A Portrait and Biographical Record of Hendricks County (Chicago: A.W. Bowen & Co., 1895)--pages 919-921
Hannah Hadley, of Hendricks County, Ind.—Joshua Hadley, the grandfather of Hannah Hadley, was born the thirteenth of the twelfth month, 1783, in Chatham County, N.C. He was the son of Joshua and Ruth (Lindley) Hadley, and married Rebecca Hinshaw of that county. To them were born Mary, Zeno, Nathan, Job, Susannah, Asenath, Ruth, Mordecai, Addison and Esther, all born in Chatham County, N.C. Mr. Hadley, like his father, was a member of the Friends' Church, and in 1837 moved to Hendricks County, Ind., and settled in Liberty township, two miles north of Clayton. He was reluctant to leave his old home, but was finally induced to do so by his wife and his son Nathan. He prospered after coming to this county, and finally owned a large tract of land. He died in 1843, beloved by all who knew him. Nathan Hadley, son of above was the father of Hannah Hadley, and was born January 19, 1813, in Chatham County, N.C., on his father's farm. He received a good education, and like nearly all his brothers and sisters, taught school for a while. He came to Hendricks County, Ind., in company with his brother Zeno, in 1832, making the journey with a one-horse wagon, and on the way sold North Carolina whetstones, and in this way paid expenses. They both worked at farm work for awhile and then each of them bought land.
Nathan Hadley returned to North Carolina in about two years and married Olive Newlin, by which marriage there were born three children: Lida, Hannah and David. In 1837 he returned to Indiana and brought his family, consisting of his wife and one child, and settled on 160 acres of land in the woods, clearing this up by hard labor. He was a very strong man, weighing 250 pounds in his prime, and reaching 300 pounds in later life. By thrift and good management he became the possessor of 500 acres of land. He was an active man in county and political affairs, and was a strong advocate of the anti-slavery cause. He was a wide reader for his day, and well versed in history, especially so in anything pertaining to the anti-slavery cause, voted the know-nothing and free soil tickets, and was one of the original republicans of this county. He was a man of strong mental concentration, and fixed his mind so firmly on matters interesting him as to forget all else. On one occasion, when about forty years of age, he went to mill horseback, and, being greatly interested in the free soil question then agitating the people, he left his horse tied to a post, his grist in the mill, and walked home completely absorbed in his subject. On reaching home he was asked why he was walking, and not until then recovered his presence of mind. At another time he had attended church with his wife and drove away, after the service, without her. His neglect flashing upon his mind, he drove rapidly back, and, on meeting his son David, was asked why he was driving so fast. He exclaimed, “Why, I have forgotten Emily.” Mr. Hadley lived in strict conformity to the doctrines of the Friends' Church, but was liberal in his views, and was one of those Friends who joined the progressive element. He gave all his children good educations for the day. His first wife died in 1843, and he married Mary A. Harvey, of Ohio, the daughter of John and Mahala (Plummer) Harvey. Mr. and Mrs. Hadley became the parents of four children: Eunice Clark, and Rebecca, who died at the age of twenty years, and two that died in infancy. Mrs. Hadley lived about ten years after marriage, and died. Mr. Hadley then married Emily Brown, of this county. She lived until 1882, when she also died, and he married, in his old age, Mary Newlin, of North Carolina, a half-sister of his first wife, who still survives him. Mr. Hadley was a man of more than ordinary ability and possessed a very intelligent mind and great force of character. He died April 10, 1892, aged seventy-eight years, in the town of Hadley, which he had laid out on his farm in 1870.
