The Hobson Family Collection
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George Hobson (1837-1891) and
Mary Amanda Lane Hobson (1847-1927)
George Hobson (1837-1891) and Mary A. Hobson (1847-1927)
George and Mary Hobson came to southeast Kansas from Hillsboro, Iowa, in 1865 and founded the settlement of Iowa City on the present-day site of Pittsburg, Kansas. The Hobsons started the first post office, the first school, the first store, and the first saloon and dance hall in the area.
George Hobson served in Company G of the 4th Iowa Cavalry during the Civil War. Following his discharge in 1865, the Hobsons, with many friends and relatives, drove more than a dozen wagons and herded cattle on the 700 mile, six week trip from Iowa to Kansas. The Hobsons homesteaded 160 acres in the area of Pittsburg now called Random Acres.
Iowa City, Kansas, was established in the fall of 1866 on the banks of Cow Creek. A log cabin served as the family home and business shops until 1870 when a two-story structure was built to house a grocery store, post office, blacksmith shop, and a meeting house. Other buildings on the site included a school and the saloon and dance hall. In early 1876 George Hobson proposed that the new town being planned in the center of the southeast Kansas coal field be named for the existing post office of Iowa City, but the industrial interests behind the new community preferred to take the name Pittsburg, thus emulating the industrial center of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. By August 1876 it was reported that the Iowa City post office was to be discontinued. Several of the Hobson-owned businesses were soon discontinued and for all practical purposes, Iowa City was gone.
The Hobson family continued to be active in local political and business affairs and several descendants were employees of the Pittsburg post office. George Hobson was stricken with paralysis in 1887 and died in April 1891. George and other members of the family were buried in a corner of his land. The Hobson family cemetery became a public burial ground and in now part of St. Mary's and Highland Park cemeteries.
The Hobson family materials listed in the following preliminary inventory were gifted to Pittsburg State University through Mr. Carder Hobson in October 2006.
Photo of the George and Mary Hobson home, located in Iowa City, Kansas.
The home was built in 1870. To the left is a partial view of the log cabin that
was their first home in 1866.
DONOR INFORMATION
The Hobson family materials listed in the following preliminary inventory were gifted to Pittsburg State University through Mr. Carder Hobson in October 2006.
PRELIMINARY INVENTORY
Pittsburg State University, Special Collections
Preliminary Inventory
Hobson Family, Collection
Accession 06-14
Box 1
Hobson Family Bible (Edinburgh: Mark and Charles Kerr, 1795).
[Enclosed: Henry County Democratic Ticket candidate list, n.d.; St. Louis Journal
May 1890; The London General Epistle for 1849; letter fragment; paper shirt pattern (partial)]
Earl H. Davis, Hobson: Descendants of George and Elizabeth Hobson; VA, N.C., Ohio, Ind. (Long Beach, CA; 1957) [1707-1957: 250th Anniversary in America]
"Quakers in the American Colonies" 4 page essay
George Edwin Hobson - history and genealogy, 1 page
Hobson Family Tree by Margaret Lorna Hobson Alexander, 1955
Woodard Family Tree (4 sheets)
George Hobson (1837-1891) Civil War discharge papers, 2 leaves
Photographs
George Hobson (1837-1891) and Mary Amanda Lane Hobson home,
Iowa City (Tintype and 5x7 reprint)
George Hobson (1837-1891) tombstone
Hobson homestead well, Iowa City - photo ca. 1904; photo
1980; includes John Hay article on well, "Paraguay Natives Preserve Past."
George Edwin Hobson and Bessie Inez Woodard Hobson wedding pictures (2 sets)
George Edwin Hobson and Bessie Hobson, 27 February 1937
Publications
Pittsburg, Kansas: Its Business and Its Beauties As Seen Through the Camera, 1902
The Pittsburg Commercial Club, Year Book 1909
Prosperous Pittsburg Pictorially Portrayed, 1915
Highland Park Cemetery, prospectus
Pittsburg Promotional brochure - YMCA; Interurban Lines; etc.
