Samuel Hine
Introduction I am a great grandson of Samuel Hine and his second wife Emma Caroline Kirtland-Hine. Samuel was a prosperous businessman who married twice, successfully raising two families in succession. He was born and raised in Youngstown, OH and spent his adult life in several nearby small communities including Hubbard and Poland. Samuel Hine's life can logically be presented in 3 parts: His childhood years, his days as a merchant primarily in Hubbard, OH including his first marriage and family, and his later years in Poland, OH as a gentleman farmer and landowner including his second marriage and family. In researching Samuel and his families I've uncovered no indication that Samuel had a middle name though all his children would. A word of background regarding the geography and economics of the area and times in which Samuel Hine spent his life. U.S. history books teach about the "Steel Belt" which was an area of the U.S. stretching from western New York to Indiana and Michigan which in the 1800's and early 1900's experienced rapid population and economic growth and became the industrial heartland of the country due to the region's abundant natural resources including iron, oil, and coal which fueled industrial booms in heavy industry and manufacturing. Youngstown, located between Pittsburgh, PA and Cleveland OH, was located in the middle of this area and thus provided great economic opportunity for many including Samuel and his children who contributed to the regions success. (As I write this in 2013 the region is now known euphemistically as the "Rust Belt" due to it's severe economic decline starting in the mid 1900's however when my ancestors settled and lived there it was truly the "land of opportunity".) My primary sources for this biography include bits and pieces of information collected from area historical books and documents, obituaries and newspaper articles, and information passed on to my father and aunt and then to my generation via Samuel and Emma's son Homer Henry Hine. Samuel Hine's Childhood and Education (1816 - Mid 1830's) Only a little has been recorded regarding Samuel's childhood. He was born on March 31, 1816 in the early days of Youngstown, OH. He was the 3rd child and first son of Homer and Mary Skinner-Hine who had 5 children who survived to adulthood. Homer, who had grown up in Connecticut and in 1801 became an early settler of Youngstown in what was known as the Connecticut Western Reserve before Ohio became a state, was a successful and prominent Yale educated attorney and one of the first to practice law in what would become the state of Ohio. The book "20th Century History of Youngstown and Mahoning County, Ohio and Representative Citizens (published in 1907 by Gen. Thos. W. Sanderson) reads regarding Samuel Hine's early years:
Since his father (Homer) is known to have lived near and in Youngtown the majority of his entire adult life it is safe to assume that this is where Samuel grew up. Regarding Samuel's education, I haven't been able to find anything regarding a school named "Kinsmen" mentioned in the above quote so perhaps this refers to the small town with this name about 30 miles north of Youngstown. Maybe Samuel attended high school there as a boarding student. Hudson College was in Hudson, Ohio, about 50 miles north east of Youngstown and 20 miles south east of Cleveland and was also known as Western Reserve College. A Wikipedia.org article found on the internet reads "Western Reserve Academy was established on February 7th, 1826 as the Western Reserve College and Preparatory School in Hudson, Ohio, on a 190-acre plot of land set aside via charter by the Ohio legislature. The institution's name comes for the area in which it was built, the Connecticut Western Reserve, as it was the first of its kind in Northern Ohio. The settlers from Connecticut wanted to build a school of the same caliber as Yale University and the same design, with brick buildings and the same motto, Lux Et Veritas. People called it 'the Yale of the West'............ In 1882, the college moved north to Cleveland, Ohio and became Western Reserve University." Today the school is known as Case Western Reserve University. It would have made sense for Samuel to attend Hudson College (Western Reserve College) since it was near Youngstown and his father Homer had attended Yale on which the school was modeled. Samuel's brother Homer Hubbell Hine is known to have attended Western Reserve College. Additionally, Samuel's uncle, Charles Adolphus Boardman (husband of Homer's sister Sophia), was for a time a pastor at the school. Assuming Samuel entered Hudson College at age 18, he would attended the school starting around 1834 when the school was only 8 years old suggesting it was a fairly small but growing institution at the time. Several references suggest that Samuel left college before graduating to enter into the business opportunities which the growing Youngstown area offered. Samuel Hine's Early Adult Life and First Marriage (Mid 1830's to 1865) Samuel's Career as a Merchant The book "20th Century History of Youngstown.... (etc)" continues regarding Samuel:
Henry Wick was the husband of Samuel's seven year older sister Mary Sophia Hine. Henry was a merchant in Youngstown and Samuel apparently started learning the business as an employee of his brother-in-law for a couple of years before entering into a partnership in a store in Brookfield (located about 15 miles north of Youngstown). I've run into nothing indicating who his partner was but apparently after a couple of years in the partnership Samuel saw a business opportunity in nearby Hubbard (about 6 miles north east of Youngstown) and set out on his own. Assuming he was in his mid twenties when he started his Hubbard business this would have been around 1840 and assuming also that he remained in the business till he moved to the nearby village of Poland in 1864, he could have run his Hubbard business for up to around 24 years.
