Background
Hovey was born in Thetford, Vermont, in 1827. He was the son of Alfred and Abigail (Howard) Hovey, and a brother of Alvah Hovey.
Hovey was born in Thetford, Vermont, in 1827. He was the son of Alfred and Abigail (Howard) Hovey, and a brother of Alvah Hovey.
At the age of twenty-five he graduated from Dartmouth College.
He taught in the district schools during the vacation periods in order to replenish his meager funds. From 1852 to 1854 he was principal of the free high school at Framingham, Massachussets, and spent some of his time in the study of law. In the latter year he moved to Peoria, Ill. , where he was first, principal of the boys' high school (1854 - 56), and later (1856 - 57), superintendent of the public schools. An able administrator and an energetic, progressive educator, he soon made his influence felt throughout the state. He placed the Peoria schools upon a firm foundation and acquired an enviable reputation as a popular lecturer on educational topics.
In 1856 he was elected president of the Illinois State Teachers' Association and in 1857 became a member of the first Illinois board of education. From 1856 to 1858 he was also editor of the Illinois Teacher, a monthly magazine established as the organ of the Teachers' Association. In order to provide properly trained teachers for the common schools, the Illinois legislature on February 18, 1857, authorized the establishment of a state normal university. Hovey was appointed principal and, after visiting the normal schools of the East, in October 1857, with one assistant and forty-three students, began to lay the foundation at Normal, two miles north of Bloomington, of what was to become one of the leading institutions of this type in the United States. His first report demonstrated his pedagogical and administrative ability. By 1861 the University had completed the construction of one of the finest normal school buildings in the country.
The outbreak of the Civil War interrupted Hovey's career as an educator. A regiment largely composed of the students and teachers of the University was organized and Hovey on August 15, 1861, was commissioned its colonel. This regiment, the 33rd Illinois, or Normal Regiment as it was called, was noted for its esprit de corps and excellent discipline. On September 5, 1862, Hovey was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general and for gallantry and meritorious conduct in battle, particularly at Arkansas Post, January 11, 1863, was brevetted major-general of volunteers, Mar. 13, 1865. He was compelled to resign from active service owing to the fact that at Arkansas Post he was wounded by a bullet which passed through both of his arms. After the war Hovey moved to Washington, D. C. , where he practised law until his death.
He married, October 9, 1854, Harriette Farnham Spofford of Andover, Massachussets, who after a long and successful career as a teacher was later associated with John Eaton in the development of the Bureau of Education, in which department she occupied a highly responsible position. Three sons were born to the Hoveys, one of whom was Richard.