Random Acres Addition map and price list, broadsheet
The Purple and White, May 1901
The Purple and White, 1928
The Purple and White, 1930
Pittsburg Senior High Class of 1930
1965 Reunion - invitation, photo and program
1980 Reunion - letter, poem, attendance list, and photograph
1990 Reunion - invitation, photo, program, attendance list, letter opener and laminated photo-name badge
Eyeglasses Frame, unidentified
Black leather baby shoes, unidentified
Box 2
Colt Revolver and Holster carried in Civil War by George Hobson (1837-1891)
Bullet Mold used by George Hobson (1837-1891)
Includes modern-day (1990) lead balls and bullets; 12 round and 12 conical
5 cartridges in clip [possibly for 1903 Springfield rifle]
Mail Pouch (stamps and paraphernalia), 1912, carried by George Don Hobson
Latch Hook hanging of Hobson Coat of Arms
Hobson Coat of Arms, etching
Hobson Coat of Arms, historiography (original and photocopy)
Hobson Coat of Arms, Special Report and correspondence
Cremo Cigar Box containing
Civil War wadding pouch
Mold
Oversize red dice (1 die)
B and B Jewelers, Pittsburg, ring case
Medallion, "Souvenir of the Capture of Manilla"
Oversize safety pin
Plastic ring, hearts and diamonds insets
Civil War Diaries of George Hobson (1837-1891), 1862-1865 (2 volumes)
Civil War Diaries of George Hobson (1837-1891), 1862-1865, typescript
Civil War notations - Helena, Arkansas July 1862 - April 1863 (4 pages)
Original and two typescript copies
"Memorandum of the 4th Iowa Cavalry, Company G" (4 pages)
Original and two typescript copies
Travel Diary of George Hobson (1837-1891) Iowa to Kansas, 1865
Original and typescript summary - Missouri map with route marked
"Preamble, Constitution and By-Laws of the Settlers Mutual Protection League of Baker Township, Crawford County, Kansas" undated
"Dodge's Sectional Map of the Cherokee Neutral Lands," 1867 (copy)
Publications
Historical Album of Kansas
Pittsburg Headlight/Sun, Kansas Centennial Issue, 1961
Autumn Lifestyles, July 1987 (Grace Williamson)
Pittsburg Morning Sun, Pittsburg Centennial Issue, 1976
Box 3
Iowa City history by George Hobson (1882- )
Deeds
Warranty Deed, John R. Hobson to George E. Hobson, 1917
Warranty Deed, Mary A. Hobson to George E. Hobson, 1909
Deed, Mary Amanda Hobson to George E. Hobson, 1922
Deed, Mattie Aikman to Mary Amanda Hobson, 1922
Deed, Highland Park Cemetery to George E. Hobson, 1922
Letters
October 9, 1863 - "Respected son . . . " fragment
R. H. Barton to George Hobson, March 15, 1877
Benjamin R. Locke to George Hobson, September 10, 1884
A. B. Parkell to George Hobson, July 17, 1888
Raymond Clark to Amanda Hobson, May 11, 1898 (Includes photocopy)
Raymond Clark to Amanda Hobson, May 27, 1898 (Includes photocopy and Typescript)
O. E. Howe to Amanda Hobson, December 18, 1891
N. P. Batchelder to Amanda Hobson, January 28, 1901 (Includes photocopy)
Henry ? to Bessie Woodard, February 3, 1903
The Pilgrim Press to Bessie Woodard, April 12, 1904
Earle Hobson to Johnnie Hobson, June 13, 1912
Property division of George Hobson, June 19, 1845
Military Pension Certificate of Mary A. Hobson, 1892, widow of George Hobson
Property Tax receipt, Mary A. Hobson, 1891
William G. Sample and Dinah Hobson family genealogy
Clippings
Hobson Baby Dies
Mrs. Hobson Ranks as Senior Resident
First Pittsburg Postoffice Established in 1867
SMTN Kindergarten
Genealogical Correspondence between George Donald Hobson and Clyde Hobson
Genealogical Notes, miscellaneous, includes Bailey Hobson history and letter to Don Hobson from Ellen Hobson Evans
Hobson Round Robin stationary
Pittsburg Business College tuition coupon
Typescript of Quakers at Cain Creek Monthly Meeting minutes, November 7, 1772
Bessie Inez Woodard Hobson Records
Birth certification
Certificate of Death
Final accounting of bank account
Ellsworth Undertaking Company statement and letter
Obituary - clipping
George Edwin Hobson Records
Doctor's statement
Highland Park Cemetery Association receipt
Mt. Carmel Hospital statement
Ellsworth Undertaking Company statement
Cremer's Monument Company statement
Photographs
Grandfather Lane
Grandmother Lane
Carder Hobson and Steve Alexander
George Donald "Don" Hobson
2 images, young
Crying, 1915
In hat and smiling, February 8, 1920
On tricycle
Don and Bob Hobson with fish, August 3, 1924
Don and Bob Hobson, January 1920
Wilma, Don and Bob Hobson, 1920
Granddad Woodard, Don and Bob Hobson with fish, August 31, 1924
Don and Bob Hobson by car
Carder Hobson, Ron, Don and Harold Gier, and Julia Bess Simpson, 1939
Bessie I. Hobson and children, camping, 1921
Campsite, Corkery, Missouri
Walter Randolph Hobson
Mary Amanda Hobson, George E. Hobson and John Randolph Hobson
Mary Amanda Hobson
Sam Hobson, George E. Hobson, John Hobson, and Abe Hobson, pre-1920
Joseph Jacob Hobson, tintype
Lorna, Thelma, Wilma and Don Hobson, 1913 (2 copies)
Bessie I. Hobson and children, 1919
George E. and John Randolph Hobson, Lightning Creek, 1903
Ed Hobson, young man in hat [George Edwin Hobson]
George Ed. Hobson, 1901
George E. and Bessie Hobson with group of young people, ca. 1900
George E. Hobson family, July 7, 1948
Abel School class, 1923
George E. and Bessie Hobson in garden, 1901 South Joplin
1901 South Joplin house moved to 411 Hobson Drive
Hobson Drive lot for South Joplin house
Fieldcrest Subdivision, 1942 (4 images)
George E. Hobson and mail wagon, 1904
George E. Hobson in mail carrier's uniform, 1914 (2 images)
Post Office employees, Pittsburg, Kansas, 1952
CD - "Hobson History, 1800s-1900s," compiled by Carder Hobson
Oversize
Framed photograph of George Hobson (1837-1891)
Crawford County School District #15
Clerk's Record Book, 1898-1915
Classification and Daily Register, 1922-1926
Civil War, Union rifle, manufactured by Mowry, Connecticut, 1864
Last Modified: Wednesday, 01-Nov-2006 12:09:50 CST
http://library.pittstate.edu/spcoll/ndxhobson.html
