Henry L. Hire
One of the largest land owners of Fayette county is Henry L. Hire, who has spent his whole life in this county. In the course of a life of sixty-five years he has accumulated a farm of seven hundred and thirty acres, and, according to the 19 10 census, is one of the thirty-three men who own more than fixe hundred acres of land in this county. His parents were pioneers in Fayette county, having located here shortly after the organization of the county in 1810. His father dying when he was a youth of sixteen, he was compelled to assume the responsibility of managing the home farm, and from that time until he retired from active farm life he lived on the place where he was born.
Henry L. Hire, the son of Jackson and Anna (Kessler) Hire, was born November 6, 1849, in Jefferson township. Fayette county, Ohio. His father was also a native of this county, his grandfather having been one of the first settlers in this section of the state. Jackson Hire and wife were the parents of two children. Henry L.. and Sarah, deceased.
Henry L. Hire was educated in the district schools of his home township and finished his education in the schools of Bloomingburg. His father died when he was sixteen years of age and two years later he took charge of the home farm, his mother residing with him until her death. His farm, known as the Blue Grass Stock Farm, is located north of the town of Jeffersonville, and consists of six hundred and thirty acres of fine farming land, on which he lived until a few years ago, when he retired from the active life of the farm and bought his present home adjoining the town of Jeffersonville, with which is connected a farm of one hundred acres and one of the most beautiful country homes in the county. While in active farm life he has made a specialty of stock raising, breeding and handling Shorthorn cattle and Jersey Red hogs.
Mr. Hire was married in 1869 to Angeline Brock, the daughter of Jackson and Sarah (Little) Brock. Mr. Hire has been a life-long Democrat and in his younger davs was active in political matters. He served on the school board of his township and was president of the board for several years. At the present time he is serving as trustee of Jefferson township, and in this capacity is furthering the interests of his fellow citizens in every possible way. He and his wife are loyal and consistent members of the Methodist Protestant church, in whose welfare they are interested and to whose support they are generous contriluitors.
From History of Fayette County Ohio - Her People, Industries and Institutions by Frank M. Allen (1914, R. F. Bowen & Company, Inc.)
Henry L. Hire, farmer and stock dealer, is a son of Jackson Hire, a native of this county, and Ann (Kesler-Hines) Hire, a native of Virginia. They were married in this county about 1846, and had a family of two children—Henry and Sarah. Sarah died December 23, 1869. He came to this township in 1840, and bought one hundred acres of land, where our subject now lives, on which the old "Douglass Mill" was built in an early day, paying ten dollars per acre for it, which is now worth at least seventy-five. He died, March 22, 1875. He and his wife were members of the Christian Church.
Mrs. Hire was previously married to Henry Hines. They had two children.
Our subject was born in this township, November 6, 1849, and was reared on the farm where he now lives. He was married, February 14, 1869, to Miss Angie Brock, of Madison County, daughter of Jackson and Sarah (Little) Brock. He has a farm of one hundred and ninety-five acres where he lives, three miles northwest of Jeffersonville, and one hundred and fifty-seven acres half a mile north of his residence. Farms to both grain and stock, and deals rather largely in Poland-China hogs. His hogs have taken first premium at the leading fairs, including the Ohio State Fair, Tri-State Fair of Toledo, Hamilton, and Northern and Southern Ohio fairs. He has sold his stock in several states, for breeding. He also raises the Merino sheep, and deals only in good stock.
From R. S. Dills' History of Fayette County