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Eliza Hackley Pelton Pettibone (1821-1913)

Eliza Hackley Pelton Pettibone (1821-1913)
(Mrs. Hiram S. Pelton; Mrs. Harvey Pettibone)

Copies of the following unidentified newspaper articles were found in a scrapbook owned by Town Historian Richard Schmal:

    Another of Our Old Pioneers Dies

    At 3:30 Monday afternoon, March 25th, Mrs. Eliza Pettibone, who celebrated her 91st birthday last Christmas, passed away at the old home at the southwest corner of the public square after a long and peaceful career. The home was built in the forties and is one of the few early landmarks left in our city. Mrs. Pettibone, whose maiden name was Hackley, settled with her family in Lake County in the thirties, and was married to H.S. Pelton, an early merchant of Crown Point, who died in pioneer times. To that union but one child was born, Mary, who is now the widow of T.J. Wood, a half brother dying soon after the war with disease contracted in the service. Later Mrs. Pelton was married to Dr. Harvey Pettibone, and from that union two children survive, Mrs. Ruth Barnard, of Washington, D.C., and Mrs. Alice Rockwell, of Chicago. The deceased was a sister of the late Mrs. W.A. Clark, who also lived to a ripe old age and Mr. Clark still survives and is living now in his 97th year. They lived here with the Indians and remained until flying machines came and saw the north end of the county built into nearly a solid city.

    It is not expected that Mrs. Henry Pettibone and daughter Edith will get here to attend the funeral from Los Angeles, California, but the balance of the relatives will all be present. The funeral services will be held at the home on Friday afternoon at 2 o'clock.

* * * * *
    Eliza Hackley, daughter of Roswell and Orra Davis Hackley, was born in Otsego County, New York, near the town of Plainfield, on December 25th, 1820. She was 91 years and 3 months of age when she passed away.

    At the age of eleven she came west with her parents, stopping in Michigan at Nankeen, and after living there for one year came to Michigan City for a few years, later coming to Lake County, Indiana, settling on a farm at what was then called Western Prairie.

    In April 1849* she married Hiram S. Pelton, one of the pioneer settlers of Crown Point. Mr. Pelton passed away May 27th, 1847.* One child survived this union, Mrs. Thomas J. Wood of Crown Point.

    On September 1st, 1840,* Mrs. Pelton was married to Dr. Harvey Pettibone of Naples, New York. From this union five children were born, Dr. Henry and his twin brother Harvey, Ruth, Alice and Willis. Of these, Ruth, now Mrs. M.C. Barnard of Washington, D.C., and Alice, now Mrs. W.C. Rockwell, of Chicago, Illinois, survive.

    Her husband, Dr. Harvey Pettibone, died August 19th, 1898.

    Mrs. Pettibone lived at the home where she passed away continuously for 68 years. In early womanhood she joined the Presbyterian Church of which she was a consistent member during her life. She leaves behind seven grandchildren and five great - grandchildren.

    Mrs. Pettibone was of a quiet, retiring disposition and very firm in her convictions of right and wrong. A kind and affectionate mother and a good woman has gone to rest.

* NOTE -- Eliza Hackley's marriage date of 1849 to Hiram S. Pelton, is obviously a typographical error since the same paragraph says he died in 1847. This 1847 date may also be a mistake, since the article has Eliza Hackley Pelton marrying her second husband in 1840, before the date of her first marriage or her first husband's death.


Last updated on April 21, 2006.

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