 months of their respective terms of office.
Mr. Hess was
also deputy district commander of the Grange, in the prosperity of which he
evinced great interest, as well
as in that of the Central Ohio Farmers' Association, of which he was vice-president
and a frequent lecturer.
Politically
he was an uncompromising Democrat. He was a man of sterling integrity and
was identified with all the
leading public enterprises of his neighborhood.
He died from
blood poisoning, February 13, 1889 at the age of 49 year, 5 months, 17 days,
leaving a brother, John
Moses Hess, and an only sister, Mrs. William P. Brown, of New York City, and
many friends and his immediate family
to mourn their loss.
On the 26th
day of October, 1871, Mr. Hess was united in marriage with Miss Eliza Jane
Kenny and to them was born
one child, Mary Eve, who lives with her mother at the old home.
More information gathered:
Since finding
the (above quoted) Centennial History book written in 1901, I have acquired
a copy
of 'History of Balser Hess 1747-1806 and Descendants' compiled by
Frank E. Hess of Goshen, Indiana in 1950.
From the Hess book, a more comprehensive history of the Hess family is understood
and
it serves to correct some information that was given in the Centennial History
book.
From the Frank E. Hess book:
James Hermes Hess was born August 21, 1839 and was the third child of John Moses Hess and the first child by his third wife, Elizabeth Grayless. His mother died when he was twelve and his father died before he was seventeen years old.
He discovered early
in life that since both parents were dead, it was up to him to make his own
way in the world, and that
the best road to success was to obtain a good education. After finishing in
the public schools of Franklin County, he went to Westerville, Ohio where
he enrolled in Otterbein College. He worked his own way through this college,
partly by teaching in the institution. Next he was principal of the Westerville
Public School. While in this position he received an offer from Shelbyville,
Illinois to become superintendent of Shelbyville Illinois Seminary, which
offer he accepted and held the position for two years.
Two sisters of
his father, Susan Carpenter and Elizabeth Keyes and their families all lived
in this Illinois vicinity and probably influenced him in locating there. He
then returned to Columbus and was appointed Deputy Clerk of the Common Pleas
Court,
a position he served in for some time.
Deciding there
was a brighter future in farming, he then returned to the homestead and took
up that occupation, which he
followed the rest of his life. During this time he served as county school
examiner and Justice of the peace for Clinton Township.
On October 26,
1871 he married Eliza Jane Kenny who was born March 29, 1849, a daughter of
James Kenny of Perry Township,
and they established their home on the Hess farm, which James had now acquired
and lived there the rest of their lives.
In the winter of
1889, while on a business trip to the State of Pennsylvania, he was exposed
to the measles and when he fell ill
after his return, he expressed a fear that should the malady prove to be measles,
he would not recover. While apparently well on
the road to recovery, he received a backset and died of complications on February
13, 1889, aged forty-nine years, five months
and seventeen days.
His life had been
a short one, but one crammed with activities. He was buried in Union Cemetery,
just across the drive from his
father and his grandfather, Balser Hess. He was an ambitious, hard working,
successful farmer and financier. He built the two
story brick home that stands on the homestead.
His wife, Eliza
remained his widow for nearly thirty years and daughter, Mary Eve Hess managed
the farm.
Eliza died April 24, 1918 at the beginning of the seventieth year of her life.
She rests beside her husband in Union Cemetery.
By the younger
generation, she was affectionately called 'Aunt Lide'. She was prim, quiet,
soft spoken and cultured, with a
motherly disposition, admired and loved by all.
(In 1950, at the
writing of this book), their daughter, Mary Eve Hess was still residing on
the homestead where she was born
and was engaged in the floral business, being the principal owner of the Fifth
Avenue Floral Company of Columbus, Ohio.
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