As I write this the term "mercantile" business is no longer in common usage but in this case it generally refers to being in the business of buying and selling goods at the wholesale or retail level. While I've run into nothing in historical references that specifically indicates exactly what the business did, I have a clue that strongly suggests that he owned and ran a retail store which sold general merchandise and food items directly to the public, something that today we might call a general store. I'm in possession of a set of 7 "Day Books" (accounting records that consecutively log daily transactions) that belonged to Samuel and had passed down the family to my father and then to my generation. They cover the period from around 1845 to 1856 and contain consecutive listings by date of transactions including the name of the customer, the item, and the amount. A quick look though a couple of the Day Books shows that transactions amounts ranged from a few cents to around $10.00 to $20.00 and were for things such as shovels, baskets, and tobacco and food stuffs such as butter, eggs, coffee, and oats. This suggests a general store selling directly to the public. Marriage to Ellen Louise Montgomery While Samuel owned a business in Hubbard, I've run into nothing that specifically says that he lived there however since these were the horse-and-buggy days I think it safe to assume that this is also where he also resided and raised his first family. On June 26, 1844 Samuel married Ellen Louise Montgomery. Ellen was born on November 05, 1819 and was from Coitsville, OH which was in the same general area as Youngstown and Hubbard. At the time of their marriage Samuel was 28 years old and Ellen almost 25. Since the exact date that Samuel started his Hubbard business isn't known it isn't clear whether he started the business first or married first but it's safe to say that both events happened in the same general period of time. Samuel and Ellen would have and raise 2 children: Mary Wick Hine was born on June 19, 1846 and Cecil Dwight Hine was born on August 03, 1849. Samuel's business apparently did well as he could afford to send both of his children to private schools with Mary attending the Cleveland Female Seminary and Cecil the nearby Poland Union Seminary. Cecil then attended Western Reserve College (his father's alma mater) for a time before studying law. Little else is known about Samuel and Ellen's life together but history records that in 1864, when Samuel was 48 years old, the family moved from Hubbard to nearby Poland and that Samuel had left his mercantile business and, as quoted above, "turned his attention to farming and coal lands". During the next stage of his life Samuel was clearly well off financially and lived the life of perhaps a "gentleman" farmer. It's not clear whether Samuel had saved his money over the years or had sold his store for a large sum (or perhaps a combination of both), but as he entered the Poland years of his life he clearly had the money to invest in land which provided a good income for himself and his family. I note that Samuel's father Homer had passed away in 1856 and, according the the terms of Home's will, left his Youngstown area home and farm (said to be about 100 acres) jointly to Samuel and his brother Augustus with Augustus charged with managing it till the death of Homer's wife Mary. Mary at some point thereafter moved to Painesville, OH and took up residence with son Homer Hubbell Hine till she passed away in 1882. It's not known how or when Samuel's 1/2 share in his father's farm was distributed. At the time of the move to Poland daughter Mary would have been about 18 years old and son Cecil about 15. In the year after the family's move to Poland, Ellen Louise Montgomery-Hine passed away from unknown causes on May 18, 1865 at the age of 46 and was buried in Poland's year old Riverside Cemetery as the first interment in what became the Hine family plot. In future years this plot would become the final resting place for multiple generations of Hines. A Few Words About the Children of Samuel and Ellen Mary Wick Hine would marry Allen Cameron of New York on October 10, 1871 when Mary would have been about 25 years old. They would have 3 children, Cecil Dwight Cameron, Edith Cameron, and Arthur Cameron. Allen and Mary Hine-Cameron would end up on a farm in Missouri. After Allen's death Mary would