William S. Huchison
One of the families of Fayette county whose history presents many features of unusual interest is the Huchison family. William S. Huchison, whose history is presented in this connection is one of the most substantial farmers of Union township. He is a man of progressive ideas and has attained a success which stamps him as a man of keen business ability and good management. While devoting himself primarily to his own interests, yet he has not neglected his larger duties to the community life and has so conducted his life as to be a type of the community in which he resides.
William S. Huchison, son of Richard and Zipporah (Hanna) Huchison, was born November 27, 1853, in Ross county, Ohio. Richard Huchison was born in Noble county, Ohio, and was the son of James and Jane (Wood) Huchison. Zipporah Hanna, the wife of Richard Huchison, was born March 10, 1832, and died December 4. 1903. She was the daughter of Matthew aed Mary Ann (Orr) Hanna, natives of Pennsylvania and early settlers in Harrison county. Ohio, where Zipporah was born. Matthew Hanna and wife reared a family of twelve children, Robert, Mrs. Jane Turner, Mrs. Zipporah Huchison, James, Mrs. Sarah Harley, William. Mary, Matthew, Odessa, Martha, John and Watson. All of these children are now deceased except Robert, William, Matthew and Watson.
Richard Huchison and Zipporah Hanna were married January 22, 1853, and began housekeeping at Slate Mills, Ohio, but lived near Washington C. H. until the death of the husband and father. Richard H.. after which the mother took up the tasks of rearing the family of five children. Two of the daughters died in childhood, but she reared the three sons to lives of usefulness and honor. She sent them all to school and kept the family together, even buying a small farm, where William, whose history is here recorded, is now living. She was a life-long and devout member of the Presbyterian church, being a faithful attendant for more than half a century. She is now buried in the cemetery at Washington C. H. Richard Huchison, the father of the immediate subject of this review, settled in Ross county, Ohio, after his marriage and from there moved to Fayette county, this state. In 1857 he finally located in Union township, this county, where he was living in 1862, when he enlisted in the Civil War. He was mustered in as a member of Company C. One Hundred and Fourteenth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was killed during the siege at Vicksburg, on May 22, 1863, leaving his widow with five children, William S., Mary, James M., Eliza and John. The two daughters are deceased, while the three sons are still living.
William S. Huchison was about ten years of age when his father was killed and he was brought up by his mother, who gave the three sons every possible advantage. At the age of sixteen years he began renting land and has always been known as a man who was not afraid of honest labor. That he has been successful is shown by his land holdings, ninety acres in Fayette county, one hundred and sixty acres in the state of Nebraska, and ninety acres in Greene county, this state.
Mr. Huchison was married in 1879 to Maria Thompson. the daughter of John and Virginia (Brown) Thompson. of Paint township. John Thompson was born in Virginia in Monroe county, and was the son of Alexander and Margaret (Dickinson) Thompson. Alexander Thompson was also a native of Virginia and came to Jackson county. Ohio, early in its history. Thomas Brown, the father of Virginia Brown, the mother of Mrs. Maria Huchison, took part in three wars, the War of 1812, the Mexican War and the Civil War. He died in Newton. Jasper county. Illinois. John Tliompson and wife were the parents of nine children. Mrs. Maria Huchison. Mrs. Emma Pine, Mrs. Alice Wood, Alexander, Mrs. Susan Pinkerton, Frank, Ella, Charles and Mrs. Winnie Irvin. Alexander and Ella are deceased, while the others are still living. Mr. and Mrs. Huchison have five children: Herbert, deceased; Ethel, who married Wilbur Hire, and has two daughters, Evelvn and Virginia; Warren, who married Icy Hidy, and has one daughter, Velma: and two. Loren and Walter, who are still unmarried and living with their parents.
Politically, Mr. Huchison is a Democrat and has always taken a deep interest in pohtical matters, particularly in local affairs. He has been a member of the school board of Union township. Fraternally, he is a loyal member of the Sons of Veterans, and is commander of the B. H. Millikan Camp. Mr. Huchison is a man of open-hearted frankness and unaffected simplicity, and has a host of friends throughout the township and county who admire him for his many good qualities.
From History of Fayette County Ohio - Her People, Industries and Institutions by Frank M. Allen (1914, R. F. Bowen & Company, Inc.)