Mr. Hyde was born in Maryland, and when a boy, moved, with
his father, to Pennsylvania. In Washington County, Penn., he married and settled on a farm
in Harrison County, Ohio. Having concluded to emigrate farther west, in the spring of
1832, in a lumbering wagon drawn by a yoke of oxen, he traveled toward the setting sun
till he reached the slight settlement just south of what is now Summersville. Satisfied
with the locality, he fashioned, out of the unbroken wilderness, a small, rude cabin,
cleared about eight acres of land, fenced it in from the surrounding forest, planted it in
corn and returned, by a tedious journey, home. In the fall, he again visited the locality,
this time in company with his young son, John B., and harvested his crop, They brought
with them a load of household and other goods. Mr. Hyde had eight children, one son and
seven daughters, five of whom were at this time married and settled in homes of their own.
One unmarried daughter-Nancy, afterward Mrs. George Davis-was living at the home of a
married sister. In February 1833, Mr. Hyde, with his wife Elizabeth, son John B. and
daughter Rebecca, who afterward married Sedgwick Coons, bade a final adieu to Harrison
County, and, in a four horse team, began their pilgrimage to York Township. At Berkshire,
Delaware County, Mr. Hyde was taken sick. Thinking he would be fully restored to health in
few days, he directed that his family proceed to their new home. They concluded the
journey in two days, and took possession of the cabin which Mr. Hyde had erected. the
summer previous. Rebecca then returned to Delaware County for her father, and upon her
arrival she was greeted with the sad tidings that he had died and was buried, His disease
was lung fever, doubtless induced by exposure and excessive labor. John B. at this time
was seventeen years of age. His father had not yet contracted for the land upon which he
built his cabin, and John B., in his own name, in a short time bought 100 acres of land
paying for it $2.25 per acre. In 1837, he married Eliza Davis, and still resides on the
old place, one and some half miles south of Summersville, enjoying the reward of a
well-spent life, and possessing the highest esteem of his large circle of acquaintances.
In politics, he has been Whig and Republican; in religion he is a faithful adherent to the
Methodist Episcopal Church.
Of the seven daughters of Samuel Hyde, six became residents
of York Township. The eldest, Catharine, settled with her husband, Hugh McAdow, in the
adjoining township of Taylor; Eliza had married Elias Johnson; Ellen had married Charles
Bennett; Margaret war, the wife of John Sterling; Mary the wife of John Johnson. As before
mentioned, the other two daughters, Nancy and Rebecca, afterward married pioneers of the
township.