marry James Phelps and the couple would eventually live in Seattle, WA. In a document titled "Charlie and Helen Greene Hine and Family" written around 1943 by Mary's half sister Ellen L. Hine ("Nell") she says: "We returned on the boat to St. Louis then went to visit Sister Mary Cameron on her farm near Lewis Station, Missouri. Sister Mary was a wonderful woman, proving herself a plucky pioneer. Leaving a home where two maids were kept, she made her genial husband, Allen Cameron a real farmer's wife. Mr. Cameron had served in the Civil War." Also: "I remember receiving a pair of the finest French kid high shoes which she sent, saying, 'I haven't any use for shoes like these.' When we visited there Brother Cameron had died, leaving three children, Cecil, Edith, and Arthur. One day Cecil took us out driving, passing a lonely place where we saw a tiny old windowless shack but the door knob proved too good a mark to resist using it as a target. We had some fine shooting which later cost Cecil $10.00." (Lewis, MO is in Henry County, MO about 60 miles south east of Kansas City.) From "20th Century History of Youngstown and Mahoning County, Ohio" (1907):
Samuel Hine's Marriage to Emma Caroline Kirtland
I've uncovered only a little about Emma Kirtland's childhood. She was born August 16, 1841, the fourth of the 9 children of Billius and Ruthanna Frame-Kirtland. Of her 8 siblings only Alfred Potter Kirtland and Lucy Hall Kirtland-Mays would survive to adulthood. Emma was born on her parents farm in Boardman Township, OH which was immediately adjacent to Poland to the west and where her parents spent many of their adult years. I've run into little regarding Emma's education but her father Billius learned chemistry at Yale and her brother Alfred graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY) as a civil engineer suggesting that Emma grew up in a well educated family even though in the mid 1800's it wasn't common for girls to attend college. In manuscripts passed on from Emma's daughter Nell she indicates that Emma "attended the Poland Female Seminary from which Mother was graduated at 18 in the first class". Nell also suggests that Emma played the piano, something normally learned as a child, and that Emma's sister Lucy may have attended Oberlin College (in Oberlin Ohio) to study music. Emma would certainly have grown up knowing her many Kirtland uncles, aunts, and cousins (the children and grandchildren of her grandfather Turhand Kirtland) who lived in the Poland, OH area.
When Samuel Hine moved to Poland with his first wife Ellen and two children from nearby Hubbard in 1864 he purchased a large home on a number of acres of wooded and farm land on what at the time was known as Pittsburgh Street (today the address is 441 South Main St.) from his future wife's uncle George Kirtland who moved to a smaller home next door. An 1874 map shows the home on 7 acres of land that year though it could have come with more acreage when Samuel purchased it since an 1840 Poland Township map shows that George Kirtland owned 143.5 acres near, but not exactly at, the location of the home. Samuel's new home, built in 1845, sat majestically slightly above the street and directly across it from Poland's village green and the local Presbyterian church. (Emma's grandparents, Turhand and Polly Potter Kirtland, are buried in the church's adjacent cemetery.) This home would stay in the Hine family for another 91 years till Samuel and Emma's daughter Ellen Louise Hine ("Nell") passed away in 1955. Today the home, described as almost 4000 sq. ft. of living space (not including the full and till recently unfinished basement) with 6 fireplaces and a large adjacent carriage house/barn, is beautifully restored and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. To learn more about this home, click here:
In addition to having had built the
now historic Kirtland/Hine home in Poland, OH, George Kirtland is notable as the
inventor of Kirtland Ink which was widely distributed in the mid 1800's.
It's not known how Samuel came to know Emma but perhaps Samuel, having purchased the home from and living next door to George Kirtland, led to the introduction. Samuel and Emma were married on October 10, 1866 in Poland, about two years after Samuel had moved his family there and only about 17 months after the death of his first wife Ellen Louise Montgomery-Hine on May 18, 1865.
