Photo: Walter “Curt” Hinman(Civil War Veteran)

Walter Curtis Hinman was born in the Town of Sandy Creek February 24, 1842 son of Russell C. Hinman and Rebecca (Lindsey) Hinman.

Curt Hinman as a young man worked for prominent local businessman John R. Allen and both Curt and his brother Byron served in the Civil War. The Hinman brothers are found to have been members of early baseball teams in Sandy Creek. Prior to his marriage in 1876 Curt Hinman had been working in the John Davis Carriage Factory which was located near the corner of Salisbury and Main Street in the Village of Sandy Creek. Shortly following his marriage to Elizabeth Ann (“Libby”) Walrath of Sandy Creek, the young couple moved to southern California living in and around the SanDiego area. Curt was a cabinet maker by trade and did much of the fine work in wood on the famous Hotel Del Corondo in Escondido, California.

Curt and Libby Hinman had a family of four children. Their daughter May died as a infant. However, their three sons, Howard, Clarence and Ernest, lived to be highly successful businessmen in adulthood. Curt Himna died January 23, 1908 survived by his wife Libby who died in 1920.

Russell Hinman, the father of Curt, was born in Sandy Creek in 1808 and is believed to have been the youngest of James Hinman (1766-1828); the 1820 census indicates the youngest of the four sons was between 10 and 16 years of age and Russell would have been about 12 years old at the time; the census also shows three girls in the household.

James Hinman came to Sandy Creek in 1805 or 1806 building the first grist mill in the town in 1806. By 1812 James was running a local tavern which also served as a meeting house. It was one Sunday morning at the Hinman Tavern, part log and part frame, that the alarm “The British have landed!”

The mother of Curt Hinman, Rebecca (Lindsey) Hinman (1811-1887) was a daughter of Stephen Lindsey Jr. and Rebecca (Maxham) Lindsey. As many readers will know Stephen Lindsey, Sr. was one of our Revolutionary War soldiers and one of the first two white settlers of the town, coming to Sandy Creek in the spring of 1803. Following the death of Russell Hinman his widow became the second wife of local builder Sidney Baldwin who came to Sandy Creek in 1809 with his father, Jabez Baldwin, another of our Revolutionary War soldiers.

Rebecca Maxham’s parents (Ellis and Anna Raymond Maxham) came here from Vermont prior to 1807.