| 1883 Jasper County Biographies |
EDWIN POLLOK HAMMOND, Judge of the Thirtieth Judicial Circuit, was born at Brookville, Franklin Co.,Ind.,
November 26, 1885. His father, Nathaniel Hammond, was born in Maine November 2, 1786. and died in Jasper
County, Ind., February 2, 1874. He was a temperate, industrious man, and was blessed with a happy old
age. He left four sons and five daughters, among the former Abram A., formerly Governor of the State,
and William P., once a representative of the State in the Indiana Legislature from Morgan County, and
afterward a prominent lawyer at Albia, Iowa. The widow of Nathaniel and mother of Judge Hammond is now
in her eightieth year. Her maiden name was Hannah H. Sering. Our subject, in early life, engaged in farm
and other labor. He had fair school advantages, and with diligent application obtained a good education.
He became a law student in 1855, in the office of his half-brother, Abram A. Hammond, and Hon. John Thomas
H. Nelson, in Terre Haute. In the winter of 1856-57, he was admitted to the Senior Law Class of the Asbury
University at Green Castle, and graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. In 1858, Mr. Hammond located
at Rensselaer, and opened a law office. Upon the breaking-out of the rebellion, he enlisted under Capt.
(afterward Gen.) Robert H. Milroy, in Company G, Ninth Indiana Volunteers. He was commissioned Second,
and afterward First, Lieutenant, and served in the three months' campaign in West Virginia. He was with
the troop that surprised the rebel camp at Philippi, and in the engagement at Carrick's Lake, in which the
confederate Gen. Garnett was killed. Returning to his home in Rensselaer, he resumed the practice of the law.
In October, 1861, he was elected, without opposition, as Representative in the Legislature from the Counties
of Newton, Jasper and Pulaski. In August, 1862, he assisted in organizing Company A, Eighty-seventh Indiana
Volunteers, and was commissioned as Captain of the company. He was promoted, March 22, 1863. to the rank of
Major, and November 21, 1863, as Lieutenant Colonel. In the battle of Chickamauga, the regiment lost 190
in killed and wounded, out of 363 officers and men. Col. Newell Gleason, the head of the regiment, having
been placed in charge of the brigade, Lieut. Col. Hammond commanded the regiment during the last year of
the war. They were at Chattanooga, and at the siege of AtIanta, and with Sherman on his march to the sea.
Mr. Hammond enjoyed the respect and goodwill of the officers and men under his command, and the confidence
of his superior officers. At the close of the war, for gallant and meritorious services, he was appointcd
by the President to the brevet rank of Colonel in the United States Volunteers. Col. Hammond again entered
into the practice of the law at Rensselaer, and at once had a profitable business. In March, 1878, Gov.
Thomas A. Hendricks appointed Col. Hammond to be Judge of the Thirtieth Judicial Circuit. This appointment
was ratified by the people at the next October election. In October, 1878,the Judge was unanimously
re-elected. May 14, 1883, he was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court from the Fifth District, by Gov.
A. G. Porter, to fill thevacancy caused by Judge W. A. Woods, who was appointed Judge of the District Court
of the United States for the District of Indiana, to succeed Judge Gresham, who had been appointed Postmaster
General. Previous to the war, Judge Hammond was a Democrat, but since then has been a Republican. He was a
delegate to the National Convention in 1872, which nominated Gcn. Grant for his second term. He has been an
Odd Fellow twenty-three years, and a Mason twenty years. His first wife was Miss Lucy J. Sayler. She died a
few months after the marriage. She was a daughter of David and Ann Sayler, who were early residents of
Rensselaer. His present wife, Mary V., whom he married in 1864, is a daughter of Col. George W. and Malinda
Spitler. Mrs. Hammond is an amiable and accomplished lady, and highly cultivated in vocal and instrumental
music. By this marriage there are five children--Louis, Birdie, Eddie, Jean and Nina Van Rensselaer. The Judge
is still in the prime of life, and there are probably many years of usefulness before him.
THEODORE HURLEY, merchant, was born October 9, 1837, in Allen County, Ohio,
and is the fourth of the children of William B. and Cassa (Burget) Hurley, natives of Ohio, and
of Irish and German descent. He remained with his parents until he was twenty-two years of age,
working on the farm in summer and attending school in winter; most of his education, however,
he acquired after becoming of age. In 1861, he enlisted in Company K, Forty-eighth Regiment
Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and was in seven heavy battles and not less than thirty skirmishes,
in which he received only a wound in the hand. He was, mustered out at Louisville with the
honors due a soldier. His father was in the war with Mexico, and both grandfathers were in the
war of 1812. October 6, 1859, he married Jane McGinnis, a native of Ohio, to which union
followed seven children-Cassa A., Alexander, Sarah C., Huldah J. (deceased), Charles W.,
William and Owen. Mrs. Hurley died December 17, 1879, a member of the Methodist Episcopal
Church. Mr. Hurley is a Republican, and an active worker for that party. He is an energetic,
well-to-do business man, and now Postmaster of Blackford, Jasper County.
Counties of Warren, Benton, Jasper & Newton Indiana - Historical
and Biographical
F. A. Bettey & Co., Publishers. Chicago: 1883
Counties of Warren, Benton, Jasper & Newton Indiana - Historical
and Biographical
F. A. Bettey & Co., Publishers. Chicago: 1883