Joseph Hildreth
Like as Doctor Allen found the law more to his taste than medicine, so Doctor Joseph Hildreth also; and the bar of Richland, in my youth, had on its roll two practicing lawyers both universally addressed as doctors. The personal appearance, dress and manners of the two doctor-lawyers was widely different. I have spoken of Dr. Allen as a compact little body, of good form, without angular or rough ends or edges, a smooth talker, eloquent at times, language choice, diction good, of rhetorical renown with collegians, and by no means illogical. Dr. Hildreth was his antithesis. He was evidently when a young man straight and tall, but in all the years of my acquaintance somewhat bent and bowed, and the very opposite of an Apollo. He had lost the sight of one eye and the great use he made of the other possibly weakened his vision. His arms were long and his hands rough, but he was brainy and logical, a good thinker and forcible, though not a polished speaker. He was the first president of the association which purchased the nucleus of the grounds which now are part of and which lead up to the laying out and cultivation and adornment of our "beautiful city of the dead" the Mansfield Cemetery. And at that time he issued a call to the citizens of Mansfield, over his own signature, which was published in the SHIELD AND BANNER and the "Jeffersonian" and its closing words I retain in my memory, for it struck me forcibly, boy as I was. It was a quotation, still it was opposite and forcible. These were the words: "Ye living men, come view the ground where you shall shortly lie". The call on the citizens was responded to and Dr. Hildreth was thus in some sense the founder of our cemetery. He was a Mason of high degree, a lecturer in that ancient order, and highly distinguished throughout the state as a bright and admirably equipped Mason. When the Ohio and Pennsylvania railroad was built -- that was the first name of that portion of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago railway extending from Pittsburg to Crestline -- the doctor was employed in securing the right-of-way and was very active, and was appointed agent at Mansfield and served many years acting as local attorney as well as agent, and he called to his assistance younger men of better clerical ability than himself. When he first settled in Mansfield his home was on the lot now occupied by Geo. W. Blymyer as a residence. Later he bought and lived on the lot now owned as a home by Mr. Peter Ott, and still later he bought a little farm southwest of the city and there finished his earthly pilgrimage. His family consisted of sons and daughters. His eldest son Thomas was my playmate and friend and is still a denizen of the good old town. The doctor was at one time mayor of the town, and was a public-spirited, useful and very valuable citizen.
From The Richland Shield & Banner: October 13, 1894, Vol. LXXVII, No. 22