USA > Indiana > Shelby County > History of Shelby County, Indiana : from the earliest time to the present, with biographical sketches, notes, etc., together with a short history of the Northwest, the Indiana Territory, and the State of Indiana > Part 45
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vania, in the year ISO1, entered Washington College at an early age, and completed his literary course in 1822. He immediately began the study of medicine in his native town under Dr. James Straus, an eminent physician of that place. In 1830, he first came to Shelby County: remaining but two years, he returned to Penn- sylvania: but in IS49, came again to Shelbyville, where he resided until his death, March 21, 1864. He is remembered as one of the most eminent physicians this section of Indiana ever had. The mother of our subject, born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, in ISOS, is still living in Shelbyville. Dr. Fleming is the elder of two children, the younger of whom, Thomas, is cashier of the Shelby Bank. He came with his parents to this county in 1849, and soon attended the public schools of Shelbyville. In 1861, he entered "Washington and Jefferson College " of Pennsylvania, graduating from that school in 1865. First beginning the study of medicine in the office of S. D. Day, M. D., in 1866, he next at- tended school at Ann Arbor. Mich., and graduated from the depart- ment of chemistry: then attending lectures at Bellevue Hospital Medical College, of New York City, he received his degree from that institution in 1863. The same year he located at Shelbyville, where he has since continued in the practice of his profession. In 1879, Dr. Fleming married Mrs. Laura G. Wilson, youngest daugh- ter of Soloman A. Gorgas. He is up with the times in every thing relating to his profession and has made several trips to Europe, taking the advantage of visiting the hospitals of its different coun- tries, to further his knowledge. In politics he is an ardent Repub- lican, and socially, is a very pleasant and courteous gentleman.
. HON. OLIVER J. GLESSNER, attorney at law, was born in Fred- erick City, Maryland. October II, 1828. The Glessner family came originally from Germany, and settled in Pennsylvania. John Glessner, Oliver's father, was born in 1800, and died in 1865, in Morgan County. Indiana. His mother, Elnora Glessner, a native of Baltimore, Md .. was born in 1803. The subject of this sketch is the second of twelve children, ten of whom are living. Mr. Gless- ner came with his parents to Indianapolis in 1836, and there re- mained a short time, thence moving to Morgan County. He grew to manhood on the farm, receiving a good common school educa- tion meanwhile. He began the study of law in 1853, in the office of W. R. Harrison. During the same winter he entered the De- partment of Law in the State University and graduated in 1856. He located afterward at Martinsville and began the active prac- tice of law. In 1864. he was elected Judge of the Sth Judicial Dis- trict, and served until 1868. He moved to Shelbyville in 1865, and has been practicing law ever since his term as judge expired.
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Judge Glessner is in politics a Democrat. He was elected a mem- ber of the State Senate from Shelby and Bartholomew Counties, in 1870, and served four years. In 1872, while vet a Senator, he introduced the bill which abolished the Common Pleas Court. He was married to Miss Louzena Moore, of Georgetown, Ills., in 1860. To this union five children have come, Louann, Daniel M., Franklin, Martha and Oliver J. In 1880, he was chosen to act as one of the presidential electors upon the Democratic ticket, but was not elected. Judge Glessner is one of Shelbyville's most prominent citizens. He is an active man in everything he undertakes, and always makes his influence felt whatever way he chooses to move.
