History of Burton, (Geauga County) Ohio United States of America

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Farmer and Legislator, Peter Hitchcock was born, January 16th, 1818, in Burton, Geauga county, Ohio, and is a son of the late Judge Peter and Nabby (Cook) Hitchcock, who were both natives of Cheshire, New Haven county, Connecticut. His father was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio; his elder brother, Reuben, was for some years Judge of the Court of Common Pleas; and another brother, Rev. Henry L. Hitchcock, was for sixteen years a distinguished and popular pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church of Columbus, Ohio, and from 1856 to his death, in 1873, President of the Western Reserve College, at Hudson, Ohio. Peter Hitchcock, the younger, received his elementary education at the academy in his native town, and also attended, after he was twelve years old, the district schools, only during the winter. He early adopted the occupation of an agriculturist, and has ever since resided on a pleasant farm near the little village of Burton. When quite young he was chosen a local Magistrate, and held the position for eighteen years. In 1858 he was elected a Representative to the Ohio Legislature, and re-elected in 1860. In 1862 he was chosen a Senator from the district composed of Geauga, Ashtabula and Lake counties. He has been since that date elected three several times to the House, serving in the sessions of 1866-67, 1870-71, and is a member now, in 1876, still bearing evidence of ability for much hard work, and in the right direction. During his legislative career he has been placed upon important committees, usually on that of finance, and was its Chairman in 1870-71. Being thoroughly conversant with parliamentary rules and tactics, he was Speaker of the House in 1861; President pro tem. of the Senate while a member of that body, and Speaker pro tem. of the House in 1866-67. He was elected a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1873, and in that body was as distinguished a member as he was throughout his legislative career, by his practical ideas and application of a strong common sense view of public matters. He was an influential member of the two important Committees on Revenue and Taxation and on Education; and also originally Chairman of the Committee on Rules. He has ever taken a deep interest in the great system of charitable and correctional institutions which distinguish the State of Ohio, and was carly identified with the legislation to establish an institution for the care and instruction of feeble-minded and imbecile youth. His interest and sympathy in that direction soon attracted the attention of the Governor to him as a suitable person for a trustee of the institution, which position he held from 1862 to 1874, when he retired through a partisan reorganization of the Board. During the four years of the civil war many opportunities were afforded him both in the Legislature and in frequent public meetings, as well as on the field of military operations in service, and in looking to the care of the dead and wounded, to testify to his patriotic love for American nationality and opposition to slavery. He was also especially active, as a member of the Legislature, in promoting the adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, its success being largely attributable to his efforts. Originally a Whig, he has since the inception of the Republican party been actively identified with the latter organization. In religious faith, he is a firm and unwavering member of the Congregational Church, and a liberal supporter of it in his native town. He is a man of plain, unostentatious appearance. Starting in life with only such moderate educational advantages as were afforded to the average American youth before the present educational system was founded, he has, nevertheless, been a close student during his leisure hours, and has acquired a vast fund of knowledge, which has borne its fruit in the years given to his State as a legislator. He was married, February 8th, 1841, to Eliza Ann Cook, with whom he has had three sons and one daughter. One of his sons fell at the battle of Perryville, instantly killed by a shot in the forehead.

From: The Biographical Encyclopedia of Ohio of the Nineteenth Century. Columbus, OH, USA: Galaxy Publishing Co., 1876.

History of Burton, (Geauga County) Ohio

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