Hosford, James M.

Born: 1822-04-15 Berkshire County, Massachusetts

Died: 1898-08-14 Geneseo, Illinois

Flourished: 1858 to 1898 Geneseo, Illinois

James M. Hosford, banker, was born in Williamstown, Massachusetts, and studied at Williams College in 1843. Between at least 1850 and 1855, he lived in Elbridge, New York, where he was first a teacher and then an attorney. By 1858, Hosford had relocated permanently to Geneseo, Illinois, and was serving on the board of trustees of the town. He was a prominent Republican in Henry County, acting as president of the Geneseo Republican Club in 1858. In about October 1861, Hosford founded the Union Advocate, a Republican newspaper in Geneseo, and he remained at the paper’s helm through the following August, when he enlisted in the Union Army. After enlisting, he was elected captain of a Henry County company. Upon the formation of the 112th Regiment of Illinois Infantry in September 1862, Hosford was unanimously selected as major of the regiment and served until February 1863, when he was injured by the fall of his horse and resigned. Hosford subsequently served in the Commissary Department at Camp Douglas, in Chicago, from May 1863 through October 1865. He married twice and was survived by four children. In religion, he was a Congregationalist.

The History of Henry County, Illinois, Its Tax-Payers and Voters (Chicago: H. F. Kett, 1877), 200, 512, 514; General Catalogue of the Officers, Graduates, and Non-Graduates of Williams College 1930 (Williamstown, MA: Williams College, 1930), 80; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Elbridge, Onondaga County, NY, 392; New York, U.S., State Census, 1855, Elbridge, Onondaga County, 33 (Lehi, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2013); James M. Hosford to Abraham Lincoln; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Geneseo, Henry County, IL, 5; Ninian W. Edwards to Abraham Lincoln; Rock Island Daily Argus (IL), 15 October 1861, 3:2; The Evening Argus (Rock Island, IL), 1 August 1862, 3:2; Franklin William Scott, Newspapers and Periodicals of Illinois, 1814-1879, vol. 6 of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1910), 188; Illinois Civil War Muster and Descriptive Rolls, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; B. F. Thompson, History of the 112th Regiment of Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in the Great War of the Rebellion (Toulon, IL: Stark County News, 1885), 8, 10, 11, 13, 21, 336; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Hancock County, 6 February 1878, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Moline Daily Dispatch (IL), 15 August 1898, 4:6; Gravestone, Oakwood Cemetery, Geneseo, IL.