At the time of the wedding Samuel was 50 years old and Emma 25 making her twenty-five years younger than her new husband. Samuel's two children from his first marriage, Mary and Cecil, were age 20 and 17 respectively at the time which made Emma the instant step-mother of two grown children that were almost as old as she was. Cecil would have likely been heading off to college soon at Western Reserve College thus becoming only a part time resident of the Poland home. Mary though may have lived at home full time for awhile since, while she had attended a private institution in Cleveland presumably through high school, it wasn't common for women to attend college in the mid 1800's. Both children however would have permanently left the home within 5 or 6 years with Mary marrying in October of 1871 and moving elsewhere and Cecil passing the bar in April of 1872 and setting up his law practice in nearby Youngstown. The marriage of Samuel Hine and Emma Kirtland was considered at the time, and is still considered today by local historians, as a union of two of Ohio's most prominent, distinguished, notable, and successful founding families. Samuel's father Homer Hine (1776-1856) had come to what became Youngstown in 1801 as a 25 year old Yale educated attorney and became the first lawyer in what was then known as the Connecticut Western Reserve before the area became the state of Ohio. Emma's grandfather, Turhand Kirtland, had first come to the area from Connecticut in the mid to late 1790's to do preliminary surveys for the Connecticut Land Company for which he became the head surveyor and a land salesman. He moved his family from Connecticut to what became Poland, OH in 1803. The town of Poland is sometimes referred to as "Town One, Range One" because, in surveyors terms, it was the first official settlement in the Connecticut Western Reserve which would become part of the state of Ohio. Turhand Kirtland would go on to survey and layout the initial boundaries of many of the communities in today's eastern Ohio and would act as the land salesman as many settlers from the east coast moved to America's newest land of opportunity starting shortly after the American Revolution. Both Samuel Hine and Turhand Kirtland would serve in the Ohio legislature in the years after statehood and would thus help determine the policies and direction of the new state. Children
During the first 11 years of their marriage Samuel and Emma would have 5 children at roughly 2 to 3 year intervals including 4 boys and a girl. Samuel's last child was born when he was 61 years old.
Samuel Hine had no middle name to the best of my knowledge though all of his children did. The origin of son Samuel's middle name "Kirtland" is pretty obvious. Ellen Louise was almost certainly named in honor of Samuel's first wife "Ellen Louise" Montgomery-Hine. I've been unable to identify the derivation of Alfred's middle name "Blakelee". Homer's middle name "Henry" may have been to recognize Samuel's sister Mary Sophia's husband Henry Wick, and Charles's middle name of "Potter" is clearly in recognition of Emma's grandmother's maiden name (Polly Potter-Kirtland). All 5 of the Hine children would go on to be well educated, successful, and productive members of society.
The 1870's and 1880's Samuel's marriage to Emma marked the end of the transition to the third and final chapter of his life, the first being his childhood in Youngstown and the second his years as a merchant including his first marriage and children primarily in Hubbard. During this final stage of his life he would raise his second family and embark on a new career path. It's not entirely clear to me exactly what he did on a day-to-day basis to keep food on the table and support his growing family in the large Poland home. The quote above in the section regarding Samuel's first marriage says regarding his mid-life transition "he closed out his mercantile interests, and turned his attention to farming and coal lands". Samuel's 1893 obituary indicates that he had been "engaged in looking after his vast real estate interests" and says "His keen foresight was demonstrated in his dealings with real estate, which at the time of his death amounted to a vast fortune." (I think the term "vast" is probably somewhat of an overstatement.) Unspecific recollections from my father talking about his ancestors as I was growing up suggest that Samuel might have been somewhat of a "gentleman farmer" and his upbringing as the son of a lawyer and his first career as a merchant probably didn't train Samuel to be a serious farmer. My best guess is that Samuel wisely invested the profits from his mercantile business in real estate over the years and after a period of time was able to live off of these investments by leasing land to farmers, coal miners, and perhaps selling it's timber. Samuel lived during a time of rapid population and economic growth in eastern Ohio and land would have certainly appreciated in value over time. In manuscripts left by Samuel and Emma's daughter Nell she wrote regarding her childhood: "Father owned three little places on Main Street. The building bought later by Clark Nesbitt was formerly a Harness Shop......". Also, referencing her brother: "Charlie, when perhaps 7 to 8 year old, learned Father had a farm near Hubbard, rented by a German farmer." I've run into a couple of map pages from
the 1874 Mahoning County Atlas which show land owned by Samuel Hine including
the land that the Poland home was on and a couple of parcels located a mile or two
away between Poland and nearby Lowellville. These maps likely don't
include all of Samuels landholdings that year and I haven't done an exhausted search for
more. Perhaps other land holdings were closer to nearby Hubbard which was in Trumbull County
or elsewhere in Mahoning County.
