The following is the obituary of Major Nathaniel F. Hurd. He was one of the ironmasters who helped make Hanging Rock Iron Region, building LaGrange Furnace, making it one of the most successful iron furnaces. Major Hurd was an Officer in the War of 1812.
This obituary was abstracted from the newspaper “The Montclair Times” in Montclair, New Jersey, and was published on Saturday, 8 Dec. 1886.
Death of Major Hurd
Major Nathaniel F. Hurd died at the residence of Capt. Tarr, in this place on Wednesday, aged ninety-six. He was an Officer in the War of 1812, serving on the staff of Major-General John Montgomery.
In 1813, he left Bath, N.H., where he was born, went into the new iron field of Ohio, and built the LaGrange Iron Furnace with his brother. This was a coal-blast Charcoal furnace.
In 1836, William Firmstone came from England with plans for a hot blast oven and urged the Hurds to try the experiment on their furnace. In 1837 a hot oven was built in agreement with the two neighboring furnaces that if it was a failure, the expense should be divided from this date, the expansion of iron manufacture in this country.
Nathaniel Hurd watched this growth for half a century after his first experiment, and he celebrated his ninety-fifth year by visiting, unattended, the iron district, which he had done so much to develop.
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