John M. Hallam

    John M. Hallam, a successful agriculturist of Washington Township, has been identified with the interests of Blackford County since 1864, in which year he settled on his present farm, on section 11. His mother, an elder brother and two younger children had preceded him to the county, coming in the fall of 1863, when they settled on the farm which is now owned and occupied on the farm which is now owned and occupied by him. The farm was then partially improved, having about thirty acres cleared, and a double house, partly frame and partly of hewed logs, had been built. He has now 100 acres of well improved land, under fine cultivation, and in 1883 he erected a fine, substantial residence at a cost of $2,000. About two years since a large log barn on his place was burned, being struck by lightning, at the same time losing most of his farm implements, involving a loss of about $500.

    Mr. Hallam is a native of Ohio, born in Clinton County, February 2, 1840, a son of John and Sarah (Kane) Hallam. The father was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, a son of Moses Hallam, who was also a native of Pennsylvania. The mother was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, where she was reared and married. To them were born four children -William, a farmer of Wright County, Minnesota; Robert was a member of the Sixty-ninth Ohio Infantry, and was killed at the storming of Resaca, being buried on the battle field; Allie and John M. The father died a few months before the birth of our subject, and the mother subsequently married Jordan Rix, in Clinton County, Ohio, and to this union two children were born -Almira, now the wife of Daniel Watson, of Marshall County, Kansas, and Joseph H., of Morrison County, Minnesota. The mother died in Washington Township, Blackford County, and is buried at Oak Chapel, in Grant County.

    The subject of this sketch, John M. Hallam, grew to manhood in his native county. He enlisted for three years in the war of the Rebellion, in Company B, Fortieth Ohio Infantry, the date of his enlistment being September 19, 1861. During the first part of his term of service he was in the Army of the Cumberland, serving in the Sandy Creek Valley in Kentucky. His regiment subsequently joined the army at Nashville, Tennessee, he serving in that army until September 19, 1863, when he received a flesh wound in his right arm at the battle of Chickamauga. He was then in the hospital at Nashville, and from there went to Louisville, thence to Covington, Kentucky, and thence to Camp Denison, where he was discharged in May, 1864, when he went to Blackford County, as before stated.

    He was married February 28, 1878, to Miss Mary Greenles, a native of Scotland, coming to America with her father when a child, they settling in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she grew to womanhood. Her mother died in Scotland, and her father was married a second time, in Cincinnati, to Miss Mary Clark, who is still living. Her father died in Grant County, Indiana. By his first marriage he had three children -Mary, Thomas and Margaret. To his second marriage were born three children -John, died at the age of nineteen years; George and William.

    Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Hallam -Roy H., Maggie A., and one who died in infancy, unnamed. Politically Mr. Hallam affiliates with the Republican party.

Source: Biographical and Historical Record of Jay and Blackford Counties, Indiana by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1887.