While Samuel was likely not a serious farmer, there is evidence that he and his family did engage in limited farming, something which was not uncommon for many families in those days. In a 1977 oral history interview my father mentions that his father (Samuel and Emma's son Homer) had talked of hauling produce from the Poland home by horse drawn wagon to sell in Youngstown. The 16 mile round trip to Youngstown and back probably took all day. The Poland home was on a huge lot containing a number of acres and this was likely used by the family to grow food for their own consumption with any excess being sold. The property contained a large carriage house/barn which, in addition to housing horses, buggy's and wagons used for the family's own transportation, may have supported some domestic livestock such as chickens for eggs and/or goats/cows for milk. (The carriage house/barn is still standing and, like the home, is beautifully restored as I write this.) These were the days before automobiles, electricity, central heating, and indoor plumbing and my father in his oral history interview also told of his father and the other children of Samuel and Emma chopping big blocks of ice in the winter from Yellow Creek (which was only a few blocks from the home) as they were growing up and hauling them to a well insolated shed in back of the home which provided refrigeration and cold storage throughout the summer months. During this period Samuel is know to have served on the board of directors of several local banks and help found one of them. The above historical quote regarding Samuel mentions "an official connection with the Mahoning National Bank and Poland Farmers and Deposit Bank". Another historical publication, "Township One, Range One, Poland, Ohio - Our Western Frontier" (1996) reads: "The Farmers Deposit & Saving Bank, a three story brick structure was built in 1874. The ceiling of the vault was made of seven huge stones, each a foot long, a foot thick and 16 inches wide. Articles of Incorporation for the bank were filed Oct. 16, 1874, by Robert L. Walker, T.K. Hall, Samuel Hine, Eli Mygatt and Clark Stough. The bank was liquidated in 1923." (T.K. Hall was Turhand Kirtland Hall, a first cousin of Emma Kirtland-Hine and father of Cornelia W. Hall who had an impact on my branch of the family and is discussed elsewhere.)
I've found little in historical records regarding Emma's activities during this period but would assume that she kept adequately busy raising her 5 children. In the mid 1940's daughter Nell wrote some manuscripts which have survived about her family in which she mentions regarding her childhood "We had an Auntie Gardner, a wonderful old colored woman for cooking." and also "We had Calista Byers as a nurse and second maid". Since the context suggests they were likely both live-in servants, Emma apparently had at least two full time domestic helpers to supervise. And, recent descriptions of the property indicate that it did have servants quarters in the home and caretaker's quarters on the second floor of the carriage house/barn. Nell's manuscript suggest that the the Hine home had a tennis court as the children were growing up. Regarding the Hine's religious preferences, Emma's obituary indicates that as a young girl she attended Poland's "M. E. church" with her parents. (I believe M.E. stands for Methodist Episcopal) but that she joined the town's Presbyterian church after marrying Samuel. It's not clear whether this was because Samuel attended the Presbyterian church or because it was more convenient, it being located literally just across the street. Sons Homer and Charlie attended a private Episcopal high school in Connecticut. Emma's obituary also indicates that she taught Sunday School through out most of her adult life and suggests that she was very active in the community. A paragraph in daughter Nell's mid-1940's manuscripts suggests a little about Christmas time in the Hine home as the children were growing up. It reads: "In the blessed Christmas times, Grandfather Billius and Grandmother Ruthanna always had their Christmas with us so there were nine stockings hung on chairs forming a semi-circle around the sitting room fireplace. One Xmas I was going through my stocking and had come to the toe when mother was surprised as I didn't find a little jewelry box with my first gold breast pin. I glanced at father and a twinkle in his eye told me the tale so I leaped towards him and pursued him upstairs when I found my gift in the coat tail of his dressing gown. The gold pin filled a child's idea of beauty." The family apparently vacationed together.
Nell's manuscript states: "I suppose Charlie was about 10 years old when
he took the Mississippi river trip with father, mother, and me. We went to
New Orleans, remaining on the Steamer there." Charlie would
have been 10 in 1887 and the other 3 sons at ages that they may have been on the
east coast in school, possibly explaining why they didn't make the trip.
