... John Hoover, the father of our subject. grew to manhood amid the wild scenes of Wayne County, Ind., during its early settlement, receiving a very limited education. When reaching manhood he contracted matrimonial ties with Miss Esther Zook, and they settled in the same neighborhood, following agricultural pursuits. Of this marriage four children were born, the first dying in infancy. The second, Dr. Jonas Hoover, is a practicing physician of Bennet, Neb.; Abraham L., our subject, was the third, and Esther, Mrs. West, who is the mother of a large family, is now living on a farm in Gruenwood County, Kan. The mother passed away when her son Abraham L. was but two years old. He, with the other children, was then given to the care of Grandmother Zook, where they remained for two or three years, until their father married for his second wife Miss Sarah Knotts. They settled on his father's farm, taking the two boys and leaving the daughter with her grandmother, who had cared for her from the time of her birth. ...