A Portrait and Biographical Record of Hendricks County (Chicago: A.W. Bowen & Co., 1895)--pages 913-916
Job Hadley--The following is a record of a man who has passed his long life ever mindful of his duty to his fellow-men—a sincere believer in the principles of the Christian religion, he has made it a study to practically carry out its teachings. Always a friend of education, he and his equally self-sacrificing wife were the real founders and originators of the attempt to educate the helpless colored slaves who were freed by the great Civil war. Unlike many of the abolitionists whose efforts were made on the platform and through the northern press, Job and Tacy Hadley, both prominent members of the Friends' Church in Indiana, left their comfortable homes to inaugurate a system of teaching the ignorant colored refugees in the military camp at Cairo, without other reward than the consciousness of their well-doing; and, by their relatives and others of the Friends' Church to continue this noble duty. Their names and labors deserve permanent record on history's brightest page.
Job Hadley is a grandson of Joshua and Ruth (Lindley) Hadley, and is a son of Joshua and Rebecca (Henshaw) Hadley. (See sketch of Hadley family). Job Hadley was born in Chatham County, N.C., second month, ninth day, 1816. He received more than a common education for his day and passed two years at the Friends' boarding school, now Guilford's College, N.C., as a student and teacher. He earned the money to secure these educational advantages by trapping and teaching school when he was about twenty-one years of age. He was one of the first students of Guilford and one of the first to study arithmetic and algebra in that institution. One of his classmates was Dr. Alfred Lindley, of Minneapolis, who became a man of wealth and position and the benefactor of Earlham College of Richmond, Ind. He attended school at Guilford for a few months and then became an assistant teacher, occupying this position for three sessions. He was one of the early contributors to the founding of this institution, which has now become a college. It was the only educational institution in the South that maintained itself during the war. During the ninth month of 1839 he came to Indiana and taught school three years in Morgan County, married in that county Hannah, daughter of Joseph Draper, and they had one child, who died an infant.
In 1842 Mr. Hadley settled in Hendricks County and engaged in farming on eighty acres of land in Clay Township, having earned the money with which to purchase this land by teaching. He cleared up this farm, and by thrift added to it until he owned 240 acres. His wife died three years after his marriage, and he then married Tacy, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Hendricks) Burgess. He met his wife at the yearly meeting at Richmond, Ind., both being on the committee for raising funds for Earlham College, and were married at her home in Ohio. Thomas Burgess, father of Tacy, was from an old Pennsylvania family of English descent—the grandfather having moved from Pennsylvania to Virginia, and having settled in Campbell County after the war of the Revolution, there passed the remainder of his days, dying an old man, and his wife lived to be more than one hundred years old. Thomas Burgess moved to Highland County, Ohio, where he settled among the pioneers in 1813, and finally became a substantial farmer. In his old age he moved to Harveysburg, Warren County, Ohio, and died two years later at the age of seventy-four years. He and wife were the parents of eight children: Elizabeth, Joseph, Jesse, Moses, Mary, Tacy and Martha, twins, and John T., all born in Virginia except the youngest, who was born in Ohio. Joseph Burgess and wife were devout members of the Friends' Church, and the family were noted for industry, intelligence and sterling worth. After marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Hadley settled on their farm in Clay Township, where they resided until they moved to their present farm in Union Township, four years since. This farm was originally very swampy and consisted of prairie and woods, but Mr. Hadley spent a large amount of money in drainage and has converted it into a fertile farm of 295 acres. Mr. Hadley was county surveyor from 1846 to 1852, and sixteen years later was elected for two years more. During the vacancy he was frequently called upon by the county court to lay out roads, divide estates, etc. He also taught two terms of school in Clay Township.
