The History of Hendricks County (Chicago: Interstate Publishing, 1885)--Center Township, pages 518-519
James T. Hadley was born in North Carolina, July 16, 1796, a son of Simon and Elizabeth Hadley, grandson of Joshua, great-grandson of Joshua and great-great-grandson of Simon Hadley, who was born in Ireland, of English parentage, and settled in the Penn colony in the latter part of the seventeenth century. Thus the Hadleys trace their descent through 200 years of American ancestry. Simon Hadley brought considerable wealth to the new colony and as habitually as he wore his clothes carried money with him. He was found dead in his stable and was supposed to have been murdered by his servant for his money. He was a man of note and influence. The Hadleys have been noted for their thrift, both in this and the old country. The most of them have been farmers and all have owned the land they worked. Until the last generation or two all have been Friends and none were military men until the late civil war, when several bore arms in defense of the union. About 1730 Joshua Hadley, Sr., moved to North Carolina and settled on Leaf River, and from him the families in this county trace their origin. Our subject, James T. Hadley, lived in his native State till manhood, and there married Elizabeth Richardson, a native of the same State, of English descent. He was an enterprising and, for a farmer, an active businessman. His anti-slavery convictions and ambition to live in a country where an active progressive man would have a better opportunity to develop his powers, led him to leave his native State and move to a newly settled part of the country, and in 1825 he located in Center Township, this county, bringing with him a family of eight children. He was an energetic and ingenious mechanic and found ample use for his knowledge of tools in the new country. He manufactured wagons, worked at the blacksmith's forge, built a saw-mill at Greencastle which he ran two years, built on contract the depot, turntable and other buildings for the railroad company at Greencastle, and in many other ways displayed the variety of his mechanical powers. In early life he was a Quaker and although not identified with them in his later life, their teachings undoubtedly influenced him to the end of his days. His family consisted of eleven children, eight born in North Carolina and three in Hendricks County--Mrs. Martha Nichols, of Danville; Jehu, of Franklin Township; Mrs. Julia Ann Vannice, of Marion Township; Mrs. Nancy Matlock, of Danville; Mrs. Sinia Hadley, of this county; Edom R., of Marion Township; Edmund R., Orran E. and John Oliver, deceased; Mrs. Elizabeth Tender and Mrs. Jane Homan, of Danville. Mrs. Hadley died Aug. 8, 1863, in the seventy-fourth year of her age. Feb.28, 1871, while crossing the railroad with his team, he was struck by a locomotive and instantly killed. Thus closed a long and useful life, and of all the pioneers none are more favorably of better remembered.