Rev. John Henry Hull
REV. JOHN HENRY HULL, of Kent, has given over forty years to the ministry of the Congregational Church, most of his service in Ohio or Michigan, though for some years he was in the Northwest.
He was born in Erie County, Ohio, in July, 1849, son of John Lynn and Eliza Wilson (Harah) Hull, his father a native of Pennsylvania and his mother of Warren, Ohio. John L. Hull was a farmer and stockdealer, and lived for more than sixty years at Sandusky, Ohio. Other children of John L. were Judge Lynn W. Hull, of Sandusky, and Mrs. Ida M. Barber, wife of Judge J.A. Barber, of Toledo. Rev. John Henry Hull attended high school at Sandusky, and after further study at Oberlin and some years of teaching he entered the Oberlin Theological Seminary, where he was graduated in June, 1882. He helped build the first church at Ashtabula Harbor, Ohio and served as Congregational pastor there for over four years. His next work was in Cleveland, where for ten years he was pastor of Grace Congregational Church, and for eight years was pastor at Marble Head, Ohio, where he helped build the present fine stone church. Going to Michigan he was jointly pastor at Frankfort, and secretary and manager of the Congregational Summer Assembly for six years. From Michigan he moved to South Dakota, and for a year and one-half was engaged in general state missionary work, and then became pastor of the Congregational Church at Deadwood, where he remained three years.
In October, 1914, Mr. Hull took up his present pastoral duties at the Congregational Church at Kent, Ohio, and has shared largely in the life of this community during the past ten years. He has served as moderator of the Congregational State Conference of Ohio. Since 1893 he has been a member of the military organization known as the Cleveland Grays, and at different times has given a service aggregating twelve years as chaplain. He is a member of the Wranglers Club, Rotary Club, University Club, Chamber of Commerce and the Knights of Pythias at Kent, and in politics votes independently.
Rev. Mr. Hull married in June, 1870, Miss Adelaide M. Gustin, a native of Erie County, Ohio. She died in 1891, leaving two sons, John L., deceased, and George Wilson, who married Erie M. Clemons of Marblehead, Ohio, who reside in Elmore, Ohio, and have three children, John, Walter and Adelaide. In 1894 Rev. Mr. Hull married Minnie C. Deming, of Rootstown, Portage County, Ohio, a daughter of Henry A. and Cordelia M. (Collins) Deming.By this marriage there is one son, Howard Deming Hull, of Kent, who married Deborah Milford, of Atlantic, Iowa, and they have a son, Howard Deming, Jr. All except the more remote members and present children of the above families studied or graduated at Oberlin.
General Hull took command of the Ohio troops at Dayton on May 25, 1812, and he was on his way to the Maumee River when Congress declared war. On arriving at Toledo Bay he sent some of his baggage on to Detroit by boat. The British captured this boat, and all his papers, containing his military plans, fell into the hands of the enemy. Moreover, the British commander at Fort Malden was apprised of the declaration of war two days earlier than General Hull, who arrived with his army at Detroit, July 5. He had his command between 1,000 and 1,500 men, practically all of them western frontiersmen and eager to fight.
General Brock at Fort Malden had a force of inferior numbers, though he was soon reinforced by Tecumseh and his Indian allies. While Hull refused the advice of his subordinate officers to take the aggressive, Brock was exercising every ingenuity to play upon the timidity and fears of his opponents. After building up his force of Canadians and Indians, Brock finally took the aggressive and on the 15th of August opened fire on Detroit. The next day, to the lasting mortification of his soldiers, Hull made a complete surrender of his entire army. It was complete reversal of the plans and hopes of the western country. Instead of invading and capturing Canada, the British forces almost without striking a blow held all the outlying American posts north and west of the Wabash Valley. On the day before Hull's surrender, the British and Indians had murdered the garrison at Fort Dearborn (Chicago). The surrender of Hull had exposed all Northern Ohio to incursions of the enemy.
From History of Ohio Vol. 4, by Charles W. Galbreath, The American Historical Society, Inc., 1925