JAMES W. GREEN, M. D., was born in Rush County, Ind., Feb- ruary 5. 1825. He is the son of Lot and Anna ( Cooper) Green, and is of English extraction. The family is descended from four brothers, who came to America from England. Our subject is the eldest of five sons and three daughters. His boyhood was spent on the farm, where he received a common school education. He began the study of medicine in the office of Dr. William Frame, at Rushville. In 1847, he was licensed to practice medicine by the Fifth District Medical Institute, and by Rush Medical College, at Chicago, in 1856. From 1856 to 1886, he was engaged in the practice of his profession at Arlington, Rush County, where he was very successful. He came to Shelbyville September 1, 1886, and took charge of a large and lucrative practice, which was turned over to him by the death of his brother, William Frame Green, who for many years lived in Shelbyville, and lead the medi- cal profession in Shelby County. The latter was born in Rush County, Indiana, April 1, 1831. The earlier days of his life were passed on a farm, where he managed to get a fair common school education. He taught school for two winters, then began the study of medicine in Drs. Selman & Bassell's office, afterward studying with his brother in Rush County. He graduated from the Rush Medical College, of Chicago, February 20, 1856. He immedi- ately began the practice of medicine in Shelbyville, and so contin- ued until his death, which occurred August 19, 1886. His brother, the immediate subject of this sketch, was for many years a mem- ber of the Rush County Medical Society, and is also a member of the State Medical Society. In 1882, he became a member of the National Medical Association, at St. Paul, Minn. He was married in 1846, to Miss Mary J. Gowdy. This union has produced nine children: Dr. Lot, Annie, Preston S., Dr. James C., Isabella M., John D., William and Thomas (twins), and Nellie .. In politics, Dr. Green is a Republican. He is an Odd Fellow, and his wife and he are members of the Christian Church.
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WILLIAM HACKER .* - I trace my ancestorial line back near five hundred years. In the year 1498, so far as is now known, my line of descent commenced at the birth Wilhelm Heckardt, near the city of Dresden, in Saxony. This gentleman being the first born of his parents, of course under the laws of the country then prevailing, inherited his father's estates, which were large and ex- tensive. In early manhood he espoused the cause of the Reform- ation as taught by Luther and his co-adjutors. In consequence, for personal safety. he was compelled to leave his native State and he became reduced to want if not to real beggarv. In 1520, he reached the city of London. Being true to his convictions of re- ligious faith, for a term of some six years, he employed his time in preaching the Reformation and distributing the Bible with Luther's tracts, in and about London and Essex. While thus engaged he became quite proficient in the English language, and having now nothing left to ever call him back to his native country, he Anglic- ized his name, writing it ever after William Hacker. This is the origin of the name, and with his descendants it has remained such in all lands. The Bishop of London had been watching the Reforma- tion with much uneasiness. In 1527, he caused Hacker to be ar- rested, thrown into prison, examined, abused and mistreated in many ways in order to make him confess and renounce his faith, and finally by order of Sir Thomas More, as Chancellor under Henry VIII, he was placed in the rack and tortured, but no re- nunciation of his convictions could they extort from him. He was left by his tormentors to linger along in awful agony and suffering for perhaps near a year when he died. About 120 years later a great-grandson of this original William Hacker, became the fa- mous Col. Francis Hacker, the Drill Officer and Commander of Cromwell's Iron-Side Brigade, and led that famous brigade in many a well-fought battle during the Commonwealth of England. During the imprisonment of Charles I, Col. Hacker had command of the troops that kept guard over the King, and lead that unhappy Monarch to the scaffold at his execution. Among the first acts of Parliament after the restoration of the monarchy was the bill of attainder against those who had taken part in the condemnation and execu- tion of Charles I, which was to extend to them and their posterity forever. Under this act Col. Hacker was arrested, condemned by the king's star chamber court, and on the 20th of October, 1660, was lead off to execution. A son of Col. Francis Hacker, during the Commonwealth of England, became a cadet under Admiral Blake. The law of attainder being passed, of course this gallant sailor became an out-law, he accordingly made his way to
*Written by himself.
