An Illustrated History of Central Oregon, Western Historical Publishing Company,
Spokane, WA. 1905, pages 250.

ELI T. HINMAN, contractor and builder, residing at Dufur, Wasco county, was born
at Augusta, Oneida county, New York, January 23, 1834, the son of Eli and Ann
(Foote) Hinman. The father was born in Oneida county, and his parents were
descendants of A. Hinman, who came from England early in the seventeenth
century. Many of this family still live in New England and New York, and are
distinguished members of the bench and bar and commercial circles. The mother of
our subject was born in Madison county, New York, a descendant of the old Foote
family of England, members of which have been eminent in literary, military,
naval and dramatic circles for several centuries.      

Eli T. Hinman, our subject, was reared principally in the Empire state, where he
attended the public schools and the Munnsville (Madison county) high school.
When twenty-three years of age, he removed to Illinois where he was engaged in
farm work, remaining there twenty-five years. He came to Oregon in 1881 and
engaged in sheep raising on the Des Chutes river, Wasco county. Six years
thereafter, in 1887, he disposed of his interests in this business and located
in Dufur, or what is now Dufur, for at that period there was but one house in
the vicinity. Here Mr. Hinman engaged in building and contracting. In company
with his partner, Monroe Heisler, he built the Methodist and United Brethren
churches, the city school and many residences and business blocks. Mr. Hinman
has one brother and one sister, Orin W., in McDonough county, Illinois, and
Zerlina, wife of S.B. Black, of Henderson county, Illinois.      

Our subject was married May 13, 1857, at Horseheads, Chemung county, New York,
to Mary E. Reynolds, a native of that county. Her father, Henry, and mother,
Melinda (Corning) Reynolds, were, also, natives of the Empire State. Mrs. Hinman
has one sister, Esther, widow of Barney Stryker, of Elmira, New York. Mr. and
Mrs. Hinman are the parents of three children: Henry, in the United States army;
Esther, wife of Thomas Robison, a blacksmith, living in Dufur; and Edwin, of The
Dalles. Mr. Hinman is a member of the A.F. & A.M., and the church of the United
Brethren in Christ. For many years he has been a devoted and conscientious class
leader. His wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Politically he
is a Prohibitionist, though not particularly active, and for two years was city
marshal of Dufur.      

In 1864 a recruiting officer visited the home of our subject in Illinois, and
the latter assisted him in organizing the Farnsworth Light Brigade. Mr. Hinman
was to have been a First Lieutenant, but before the company was completed news
was received of the death of Captain Farnsworth, at Gettysburg, and the scheme
fell through. Our subject was busily engaged in an endeavor to raise a new
regiment at the close of the war. He could not conscientiously enlist at the
commencement of the Rebellion, as he had a young family, but during the last
year he expended his time and money, and through no fault of his own, he was not
at the front.


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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in January 2005 by Jeffrey L. Elmer. 
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.