(Nell tells about this trip in much more detail including several side trips and
suggests that possibly some Kirtland cousins may have been along. See the
bottom of page 23
in
Without any specific evidence except for Samuel's and Emma's social standing in the community and the fact that the layout of their home was quite suitable, I suspect the Hine's likely periodically, perhaps regularly, entertained friends, neighbors, extended family (of which there was much in the area), and business associates at their home. The recent (but undated) publication titled "Guidebook to Historical Sites and Points of Interest In Poland, Ohio" says regarding the home immediately next to the Hine home (just to it's north-west) at 433 South Main Street in Poland:
When Billius Kirtland moved into the house
next door to the Hine's in 1887 he would have been 80 years old and his wife
Ruthanna 78. Ruthanna would die a year later in 1888 and Billius would
pass away 3 years after that in 1891. Around this time Samuel's
health was beginning to decline so during this period Emma would have been
dealing with and caring for the failing health of both of her parents and her
husband in addition to performing the duties of the mother of 5 teenage and
college age children. Billius Kirtland's passing in 1891 suggests that the
above quote's reference to Emma buying the house next door as a guest house the
next year may actually have have meant that she inherited it from her father and
simply decided to kept it for guests. Educating the Children
Samuel and Emma would both have certainly known and appreciated the value of a good education what with Samuel having attended college, his father Homer having been a Yale educated attorney, and Emma's father Billius Kirtland having attended Yale (though apparently didn't granduate). Good educations, while uncommon in the general population at the time, were routine in both families and Samuel and Emma would continue the tradition by sending all their children to private boarding schools on the east coast and then most to well known and prestigious colleges. All of the children would likely have attended grade school locally in Poland, perhaps at the well known Poland Union Seminary which was located only about 4 blocks from home. I recall father saying that all of his uncles and his aunt had gone to the east coast for high school. Records show that Homer and Charlie attended the Episcopal Academy of Connecticut in Cheshire, CT (also known as Cheshire Academy). Alf attended St. Paul's School in Concord, NH and Nell went to St. Margaret's School for Girls in Waterbury, CT. I have no record of where Kirt attended high school. Regarding college, Kirt and Alf graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY (one of the best technical school in the country in those days), Homer graduated from Case School of Applied Science in Cleveland, OH (today known as Case Western Reserve University) and Charlie graduated from Yale with undergraduate and law degrees. Girls commonly didn't attend college in the late 1800's so Nell, in keeping with the times, apparently didn't obtain a college education.
Samuel's Passing In 1893 Samuel Hine passed away on May 19, 1893 at home in Poland, OH at the age of 77 after a period of failing health. He was buried in Poland's Riverside Cemetery with his first wife Ellen in the Hine family plot that would eventually become the final resting place of Emma, several of their children and spouses, and a grandson. (See gravesite photos farther below.) Samuel's obituary, published in the Youngstown Vindicator the day of his death, reads:
In his publication the "Riverside Review" current Poland resident and local historian Ted Heinemann indicates in his June 2005 biography of Samuel Hine that at the time of his death "his personal property was valued at $40,000 and his real estate at $90,000" for a total of $130,000. In attempting to estimate what the buying power of this estate would be today I've run into the problem that the consumer price index commonly used to convert historic amounts to "current dollars" only goes back to 1913, 20 years after Samuel's death. Using 1913 as the starting point for lack of anything better, Samuel's estate would have a 2012 purchasing power of around $3,000,000. Since there was likely some inflation between 1893 and 1913 perhaps a better estimate would be in the range of $3.5 million. I have no information as to how Samuel's estate was administrated nor when it may have been distributed to his heirs which at the time of his death would have included Emma along with the 7 children from his 2 marriages (and several grandchildren from his first marriage). I would suspect that the executor of Samuel estate would have been his son from the first marriage Cecil Dwight Hine who was by them a highly successful attorney practicing in nearby Youngstown. Emma's Later Years (1893-1914) Due to her being 25 years younger than Samuel and thus only 51 at the time of his death, Emma would out live her husband by more than 2 decades. During these years she would continue to live in the family home in Poland. At the time of Samuel's death the ages of the children were: Kirt, 26; Nell, 24; Alf, 21, Homer, 18; Charlie, 16. Kirt may have graduated from college by this time but the other children, with the exception of Nell, would have been in high school or college on the east cost around the time of their father's death and thus would have spent only a portion of their time living at home with their mother for the next few years till they permanently moved from home and started their careers. On the other hand Nell, who would never marry, would live at home with her mother for the next 21 years till Emma's death (and for many years thereafter till her death in 1955). This suggests that for a couple of decades Emma and daughter Nell were the sole primary occupants of the large home and would have thus spent much of their time together.
