RENSSELAER W. HINMAN
Bio-Pen Pictures
SURNAMES: STICNEY, GRISWOLD,
son of Judson and Elizabeth (Stickney) Hinman, was born in Genesee County, New York, May 4, 1828. His father was a native of Connecticut, and removed to New York, when quite a young man, and married, lived, and died there. They raised a family of seven children, of whom Rensselaer W. was next to the youngest. His father died in 1836. A short time after this the homestead was sold and he made his home with his mother till her death, in 1841. He then began life for himself. In 1846 he left New York and went to Michigan and staid there six months, when he enlisted in Company K, Third Dragoons, commanded by Capt. A. T. McReynolds. Upon his return from Mexico he lived in Wisconsin and Michigan till 1851, when he went to Illinois and thence to Minnesota in 1853, where he remained till 1858. Returning to Illinois, he lived there till 1861, when he enlisted in the Second Illinois Light Artillery, Company A, and served till July, 1865. Was in the battles of Pea Ridge, and in the Vicksburg campaign, after which his corps was ordered to the Gulf, and he was in that department during the rest of the war.
Upon the close of the war he returned again to Michigan,
where he married Aurora L. Griswold, a native of Vermont. He bought a farm and
settled there, where he remained till 1883, when he sold his farm in Calhoun
County and came to California, in October of that year. In the spring of 1884 he
bought a ranch near Los Gatos, where he now resides. He has fourteen acres of
land, of which ten acres are in fruit. The land was unimproved when he bought
it. He has 500 French prunes, 100 Silver prunes, 100 apricots, 100 peaches, a
family orchard of about 50 trees in choice varieties, 25 pears, 25 plums, and a
few figs, oranges, and almonds, besides a few table grapes for his own use.
Pen Pictures From The
Garden of the World or Santa Clara County, California, Illustrated.
- Edited by H. S. Foote.- Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1888.
Pg. 623-624
SANTA CLARA COUNTY BIOGRAPHY PROJECT