John Hansford, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of John Hansford
JOHN HANSFORD was born in Somerset, England, January 8, 1813, and is third of a family of four children born to John and Sarah (Pickford) Hansford; Mr. Hansford thinks he is the only one of his family now living; his parents were born and died in England. Our subject received no school education, but is wholly self-instructed; he left England for New York at fifteen years of age, where he stopped a short time, thence moved to New Jersey, where he lived until 1832, thence to New Orleans, Cuba, and finally landed in Chicago in 1836; he stayed in Cook County, Ill., until 1842, when he settled in Washington Township, Porter Co., Ind., upon the place of his present residence; he has now 920 acres of land, with important improvements. In November, 1838, he was married, in Cook County, Ill., to Ann Moran; she died in 1840, leaving two children, one now living - Martha (wife of S. Lewis, of Morgan Township). In 1843, he was again married, this time to Hannah Dillingham, who died January 1, 1875, by this union he had thirteen children, seven of whom are living - Eve (now in Kansas), Effie (wife of Otis King, of La Porte County), Ella (wife of R. Reed, of Washington Territory), William, Emma (wife of J. Sulman, of this township), Jay and Jonah (twins). On April 4, 1876, he was married a third time, the bride being Mary Grundy, who died in April, 1877; on June 21, 1877, he married his present wife - Lizzie Street. In business, Mr. Hansford has been exceedingly successful; in politics, he is independent, voting for the best man. For two years he has had a position on the G. T. R. R., which he yet retains.
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: 334-335
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