George W. Hotchkiss

George W. Hotchkiss (full name George Woodward Hotchkiss; 1831–1926) was a 19th-century pioneer lumber dealer and journalist who wrote about the lumber industry. He was also the editor of several newspapers, including the world's first lumber journal Lumberman's Gazette, which he also co-founded.

George W Hotchkiss
1898
Born(1831-10-16)October 16, 1831
New Haven, Connecticut, US
DiedMarch 1, 1926(1926-03-01) (aged 94)
Evanston, Illinois, US
NationalityAmerican
Occupationjournalist, lumber dealer
Known forjournalism
TitleEditor
Spouse(s)Elizabeth St. John
Children2
Signature

Early years and education

Hotchkiss was born in New Haven, Connecticut, on October 16, 1831. His parents were Ellas Woodward and Almira Woodward Hotchkiss. He had four brothers and four sisters, and was the sixth child in the family. Hotchkiss was of English and Welsh ancestry; his ancestors were Huguenots who emigrated to Switzerland and from there went with the Plymouth colony to America, settling at Guilford, Connecticut.[1][2] As a child, Hotchkiss attended the Lancasterian School in New Haven for his initial training, and later attended the Russell Military Academy of New Haven as a teenager for two years.[1][2]

Mid-life and business career

Hotchkiss left the Russell Military Academy in June 1848, just before he was 17 years old. He went to work for his brother Thomas, a lumber dealer in New Haven, as a clerk and bookkeeper in a lumber yard. Prompted by the gold rush, Hotchkiss went to California in the spring of 1849.[3] The 154-day trip from the east coast involved going around Cape Horn, the southernmost tip of South America. The voyage ended in San Francisco with many other gold-seekers, who were known as forty-niners. He worked as a clerk of a general store in Sacramento for about a year, then opened the first trading post in the Greenwood Valley near Sacramento in early 1850. He returned to Connecticut late that year and was hoping to return to California, funded from the profits of an investment in a dam on the American River. The investment did not pay out and in early 1851 he went to Port Dover, Ontario, Canada, where he joined his brother-in-law Henry Wheeler as a lumber dealer serving the Albany, New York, market.[4]

Hotchkiss purchased Wheeler's business at Albany in 1855. He added grain commodities and continued operating the business until 1862 when merchants of the United States were compelled to stop their Canadian operations due to the American Civil War. Hotchkiss then went to Buffalo, New York, for a short break from business. He then took a job as the manager for a Buffalo-based company that had the first barge line on the Great Lakes that operated to Saginaw, Michigan. Hotchkiss moved to nearby Bay City, Michigan, in late 1862. The firm out of Buffalo was Noyes & Reed, which had three rebuilt steamboats in its fleet of barges, which were used for hauling large quantities of lumber. Railroad lines were soon built on the south side of Lake Erie; the railroads took all of the lumber traffic and barges were no longer needed. In late 1863, Hotchkiss joined with Andrew H. Hunter to form Hunter & Hotchkiss, a lumber dealer. Their successful business was joined by William Mercer and became Hunter, Hotchkiss, and Company, which towed log booms from Tobico Bay and the Rifle River to Bay City to turn into lumber. In 1866, Hotchkiss & Mercer contracted to build a 17-mile (27 km) plank road from Bay City to Midland, Michigan. They built a sawmill in the town of Williams, Michigan, about halfway between the two cities. The loss of two rafts of logs on Saginaw Bay and bad weather caused the company to go bankrupt.[5]

In 1869, Hotchkiss took employment in the editorial department of the Saginaw Daily Courier, which was his first job in journalism.[1][6] He was associated with another writer and they started the Lumberman's Gazette in 1872.[1][6][7][8] Hotchkiss became the editor of the Lumberman's Gazette in 1875;[9] he published it as the world's first lumber journal.[3][10][11] Hotchkiss was also an editor for The Bay City Journal at intervals from 1871 to 1876.[12] He went to Chicago in 1877 to work as an assistant editorial writer for the Northwestern Lumberman, where he prepared a Lumberman's Handbook of Inspection and Grading, which sold over 40,000 copies nationwide.[1][6]

