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BIOGRAPHY OF A. WESTON HARTFORD This biography was possible through the generous consideration of Mrs. Gina M. Reasoner. Email: greasoner@prodigy.net Source: History of Ohio, The American Historical Society, Inc., 1925 Volume IV, page 186: A. WESTON HARTFORD, who now holds the position of assistant commissioner of railroads in the City of Youngstown, Mahoning County, has had many years of active association with railroad service, in which his efficiency won him promotion to various positions of large responsibility. Mr. Hartford was born in the City of Detroit, Michigan, in the year 1867, and there he attended the public schools until he was sixteen years of age. He is a son of the late John And Agnes Ann (Hunter) Hartford, the former of whom was born in one of the New England States and the latter in Ireland, they having become early settlers in the State of Michigan. After his school days Mr. Hartford, applied himself to such varied occupations as were within his power to find and follow, and at the age of twenty-one years he initiated his railroad career in the capacity of brakeman on what is now the Pere Marquette Railroad in Michigan. Three years later he was advanced to the position of train conductor, and his service in this capacity continued eleven years. He then became a conductor on the Detroit, Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor & Jackson Electric Railroad, with which he continued his service until 1906. In that year he came to Youngstown, Ohio, and became conductor on the Youngstown Suburban Railroad, which then utilized steam power. After the electric system was adopted by the road he served as dispatcher and assistant superintendent until 1912, when he was made general manager. This office he resigned in October, 1921, and he then organized the Hartford Piston Company, to the affairs of which he continued to give his attention until January, 1923, when he assumed his present office, that of assistant railroad commissioner of Youngstown, a position for which he is eminently qualified by past technical and executive experience. Mr. Hartford is a republican, he and his wife hold membership in Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, he is a director of the local Kiwanis Club, and is affiliated with Youngstown Lodge No. 55, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In November, 1900, Mr. Hartford wedded Miss Edith Phillips, who was born at Windsor, Ontario, Canada, on the Detroit River and directly opposite the City of Detroit, Michigan, and who is a daughter of William and Isabel Phillips, the former a native of England and the latter of Ontario, Canada. Harold Weston, the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Hartford, died at the age of five years.
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