John Alexander and Margaret (Hall) Hogg

John Alexander and Margaret (Hall) Hogg

John Alexander "Alex" Hogg, son of Robert and Mary Jane (McFate) Hogg, was born in Cherry Township, Butler County, Pennsylvania on March 29, 1844.

Margaret Hall, daughter of William and Minerva (Thompson) Hall, was born in Butler County, Pennsylvania on April 9, 1844, in the town of Centerville, where she grew up. In the summer of 1863 she visited her cousin in the country near Harrisville, to help her cousin make a wedding dress. One morning when the girls sat on the porch shelling peas, a young man, who was plowing in the field nearby, walked over to ask his young neighbor if she would go to a party with him. He didn't know she was planning to get married. This young man was Alex Hogg. It was Margaret he took to the party, and a courtship followed.

In April 1865, William Hall moved his family out to Poweshick County, Iowa, and Margaret taught school. In those days there were two school terms each year, one in the summer for the younger children, and another in the winter when the older boys and girls were free from summer work so they could go to school.

That fall, Alex traveled to Iowa, and Alex and Margaret were married in Brooklyn, Iowa on October 31, 1865, by Reverend J.F. Reynolds. They then went back to Pennsylvania to live with his parents and help with the farm the next year. In 1866 their first child, Mary Minerva, was born. The following year, Alex rented a farm, where they lived for two years. It had a little log cabin on it. Their first son, Robert William, was born in this cabin. Margaret's sister Tillie came to stay with them before Will was born, and went back to Iowa with them in April 1869. The train was crowded with Union soldiers, most of them in worn and dirty uniforms. Some were wounded, but they all were deliriously happy to be going home. The Civil War was over!

The first winter in Iowa, Alex worked in the woods, cutting firewood for the Union Pacific Railroad. He walked four miles to work and back each day. In the spring he started working with his father-in-law at the carpenter trade, and learned to be a carpenter.

The following is derived from notes prepared by John A. Hogg, Jr.

Rubber stamp used by John Alexander Hogg in his store.

When Alex and Margaret moved to Iowa, Alex entered business, owning and operating a general merchandise store.

During the "great depression", which started in 1873, Alex's business failed, leaving him destitute. Looking for work, he went to Colorado during the mining boom, but finally ended up in Shelton, Nebraska, where he contracted to build a flour mill on the Wood River for Jason George.

While thus employed, one Sunday he took a long walk out into the hills and traded his gold watch for a homestead relinquishment, dealing with an old Swede living in a dugout on one side of a long draw. (On the other side of the draw was another dugout which sheltered the Swede's single ox.) On an adjoining claim was a roomy sod house, which John rented, and into which he moved Margaret and their six childrem. On Saturday nights he would carry a load of supplies for the family on his back, to return Sunday to continue his mill construction. Later he built a three room sod house on a hill looking down the long draw where the Swede lived. This house was built in 1873 and remained the continuous dwelling for the family until 1903, when it was removed and replaced with a 2-story frame house. [In 1961 this house was occupied by Alex and Margaret's youngest son, Irwin, who at this time was sole owner of the homestead.]

In 1906, suffering from ill health, John and Margaret traveled to Salem, Oregon, and stayed with his son R.W. Hogg's family, and his son Irwin took over operation of the farm. Upon returning in 1908, John and Margaret moved into town (Shelton). They purchased the T.G. Tritt property on the west side of town, and lived there the rest of their lives, deriving income from the farm.

(My thanks to Mary Van Dyke of findinggrandpa.com for bringing my attention to newspaper clippings from the Kearney Daily Hub which noted the departure and return of John Hogg from the area).

From S.C. Basset's History of Buffalo County in which he documents the life of Alex Hogg, " ... both he and his wife are active and prominent members in the Presbyterian church of Shelton, in which he has served as an elder for seven years, doing all in his power to promote the growth and extend the influence of the church and bring about that moral development for which the church stands. His life has ever been an honorable and upright one, fraught with integrity in every relation, and those who know him have ever felt that he is worthy of trust."

Alex died in 1922 at age 78. Margaret died in 1926 at age 82.

The discussion of John's life featured in S. C. Bassett's "History of Buffalo County, contains more information about John and his family. For a rich discussion of the history and lives of John and Margaret and their family, see the section on John Alexander Hogg in the memoirs of Ruth (VanDyke) Adams, John and Margaret's granddaughter. Ruth also documented many of the childhood memories and stories of Mary Minerva "Mamie" Hogg, John and Margaret's eldest daughter, which give glimpses into the family life at the time.

Many Hoggs and Halls settled in Cherry Township, Butler County, Pensylvania. On the following map one can find the homes of John Hall, Robert Hogg, Robert Hogg, Jr., Mrs. J. Hogg (probably the widow of John A. Hogg's uncle John Hogg), Joseph Billingsley (probably John A. Hogg's brother-in-law), and the homes of many others who have the same last names of many Hogg and Hall relatives.

Cherry Township, Butler County, Pennsylvania.

John and Margaret had eleven children:

Alex and Margaret Hogg Family: Standing (left to right): Lola Margaret, James Burton, Robert William, Sarah Inez, Loyal Boyd VanDyke (husband of Mary Minerva), Lizzie Amanda. Seated (left to right): John Alexander Hogg with Floyd Cleveland, Margaret Hogg, John Alexander, Jr., Mary Minerva.