David Hadley, son of the above, and the brother of Hannah, was born October 2, 1842, on his father's farm in Hendricks County, attended the Friends' Academy at Mooresville, Ind., and taught school one year in Clay Township. In 1863 he was appointed superintendent of the freedmen's school at Gallatin, Tenn., in which he was, at that time, a teacher, he and his sisters, Hannah and Elida, having gone south for the purpose of assisting in the education of the colored people in the employ of the Freedmen's Aid Society. At that time attempts to educate the negro were very unpopular, and were only possible in the south when the military held control. On the withdrawal of the army the teachers were advised to leave, and were exposed to many indignities and some danger. They persevered against many difficulties, and taught at least one thousand negros to read and write and gave them the rudiments of an education. The average attendance was at least five hundred. The school was held in buildings confiscated by the government, and at different time a barn, a church, and a hotel were utilized for this purpose. After the school at Gallatin was closed David Hadley was principal of a school on the plantation of the rebel Gen. Donaldson, under the protection of a United State colored military company. The colored people showed great eagerness to learn, and appreciated the efforts in their behalf, all ages, classes, conditions and colors coming to school. They had to be clothed to render them fit to attend, and the clothing and books were furnished by the Freedmen's Aid Society of Cincinnati, and thus the helpless negro slave was helped on his way to become an American citizen. Transportation, rations, and building for schoolhouses were furnished by order of Gen. Grant. These young teachers had left a comfortable home and comparative wealth to teach these ignorant people, who had hardly a knowledge of the common decencies of life. After his return home, David engaged in farming on the old homestead, and married April 28, 1868, Sarah M., daughter of Joel H. and Ruth (Morris) Morris, and to this union were born five children: Josephine M., Morris J., Mary N., Ruth E., and Geraldine B.
Mr. Hadley is a prosperous farmer and a minister in the Friends' Church. Hannah Hadley, the daughter of Nathan and Olive (Newlin) Hadley, is the widow of Tillman Hadley, who was born April 13, 1839, received a good common education and became a farmer. Like his forefathers, he was a member of the Friends' Church. He married, for his first wife, Susan J., daughter of Charles Coffin, and they had two children: Melmoth K., deceased at sixteen years of age, and Julia B. Mr. Hadley inherited eighty acres of land from his father, which is a part of the farm now occupied by our subject, and on which he settled about 1858. He was a thrifty man and soon accumulated 160 acres. His wife died five years after marriage, and he married, September 8, 1869, Hannah Hadley, our subject. Mr. and Mrs. Hadley became the parents of seven children: Luther; Olive, died aged twenty-one years, nine months; Beulah; Smith; William; Paul and Seth T. Mr. and Mrs. Hadley settled on the homestead after marriage, Mrs. Hadley inheriting seventy-three acres of land and $2,500 in cash from her father. By good management, patient labor and their combined efforts, they added to this land until they owned 500 acres. Mr. Hadley died, aged forty-eight years and nine months, on the sixteenth day, first month, 1888. He was a man of devout religious convictions and was looked up to in his church as a prominent member, and was much respected. He was of few words, slow to speak his mind, but of sound and mature judgment. He was originally a Republican, but later a prohibitionist.
Hannah Hadley was born in Clay Township, fourth day, second month, 1841, received an excellent education and taught one term of school in the township. Her mind had been instilled from her earliest youth, by her father, with a love of liberty and an abhorrence of slavery, and with a desire to assist and uplift the down-trodden slave. In 1862, in company with Job Hadley and his wife, Tacy, she went to Cairo, Ill., and taught the contraband refugees from the south, and received no pay for this arduous service except the regular government rations of a soldier. They taught three months, when a wider field opened in the south, and she went, accompanied by her sister Elida and her brother David, to Gallatin, Tenn., and taught the colored people in this vicinity for about three years. Mrs. Hadley lost her health in the south, as she had to endure many privations, and it was some years before she recovered. She is a devout member of the Friends' Church, and her record shows plainly that she is capable of great self-sacrifice; she is, beside, a woman of excellent business capacity. When her husband died, her eldest son was but sixteen years of age, and she had the entire management of the farm for years. By her sagacity she has added to it until the homestead now consists of 500 acres, and she acquired, in Idaho, 360 acres beside.