CAPT. JOHN HOAR, of the firm of J. Hoar & Brother, merchants, was born in Cornwall, England, September 12, 1817, and is the son of Jacob Hoar. He was employed in the mines in his youth. When twenty-two years of age, he went to Ireland, and after a short stay in that country he engaged with a London company to go on a mining expedition to Germany. He spent three years in that country, and then returned to England. He was married, in 1845, to Miss Jempher, daughter of William Bennett. Mrs. Hoar was born in the same county that her husband was. The following year, Mr. Hoar set out for the United States, leaving his wife in England. On arriving, engagement having been made in England, he went, for a copper mining company, to Lake Superior, and opened a mine on Keweenaw Point. He landed in Copper Harbor July 3, 1846. There were only three families on the whole point at that time and no accommodation for strangers, so he was obliged to return to the boat to sleep until some shelter could be prepared. He proceeded with his party, in a small coasting schooner, farther down the point, where the company had a location of four square miles of land, on which he opened what was called the Boston Mine. Not being satisfied with the prospect, he left Lake Superior that fall, and went to Pennsylvania, and spent two years in coal mining. He then engaged at Philadelphia, and returned to Eagle Harbor for the Northwest Mine, in charge of pumps and underground work. The following spring (1850), he engaged with the Cape Mining Company, of Keweenaw County, as Captain, and continued with that company two years. He next accepted the position of Captain in the Keweenaw Mine, and served in that capacity four or five years. In the fall of 1859, he came to Houghton, and opened, a general store, on the site of his present large establishment. He also took the contract of building a tram-road from Isle Royal Mine to the stamp mill on Portage Lake, a distance of two miles. This was the first tram-way built on the south side of the lake. He had a partner in the mercantile business, a Mr. D. D. Hendrick, the firm being D. D. Hendrick & Co. This connection lasted only two years, when Mr. Hoar bought out his partner. Soon after this, his brother, Richard M., came to Houghton from Canada, and they formed the partnership which has since existed, under the firm name of J. Hoar & Brother. The business was commenced on a modest scale, as the country was new and the capital limited. They rapidly developed an extensive business, and now have two large stores on each side of the street. In the old store, on the south side, they carry a large stock of general merchandise, while the store on the north side is devoted principally to ready-made clothing, and is one of the largest of its kind in the upper country.