Personal life

Hotchkiss married Elizabeth St. John of Ellsworth, Connecticut, on August 18, 1856. They had a son and a daughter.[2] In 1856 Hotchkiss joined and became very involved in the Masonic Order; he served as secretary in two of its chapters and was one of the Order's oldest members in Illinois. He was also a member and recorder of the Knights Templar. Hotchkiss identified himself as a Presbyterian and was a member of the Second Presbyterian Church in Evanston, Illinois.[13][14]

Later life and death

Hotchkiss lived the last 48 years of his life in Evanston, Illinois. He retired a few years after a 78-year career as a lumberman, and has been considered the "father" of lumber periodicals in the lumber world since then.[7][8] In later life, Hotchkiss was said to be "the oldest living lumber man" and the "last of the 49ers".[11]

On August 14, 1921, Hotchkiss, at the age of 90, and his wife celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary at their home in Evanston.[7] He died at the age of 94 on March 1, 1926.[15]

See also
  • John Mason Loomis—noted industrialist in the lumber business during the 19th century

References

Citations
  1. Marquis 1911, p. 344.
  2. Currey 1912, p. 289.
  3. Illinois State Historical Society 1923, p. 747.
  4. Hotchkiss 1898, p. 19.
  5. Hotchkiss 1898, p. XIX.
  6. Hotchkiss 1898, p. XX.
  7. Illinois State Historical Society 1921, p. 419.
  8. Thackwell 1922, p. 127.
  9. Goodspeed Publishing Company 1894, p. 572.
  10. Rogers 1973, p. 30.
  11. Personal Paragraphs 1922, p. 40.
  12. Flinn 1894, p. 206.
  13. Illinois State Historical Society 1921, pp. 270–271.
  14. Currey 1912, p. 290.
  15. Illinois State Historical Society 1926, p. 270.

Bibliography
  • Currey, Josiah Seymour (1912). Chicago: Its History. S. J. Clarke Publishing Company. p. 289. Hotchkiss married August 18 1856 Miss Elizabeth St John of Ellsworth.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Flinn, John Joseph (1894). The Hand-book of Chicago Biography. Madison, Wisconsin: Goodspeed Publishing Company. He was connected with the Saginaw Courier in 1870 and with the Lumbermen's Gazette first lumber journal and the Bay City Evening Tribune at intervals from 1871 to 1876.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Goodspeed Publishing Company (1894). Industrial Chicago: The manufacturing interests. Madison, Wisconsin: Goodspeed Publishing Company. In 1872 he assisted Henry O Dow in establishing the Lumberman's Gazette of Bay City the first lumber journal in the land and of which in 1875 became the editorCS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Hotchkiss, George W. (1898). History of the lumber and of the forest industry of Northwest. Chicago: G.W. Hotchkiss & Company. He had assisted Henry S. Dow in the inauguration of The Lumberman's Gazette, at Bay City, the first lumber journal of the world,CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Illinois State Historical Society (1921). Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society. 14. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Illinois State Historical Society. The first lumber journalCS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Illinois State Historical Society (1923). Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society. 15. Chicago, Illinois: Illinois State Historical Society. He published the world's first lumber journal.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Illinois State Historical Society (1926). Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society. 19. Chicago, Illinois: Illinois State Historical Society.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Marquis, Albert Nelson (1911). Book of Chicagoans. A.N. Marquis. p. 344. and was one of the originators of the Lumberman's Gazette first lumber journalCS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Personal Paragraphs (1922). The Southern Lumberman. 107. Franklin, Tennessee: Greysmith Publishing Co. Hotchkiss was publisher of the world's first lumber journalCS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Rogers, David Laurence (1973). The Lumberman's Gazette, America's first lumber journal. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Michigan State University. The Lumberman's Gazette is therefore the "pioneer" lumberman's paper.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Thackwell, Rhys G. (1922). The Southern Lumberman. 108. Franklin, Tennessee: Greysmith Publishing Co. Hotchkiss who retired a few years ago after seventy eight years of activity as a lumberman and lumber editor is the dean of all American lumbermen, pioneer editor founder of the Lumberman's Gazette first lumber journal, father of all lumber periodicals that have been issued since the grand old man of the lumber world.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Further reading
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