John Benjamine Hyde was born on February 2, 1812 in Berlin, Germany. He married Martha Dillon (pictured with him above) on February 20, 1842, in Daviess County, Missouri. They had eight children in 20 years. After 38 years of marriage, Martha passed away on April 19, 1880. Just 5 weeks later, John also passed away.
According to one of John's granddaughters, John ran away from home and left Germany to avoid conscription (required service) in the army.
Another, more outlandish, family legend claims that John was a stowaway on a boat from Germany because he did not want to be a priest. But that story seems a little more far-fetched.
