My Genealogy Hound

Hezekiah Rogers Sweet was born in Columbia County, N. Y., March 7, 1814, and is the son of John and Helen (Bentley) Sweet, both natives of Dutchess County, N. Y., the former born May 20, 1778, and the latter, August 2, 1780. In Dutchess County, N. Y., they both passed their last days, the father dying November 16, 1830, and the mother September 1, 1820. The father was a mill wright. The grandfather of our subject, Samuel Sweet, was born January, 1746, and lived to be nearly a hundred years old. He was a soldier in the War of the Revolution. Taber Bentley, the maternal grandfather of Hezekiah, served in the American army during the War of the Revolution, and his great-grandfather Vandenburg was a colonel in the American army. The subject of this sketch received his education in the home schools and at Prof. Burton’s boarding school, in Litchfield County, Conn. His mother dying when he was but a child, he lived with his relatives until fourteen years of age, after which he went to his brother, who owned a sloop on the Hudson River, and cooked for one year, after which he was steersman on a boat on the Champlain canal for about one season. He then taught school in Saratoga County, after which he learned the carpenter’s trade, but soon gave this up, and taught school again. The next year he worked for one John Harris, in a general store at Fort Miller, Saratoga County, N. Y., and at the end of that time took charge of a canal boat running from White Hall to Troy, for Harris Bros. After one season he went to work in a shop, making sleds on which to haul pine logs, but the next spring ran a boat for Viele Bros., at Fort Miller. After clerking on a steamboat a short time, in 1836 he and an elder brother, Benjamin, moved to St. Joseph, Mich., where they remained until 1839. In 1840 he came to St. Louis, Mo., and after working at his trade moved to Manchester, and then back to St. Louis. In the fall of 1842 he taught school, and in 1843 he came to Franklin County, Mo., where he has ever since remained. He worked at his trade until 1854. In 1852 the county court appointed him public administrator, which office he held for two years, and was reappointed for two years. In 1863 the sheriff, acting as collector, resigned, and Mr. Sweet took the office of collector and served out his time. In 1873 he was elected to the same office, and held that position one term. Since then he has been engaged in farming and in the administration of estates. In 1848 Mr. Sweet married Mary Chitwood, a native of Franklin County, Mo., born in 1829, and the daughter of Seth Chitwood. She died in 1864, leaving a family of eight children, all now living: Levi A., Laura Helen, Sarah A., Charles L., Lucinda M., John S., Gilbert L. and Mary R. In 1867 Mr. Sweet married Mary J. (Roark) Shobe, daughter of Thomas Roark, and widow of James Shobe. She was born in Gasconade County, Mo., in the year 1832, and two children are the fruits of this latter union: Hezekiah L. and Alberta. Mr. Sweet is a Democrat in politics, and Mrs. Sweet is a member of the Presbyterian Church.