View source for Lorenzo Warwick Hobbs (1827-1912), Builder and Architect

[[File:Hobbs Lorenzo.jpg|thumb|right|Lorenzo Hobbs, Builder & Architect]]
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<div style="white-space:nowrap;font-size:125%">'''West Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1849-1855; in Nebraska: Decatur, 1859-1864; Omaha, 1865-1870; Sidney, 1875-1885'''</div style="white-space:nowrap;font-size:125%">

[[Page under development.]]

'''Lorenzo Warwick Hobbs''' was born to Warwick and Hannah Hobbs in Wells, Maine in 1827. Lorenzo was a carpenter in West Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1849 when he married Mary Melvina Frost. They had two children in Massachusetts before moving to Nebraska in 1856 and at least two more in Nebraska.[[#References|[1][2][3][4][5]]] They soon settled in Decatur (north of Omaha on the Missouri River) where Lorenzo was mayor in 1859.[[#References|[1][5]]] By the mid-1860s, the family was residing in Omaha, where Lorenzo was a delegate to the Territorial Legislature in 1865 and 1866, representing Douglas County. Mary M. Hobbs died in Omaha in 1867; Hobbs married Adeline Story Douglas in 1868 and by 1870 there were four children in their household.[[#References|[6][7][8][9]]][[#Notes|[a]]]  In Omaha Lorenzo had a two-story carpentry shop and was said to have "erected many of the old-time buildings and residences in the city."[[#References|[1][10]]] 

The Hobbs family does not appear in Omaha City Directories after 1870; by 1875 Lorenzo was advertising as an [[:File:SidneyPlaindealerTelegraph_Nov9,1878_5_1w.jpg|'''Architect & Builder''']] in Sidney, Nebraska. In the Nebraska State Census of 1885, Hobbs was still found in Sidney, listed as a carpenter, one of several lodgers in the home of a young minister and his family. [[#References|[11]]][[#Notes|[b]]] 

This page is a contribution to the publication, '''[[Place Makers of Nebraska: The Architects]]'''. See the [[Format and Contents]] page for more information on the compilation and page organization.

==Compiled Nebraska Directory Listings==
Omaha, Nebraska, 1866-1870

==Educational & Professional Associations==
1849-1855: carpenter, West Cambridge, Massachusetts.

1856-1864: master carpenter in Omaha, then in Decatur, Nebraska, where Lorenzo was mayor in 1859.

1865-1866: Douglas County delegate to territorial legislature.[[#References|[1]]]

1865-1870: carpenter in Omaha, Nebraska.

1875-1885: architect & carpenter in Sidney, Nebraska.

==Buildings & Projects==
===Dated===
Carpenter shop (by 1867), northwest corner of Harney and 10th Streets, Omaha, Nebraska.[[#References|[16]]]

Post hospital at Sidney Barracks (1878), near Sidney, Nebraska.[[#References|[17]]]

Charley Austin's ranch house (1885), on Lawrence's fork, vicinity of Sidney, Nebraska.[[#References|[18]]]

===Undated===
"a good many of Union Pacific's stations and freight houses throughout Nebraska and Wyoming..." (c. 1860s), "...constructed in sections here in Omaha and then sent...to their various destinations to be put together."[[#References|[1]]]

"Many government forts, including Fort Sidney" (n.d.), Nebraska.[[#References|[19]]]

==Notes==
a. The 1855 Massachusetts State Census lists Lorenzo and Mary Hobbs' children as Mary (born c. 1851) and William (c. 1853). The 1860 U.S. Census reflects two additional births, H[enry] A., born about 1867 in Massachusetts, and Rebecca, born about 1869 in Nebraska. After Mary's death and Lorenzo's remarriage to Adeline, the four children in the household included Mary's children Rebecca, George (c. 1862), and Abigail (c. 1865) and Adeline's daughter Josephine (c. 1869).[[#References|[4][6][9]]]

b. Lorenzo Hobbs has not been located in the 1880 U.S. Census, though there is strong evidence of his residence in Sidney in the mid-1870s and as late as 1885. Adeline Hobbs was enumerated on the 1880 Federal Census schedule of "Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes" in Sidney, noted as afflicted for five years with insanity, but not institutionalized. In 1880, two of the Hobbs' children, Josephine (age 11) and Charlotta (age 7), were residents of the Academy of Sisters of Mercy in Hudson, Wisconsin.[[#References|[12][13]]] Adeline Hobbs was listed in the Helena, Montana city directory of 1907 as an inmate of the [Lewis & Clark] County Hospital and in the 1910 U.S. Census as a resident of that county's Poor Farm. She died there in 1912 and was interred in the Poor Farm Cemetery.[[#References|[14][15]]] 

