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NAVIGATION
Michigan
Histories
Clinton County
Biographies
Online Biographies
Illinois
Histories
Also see [Railway Officials in America 1906]
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Mr. Hicks may with justice be regarded as one of the foremost men of Clinton County in business enterprises,
and one who in certain specialties of trade has no competitor. He is a Canadian by birth, having been born in Kingston,
Canada West, in 1824, his father, Samuel Hicks, and mother, Eunice Bailey, having both been natives of Connecticut.
The former was a patriot of the war of 1812, and was an active participant in the battle of Sackett's Harbor. Mr.
Hicks is of English extraction, and the first twenty six years of his life were spent mostly in Canada, after which
he came to the States, and repaired at once to Michigan, having located in De Witt, Clinton Co., and engaged as
clerk and book keeper with Hon. David Sturgis, who was in the milling and mercantile business. A year later he
became a partner, and remained until 1856, when, St. Johns presenting a wider sphere for his remarkable business
abilities, he became a resider ,if the county seat, meanwhile having disposed of his interest at De Witt to James
Sturgis. Since then he has been actively engaged in mercantile enterprises, first as a dealer in dry goods and
later as an extensive dealer in wheat. In the latter branch of trade Mr. Hicks is one of the largest, if not the
largest, shippers of wheat in his portion of the State, and had the satisfaction of forwarding the first car load
of that grain by rail from St. Johns.
Mr. Hicks was chairman of the committee on the erection of the court house and jail at St. Johns, and has been
the vice-president of the First National Bank of the city since its organization. He was married in 1855 to Miss
Eliza Huston, of Vermont, and has three children, who with their parents share the comforts of the most attractive
home in St. Johns. Mr. Hicks, in connection with other extensive business interests, is the proprietor of a foundry.
His integrity of character and fairness have not only materially contributed to his financial success, but established
for him an enviable reputation in all mercantile circles.
FROM:
History of Shiawassee and Clinton Counties, Michigan
With Illistrations and Biographical Sketches
of Their Men and Pioneers.
D. W. Ensign & Co., Philadelphia 1880
Press of J. B. Lippincoff & Co., Philadelphia.
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