John Joseph Hirst

  Noted events in his life were:

• Miscellaneous. "MARCH 21, 1802 - MARCH 21, 1881 [79th Birthday of Mr Hirst] - Mr and Mrs John Joseph Hirst, of Titusville - Last evening we had the pleasure of calling upon our venerable friends, whose names stand at the head of this article. More than fifty-six and one-half years they have been to each other husband and wife. Talking with them we gathered some interesting facts, running over a period of the past embracing nearly fourscore years. Mr Hirst was born near Chambersburg, this State, March 21, 1802, and when he was 6 years old his father went west, to Poland, Trumbull county, Ohio, and afterwards moved a short distance to Coitsville. Mrs Hirst, whose maiden name was Susan P Crooks, was born in York county, Pa, in 1807, and the same year her father emigrated to Coitsville. In 1821 (sic) [1824], on the 9th of September, they were married, and made their home in Coitsville. For many years Mr Hirst followed teaming between Pittsburgh and Ashtabula harbor on Lake Erie, with two, three or four horses, as the condition of the roads demanded. [There were] no canals or railroads then. His loading from Pittsburgh would be iron or glass, and returning he would load at Ashtabula with merchandise which had been shipped from New York via the Hudson River, the Erie Canal, and by boat from Buffalo to Ashtabula. A part of the year the freight offered would be 'black salts' or crude potash, an article the hardy pioneers of northeastern Ohio or 'New Connecticut' made in large quantities, in the process of clearing their lands in the heavy forests that stood between them and the raising of corn and wheat. In 1842 Mr H came to this city and engaged in the manufacture of fanning mills, his partner being our townsman, Samuel Silliman. Five years later he brought his family here and since that time has been a resident of Titusville. In 1859 he drew to Erie, for the late Colonel Drake, the first crude petroleum ever barreled up and shipped away from Oil Creek to market. By the way, if the Directors of our Oil Exchange should elect Mr Hirst an honorary member they would be doing a good act. Mr Hirst tells us that in 1821 he cast his first Presidential vote for John Q Adams, and every four years since has cast his vote for a Whig or Republican candidate except in 1818, when, with six others in Titusville, he voted for Van Buren and Adams, on the Free Soil ticket. Mr Hirst has now living two brothers, one in Hubbard, Ohio, who was married in 1821, and one in Clarion county, who was married about 1830, whose wives are both living. But a word more about his voting. Mr H voted for Elisha Whittlesey for Congress before the days of Joshua Giddings, then for Giddings, and when the old Abolition iron horse was kicked out of Congress for his anti-slavery principles, he voted for his return with an emphasis only equalled by his indignation for the insult put upon the Ashtabula district by the pro slavery majority in Congress. At his residence last evening four of his children and two of his grandchildren gave the honored pair a surprise party, in commemoration of Mr Hirst's 79th birthday, and a jollier company 'twould be hard to find. There were present Mrs Sarah Paramore, Mrs Louisa Drake, Mrs James A Pincott, M J Thompson Hirst, of the children, and Miss Kate E Davidson and Adah Hirst, of the grandchildren. The roll of the children would have been complete but for the absence of Mrs Julia Clingan, of Kansas, and Harrison Hirst, of Leadville. There are three who can never gather around the fireside, one a daughter who died at fourteen in Coitsville, Ohio, and two whose graves are in Woodlawn Cemetery. We will leave our readers to do their own moralizing over the facts we have given above, only adding that here are two well spent lives. In peace and harmony they have journeyed together several years more than a half century - they both bid fair, 'by reason of strength' to reach four score years. One promise is fulfilled to them, for 'their children rise up and call them blessed.'"
(Titusville Morning Herald, Mar 22, 1881, p.3)

John married Susan P Crooks.