Jay Pinney, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of Jay Pinney
JAY PINNEY, merchant, was born January 20, 1847, in La Porte County, Ind. He is the eldest of nine children, living, born to Horace and Angeline (Haskill) Pinney, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Pennsylvania; the elder Pinney and his father-in-law were among the first settlers of La Porte County. A peculiar fact concerning the elder Pinney and wife was that she was born without a palate, and his palate was eaten off by medicine. Young Pinney lived with his father in La Porte County until about twenty-three years of age; he was an unusually bright child, and learned very fast. He has had the advantages of High School education; he then went to Kansas for health and business, and after a residence of about fourteen months, bought two car loads of Texas cattle and brought them to Chicago. He now bought a half-interest in a store in Wanatah, La Porte County. After about fourteen months, he came to Chesterton and purchased his present general merchandise store. Mr. Pinney has built up one of the finest trades in the township; his sales, the first pear, amounted to $26,000. He carries an average stock of $6,000; he has been City Treasurer, and has been a Democrat, but votes for the man and principle rather than party. Mr. Pinney was married, June 9, 1874, to Laura E. Hopkins, a native of Chesterton. They have one child, Clara B., born September 9, 1875. Mrs. Pinney is a daughter of Hamilton Hopkins, one of the first merchants of Chesterton, and one of the old settlers; he died in July, 1870. Mr. Pinney is agent for the Studebaker Wagon Company.
Source: Goodspeed, Weston A., and Charles Blanchard. 1882. Counties of Porter and Lake, Indiana: Historical and Biographical, Illustrated. Chicago, Illinois: F. A. Battey & Company. 771 p.
Page(s) in Source: 309-310
This biography has been transcribed exactly as it was originally published in the source. Please note that we do not provide photocopies or digital scans of biographies appearing on this website.
Biography transcribed by Steven R. Shook