History of Walworth County Wisconsin by Albert Clayton Beckwith 1912 B. F. Bowen & Company Indianapolis, Indiana pgs. 1243-1245 AMOS H. HITCHCOCK It will always be a mark of distinction to have served the Union during the great Civil war between the states. The old soldier will receive attention no matter where he goes if he will but make himself known. And when he passes away, as so many of them are now doing, friends will pay him suitable eulogy for the sacrifices he made a half century ago on the sanguinary fields of battle in the Southland or in the no less dreaded prison, fever camp or hospital. And ever afterward his descendents will revere his memory and take pride in recounting his services for his country in its hour of peril. One of the most eligible citizens for specific mention in a history of Walworth county is Amos H. Hitchcock, well known resident of the village of Walworth, partly because he is one of the old soldiers who went forth in that great crisis in the sixties to assist in saving the union states, and partly because he has been one of our honorable and public-spirited citizens since the pioneer epoch, a plain, unassuming gentleman who has sought to do his duty in all the relations of life as he has seen and understood the right. Mr. Hitchcock has behind him a long and worthy ancestry, traceable through the annals of time for some four hundred years, back to 1635, he being the ninth generation in America. Nathaniel Hitchcock was the first of the family to take up residence on our shores, having emigrated from London, England, on the ship "Susan and Ellen" and settled in Connecticut. Amos H. Hitchcock, of this review, was born on February 11, 1838, at Rochester, New York. He is the son of Amos H., Sr., and Julia Ann (Read) Hitchcock. The father was born at Hartford, Connecticut, in July 1800, and the mother was born in Waterville, New York, in 1805, being the daughter of George Read. These parents grew to maturity in their native state, were educated in the old-time schools and were married there, so after which event they moved to Rochester, where they made their home many years and where their children were born. The father was a millwright by trade and he was employed in the big flour mills for which the city of Rochester was famous in those days. In 1851 the family came to Walworth county, Wisconsin, and located at the town of Walworth, and here the father purchased a farm a mile north of the village, where the family resided until about 1869, when he sold out and moved to Iowa, in which state the death of the mother occured. Mr. Hitchcock, senior, subsequently returned to Walworth county and made his home with a daughter, Mrs. John Rader (Charlotte Hitchcock Reader -agr), until his death. He was a man of excellent character and industry and was well liked wherever he was known. Amos H. Hitchcock, the immediate subject of this sketch, received a fairly good education in the public schools and he lived at home until the commencement of the Civil war, when, heeding his country's call for troops to suppress the hosts of treason, he enlisted, in 1861, in Company A, Tenth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, first organized as the Walworth County Guards, but being an exceptionally well drilled company, the best drilled in fact, of any troops in this locality, it was designated as Company A. Mr. Hitchock was in the Central department, serving faithfully for a period of three years and three months, during which time he took part in the battles of Perryville, Bridgeport and other hotly contested engagements, being severly wounded, shot throught the hand, at the battle of Perryville, Kentucky. His services were so commendable that he attained to the rank of sergeant. After the war he returned to Walworth county and became a teacher in the district school and also engaged in painting and decorating. Ever since he came out of the army, commencing in 1865, Mr. Hitchcock has taken an active interest in public affairs. Either as town assessor, town clerk, town treasurer or chairman of the board of supervisors, he served the town of Walworth for twenty-five years. For sixteen years, from 1868 to 1884, he served as postmaster of Walworth, and since the village of Walworth was incorporated he has served two years as village assessor and village clerk six years. He has also been justice of the peace for the past fifteen years. As a public servant he always gave eminent satisfaction to all concerned, performing his duties most faithfully. Mr. Hitchcock was married on November 28, 1866, to Maria E. Brown, who was born in the town of Walworth, this county, on June 22, 1851. She is the daughter of William and Mary (Brown) Brown, both natives of Schoharie county, New York, and there they grew up and were married, emigrating to this county in 1845 and located in Walworth township, where they spent the rest of their lives. Mr. Brown was a carpenter by trade, which he alternated with farming. His family consisted of twelve children, Charles Brown, of Whitewater, being of the number. To Mr. and Mrs. Hitchcock six children have been born, one of whom died in infancy; Loretta J. is the wife of Lester C. Porter, who lives in Fontana, this county, and has five children, Irma, Doric, Amos, Helen and Rachael; a sketch of Mr. Porter and family appears elsewhere in this work. Lavinia, the subject's second child, married Walter J. Serverance, and they live in Minneapolis, Minnesota; Dr. Amos Hitchcock, who is a very successful dentist at Albany, Wisconsin, married Helena Broughton; Marie B. Hitchcock married Elmer A. Peterson, a prominent business man of Walworth; Alice M., the youngest of the subject's children, married George Leslie Bond, and they live at Dundee, Illinois. Mr. Hitchcock, in his fraternal relations, is a member of the Masonic order, whose time-tried principles he endeavors to follow in his daily life among his fellow men, his membership being at Delavan. He also belongs to George H. Thomas Post, Grand Army of the Republic, at Delavan. Submitted By: Allan Reader (areadr@excite.com)