My Genealogy Hound

ELISHA KENNEY HULBERT. Engraved upon the seal of the state of Michigan, one finds this question and its answer, “Would you seek a beautiful peninsula? Look around.” So might the man whose name opens this article say, “Do you seek for monuments and evidences of my handiwork? Look upon the stores and dwellings of the village of Waterloo; for I have erected many of them, and advised and planned the construction of others.” This has been the life work of Mr. Hulbert. Although he is now retired from active life, he can look back over years of honest toil in which his industry, honesty and native good sense have greatly determined the growth of the town and county, and even beyond.

Mr. Hulbert is a native of Waterloo, having first seen the light November 8, 1820, and is a son of Elijah and Rebecca (Kinney) Hulbert. For two generations his paternal ancestors had lived in Columbia County, his father having been born there in 1790, and his grandfather being among the earliest settlers of that county. In 1815 the father of our subject removed with his family to Waterloo, where he resided until the day of his death, in 1853. By trade he was a carpenter, and built the first frame house that was erected in the limits of the present village of Waterloo. The building is still standing, and is in a good state of preservation, which shows the honest character both of goods and labor of that early day. His wife long survived him, dying in 1875.

Mr. Hulbert, our subject, is the eldest of a family of five children, who lived to maturity. Reuben D. has since died; Gideon F. is at present a citizen of Waterloo; Harriet, the only sister, has gone over to the “great majority;” Charles H. is an inhabitant of Montgomery County, Kan. As a boy, Elisha attended the Waterloo common school, and when old enough to go to work undertook to learn the trade of carpenter and joiner under his father’s instruction. This he thoroughly mastered, becoming an adept not only in woodwork, but in the science and art of building, and in this he has been actively engaged for more than fifty years. At first everything had to be made by hand, involving not only a vast amount of hard work, but honesty and faithfulness in a high degree. He kept pace with the rapid improvement of his calling, and has profited by all the new ideas in labor-saving machinery. As noted above, he has constructed many of the dwelling-houses and stores of the village, always to the satisfaction of those with whom he has had dealings. During his active years he had a long engagement with the New York Central Railway in building water-houses and tanks along the line between Syracuse and Rochester, being employed in this capacity for more than eight years. For a time he was engaged in an express business, and in 1886 he came into control of the city scales, which he still owns.

In 1844 Miss Susan Warren became the wife of our subject. She was a resident of Waterloo, but came originally from the old Bay State. They have had four children. Ella F. is at home; Charles S. has long since entered into the “land of the leal;” Harriet is Mrs. William H. Shand, of Rochester. There was one child who died in infancy.

In politics Mr. Hulbert votes with the Democratic party. He has been Commissioner of Highways, and Assessor of the village of Waterloo. In the Methodist Episcopal Church he has been a great help, both he and his wife having been devoted members of that organization. She died in 1881. The family residence is on Virginia Street, and here Mr. Hulbert has resided for fifty years.

The ancestry of our subject was of the best that the colonies afforded. His great-grandfather, Samuel Hulbert, emigrated from England and settled in Sharon, Conn., afterward removing to Burlington, Mass. His grandfather died in Columbia County in 1818, and was associated with many of the stirring events of early New York history.