Hugh Linn II

Hugh Linn II
Born	May 10, 1785(1785-05-10) Ulster, County Down, Ireland
Died	April 3, 1870 (aged 84) Polo, Ogle county, Illinois
Resting place	Plainview Cemetery, Mount Morris, Ogle County, Illinois
Spouse	Ann Widney, in 1808
Children	James Widney Linn (1809-1864) Hugh W. Linn (1811-1820) Sarah Ann Linn (1814-1896) Mary Linn (1816-1896) Jane Linn (1818-1903) John Linn (1820-1895) Margaret Linn (1822) Hugh Linn (1824-1849) Alexander E. Linn (1826-1902) Arabella M. Linn (1828) Eleanor P. Linn (1831-1905)
Parents	Hugh Linn Sarah Widney

The Clan Linn Entry

HUGH LINN 2d was born in the Province of Ulster, County Down, Ireland, May 10, 1785, and died April 3d, 1870, aged almost eighty-five years. When three years old he was brought by his parents, Hugh Linn and Sarah (Widney) Linn, to America, with a brother, John, aged ten years, and sister, Mary, six years old. They settled near the site of the village of Concord, Franklin (then Cumberland) County, Pennsylvania, in what was then a wilderness.

Reared as he was in the backwoods life assumed for him a very practical aspect. The stern demands of imperative duty left no time for idleness. There were errands to run, chores to do and scores of miscellaneous duties unknown to the average boy of today. He lived in the midst of the forest, no church, no day school and no Sunday-school to attend, no newspapers nor magazines coming by mail, for there was not a postoffice within thirty miles, and periodical literature was then almost unknown; no books save those which grown people read, no pictures except those found in such books, and no toys except those his own hands could make, while he had few associates outside his parents' home.

Think of this, ye boys and girls, scions of Hugh Linn 2d, who have elegantly furnished churches to attend, Sunday-schools with every appliance for teaching, and graded day schools ten months in the year, with teachers spedally qualified for their work; ye who have daily papers and illustrated magazines containing literature for old and young, and news from every part of the world, whose homes are decorated with beautiful pictures, vastly better than the few crude woodcuts of pioneer days. What a contrast!

His parents gave him instruction as best they could with the limited means at their command, and when he was about eight years old a man was hired by them and the parents of a few other children to teach a private school, no such thing as a public school being then in existence. This was in a small log cabin, without plaster or ceiling. Two holes cut in the logs answered the purpose of windows, and these were covered with oiled or greased paper, as glass could not be had. Holes were bored in the logs at one side of the room, into which pins or pegs about a foot and a half long were driven, and rough boards were laid on these on which to write and cipher. Such was the only opportunity Hugh Linn 2d had for securing an education.

Brought up in a religious home by pious parents, he was deeply convicted of sin when only nine years of age. He prayed much for an evidence of his acceptance as a child of God and one day went into the hay mow to engage in secret prayer. Then it was that all doubt was removed from his mind and he entered into the life of an earnest Christian and consistently followed it until his death seventy-five years later.

When a Methodist Society was established in the settlement, November, 1800, he was admitted as one of the first members, and was later an official member for more than half a century. Neither summer's heat nor winter's cold prevented his attendance at the means of grace. Always a pillar in the church, he and Robert Maclay, a man of like religious enthusiasm, were known as the "Caleb and Joshua" of the hosts of Methodism in Concord. That was a time when the church was often crowded to overflowing by people from far and near, zealous, energetic, self-sacrificing, a people whose religion was one of deep conviction of the primal truths of Christianity, and whose conviction found expression in a godly life, "unspotted by the world" and in aggressive works; in seeking the conversion of souls in the church, in the home, and in the community.

Hugh Linn 2d was pre-eminently a man of prayer. Aside from family worship morning and evening, he had his fixed times for private prayer, and no matter how urgent business might be, or how entertaining the company, he found time and opportunity, as did his Master, to retire from the world and commit himself and his interests to the hands of Deity.