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the now free State of Holland, where under an assumed name, he joined the Holland Navy, in which he continued rendering good service for the remainder of his life. A son of this sea captain, named William, born in 16So, was taken by his father with him on shipboard almost from his infancy, and thus in every sense of the word he became a true sailor-boy. In 1725, being then about forty- five years of age, he determined to quit the sea, come to America, and settle down for life. He accordingly shipped as a common sailor on an emigrant vessel, and on his way over he became ac- quainted with a young lady of Scotch descent, and on arriving at Philadelphia, they were married, and soon after moved to the Shenandoah Valley, near Winchester, Virginia, where they con- tinued to reside, cultivating a farm until 1773, when they removed with their children over the mountains on the west fork of the Mo- nongahela, near what was then called Fort Buchannan, when two years later he died at the age of ninety-six years. IIis widow survived him thirty-one years. She died in 1803, at the age of ninety-five years. They had two sons-William and John-and five daughters. William, during the French and Indian war, be- came a soldier under Washington, and served in the army through the Revolution and until the treaty of Greenville with the Indians. John, the second son of the sailor-boy, became my grandfather. He remained with his parents on the farm near Winchester, Virginia, until 1769, when he brought his family over the mountains into Western Virginia and settled on a tract of land he had purchased from the State near where the town of Weston, in Lewis County, is located, where he continued to reside cultivating his farm until 1824, when he died at the age of eighty-one years. Grandfather Hacker was connected with the army in some capacity on the frontiers from the commencement of the Revolution, until the close of the Indian War in 1795, and was with General Wayne at the treaty of Greenville, in that year, which closed the Indian War in the west. My father, also named John, was the
second son of his parents. Born in a block-house on the west fork of the Monongahela, in Lewis County, Virginia, January 17, 1773. He continued to reside with his parents, assisting in cultivat- ing the farm and fighting back the marauding bands of Indians until 1805, when he emigrated with his family to Ohio, and settled for a time in Greene County. In 1809, with a number of his neigh- bors, he moved up into what was then called the Big Darby Plains, where he remained until about the commencement of the last war with England, when he returned with his family to Greene County. At the surrender of General Hull, at Detroit, volunteers being called for, he promptly enlisted under Gen. Harrison, and was with
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that gallant officer until the war in the northwest closed. He then purchased from the government a tract of land in Montgomery County, Ohio, where he resided until the fall of 1833, when he, with his family, came to Shelby County, Indiana, and settled on a farm some six miles north of Shelbyville, where on the 15th of October, 1834, he died. While my parents were residing in the Darby Plains, on the 5th of December, ISIO, I was born. As this was at that time an unorganized territory, and claimed by the Indians, they becoming quite hostile toward the white settlers for thus - as they claim - intruding upon their lands. A short time before the battle of Tippecanoe, in ISII, my parents moved back to the settlement in Greene County, consequently I never did know the exact place of my birth, but it was some where in what was then known as the Big, Darby Plains. When about five years of age I lost my mother, my father being thus left with nine chil- dren to look after and provide for, I was in consequence thus left in early life to look after and take care of myself, in a great meas- ure. This, perhaps, more than any one thing else, taught me self- reliance by which I have been enabled to successfully work my way through life to the present time. Being thus brought up in a new country, and but thinly settled, I had scarcely no educational privileges. About two months in the winter season of four or five years is all the schooling I ever had the privilege of receiving. But my memory being extraordinarily good and my mind active and vigorous, I naturally improved every spare hour in acquiring such a knowledge of matters and things as would enable me to take an honorable position in community and become useful to my day and generation. This studious habit, commenced in early life from necessity, has become a second nature to me, so that now at the age of seventy-seven years I cannot enjoy an idle moment unless read- ing and searching for further useful knowledge in some branch of history or science, I am therefore as will be seen emphatically a self- educated person. And such has been my success in this line that some twenty years ago one of our incorporated colleges thought proper to confer upon me the honorary title of LL. D. Until the age of seventeen I remained working with my father on the farm, but be- ing of a nervous, bilious temperament and consequently somewhat weakly in bodily organism it was thought best for me to change my occupation, I therefore went to Dayton, and served a four years' apppenticeship to a mechanical profession. In 1833, I came with my father to Indiana, purchased property in Shelbyville, which has been my home ever since. In 1838, I quit my trade and engaged in mercantile pursuits. It, however, soon became evident that I was made for a more active life. My health failed and I was thus
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compelled to abandon such business pursuits. In IS43, I assisted in organizing a railroad company, became its secretary, assisted in locating the line, and superintending the construction of the road until completed and in running order. In 1851, I tried merchandis- ing again, but in the short space of three years failing health com- pelled me to relinquish the business a second time. This was my last venture in that line. Between 1841 and 1864, I served nine- teen years as Justice of the Peace, and although in that time I de- cided thousands of cases between neighbors, yet I never had a law suit with any one on my own account in my life, nor did I ever have a serious quarrel with any one. The best work, however, as I conceive in which I have, perhaps, been of the greatest benefit to my day and generation, has been in connection with the Masonic Fraternity, the Church, the Sunday Schools and the temperance organizations. I was made a Mason in St. John's Lodge No. 13, Dayton, Ohio. July 9, 1832. The principles of pure morality taught me at my admission into the order being so in accordance with those taught me in early life, that I at once conceived an ardent attachment for the order which has not abated in the least to the present time. I have passed through the grades of the lodge. chapter, council and commandry : have presided over all those departments for many years; have received the grades of the Scottish Rite to the thirty-third and last degree of that rite. I became a member of the Grand Lodge of Indiana in 1835, and have been a working member of that body at every session since. In 1846, I filled the office of Grand Master for two years, and that of Grand Secretary three years. In 1868, my hearing becoming so defective I was necessarily compelled to decline further service in that position. I became a member of
