Hugh C. Sweet

HUGH C. SWEET, of Stockton, has always considered it a fortunate circumstance which brought him to Kansas. He is a native of Ohio and at the age of thirty-five has acquired in Western Kansas a prosperity such as few men can hope to possess at that time in life. He has a large business as an abstractor, farm loans and insurance at Stockton, and owns some property in Western Kansas.

He was born in Akron, Ohio, July 19, 1884. His ancestors were Scotch-Irish and settled in New York soon after the Revolutionary war. His grandfather, Alfred Sweet, was born in New York State, was an early settler in Northern Ohio, served as a soldier in the Mexican war, and died at Medina, Ohio. Hilen C. Sweet, father of Hugh C., was born at Akron, Ohio, in 1839. He grew up and married in that town and early became associated with the Altman and Taylor Machinery Company, manufacturers of the famous Buckeye mowers and harvesters. For thirty years Hilen C. Sweet bought all the lumber used by this great machinery company. He lived in several different states and early went to Nebraska. In 1886 he located at Lincoln, Nebraska, and engaged in the implement business there. In 1892 he moved to a farm near Osborne, Kansas, remained there four years, and then retired to Stockton.

Hilen Sweet died at Stockton May 5, 1913. He was a republican and represented a district of Nebraska in the State Legislature in 1886-88. Fraternally he was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Hilen C. Sweet married Mrs. Eugenia H. (Barnett) Lowe, who was born at Akron, Ohio, in 1844 and is still living at Stockton. Hugh C. Sweet was the only child of his father and mother. Mrs. Sweet, by her marriage to Mr. Lowe, who died while a soldier in the Union army, had three children: Mamie, wife of B. E. Rockwood, for thirty-five years a superintendent with the Goodrich Rubber Company at Akron; Maude, wife of Gustav Larson, who for the past twenty-five years has been inspector for the Union Street Car Line at Akron, Ohio; and Millie, who died at Bethany, Nebraska, in 1914, wife of Berge Ellis, who lives at Bethany and is connected with Bethany College and also with the University of Nebraska.

Hugh C. Sweet received his education at Osborne, Kansas, graduating from the high school in 1900. The next four years he spent as a farmer near Stockton. In 1904 he established an abstract, farm loan and insurance office at Stockton, and has built up that business to large proportions. His offices are in the Griffin Building on Main Street. He also owns two dwelling houses in Stockton. He is a justice of the peace, and in that capacity has tried more than 300 criminal cases. He is county food administrator and has been a prominent worker in all war activities. For six years he was a member of the city council, served as president of the council, and is now a member of the board of education. He is a republican, has held all the lay offices in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is a prominent Odd Fellow, having filled all the chairs in Stockton Lodge and is a member of both the subordinate and Encampment bodies. For the past eight years he has been clerk of Stockton Camp, Modern Woodmen of America.

Mr. Sweet married at Stockton in 1909 Miss Ruby Maris, daughter of J. A. and Anna (Bailey) Maris, residents of Stockton, where Mr. Maris is the owner and manager of a large general store.

Pages 2441-2442.