Alex and Margaret Hogg with sons John Jr. (left) and Robert William "Will" (right), Will's wife Jenny (Nutter) (seated right). It might be Rose Florinda Hogg that is seated on the left. Baby Margaret Hogg, daughter of Will and Jenny, is seated on her grandmothers lap. Her brother Ronald is standing behind her, and her other brother Glenn is standing to Margaret's left. (Thanks to Tony Vassallo, great-grandson of Mary Minerva Hogg, grandson of Edgar VanDyke, son of Marjorie, for his assistance in identifying the Will and Jenny Hogg children, assisted by Margaret Hogg herself, age 96 at the time of this writing, and still living in the family farmhouse).

Margaret (Hall) Hogg - taken at her 80th birthday April 9, 1924.

                    John Hogg and Margaret (Hall) Hogg Golden Wedding Anniversary Reunion (Left side) - Nebraska - October 30, 1915

(Attendees are listed in the typed notes included in a genealogical history of the Hogg and Hall clan drafted by John Hogg, Jr. after the reunion.) John Alexander Hogg and wife Margaret (with granddaughter on her lap) are at the right in the second row from the top. To the left of John are his 3 youngest sons, (left to right) Cleve, John Jr. and Irwin, with ther wives behind them, Lizzie Scheppers, Francis Beatrice Nutter, and Evalyn Robinson, holding her daughter Doris. On John Jr.'s lap is his daughter, Jean Margaret Hogg. The three people behind John and Margaret have not been identified, nor the child she is holding. John's brother Robert Hogg III from Pennsylvania is directly in front of him, with Marcella Bernardt to his right, sister of Delores (identified in the other half of the picture). Seated in the front row, 3rd, 4th, and 5th from the left are 2 other brothers of Margaret Hogg, James Thompson Hall and John Floyde Hall, and her sister Mathilda Jane (Hall) Chapman. My thanks to Bertha Brush Owens, granddaughter of Robert Hall, Margaret Hogg's brother, for the help in identifying some of the Hall clan, and to Adrian Glandon, son of John's and Margaret's daughter Rose, for his help in identifying several other people in the picture).

                                         John Hogg and Margaret (Hall) Hogg Golden Wedding Anniversary Reunion (Right side)

At the left in the second row from the top is Dinah (Ingham) Nutter, matriarch of the Nutter clan, and grandmother of Beatrice (Nutter) Hogg, John Jr.'s wife. On her left is daughter Rose Florinda (Hogg) Glandon, with her husband Earl William Glandon standing behind her. Earl's sister Ethyl is on his right. To Rose's left is John's and Margaret's eldest daughter Mary Minerva "Mamie" (Hogg) VanDyke with her husband, Loyal Boyd VanDyke standing behind her. To the right of Mamie is her sister Lizzie Amanda (Hogg) Nutter, holding son Donovan, with her husband Mirabeau Nutter standing behind her. At the far right, the man standing (with the mustache) is Margaret Hogg's brother, Robert Hall. Seated in the front row, fourth from the left (hat in his hands), is Franklin B. Squiers. Three of John's sisters were also there: Mary (Hogg) Fisher from Pennsylvania, and Sarah (Hogg) VanDyke and Lizzie (Hogg) Mills, both from Nebraska. Sarah, wife of Otis Van Dyke, is seated in front of Dinah Nutter, with her grandaughter Dolores Bernardt, daughter of Franklin and Murrel (Van Dyke) Bernhardt on her lap. John's brother Jim, also from Pennsylvania, attended the reunion, and is probably the man on the right of Sarah. (He is definitely a brother as he shows up in another picture of 5 siblings.) The woman sitting on Sarah's right is probably Mary, the younger of the three sister. For sure, the second person to Sarah's left is Lizzie (Hogg) Mills. (All the 5 siblings are dressed in the same clothes and look the same age as in this picture. Perhaps it was taken before some of the others arrived from out of town.) None of the others in this side of the picture have been identified, although it is likely that the other two women in the second row from the top are the other daughters of John and Margaret: Lola Margaret and Sadie Inez. (My thanks to Todd Tamura, great, great grandson of Otis and Sarah Van Dyke for his help in identifying Sarah and her grand children).

Alex and Margaret Hogg Family. Alex is standing at the right. I believe that is his son Irwin to his right, then son Cleve, then Mirabeau Nutter. Not sure of the next, maybe son James Burton. To his right might be Cleve's wife Lizzie, and on her right is daughter Lizzie Amanda, wife of Mirabeau. Margaret is standing on the right in front of Irwin. None of the rest have been identified.

Alex and Margaret Hogg taking a buggy ride.

Alex Hogg's 3-room sod house. The interior and exterior walls were plastered. However, the blizzard of 1888 nearly buried the house, and when the snow melted, the plaster softened and fell off up to the level of the snow. The walls were never replastered.

Frame house built by Alex Hogg for his family in 1903.

Evalyn Robinson - future wife of Irwin Hogg.

Last revised on March 24, 2016. If you have comments, corrections or additional information or pictures you would like to contribute, feel free to contact Dave Nims.