the Grand Chapter of Indiana in 1848, and have been present and assisted in its labors at every session held since. Served four years as Grand High Priest and three years as Grand Secretary. I as- sisted in the organization of the Grand Council of Indiana, in 1855, and have served six years as its Grand Master, and three years as Grand Recorder; have been present and participated in its labors at every session to the present time. I also assisted at the organiza- tion of the Grand Commandry of Knights Templars of Indiana, in 1854, and have filled almost every station in that Grand Body to that of Grand Recorder three years, and Grand Commander, two years, and have been present and assisted in its deliberations ,at every conclave held since its organization but one, when from sick- ness I was unable to attend. For the past twenty years or more, I have annually been placed at the head of the committee on juris- prudence in all those Grand Bodies. In consequence, their consti- tutions and laws, as they now stand, are principally as I have
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moulded them. I assisted in the organization of the council of High Priests for Indiana, and in 1855 was elected its presiding offi- cer, which honorable position I held by annual re-elections until the session of 1875. when my hearing becoming so defective that I was compelled to decline further service in that important posi- tion. In 1856, at the city of Hartford, Conn., I became a member of the General Grand Chapter and Grand Encampment of the United States, and still retain my membership in both of those Grand Bodies to the present day. I was an officer in the General Grand Chapter for twelve years. Three years of that time I held that of General Grand King. At the triennial session at Baltimore, in 1871, from my defective hearing I had necessarily to decline all further official duties with these National Grand Bodies. The first official station to which I was called in the Ma- sonic fraternity, was that of W. Master of the Lodge. This was in June, 1835. Since then I have not been one moment's of time without holding some prominent position among the craft, often, and for years at a time, as high as eleven honorable stations. At the present I hold, and for the past fifteen years I have held, seven, four elective and three appointed offices. This may signify that my declining years have not abated my interest and zeal in the in- stitution in the least. In 1825, at about fifteen years of age, I be- came a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and to-day I remain as firmly attached to the government and doctrines of that church as at any time in my life. In 1843, I was appointed a stew- ard in the church and continued such until my loss of hearing com- pelled me to decline further service. For twelve years in succession I represented the district as lay delegate in the annual conference. In 1850, I was elected as one of the trustees of the church in Shel- byville, which position I held until 1879, when I sent in my resig- nation. At the same time I was holding ' a similar position in the Second Methodist Episcopal Church, which position I still hold and endeavor to discharge its duties to the best of my ability. I be- came attached to the Sunday School cause as early as 1823, and continued to attend upon its interests and labors until loss of hearing rendered me useless. After having settled in Shelbyville, I assisted in the organizing of the present Sunday School of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and my labors in that line as teacher, secretary, librarian, treasurer and eighteen years as superintendent or until 1875, when my inability to hear, became so great that I had to retire from further partici- pation in these, to me, pleasing labors. I have been a warm advo- cate of temperance all my life, never made use of a drop of ardent spirits except as a medicine, consequently do not know from personal
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experience, the feelings produced when under the influence of in- toxicating liquors. I connected myself with. and became an active worker, in all the early temperance organizations, and openly advo- cated their cause until it went into politics. Not caring to carry a . pure moral principle into State and National politics, I declined further co-operation with the present temperance organization, though, adhering as strongly as ever to the principle of temper- ance as a moral reformation that must and will inevitably prevail, as I believe. I have always been an ardent politician of the Henry Clay School, though never a noisy one. Have advocated as stren- ously as I could, without giving offense to those who might differ with me in opinion. the doctrines of American labor, public im- provements, national currency and free schools. My father left Virginia on account of slavery. consequently I was brought up un- der the free soil doctrines. Hence when the present Republican party was organized. I naturally went with that party. and so re- main to the present day. The happiest hour perhaps that I ever felt in my life, was when I read President Lincoln's emancipation proclamation. I was married January 20. 1839, to Miss May Ann, daughter of Rev. Thomas W. Sargent, a distant relative of Hon. John Sargent, many years a Senator in Congress, from Pennsyl- vania. as also of the several noted ministers of the Methodist Epis- copal Church of that name at Baltimore and Cincinnati. We have raised seven children, five girls and two boys, one died a few years since, leaving us six still living. all married, settled in life, industri- ous and striving to make an honest living. I have thus given as concise a sketch of the male line of my family from the earliest au- thentic history, down to the present time as I know how, and were I to sketch the female or maternal line. it would no doubt be far more interesting than that of the paternal side of the house, but as this is not called for, like the old Indian chief. I exclaim “ Al-a- bam-a," here I rest.
