My Genealogy Hound

JOHN B. EWING, who is living retired from the active pursuits of life on his snug little farm in Southampton, is a self-made man, having risen by his own efforts from a condition of comparative poverty to one of affluence. He was born in County Donegal, Ireland, September 24, 1828, son of Samuel and Sarah (O’Donnell) Ewing, both also natives of Ireland. The father was a black-smith by trade, and with his wife and two of his children emigrated to America in 1852. Landing in New York he stayed there but one night before he started for Easthampton, where he lived several years, and where his wife died in 1857. She bore him four children, as follows: Mary, born in Ireland, December 18, 1824, who there married William Ewing, came with him to this country, located in Easthampton, where they carried on general farming, and reared a family of eleven children; John B., the subject of this review; William A., born January 21, 1831, married to Margaret Thompson, father of seven children, who subsequently emigrated with his family to Massachusetts, and is at present living on a farm in Indiana; and Samuel, the youngest child, born in 1834, who is now living in Chicago, Ill. The wife of the latter, formerly Mary J. Crawford, died leaving him with six children.

John B. Ewing spent the first years after his arrival in this country in Easthampton. He came to Southampton in 1857 to enter the employment of Mr. O. N. Clark, carriage manufacturer, working for him five years. Mr. Ewing, having by that time become a skilled workman, bought the shop, and thence forward carried on a successful business in the manufacture of wagons, sleighs, and buggies until June 1, 1895. At that time he leased the shop and practically retired from business, although he pays some attention to his farming interests. The many years he has spent in exhausting toil, as well as the easy circumstances he now enjoys, ample justify him in spending the remainder of his life in repose. In politics Mr. Ewing is a zealous advocate of Republican principles. He has served his fellow-townsmen as Constable and on the Grand Jury in Boston.

On January 20, 1852, Mr. Ewing was united in marriage with Miss Flora Butler, a native of Ireland, born in 1834. Her father, who was a farmer in Ireland, married Margaret Cary, and emigrated to the United States, settling in Easthampton, where he found employment in a factory. Mr. and Mrs. Ewing had six children, as follows: Anna Jane, born April 24, 1858, who is the wife of Charles O. Lyon, of this town, and who has borne her husband three children, of whom Helena B. and Marion C. are still living; Sarah M., born in June, 1859, married to Henry B. Norton, overseer on a farm in Southampton, and mother of one child, Hiram; Flora B., born October 4, 1860, wife of Arthur H. Searle, a farmer, and mother of three children — Flora Helen, Frank Arthur, and Hazel; Frank Samuel, born January 1, 1863, married to Estalla Clapp, of Southampton, where he is employed as a clerk in the general store of A. G. Judd; Elizabeth R., born in 1864, married to Ralph M. Fowler (proprietor of a meat market at Northampton), and mother of two children — Maynard and Helen; and Elizabeth R., who died in infancy. Mrs. Ewing, the devoted wife and tender mother, passed away in 1888, leaving the home desolate. She was a woman of high Christian character, and, with her husband, was a conscientious member of the Congregational church. The remarkable success that has followed Mr. Ewing throughout his business career is entirely due to his own efforts. No doubt the stability of purpose, straightforwardness of disposition, and good business habits for which he is known have been influential agents in bringing about the result.