From "HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY,"  Vol. I, page 323.
Brant & Fuller, 1890.


JOHN HENRY HOBBS

John Henry Hobbs, president of the Hobbs Glass company, the Wheeling 
Electric company, the Standard Axle Manufacturing company, and of the 
Ohio Valley Clay company, the three former of Wheeling, W. Va., and 
the latter of Steubenville, Ohio, and more or less interested in 
several other incorporated industries of the upper Ohio valley, is a 
native of Cambridge, Mass., where he was born October 17, 1827.  His 
father, John L. Hobbs, was a native of Sullivan's Island, South 
Carolina, and his mother, Mary (Page) Hobbs, was born in 
Massachusetts.  John L. Hobb's father came from England to South 
Carolina, and from Sullivan's Island migrated to Cambridge.  At the 
latter place the son learned something of the manufacture of glass, 
and in 1845 came to Wheeling with his father, who embarked in this 
indistry.  At Richietown, now a part of Wheeling, associated with 
others, his father established the Barnes, Hobbs & Co. Glass works, 
now known as the Hobbs Glass company.  The elder Hobbs died in 
Philadelphia, whither he had gone for medical treatment, 
November 1, 1881, having lived to the ripe old age of seventy-seven 
years.  John H. Hobbs was educated in the schools of Cambridge and 
Boston, early in life joining his father in the glass industry.  
Turning his attention to the practical part of the business, he 
readily mastered its details and was soon recognized as a skillful 
and a successful manager.  He accompanied his father to Wheeling in 
1845, and in 1849 became a member of the firm of Barnes, Hobbs & Co.  
Upon the retirement of the senior Mr. Hobbs, in 1863, the style of 
the firm name was changed to J. H. Hobbs, Brockunier & Co., and in 
1888 it was incorporated as at present.  Mr. Hobbs was married at 
Wheeling in 1851 to Miss Mary A. Leech, and has two sons and one 
daughter, viz.: J. Harry, a hardware merchant of Kansas City, Mo.; 
Charles L., a manufacturer of Wheeling, and Helen F., wife of T. W. 
Phinney, of the Wheeling Axle company.  He is the proprietor of the 
Windsor hotel, and in 1889 was president of the West Virginia Fair 
association. 


(Linda Fluharty)