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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
1847, to Miss Mary Gray, daughter of Nicholas and Catherine Gray, of Montgomery, Kane County, their only son being Willis, already mentioned. Mr. Hoyt served as Supervisor several'years, and also as Alderman of the City of Aurora; was also very active in promoting manufacturing interests and a large stockholder in the Aurora cotton-mills. He helped organize the Second National Bank of Aurora, and was one of its Directors until his death.
JACOB N. HOYT, farmer and dairyman, Kaneville Township, Kane County, was born in Concord, N. H., Dec. 15, 1831, and was quite thoroughly educated in the local schools, including a term in the Concord High School, and at Andover, Mass. He became a teacher and taught in Concord. In 1853 he went to Cleveland, Ohio, and in 1868 came to Macon County, Ill. In 1884 he removed to Kane County, where he bought a farm three miles southwest of Blburn. Here he has since made his home. In the Masonic fraternity he ranks high, having advanced to the rank of a Knight Templar degree, and being affiliated with the Commandery at Sycamore. The residence where he lives is quite a historic spot. The first school in the township was taught in the house in which he now lives, and here was located the first postoffice, known as Avon. Here Horace Greeley was a guest. Among the older settlers it is often spoken of as the "Livingston" farm, because one Livingston, who forged a check on one of the Vanderbilts for $75,000, had purchased it. Here he was arrested and taken back east.
LYMAN A. HOYT (deceased), was born in Aurora, Ill., June 12, 1859, the son of Lyman A. Hoyt, and grandson of Charles Hoyt, a pioneer settler of the county. His youth was passed on his father's farm, just west of the Aurora city limits, where he attended both the public schools and Jennings Academy, and was trained to a farming life, which he followed on the old homestead until his death, Oct. 13, 1894. A successful farmer and stock-raiser, and a capable man of affairs, he was highly esteemed by those among whom he lived, and filled various positions of trust and responsibility. In 1885 he was married to Miss Sophronia J. Smith, daughter of George F. Smith, of Batavia, Ill. Miss Smith was horn in Wisconsin but descended from an old Vermont family, her
father coming to Wisconsin in 1847. In 1864 he removed to Illinois, where he died on his farm near Batavia in 1878. After March, 1895, Mrs. Hoyt lived in Aurora. In November, 1903, she became the wife of Mr. A. W. Harbour.
CAPTAIN OTIS HOYT (deceased), Elgin, was born in Amesbury, Mass., April 8, 1838, son of Enoch and Elizabeth (Williams) Hoyt, where he was reared to manhood and educated in the local schools. In his early manhood he entered the employ of the Waltham Watch Factory, remaining with that concern until 1861. In April of that year he enlisted as Sergeant in Company H, Sixteenth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, and departed for the front to do battle for the Union. He rose to the rank of Captain and was mustered out in 1864 with the expiration of his term of enlistment. He participated in all the great actions of the Army of the Potomac, numbering thirty-seven battles and skirmishes fought while he was in the service, and was severely wounded at the second battle of Bull Run. In October, 1864, he came west and established his home in Elgin, connecting himself with the Elgin National Watch Company, then in process of development, retaining his connection until 1868, when he went to California, and spent the following year on the
