Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the Earles (and more)

George Earle, the founder of Hobart, was born in Falmouth, a coastal town in southwest England, in 1807. He was, according to records, the sixth of 13 children born to Joseph and Ann Crabb Earle.

Joseph was a Wesleyan Methodist, one of the founders of the Falmouth Savings Bank (at which he held a long employment as an actuary), a marine and portrait painter in oils, an electrician and “pneumatician,” a lecturer on the sciences, and at some point in time managed a commercial wharf. Ann was “a good mother and a sterling woman.”

George married Mary Devonshire, also of Falmouth, in 1832. Their only child, John Edward, was born the following year. George’s contracting business brought him to Philadelphia in 1835. While there he learned of possible lucrative business opportunities in Northwest Indiana. In 1836 he bought a total of 3,000 acres, much of which now comprises the cities of Gary, Lake Station, and Hobart.

After initially settling at Liverpool on Deep River and being unsuccessful in his bid to have Liverpool remain the county seat, Earle turned his attention three miles southeast to what would become Hobart.

The spring of 1845 found Earle building a log cabin for his family, damming the lake (which he named after himself) and constructing a saw mill. A post office was established in 1847 and by the end of that year the grist mill he built was advertised as open for business. The next year he platted the town and in 1849 the survey was officially registered. The burg was originally known as Earle’s Mill but was renamed after his brother, Frederick Hobart Earle.

George died of a stroke in Philadelphia on Jan. 22, 1876. His estate was valued at $1,000,000.

According to his will, he appears to have been very generous to his sister and brothers, as well as to their families. His son inherited and managed the family business enterprises in the states. Late in life, George had built and gifted Earle’s Retreat, a home for the aged and needy in Falmouth. Frederick was appointed the sole director after George’s death.

Frederick Hobart Earle was born in August 1820. He was the 12th child of Joseph and Ann. By the age of 20 he was employed as a printer. Two years later, he married Charlotte L. Renfree.

In 1847, Frederick was honored by his brother George, who named a village he had founded in Lake County, Ind., after him. At that time, Frederick was the youngest living sibling. Like his father, Frederick was also a quay master in Falmouth. It was at that time an important shipbuilding town, with a natural protected deepwater harbor, as well as an export center for fish and tin, and an import center for coal, charcoal, iron, and timber.

By 1860, Frederick had achieved a master printer/publisher position as well. We know he published a newspaper in Falmouth until competition and lack of funds put him out of business. It is not true that he ilved in Australia. Another brother, Charles Harvey Earle, immigrated to Adelaide and raised a family there.

There is no documentation that Frederick ever visited Hobart. Later in life, he was the sole administrator of Earle’s Retreat. He died a widower in 1894, with three children surviving him.