Harry Edgerton Hyde

Harry Edgerton Hyde, general agent of the Clover Leaf Steamboat line, at Buffalo, N. Y., was born in Detroit, July 15, 1860. He is a son of Benjamin Franklin Hyde, who was born in Ferrisburg, Vt., September 24, 1819, and being a man of intellectual power was distinguished among his fellow men, both in New York State and Michigan. In the former he was justice of the peace at Moriah, and also examiner in chancery. Removing to Detroit, Mich. in 1846, he was elected to the State Legislature in 1851, and from 1863 to 1865 (in which latter year he died) he was judge of the recorder's court. He was married November 7, 1853, to Miss Frances Louisa Allen, daughter of Seneca Allen, of Monroe, Mich., who was named in honor of the Seneca tribe of Indians, his father having been very friendly to, and influential with that tribe. In connection with Indian affairs, Seneca Allen was of great service to the Government of the United States during the War of 1812. His father, Ebenezer Allen, was a son of Ethan Allen, whose name is well known to all readers of American history.

Benjamin F. Hyde was a son of Jabez Perkins Hyde, of Ferrisburg, Vt., who was born at Hyde Park, that State, June 12, 1791, and died in Oquawka, Ill., May 18, 1851. In September 1814, the latter married Martha Edgerton of Vermont, and a great-granddaughter of Captain Benjamin Edgerton and Capt. John Hough, of New London, Conn. Jabez Perkins Hyde was a son of Capt. Jedediah Hyde, of Norwich, Connecticut, who was born August 24, 1738, and died May 29, 1822. He was a soldier of the Revolutionary war, rendered valiant and valuable service to the patriot cause, for which he was awarded a large tract of land in Vermont, on a part of which the village of Hyde Park was afterward laid out, and named after him. He was married in 1761, to Mary Waterman, and she, having died, he was married the second time to Elizabeth Parker.

Captain Jedediah Hyde was a son of Rev. Jedediah Hyde, a Congregational minister, who, for his first wife, married Miss Jerusha Perkins, and for his second wife, Miss Jerusha Tracy, the latter being the grandniece of Governor Winslow, of the Mayflower. Rev. Jedediah Hyde was a son of William Hyde, of Norwich, Conn., who was born in January 1670, and died August 8, 1759. William Hyde was a magistrate and legislator of Norwich, and was married January 2, 1695, to Anne Bushnell, daughter of Richard Bushnell, one of the early magistrates of Norwich, William Hyde was a son of Samuel Hyde, of Norwich, Conn., who was born in 1637, and died in 1677. He married Jane Lee, and his daughter, Elizabeth, was the first white child born in Norwich, Conn. Sanuel Hyde was a son of William Hyde, of Norwich, who was born in England and died in Norwich, Conn., January 6, 1681. He was an original settler of Hartford, Conn., and was a man of considerable prominence among the settlers of Norwich. He was quite wealthy, and was a member of the Colonial Legislature of Connecticut.

It will be of interest to all lovers of genealogy to note that the Hyde family to which the subject of this sketch belongs is the same as that from which Anne, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, was descended. Queen Anne was the second daughter of James II, of England, and James VII, of Scotland, by the first wife, Anne Hyde, daughter of the famous Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, himself a distinguished historian and statesman, and whose uncle, Nicholas Hyde, was chief justice of the King's bench.

Harry Edgerton Hyde was educated at the public schools of Detroit up to his fourteenth year, when he was obliged to leave school and begin the battle of life for himself. His first work was as a clerk in a grocery store, at which he received $2 per week. At the age of seventeen he received four months' schooling in a select school, where boys were prepared for college, and then became office boy for the firm of Griffin & Dickenson, the junior member being the Hon. Don M. Dickenson, who was for a short time postmaster-general during President Cleveland's first administration. During the years 1878 and 1879 Mr. Hyde was night telegraph operator at different points on the Chicago & Iowa railroad, and then entered the employ of the Michigan Central railroad at Detroit as telegraph operator and switchman. After about a year thus spent he went to Port Huron, Michigan as freight and passenger auditor for the Port Huron & Northwestern railroad, and later as train dispatcher, remaining there until 1884. From January, 1885, to January, 1887, he was located at Alpena, Michigan, as agent of the Detroit & Cleveland Steamboat line. From the latter date until December, 1888, he was variously employed, when he entered the service of the Toledo, St. Louis & Kansas City (Clover Leaf) railroad, being stationed at Toledo, Ohio, until June, 1889, when he was appointed traveling auditor of the same road. Filling that position until April, 1890, he was then appointed general agent of the Clover Leaf Steamboat line, at Buffalo, which is controlled and operated by the Toledo, St. Louis & Kansas City Railroad Company. At Buffalo he perfected arrangements for the operation of the lake line, and has so well administered the affairs of the company as to give complete satisfaction, the business of the company having largely increased from year to year. Mr. Hyde also represents other lake interests aside from those of the Clover Leaf line.

On January 9, 1883, Mr. Hyde married Miss Martha E. Stockwell, of Port Huron, Mich., a daughter of Dr. C. M. Stockwell, of that place. Dr. Stockwell located in Port Huron early in the 50's, making the trip from his home in New York State by canal to Buffalo, by boat on Lake Erie to Detroit, and by stagecoach to Port Huron. He now lives at Port Huron, retired from active practice. Mr. and Mrs. Hyde have one son, Allen Stockwell Hyde, born December 5, 1884. The family residence is at 653 Auburn avenue, Buffalo, New York.

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Volume I

This version of Volume II is based, with permission, on the work of the great volunteers at the Marine Captains Biographies site. To them goes the credit for reorganizing the content into some coherent order. The biographies in the original volume are in essentially random order.

Some of the transcription work was also done by Brendon Baillod, who maintains an excellent guide to Great Lakes Shipwreck Research.