Ironically, Lorenzo also was institutionalized and died in 1912, but in Nebraska. The ''Norfolk Weekly News-Journal'' reported in 1909 that Hobbs had been "parolled" from the Norfolk asylum to spend time with the family of his son-in-law William Holmes in Santee, when Hobbs "made a desperate attempt to escape" from being returned to the asylum. Rev. Holmes was an Episcopal minister; when he married Rebecca Hobbs in 1884 his "Color" was listed as "Indian" and his place of birth was Minnesota.[[#References|[21]]] According to Hobbs' obituaries, Lorenzo lived with his son H. A. Hobbs in Omaha prior to about 1910, then died at the Norfolk institution in 1912.[[#References|[1][22]]]

==References==
1. "Lorenzo Hobbs, Omaha Pioneer, Dies at Norfolk," ''Omaha (Nebraska) Daily News'' (February 8, 1912), 5; "Lorenzo Hobbs, Old Pioneer Citizen, Dead," ''Omaha (Nebraska) World-Herald'' (February 9, 1912), 6. 

2. Ancestry.com. ''Massachusetts, U.S., Marriage Records, 1840-1915,'' s.v. "Lorenzo Hobbs," [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. 

3. Ancestry.com. ''1850 United States Federal Census,'' s.v. "Lorenzo Hobbs," [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. 

4. Ancestry.com. ''Massachusetts, U.S., State Census, 1855,'' s.v. "Lorenzo Hobbs," [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. 

5. Ancestry.com. ''U.S., Find a Grave® Index, 1600s-Current,'' s.v. “Lorenzo Warwick Hobbs,” [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. Portrait above is posted to that web-page. SEE https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/19881785/lorenzo-warwick-hobbs

6. Ancestry.com. ''1860 United States Federal Census,'' s.v. "Lorenzo Hobbs" in Decatur, Nebraska, [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. 

7. Ancestry.com. ''U.S., Find a Grave® Index, 1600s-Current,'' s.v. "Mary Melvina Hobbs," [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. SEE https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/19881786/mary-melvina-hobbs

8. Ancestry.com. ''Nebraska, U.S., Select County Marriage Records, 1855-1908,'' s.v. “Adeline Douglas,”  [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2017. 

9. Ancestry.com. ''1870 United States Federal Census,'' s.v. “Addie Hobbs,” [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009.

10. "Hobbs & Co. are building a new carpenter shop two stories high, 22x50 feet, on the corner of Harney and 8th streets," ''Omaha (Nebraska) Herald'' (December 11, 1867), 3.

11. "L. Hobbs Architect & Builder" advertisements, ''Sidney (Nebraska) Telegraph'' (repeatedly, March 11, 1875 to September 22, 1877).

12. Ancestry.com. ''Nebraska, State Census Collection, 1860-1885,'' s.v. "Lorenzo Hobbs," [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. 

13. Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. ''1880 United States Federal Census,'' s.v. "Addie Hobbs" and "Josephine Hobbs," [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010.  

14. Ancestry.com. ''1910 United States Federal Census,'' s.v. "Addie Hobbs," [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. 

15. Ancestry.com. ''U.S., Find a Grave® Index, 1600s-Current,'' s.v. "Adeline Helen Hobbs" (1844-1912), [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

16. "Buildings and Improvements...Lorenzo Hobbs, carpenter shop...," ''Omaha (Nebraska) Herald'' (December 13, 1867), 3. 

17. "State Jottings...L. Hobbs, the architect and builder, has secured the contract for the erection of the post hospital at Sidney Barracks," ''Omaha (Nebraska) Evening Bee'' (May 20, 1878), 2.

18. "L. Hobbs went out Wednesday to Charlie Austin's ranch, on Lawrence's fork, to build a house...frame, 24x24 feet, with porches and other useful ornaments," ''Nebraska Observer (Antelope Observer)'' (May 29, 1885), 3.

19. "This was Nebraska" feature, including [[:File:HobbsLorenzo OWH 03Nov1938 6.jpg|'''sketch portrait of Hobbs''']], ''Omaha (Nebraska) World-Herald'' (November 3, 1938), 6.

20. "Lorenzo Hobbs, who was parolled [sic] from the insane institution three weeks ago...," ''Norfolk (Nebraska) Weekly News-Journal'' (September 3, 1909), 3.

21. Ancestry.com. ''Nebraska, U.S., Select County Marriage Records, 1855-1908,'' s.v. “William Holmes,” [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2017.  

22. "Lorenzo Hobbs...The following was clipped from Omaha Bee of a recent date...," ''Decatur (Nebraska) Herald'' (March 7, 1912), 8.

==Page Citation== 

[[E. F. Zimmer]] & [[D. Murphy]], “{{PAGENAME}},” {{Template:ArchtPageCitation}} January 3, 2024.  {{Template:ArchtPageCitation2}} {{LOCALMONTHNAME}} {{LOCALDAY}}, {{CURRENTYEAR}}.

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