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- Davidson and Sarah Hibbard resided on the bluff just below Commerce, where he had a farm, part of which was finally swallowed up by the encroachments of the city of Nauvoo. The exact date of emigration is not recollected. He remained on the place where he settled until his death. His widow was yet living (in 1879) at the advanced age of 86, but had been an invalid for several years. There was but one other white family within several miles, when Mr. Hibbard first settled in the county, which was that of Capt. James White.
For a number of years they were compelled to go to Crooked Creek in Schuyler County to mill. There were many Indians in the neighborhood (Sacs & Foxes), with whom he dealt and maintained uninterrupted friendship. He was well acquainted with Black Hawk and Keokuk, both of whom were present at a double wedding of his two daughters, one of them marrying the son of Capt. White, and the other a Mr. Waggonner.
At the time of the coming of the Mormons to Nauvoo, Mr. Hibbard was in a prosperous condition, and suffered much from the depredations of the thieves associated with that sect, as they stole almost all of the movable property he had; at one time even driving off a drove of fat hogs he had fed for market; and so adroitly did they execute their work that not a trace of them could be discovered.
Mr. Hibbard was ingenious and enterprising and was an efficient workman in either wood or stone; he could make almost anything from a violin to a wagon, and thus did he appear to be well fitted for a frontiersman. He built the first stone house that was put up in Nauvoo, which is still standing. Mr. Hibbard was a member of the Masonic Fraternity, and was highly respected by the members of his lodge, as he was by all who knew him; and the old settlers who knew him yet respect his memory and speak of his virtues and intelligence.
At the time of his death he was possessed of considerable property.
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