Hiram Alden

Hiram Alden (October 28, 1792 – November 26, 1838) was an American physician and politician. He served two terms in the Michigan House of Representatives just after Michigan gained statehood, and was speaker pro tempore.

Hiram Alden
Member of the Michigan House of Representatives
from the Branch County district
In office
November 2, 1835 – December 31, 1837
Personal details
Born(1792-10-28)October 28, 1792
Ashfield, Massachusetts
DiedNovember 26, 1838(1838-11-26) (aged 46)
Detroit, Michigan
Political partyDemocratic

Biography

Hiram Alden was born in Ashfield, Massachusetts, on October 28, 1792. He was the son of Isaac Alden and Irene Smith, and a direct descendant of Mayflower crew member John Alden and Priscilla Mullins.[1][2] His father may have been a magistrate in Ashfield, but in 1794 the family moved to the small settlement of Western, New York, in Oneida County. In 1800, they moved to Williamstown, New York. While taking a cargo of lumber down the St. Lawrence River in 1811, his father was captured by the British, just before the start of the War of 1812, and after refusing to swear allegiance, he was deported to England and did not return until 1820, dying two years later.[3]

Alden studied medicine with his brother-in-law, Joel Rathbun, in Camden, New York, and completed his studies in Cincinnati. He began practicing medicine in Ashville, New York. In 1828, Alden moved his practice to Ripley, New York,[4] and then to Coldwater, Michigan, in 1834.[1]

He was elected as a Democrat[5] to the Michigan House of Representatives in its first session after adoption of the state's constitution in 1835, and re-elected in 1837 for a second term, during which he served as speaker pro tempore. He was also president of the village of Coldwater in 1837. [1] He proposed the name for Quincy Township, after the residents' initial choice of either Springville or Springfield was already taken by another town.[6]

Governor Stevens T. Mason appointed him railroad commissioner in 1838, during the construction of a railway from Detroit to Pontiac, Michigan.[7]

He died in Detroit on November 26, 1838.[7]

Family

Alden married Melita Huntley of Rome, New York, on January 28, 1816. They had one child, Maria, who died in infancy, and ten others who survived to adulthood: Matilda, Hiram Rathbun, Maria, Irene, Eliza Mary, Alma, Isaac Reuben, Philander, Wyllis, Elizabeth, and Harriet.[8]

Notes
  1. Collin 1906, p. 864.
  2. Chapman Brothers 1888, p. 618.
  3. Fielding 1903, pp. 12–13.
  4. Fielding 1903, pp. 21.
  5. Chapman Brothers 1888, p. 596.
  6. Everts & Abbott 1879, p. 178.
  7. Bingham 1888, p. 34.
  8. Fielding 1903, pp. 21–22.

References
  • Bingham, Stephen D. (1888), Early History of Michigan: With Biographies of State Officers, Members of Congress, Judges and Legislators, Lansing: Thorp & Godfrey, retrieved 2018-11-12
  • Collin, Henry P. (1906), A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Branch County, Michigan, New York & Chicago: Lewis, retrieved 2018-11-17
  • Fielding, Harriet C. (1903), The Ancestors and Descendants of Isaac Alden and Irene Smith, His Wife (1599-1903), retrieved 2018-11-17
  • History of Branch County, Michigan, Philadelphia: Everts & Abbott, 1879, retrieved 2018-11-17
  • Portrait And Biographical Album of Branch County, Michigan, Chicago: Chapman Brothers, 1888, retrieved 2018-11-17
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