06/14/2026
This is the text of the biography we posted on Hiram Hulbert. Hiram is the builder and original owner of Hulbert House which later became the Hotel McArthur. Built in 1839. Hopefully this will be easier to read form some!
Hiram Hulbert
Residence Year 1876
Residence Place Ohio, USA
Comments was born, September 2d, 1806, at Great Barrington, Massachusetts. He is the seventh of eight children born to Elisha Hulbert and Cloah Savage. His father was a native of Massachusetts and a farmer. Elisha Hulbert emigrated to Ohio in 1810, settling on the Big Hocking, seven miles from Athens, in the Ohio
Company's purchase, where he lived until his death in 1813. Hiram's mother was also born in Massachusetts and died in 1813. The subject of this sketch worked on a farm and attended school when he could until he was twenty years of age, at which time he had progressed so far as to be able to spell a few monosyllabic words. Leaving the farm he engaged to work for Daniel
Stewart, on the Hocking, thirteen miles from Athens--wages, three dollars a month. At the end of two months his employer thought his services worth more money, and accordingly advanced his wages to eight dollars per month. At the end of another month Hiram went on the Ohio river, and for forty days rowed on a keel boat, at the rate of nine dollars a month. In the latter part of
1826 he rowed a keel boat from Cincinnati to the mouth of the Kentucky river, making the trip in sixteen days, and receiving one dollar a day for his services. After this he returned to Athens, attended a common school for about six
months, learning to read, write and cipher as far as the rule of three. In 1827 young Hulbert went into a grocery store in Athens, remaining there six
months, at three dollars a month salary. But fortune had better things in store. He conceived the idea of peddling clocks about the country, and immediately set about it. He was so successful that in a few weeks he had made four hundred and fifty dollars clear of all expenses, in those days a small fortune for a young man. In this venture he had shown business tact and caution
which attracted the notice of his friends, who assisted him to start business on his own account. In June, 1830, he opened a store at McArthur, Vinton county. He started with a well-selected stock of goods, and immediately
began to do a good business. Since that time he has resided in McArthur, being engaged in business and prominently identified with the material growth of that place. He was in the grocery and dry-goods business until
1852, when he became involved in difficulties through his partner, and about all he had in the world was swept away. His friends came to his relief, and through their assistance he was able to buy back his property. He then went into the hotel business, carrying on a farm at the same time. His efforts to retrieve his loss were so successful that, in 1869, he paid the last dollar of his indebtedness, amounting to over nine thousand dollars. Mr. Hulbert was Captain, Quartermaster, and Adjutant in the 2d Division of the Ohio Militia under the old law. He is a Republican, but has never sought any office. For
forty years he has been a member of the Methodist Church. At the age of threescore years and ten, and after a life of industry and toil, Mr. Hulbert enjoys the use of his mental and physical faculties unimpaired. He is a leading and highly respected citizen of Vinton county.