JOHN B. HARDEBECK, a native of Hamilton County, Ohio, was born on the 29th day of March, 1844. His parents, Barney and Elizabeth ( Lutt ) Hardebeck, were natives of Germany, the former born 1819, and the latter in the year 1823. They came to the United States in 1840, and settled in Hamilton County, Ohio, mov- ing subsequently to Indiana, and locating in Decatur County. John B. Hardebeck was educated in the common schools, and having early manifested a decided taste for mechanical pursuits, engaged at the age of fifteen to learn the machinist's trade at Lawrence- burgh, Ind., in which city he remained until 1861. In the latter year he responded to the country's call for volunteers, enlisting in the Sixth Ohio Battery, with which he served for a period of three
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months, enlisting in Company E, Thirty-fifth Kentucky Infantry at the end of that time, and sharing the fortunes and vicissitudes of war with that regiment until 1862. He was then transferred to the Fifth Indiana Cavalry, Company H. with which he participated in some of the bloodiest engagements of the war, including the Battle of the Wilderness in 1864, where he was captured and taken to the noted prison pen at Andersonville. He was held a prisoner for three months, suffering many privations and hardships during that time. He was honorably discharged from the service September 15, 1865. and immediately thereafter began working at his trade at Millhousen. During the succeeding four years he carried on the mercantile business at the town of Millhousen, Ind .. after which he engaged in the manufacture of woolen goods, continuing the latter until 1874, when he sold out and removed to Indianapolis. He sub- sequently returned to Millhousen, and later moved to Shelbyville and opened a grocery and saloon, which afterward. burned, entail- ing upon him a loss of about $7.000. With that energy character- istic of the man he at once resumed business, and although experiencing many difficulties, continued the same until 1885, at which time he abandoned merchandising and accepted the position of Gauger of the Sixth Indiana District, the duties of which posi- tion he has discharged until the present time. Mr. Hardebeck's military record is one of which any man might feel justly proud, and as an intelligent and courteous gentleman he has the respect and confidence of the community around him. He is a Democrat in politics and belongs to the G. A. R. and K. of L. He has served as a member of the City Council of Shelbyville, having been elected to that body in 1885. and re-elected in 1887. In 1863, he married Miss Christina E. Koeler, who was born in Ohio, August 24, 1843. Mr. and Mrs. Hardebeck have five children, viz .: Rosa, Charles, Bertha, Lawrence and Leo.
ANDREW J. HIGGINS was born near Brookville, Franklin County, Indiana, December 28th, 1830. His father, Henry Hig- gins, of Irish descent, was born in Kentucky. came to Shelby County in 1835. and died in this city in 1872. Malinda (Jackson) Higgins, the mother of our subject, was born in Ohio, January Ist, 1813, and now resides in Shelbyville. Andrew J. is the eldest of a family of eight children. He received a common school education sufficient to enable him to teach school, which he began at the age of seventeen years and followed at intervals with marked success for a period of nine years. In 1847, he embarked in the jewelry business, which he carried on with financial profit until 1877, when he retired and entered the business arena as real estate dealer, and being a man of excellent judgment, has made some very profitable
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