from The History of Hendricks County (Indianapolis: B.F. Bowen & Co., 1914)----pages 238-240
The farmer is the bulwark of the nation and investigation has shown that a large majority of our best business and professional men were reared on the farm. Presidents of the United States and governors of our own fair state have often come from the rural districts. George Washington was a farmer and was proud of the fact; Abraham Lincoln was reared on a farm in Spencer County, Indiana. Probably the most popular Democratic governor Indiana ever had was "Blue Jeans" Williams, who prided himself on being a farmer and defeated Benjamin Harrison for governor with the campaign cry that Harrison was a "Blue Stocking"; the Republican Party has never had a better governor in this state than that plain, unostentatious farmer, James A. Mount. Verily, the farmers of today are the bulwark of the nation, the salt of the earth.
John W. Ader, the son of Jacob and Mary (Springer) Ader, was born March 2, 1863, in Putnam County, Indiana. His father was a native of Putnam County and his mother was born in Schenectady, New York. Jacob Ader was a farmer all his life, as was his father, Solomon, before him. The Aders, it is believed, came originally from Ireland, Solomon coming to this country from Ireland with his parents, and at first settled in Virginia. From Virginia they went to North Carolina, and Solomon, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, came from that state to Indiana with his family and all his possessions in a two-wheel cart. Jacob Ader died in 1872 and his widow, some years later, married B.G. Edmundson and is still living at Clayton, Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Ader were the parents of three children: Solomon, a farmer in Putnam County; Jacob, who died at the age of two; and John, the immediate subject of this sketch.
John W. Ader was given a good practical education in the common schools of his township and has supplemented his early training with wide reading and close observation of men and events. In other words he is well schooled in the affairs of the business world, an education that teachers and books cannot give. He spent his summers on the farm while he was still of school age and continued to work on the farm until his marriage, at the age of twenty-one. His father had died when he was only nine years of age and this necessitated him taking considerable responsibility on his shoulders at an early age.
Mr. Ader was united in marriage on September 11, 1884 to Jennie Shepherd, a girl with whom he had gone to school. She is the daughter of James P. and Margaret (Weller) Shepherd. She was born and reared near Mr. Ader's home in Putnam County. To this happy union there have been born six children, four of whom are living: Tressie Olive, who is a music teacher, and lives at home; Jacob, who is a student in the School of Medicine, of Indiana University, will receive the degree of Bachelor of Science in June, 1914, and the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1916. He is taking the full seven years' course which is prescribed by the university, the last three years of which is given at Indianapolis. He is a member of the Greek-letter fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta and the medical fraternity of Phi Rho Sigma; the third child of Mr. and Mrs. Ader is Shirley Florence, who is a graduate of the high school, at Danville, and also of both the scientific and the classic courses of the Central Normal College. During the year 1913-1914 she is teaching English and art in high school at Jonesboro, Indiana; the youngest child is Helen, who is now a sophomore in the Danville High School.
Immediately after his marriage Mr. Ader went on a farm and was successful from the start, and within four years was able to purchase a general store at Groveland, which he managed no less successfully for the next five years. While he was on the farm he became interested in the buying and selling of horses and when he went into the mercantile business he continued to handle horses. In fact he handling of the horses interfered with the operation of his store, so he sold it and engaged in the buying and selling of stock exclusively. He went into partnership with Henry Underwood at Groveland in Putnam County and in the next few years laid the basis of his present substantial holdings. In 1893 he moved to Danville where he continued in the same business and in the next fourteen years became known as one of the most substantial business men of the county. He invested in land and owns some of the finest farming land to be found in the state. He also bought town property in Danville and has recently built one of the most modern and up-to-date houses in the town. In 1908 he was elected sheriff on the Democratic ticket, by a good majority, despite the fact that the county is normally Republican. His administration of the office was so satisfactory that he was re-elected in 1910 without any difficult; his last term of office expires January 1, 1913. It is safe to say that Hendricks County never had a more efficient and popular sheriff than John Ader.
Mr. Ader is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, at Groveland, and has been a close student of Masonry for many years. He and all the members of his family are devoted and consistent adherents of the Presbyterian Church, at Danville, and contribute freely of their means to the support of the various organizations of that denomination. Mr. Ader is a man who makes friends everywhere he goes and probably has as wide an acquaintance throughout the county as any other man. Personally, he is a splendid specimen of manhood, more than six feet in height and tipping the scales around two hundred and fifty. His life has been a busy and useful one and no citizen in the county is held in higher esteem by his fellow citizens than Mr. Ader. His career shows what may be accomplished by the exercise of tireless energy and upright dealings.