HADLEY

Ira Hadley - the settlers of Montgomery County of the year 1882 number among its band the substantial farmer and splendid citizen of Bolton, Ira Hadley, of this brief review.  He came in response to the general movement of the time and place toward Kansas and emigrated from Parke County, Indiana.  He was born in the latter county and state August 30, 1845, where his father Simon Hadley settled in 1834 and where he maintained his residence till his death in 1896.  Simon Hadley was born in Chatham County, North Carolina in 1810 and was consequently 24 when he took up his residence in the wooded country of western Indiana. There he aided by physical effort the clearing up of the county in which he lived and was one of its moderately successful farmers. In his northward and westward journey he came through Ohio where he sojourned temporarily working as a farm hand and doing other manual labor as the necessities of the occasion required. He was a son of Jacob Hadley who died in North Carolina and was one of the following children, Jonathan who went into Iowa; William remained in the Old North State; Thomas died in the state of his birth - North Carolina; ... a daughter who died in Hendricks County., Indiana and was the wife of Joseph Ronsley; Eleanor, wife of Owen Lindley died at Prairie Center, Kansas; Susan who married .. Harris of North Carolina and Eunice who became the wife of ... Marshall of the old Carolina home.  Simon Hadley married Eunice Hobson who survived until 1902 and died in Parke County, Indiana at the age of 79.  Their children were Eliza deceased; Ira; William of Bloomingdale, Indiana; Narcissa of Marshall, Indiana; Elwood of the same county; Rhoda who died at Rockville, wife of MW Marshall; Samuel and Ruth of Marshall and Albert and Mahlon of the same county and state.  Ira Hadley, our subject passed his life on his father's farm in childhood and youth and received a country school training. He brought his limited accumulation of 15 years of independent effort with him to Montgomery County, Kansas and purchased land in Sec 19, Twp 33 Rg 15 where he owns 140 acres. For some years he was engaged in the nursery business, having several acres of his farm devoted to the production of a large variety of horticultural plants with the promotion of which industry he was occupied until 1896.  As a farmer, grain raising claims his attention and he goes about his daily task in a modest, unassuming way.  In the month of January 1872, Mr. Hadley married in Fountain County, Indiana, his wife being Ruth H. Towell, a daughter of Isaac H. Towell and sister of Ira N. Towell mentioned on another page of this volume.  The issue of this marriage is as follows: Oliver O., born 1875; Clara E., born 1877; Eunice A., born 1879; John W., born in 1883; and Floyd S., born in Kansas in 1889. Without fuss or show Mr. Hadley has gone about the affairs of life and has merited and won an enduring position in the estimation of his fellow citizens. He has been true to his family, true to his neighbors and true to his political party.  He has been a Republican all his life and the issues and side issues of designing politicians have not attracted him or carried him away. He is a Mason. ( From: History of Montgomery County, Kansas, 1903, Jno S Gilmore; H W Young, L. W. Duncan, page 772.) ( Contributed by Sara Hemp)

HIXON

William Hixon said he lived in the state since December 24, 1807. The Indians were then our neighbors. Came to Terre Haute in 1817, then only one shell-bark hickory cabin. Much hardship on consequence of the War of 1812. Rose came in 1818. He (Hixon) cut the first stick of timber for the Roseville mill. The first court in the county was held in Roseville in a hatter’s shop. Was in Rockville when there was not a stick amiss. Old man Patterson was the first man that did work in Rockville. McCall did the first surveying. There was then 500 Indians to one white man.  Age 73 - Indiana Patriot, 23 September 1874

HUDSON

Benjamin F. Hudson, MD is enrolled on the list of successful physicians of Montezuma, Parke County where he is engaged in a good practice. This gentleman was born March 16, 1827 near New Richmond, Ohio.  His father was Davis, his mother Margaret Jackson Hudson, the former a son of William Hudson who was an early pioneer of Kentucky, who moved to Clermont County, Ohio where he took up and improved a farm, on which he lived until his premature death. He died in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was the father of 8 children, 3 sons and 5 daughters. The father of our subject, David Hudson was born in KY and went to OH with his parents, where he also located on a farm, and, like his father, was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In the fall of 1832 he moved by wagon to Vermillion County, Indiana where he bought and entered 160 acres, afterward accumulating 540 acres more. In his political sentiments, he was first a Whig and later a Democrat, and at one time performed the duties of a Justice of the Peace and County Commissioner. He died aged 69 years, his wife surviving him a number of years, nurturing 8 children: James H (deceased); Benjamin F; William (who was killed by a tree falling on him when a young man); Elizabeth; Elvira; Ruhama; Cleopatra and Rebecca.  The mother of our subject was born in Ohio and was the daughter of Joseph Jackson who went from Maryland to that state in an early day. This gentleman was a minister in the New Light Church. In 1832 he came to Indiana where he passed his last days. Our subject was reared on the old homestead, receiving a common school and academic education in the meantime, teaching school during the winters and working on the farm during the summer months. In 1851 he began the study of medicine with Griffith & Willetts, of Newport and 3 years later took a course of lectures at the Ohio Medical College. In the spring of 1857 he was graduated from Miami Medical College and located in Montezuma, the following June, where he has since made his home and met great success as a practitioner. In 1868 he attended lectures at Louisville, Kentucky, and has since become a member of the Parke County Medical Society and of the State and Tri-State Medical Society.  He has been twice chosen Trustee, and was also Trustee of the corporation for 18 years. He is a leader in politics, being a Democrat of no uncertain tone, and has been a strong advocate of its principles ever since his first ballot was cast.  Dr. Hudson was married Dec 19, 1858 to Mary E. Stacey, who was a native of Massachusetts and the daughter of Jedediah F. and Clarinda Lynch Stacey, the former a railroad contractor and an extensive grain speculator.  To this couple was born on child, a daughter, Ada H, who has reached womanhood and become the wife of Frank S. Cumberland. The Doctor and his wife are popular in social circles, having many friends, and their hospitality is proverbial to all who cross their threshold. - Portrait & Biographical Record of Montgomery, Parke & Fountain Counties, Indiana.  Chicago: Chapman Brothers, 1893, Page 650

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