(The following is reprinted from “Reflections II”, a collection of local stories available at the Grove City Welcome Center and Museum. Any opinions made in the article are from the author.)

John Hoover, Revolutionary Soldier, early settler of Grove City, and head of the Hoover family for whom the Hoover Road was named, made a bit of history that is worth remembering on Memorial Day.

George Hoover, father of John Hoover, came to this country from Western Germany, having been impressed by the preaching and kindness of William Penn.

One of his sons was John Hoover who, at the age of 21 years, enlisted in 1776 in the Revolutionary Army. He was with Washington in his retreat through New Jersey in November 1776, when many of the soldiers were without shoes. John was with Washington the night he crossed the Delaware, fought in the battles of Trenton and Princeton and helped bury the dead after the Wyoming Massacre.

John Hoover’s name appears twice on two different tablets in Memorial Hall in Columbus, Ohio as a Revolutionary soldier and as first settler of Franklin County.

At the age of 30 years John Hoover married Margaret Smith. She was 20 years old and was also German. In about 1790 they moved to Kentucky before that territory had become a state and lived there nine years until the legalizing of slavery. This being contrary to their convictions, they moved to the free state of Ohio.

John and his wife sold their Kentucky farm, bought some cattle and a horse and made their way to Franklin County where’s some Kentucky friends had settled. They bought 200 acres of land, now known as the Hoover Farm. They discovered later that the man from whom they had bought it did not own it, so they were forced to buy it a second time

On the way here the cattle and horses got away and only one horse was found and that one was in the possession of an Indian. A two-room log cabin was built for the family, which is still occupied and can be seen from Hoover Road, but it is about to be swallowed by a building project. They raised nine children, one of which was an officer in the War of 1812.

(The conclusion of this story in the next blog entry).