He was married to Miss Ann Widney in 1808, and they lived together a contented, a happy and a useful life for fifty-seven years, when death called her away. They brought up a family of ten children, four sons and six daughters, two of the daughters still surviving (1905) at very advanced ages,—Mrs. Margaret Loughridge, of West Side, Iowa, and Mrs. Arabella M. Bloom, of Las Vegas, New Mexico.

Hugh Linn, 2d, was a very busy man. He was a stone mason by trade, and the early part of the last century was an era of stone buildings. Nearly all of the better class of dwellings, as well as barns, were built of stone. His industry, energy and ability soon made him a master of his trade, and early in life he began to take contracts for the erection of buildings, employing numbers of men, who soon learned to recognize in him a just and conscientious employer. His work included a district of country many miles in extent in Franklin, Cumberland, Perry, Juniata and Huntingdon counties, Pennsylvania, and necessitated his being absent from home much of the time, but it was characteristic of him that Sunday nearly always found him at home with his family. In connection with his business he also carried on by means of employes a carding and fulling mill, a grist mill and a farm.

Years before the organization of temperance societies in the United States he advocated total abstinence. The moderate use of alcoholic liquor was common among religious people in the early part of the last century and some form of strong drink was found in nearly every sideboard, while it was a mark of hospitality among church members, as well as others, to invite a guest or visiting friend to take a social glass. He related to the writer when a boy his reason for being a total abstainer. One dark, cold, wet evening, about the year 1828, he was at the village store, talking to Mr. Joseph Pomeroy, then the principal merchant of the community, and a model citizen. As he was leaving Mr. Pomeroy said, "Mr. Linn, it is a very chilly evening, won't you take something to drink before going?" He accepted the invitation, and as he went out of the store, immediately after, was met in the darkness by a drunkard who had seen him through the window, and who said to him, "Well, Mr. Linn, I see you are fond of a little whiskey too." As he wended his way homeward he said to himself, "Is it possible that such a man should be encouraged to drink by me ? This shall never happen again." From that time he forbade the use of any intoxicating beverage in his home.

It was then the custom also to furnish employes with a certain amount of whiskey each day, and this custom he determined to abandon. Soon afterward he summoned ten or fifteen men to help clean his mill race of mud and moss, a most disagreeable task which had to be done every year, and which necessitated their working in water all day. All were on hand on the morning of the day appointed, and after family worship (which was never omitted, morning or evening), and a hearty breakfast by all, he told them of his resolution never again to use intoxicating liquor nor to furnish it to those in his employment. He then stated his reasons for such a radical departure from the custom of that day, and added that if they were aggrieved at his course he would not ask them to stay, and hoped he would not forfeit the good will of any one by his action. They recognized his good intention, however much they may have doubted his wisdom, and every one went to work. He adhered to this custom ever after and lived to see his example almost universally followed by employers.

When eighty years of age his wife died (she being then also in her eightieth year) and he went to spend his last days with his daughter, Mrs. Sarah Ann Henry, near Polo, Ogle county, Illinois, where he died. Death came to him peacefully, without pain and without any special illness, the tribute which old age must pay to nature. Recognizing that the end was near he said to the family at noon, "Go and take your dinner, then come and read a chapter and we will have prayer. I know my time has come to die." The family did as directed, and after prayer he closed his eyes and slept, without a struggle, the sleep that knows no waking in this life. He was buried in the cemetery at Mt. Morris, Ill.

Hugh Linn, 2nd, may be considered a type of the Linn family. In all families there are certain characteristics which, while not uniformly found in all its members, are considered representative. He was tall, muscular and large framed, with projecting eyebrows, had light and deep set eyes and dark hair, was of a nervous temperament, quick in speech and action, courteous but not obsequious, positive but not arbitrary, bold but not pugnacious, self-reliant but not obstinate, dignified but not repellant, just but not austere, social but not convivial, religious but not bigoted.

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