HIRAM PRITCHARD. 



riioto. by Jaynes, Corning, N. Y. 



LUCINDA PRITCHARD. 



HIRAM PRITCHARD. 



Hiram Pritchard was born at Lawrenceville, Tioga Co., 

 Pa., Feb. 7, 1818. 



His father, Calvin Pritchard, was a native of Wyoming, 

 Pa., and at the age of five years remembers the Indians taking 

 his father prisoner at the time of the ever-memorable massacre 

 there ; since which time he has never been heard of, and is 

 supposed to have been killed. The mother and children es- 

 caped, coming to Tioga Point, and subsequently settled at 

 Lawrenceville, where they became the pioneer settlers. 



His father was a farmer, and lived and died on the farm 

 where they first settled after reaching Lawrenceville. His 

 father died at the age of seventy, about the year 1847. His 

 mother, whose maiden name was Anna Kennedy, died in 1840, 

 aged fifty-seven. 



Their children were eight sons and two daughters, of whom 

 the subject of this sketch was third son, and since the age of 

 nine years has cared for himself, receiving no education from 

 books except as he has gathered it himself as opportunity 

 occurred. 



At the age of eighteen he married Lucinda, daughter of 

 Lot and Hannah Searles, of Flemingville, Tioga Co., N". Y. 

 For eight years after his marriage he followed milling, six 

 years of which time being after he settled in Corning, which 

 was in N"ovember, 1838. 



When Mr. Pritchard became a resident of the place there 

 was no village, and only a few houses, one of which was 

 framed ; hence, he has seen the entire growth of the now 

 thriving village of Corning, and has been identified with its 

 various interests, and is now one of the oldest residents, having 

 lived here the longest, with a few exceptions, of any now living 

 in the vicinity. 



In 1843 he opened a general merchandise store which lie 

 continued for three years, followed by four years as a clerk 

 for Payne & Olcott. 



In 1850 he took charge of an extensive lumber business in 

 Clinton Co., Pa., for Phelps, Dodge & Co., of New York City, 



where he erected mills and manufactured lumber, shipping 

 the lumber and timber to Wrightsville, Pa., headquarters of 

 the firm for the lumber interest. He remained in this business 

 for three j^ears, and soon after bought three thousand acres of 

 timber land in Tioga Co., Pa., in partnership with James A. 

 Hayt and Aaron H. Foster. Here the firm built an extensive 

 mill and began the manufacture of lumber. Mr. Pritchard 

 disposed of his interest in this property after about fifteen 

 months, and removed to Corning, and from 1856 to 1868 was 

 a dealer in lumber, handling as high some years as ten million 

 feet. He then purchased a one-half interest in the foundry and 

 machine-shops at Corning, owned by Payne & Olcotts, and 

 in 1868 disposed of this interest, which concluded his active 

 business life. Mr. Pritchard 's is only another example of a 

 self-made man, and of privation and necessity of economy in 

 early life, with a will to do, resulting in a successful business 

 career. 



He was a Whig until that party was merged into other 

 parties, and has since been a Eepublican. 



He has been ofiicially connected with the interests of the 

 village in many places of trust and responsibility ; was presi- 

 dent of the village in 1861-62, during which time he caused 

 permanent improvements to be made in the village, although 

 opposed strongly by some of the citizens, which now merit the 

 approval of all, and fully demonstrate his far seeing and sa- 

 gacity. In the year 1873, May 28th, he was appointed by Gov, 

 John A. Dix, with Gen. Alexander S. Diven, Lansing D. 

 Hodgman, Casper S. Decker, and Eaton JS". Frisbie as asso- 

 ciates, a commissioner for the erection of the State Reforma- 

 tory at Elmira, jN". Y. Was trustee and president of the 

 Board of Education for fifteen years beginning with 1861, 

 and has liberally contributed to church and kindred interests 

 since his residence here. He was one of the organizers of the 

 Methodist Episcopal Church of the place, and has been a 

 member of the same since. 



His children are Truman S., Mrs. M. V. Sales, and Albert. 