Mr. Hadley has always been interested in the anti-slavery cause and the advancement the colored people of the south. When at Guilford, N.C., he organized a Sunday-School for freed colored children—the laws of the state preventing the education of the slave—and for nine months, assisted by Harriet Peck of Rhode Island and Emily Hubbard of Lewisboro, N.C., members of the Friends' Church, taught a class of free colored people in a brick school-house, as the use of the college building could not be obtained. This school was finally stopped by the popular excitement against it. The class contained pupils of all ages, from small children up to the adults of forty years. Mr. Hadley was also the leading spirit in a committee of Friends who got up the last memorial asking for the emancipation of the slaves in the state by the legislature of North Carolina. Satisfied that the colored people could learn, and feeling that great concern for the education of those that had been slaves, and encouraged by the leading members of the Friends' Church in Ohio, Mr. Hadley and his devoted wife offered their services for the noble cause of educating the colored contrabands of the war, but now freedmen. They called upon Gov. Morton at Indianapolis and received a recommendation for their services, for the Christianization and education of the colored refugees of the army. This endorsement of their cause afterwards proved very valuable. On their way to the front they met Levi Coffin, of Cincinnati, at Odin, Ill. Mr. Coffin was a famous abolitionist, anti-slavery agitator and philanthropist, who had been regularly appointed by the Friends' Church of Cincinnati for the same work. He was also president of the Cincinnati Freedmen's Aid mission, and bore credentials to that effect. It is said of him that he had previously assisted in the escape of 3,100 slaves on the Underground Railroad. Mr. Coffin was also in regular standing in the Friends' Church and had its official sanction, while Mr. Hadley, together with Addison Hadley, Addison Coffin and Dr. Foster Harvey, had been disowned by the Mill Creek (Hendricks County) monthly meeting, ostensibly for insubordination against the regulations of the church, but really because they were among the first of the Friends (there being a schism between the conservative and liberal Friends) to establish the progressive wing of the Friends' Church in Indiana.
Well, to resume the narration: The three Friends who had met at Odin, proceeded to Cairo and called upon Gen. Tuttle, who was in command at that point; they stated their case to him and he replied, “You can go on and relieve the suffering, but a negro cannot learn.” Mr. Hadley replied, “Well, we will try.” On arrival at Cairo they were assisted by Captain Rogers, the chaplain of the camp of the colored refugees, who numbered about 3,000 contrabands of war, who had been freed by the government. Directly out of the depths of slavery, they were of all colors, ages and sizes, and a greater unwashed and tatter-demalion gang it would be hard to find. Many of the able men and women were at the front of the army engaged in various kind of work, and many of those in the camp were feeble men, women and children, some of whom were nearly white. They had to be scrubbed with soap and water before they were decent enough to attend school. The Freedmen's Aid commission of Cincinnati, and other charitable orders, especially the Friends, provided clothing, which was distributed by Mr. and Mrs. Hadley. Their rations were supplied by the government. Capt. Rogers furnished a dwelling house for a school, called the motley crowd together, and, addressing them, explained the object and the benefits of education. Pointing to Levi Coffin, he said that he was so full of goodness that it ran out of his shirt sleeves. Mr. Coffin also addressed the meeting; preparations were also made by Capt. Rogers, which occupied about ten days. In the meantime Mr. and Mrs. Hadley visited Memphis and other points, inspecting army hospitals and camps of colored refugees, and reporting their condition to the benevolent society. On returning to Cairo they found the school attended by about 100 pupils of all shades of color, ages and sizes. Finding the need of assistance great, they sent for Hannah Hadley, their niece, to join them. It was difficult to obtain good order among these contrabands, as they were entirely unaccustomed to discipline of this kind, and it is hinted that the discipline of Job Hadley was maintained at times, when there was too much turbulence, by the judicious use of the raw hide, which was much against his wishes. In nine weeks they taught many of these colored people to read and write. A premium was offered for the best reader, and one hundred Bibles and Testaments were presented to the best scholars.
After this useful and efficient service to the oppressed, Mr. and Mrs. Hadley returned home. They had been the pioneers and missionaries of this cause, and now the open for the education of the black, their advice was much sought by parties interested in the great move. They advised that more teachers be sent for, for the education of these people, and that colored teachers be trained; that a system of education might be established among themselves, and this idea was carried out by Gen. Buford, of Helena, Ark. This self-sacrificing work was done gratuitously for the sole purpose of doing good to the helpless colored people and for the cause of Christianity, and was a bright beacon-light to the pathway of the humble contraband of war. Mr. and Hadley rightly believed that the education of the colored people would be the means of the material advancement of the race. Gen. Fisk, in one of his public speeches, stated that the Cairo school was the inspiration of his work in founding Fisk's University for the colored people. At Cairo was the first real school for the education of the colored race established by western people, and was the forerunner of all the excellent institutions of learning that are now rapidly advancing their education and condition. Mr. Hadley also has now under consideration a plan to devote the income of his farm of 295 acres in the future, circumstances permitting, to the founding of a training school for worthy and needy children, without regard to sect or color.
To the marriage of Job and Tacy Hadley were born three children—Martha, Ezra and Cyrus, who all died in infancy. They have, however, reared from the age of five until twenty-one years of age and started in life with $1,500, Sarah C. Appleby; they also took, to rear, a brother and sister of this young lady, but these two children died at the respective ages of seven and fourteen years. They also reared, from the age of three years, Jesse H. Blair, son of Judge Blair, assisted him to obtain an education and established him in his profession, which kindness he has requited by becoming one of the leading attorneys of Indianapolis.