Today is the birthday of Lydia Killen Nightman (March 23, 1797-July 16, 1880). She was born in York, Pennsylvania, but moved to Canton, Ohio, after marrying George Nighman, who was also born in York. After resettling in Ohio, in 1823 her husband founded the George Nighman Brewery in Canton, which was located on the bank of Nimishillen Creek. He ran it for ten years, but died unexpectedly in 1833. Presumambly, she’d been paying attention to her husband’s business, because she stepped in and took over the brewing and ran the business until 1850, renaming it the Lydia Nighman Brewery. That year, her son, Thaddeus Nighman turned 19, and was old enough to take over the brewery. He renamed it that year the Thaddeus C. Nighman Brewery, running it for fifteen years before selling it, presumably, to Kasper Balser.

There’s very little information I could find about her, but given that she was a successful female brewer and brewery owner in the 19th century, it felt like she needed to be remembered. There’s not much more added by her short obituary, from the Stark County Democrat, published on July 16, 1880:

She also appears to have married again, in 1868 (when she was 71), to an Oscar F. Bunnett. She passed away on July 16, 1880, at 83 years of age.

According to Find-a-Grave, this is her headstone in the West Lawn Cemetary in Canton, Ohio, though I can’t read a work on it so I’ll have to take their word for it.

And for no good reason, here’s a photograph of downtown Canton from the 1880s: