From History of Walworth County Wisconsin by Albert Clayton Beckwith, Vol. II, 
Publ. 1912 - Page 865-868
 
ELIJAH TRACY HIBBARD.  It is a well attested maxim that the greatness of the 
state lies not in the machinery of government or even in its institutions, but 
in the sterling qualities of its individual citizens, in their capacity for 
high and unselfish effort and their devotion to the public good.  To this 
class belongs Elijah Tracy HIBBARD, one of the best known citizens of 
Bloomfield township, Walworth county.  He has always been actuated by the 
highest motives and the most lofty principles.
 
Mr. HIBARD was born near Marengo, Morrow county, Ohio, March 26, 1845.  He is 
the son of Lucius and Fanny (HARVEY) HIBBARD.  This family is descended from 
Robert HIBBARD, who was baptized at Salisbury, England, March 13, 1613, and 
who emigrated to America between 1635 and 1639.  According to tradition he 
came over with Governor Winthrop.  He was a salt-maker and he settled at 
Salem, Massachusetts.  Coming on down the line of descent through Samuel, 
Jonathan and Seth HIBBARD, we come to Aaron, father of Lucious.  Aaron HIBBARD 
was born January 17, 1761, at Woodstock, Connecticut, and his death occurred 
on February 12, 1835, at Bath, New Hampshire.  His father died when he was an 
infant and when eight years old he was bound out or apprenticed.  His term of 
apprenticeship, however, was cut short by the American Revolution.  In April 
1777, when he was sixteen years old, he enlisted in the patriot army as fifer, 
in Col. Philip B. Braley's regiment of Connecticut troops, under Capt. Josiah 
Childs and Lieut. Elijah Chapman.  He wintered with Washington at Valley Forge 
in 1777 and 1778 and shared with other troops the terrible privations.  He was 
in the battles of Germantown and Monmouth.  He was discharged in April 1780.  
He went to Bath, New Hampshire, in 1784, where he followed the farming and 
surveying.  He married Sarah (HAZEN) MERRILL, of Haverhill, New Hampshire, 
later of Piedmont.  She was the daughter of Capt. John HAZEN, who served in 
the French and Indian war in 1757, in Colonel Hart's regiment, and in 1760 in 
Colonel Goff's regiment for the invasion of Canada.  His brother, Col. Moses 
HAZEN, was prominent in the Revolutionary war.  On June 26, 1809, Aaron 
HIBBARD was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the Thirty-second Regiment, New 
Hampshire state militia, which office he held many years and was addressed as 
colonel the remainder of his life.  His family consisted of fourteen children, 
of whom Lucius was the seventh.
 
Lucius HIBBARD, father of the subject, was born in Bath, New Hampshire, May 
29, 1802.  He went to New York about 1831 and there married Fannie HAVEY about 
1832.  She was born near Utica, New York, April 4, 1815, and her death 
occurred on November 26, 1853, at Marengo, Ohio, to which place she and her 
husband had moved about 1840.  Mr. HIBBARD subsequently married Mary Ann 
BURNETT, who died in 1874.  He had preceded her to the grave at Marengo on 
July 24, 1865.  There were the following five children born of his first 
marriage who grew to maturity: George, who lives at Petoskey, Michigan; Diana, 
who married Charles T. GRANT, died at Ashley, Ohio, July 12, 1907; Mary 
Elizabeth, who married William C. COLE, now deceased, lives in Kansas City, 
Missouri; Matilda, who married John VAN SYCLE, lives at Marengo, Ohio, and 
Elijah Tracy, of this review.
 
The subject grew up on the farm at Marengo, Ohio, and received his education 
in the common schools.  He was one of the first to offer his services in 
suppressing the rebellion in the early sixties, having enlisted on April 19, 
1861, in Company C, Twenty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, for the three-months 
service, but about May 1st he was mustered into service for three years.  The 
regiment went first into Virginia under Rosecrans, but was transferred to the 
Army of the Cumberland the following winter and remained in the same during 
the rest of the war.  Mr. HIBBARD saw much hard service, participating in 
nearly every battle in which that division of the army was engaged, and was in 
nearly all the battles of the Atlanta campaign.  He was wounded at Missionary 
Ridge, November 25, 1863, and again on a charge at Kennesaw Mountain, June 27, 
1864.  He re-enlisted on February 20, 1865, and he remained in the service 
until January 20, 1866.  He was in the South nearly a year during the 
turbulent times at the close of the war and he saw more active service than 
most men did in the war.  He was in command of his company during most of the 
winter of 1865 and 1866.  After his long career as a soldier and his final 
discharge Mr. HIBBARD returned to Marengo and attended school a year.  He 
moved to Kansas in 1869, bought land and farmed there, going through the 
terrible scourge of grasshoppers that caused so much damage and suffering in 
that state.
 
Mr. HIBARD was married on December 24, 1874, to Hattie M. OLDEN, a native of 
Bloomfield township, Walworth county, Wisconsin, who was in Kansas on a visit 
to her sister at that time.  She is the daughter of Enos Hanchett OLDEN and 
Julia Ann (GRIGGS) OLDEN, the father born at Pompey, Otsego county, New York, 
and the mother was born at Springfield, New York.  Mrs. HIBBARD's father came 
to Walworth county and entered land from the government north of Geneva.  He 
later sold out and bought a place in Bloomfield township, also entered land 
there from the government.  Then he returned to New York where he was married 
and brought his wife here about 1843, coming by way of the Great Lakes to 
Milwaukee, and by ox team from Kenosha.  He endured the usual hardships and 
privations in developing his land from the wild state in which he found it, he 
being one of the pioneers of the county.  He held various township offices, 
and was prominent in the affairs of this part of the county for some time.
 
Mr. and Mrs. HIBBARD came to Walworth county soon after their marriage, 
locating first in Lake Geneva, where they built a home, and he soon began 
farming at the edge of town; later he and his wife's brother engaged in 
dairying, and he ran a milk route for five years.  He then rented his wife's 
father's farm in 1885 and finally bought the same after the death of her 
parents.  They are now the owners of three hundred and thirty-four acres of 
choice and productive land and he has been very successful as a general farmer 
and stock raiser.
 
Mr. HIBBARD has held various township offices, and has been town chairman for 
three terms, and he was treasurer for one term and is now a member of the 
county board of supervisors.  For five years he was president of the 
Bloomfield Center Creamery.  He belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic, J. 
B. McPherson Post No. 27, at Lake Geneva.
 
Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. HIBBARD, namely: Arthur Garfield, 
born in Bloomfield November 2, 1880, married Monna M. YOST and lives on his 
father's farm; Carrie M., born at Lake Geneva, July 20, 1882, married Frank A. 
GROUT, then of Bloomfield township, and they live in Lake Geneva where he is a 
rural mail carrier, and they are the parents of two children, Frances, born 
April 1, 1908, and Edith, born February 23, 1911; George Elmer HIBBARD, born 
at Lake Geneva, April 7, 1885, is an electrical engineer at Kansas City, 
Missouri, in the water and light company; Frances Ruby, born in Bloomfield, 
October 2, 1887, works in the Herald office, in Lake Geneva; Lucius O., born 
February 10, 1890, in Bloomfield township, lives on the farm with his brother 
Garfield; Leonidas Carleton, born in Bloomfield township, September 10, 1891, 
is also working as an electrical engineer for the same company as his brother 
George.
 
Submitted by Carol