I have only a little direct information regarding Emma's later life. Information in daughter Nell's 1955 obituary provides some clues. A part reads regarding Nell: "Her mother also was an artist and studied and worked with her. They established a studio at their home and entertained the celebrated personages of their time." When I visited my aunt, Ruth Hine-Darling (Samuel and Emma's granddaughter), in 2003 she had an oil painting of the old Hine home in Poland, OH which had been painted by Emma hanging in her dining room in Leavenworth, WA. I scanned the painting and when I sent a digital copy to the then new current owners of old Hine home in Poland, they indicated that a Poland resident had recently given them another painting of the home believed to have also been painted by Emma. Nell was known in her later years for being very social and frequently entertaining friends and neighbors including children after school at the Hine home. I would expect her social inclinations were probably inherited from Emma. While the time of it's construction isn't clear, the Hine home had (and still has) a child's play house in the side yard facing the street. It was built of regular and long lasting construction materials including a concrete foundation and consisted of one room perhaps 10'x10' with the entry door, windows, fireplace, and roof scaled to that of small children. There wasn't enough headroom inside for adults to stand upright which tended to prevent grownups from entering. It was occasionally furnished with items such as tables and chairs also scaled for young children. It was in all regards a tiny house for tiny people. In my family as I grew up it was always referred to as the "Wee Mansion". Generations of Hine's have played in it including my father and aunt along with the other grandchildren of Samuel and Emma. I even enjoyed it in 1955 when I visited Poland as a 10 year old child. I don't know if it was there when Samuel and Emma's 5 children were growing up but there are stories that Emma, and after her death daughter Nell, would bring cookies and milk to the local children who would play in the Wee Mansion after school since it had intentionally become a highly visible focal point for the neighborhood kids. Over the years the Wee Mansion would become (and still is) a well known local landmark.
After college three of Emma's children would settle not terribly far from Poland with Kirt near Youngstown, Alf in Pittsburgh, PA and Charlie in Cleveland, OH. They would have most certainly visited Emma and Nell frequently at their childhood home during this period and brought along their wives and Emma's grandchildren. Homer would settle in Seattle, WA and thus visit less often due to the distance. There is a surviving picture of Emma visiting in Seattle in 1911 a few years before her death and around the time of her granddaughter Ruth Emma Hine's birth there.
Emma would pass away at the age of 73 from sudden and unexpected heart failure on December 01, 1914 in Poland, Ohio, at her home of 48 years. Emma's obituary, published in the Youngstown Vindicator the day of her death, reads:
Final Resting Place - Riverside Cemetery, Poland, OH
Samuel Hine and wives Ellen Montgomery-Hine and Emma Kirtland-Hine are buried in the Riverside Cemetery in Poland, Ohio not far from the Hine family home. The cemetery was founded in 1864 and Ellen was the first interment in the Hine family plot there in 1865 followed by Samuel in 1893 and then Emma in 1914. In subsequent years descendents of Samuel and Emma would be interred in this plot including son Samuel Kirtland Hine ("Kirt") and his wife Alma, daughter Ellen Louise Hine, son Homer Henry Hine and wife Rose and son Edward Kirtland Hine ("Kirt", the author's father). Samuel and his first wife Ellen's son Cecil
Dwight Hine established another Hine plot in the cemetery near that of his
parents where Cecil, his wife, and descendents are interred.
(See the bottom of the page at
A note for other Poland, OH Hine descendents
regarding the Riverside Cemetery's 2 Hine plots. In a 1972 newspaper
article shortly after the death of Samuel's granddaughter from his first
marriage Bess Hine-Cates is a mention that she left $20,000 (the equivalent of
$116,000 in 2020 constant dollars ) in her will to a trust to provide for the
perpetual care of the Hine plot or plots.
Samuel's plot, like that of his son Cecil, consists of a large central monument containing the primary inscriptions regarding the deceased. Nearby are small markers which I presume identify the exact interment location. All of those buried in this plot have a small marker except Samuel's first wife Ellen which is noticeably missing. Since Ellen was the first to be buried in the plot perhaps the primary monument marks her grave's location.
About Samuel and Emma's Children Samuel and Emma's 5 children would all live active and productive lives. Click here to learn more about them:
Riverside Review Articles About Samuel Hine Poland Historian Ted Heineman researched, wrote, and published a fictionalized but mostly historically correct story about Samuel Hine in 4 parts over several issues of his "Riverside Review". It starts on page 26 of my summary.
Other Links Of Possible Interest
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