Laurens Hull
Laurens Hull, vice-president and general manager of the Laurens Hull Lumber Company, of Lima, was born in New York in 1861, and is a son of the late Hon. M. A. Hull.
The father of Laurens Hull was engaged in the manufacture of woolen fabrics at Pike, New York, for a number of years and was a very prominent citizen of Wyoming County. He served two terms in the New York Assembly, and for 13 years was deputy inspector of customs at Suspension Bridge, New York, his service extending through two years of President Cleveland's first administration; he was relieved of the position at his own request. After a liberal education which was secured in his native State, Laurens Hull began business in connection with the Sioux City Lumber Company, at Sioux City, Iowa, from which concern he went with the Aurora Lumber Company, at Aurora, Illinois. Since then he has been connected with a number of lumbering interests at different points, having made the lumber trade his life work. In 1901 he came to Lima, where he bought out the T. W. Dobbins Lumber Company, which was one of the oldest lumber companies in this city, and for two years he conducted the business under the firm name of Laurens Hull & Company. At the time the business was incorporated its present name Laurens Hull Lumber Company was adopted. The company is capitalized at $150,000, with Gilbert B. Shaw of Chicago, as president, and Laurens Hull, vice-president and general manager. Their yards are located at Lima, Tiffin, Ohio; and Chicago. The business is one of far reaching possibilities and is in a very prosperous condition. It deals extensively, both wholesale and retail, in lumber and building material. The members of the company are all capitalists and men of business experience who command the confidence of the trade and of the public.
Mr. Hull was married in 1891 to Anna Howe, who is a daughter of J.W. Howe, a retired locomotive engineer, formerly of Sioux City, Iowa, but who is passing the evening of life with Mr. Hull and wife. Mr. Hull belongs to several of the exclusive social organizations of this section, including the Shawnee Country Club and the Lima Club.
From History of Allen County, Ohio and Representative Citizens, Edited by Charles C. Miller. Richmond & Arnold, Publishers, Chicago, 1906