William Hacker
William Hacker, of
Shelbyville, had a profound influence on the Craft in Indiana for more than a
half century. One biographical sketch says that he contributed more to the
organization of the ritual, law, and preservation of the early history than any
other individual from 1817 on.
He was born December 5,
1810 somewhere on the Big Darby Plains in Ohio, son of John and Susanna Smith
Hacker. His ancestry goes back to 1498 when William Heckardt
was born in Saxony.
When he was five he lost
his mother by death. The family at that time consisted of eight brothers
and sisters. William attended school for six weeks to two months each year
for four or five years. This was all the schooling he received. The
rest of his education was procured at home through his own efforts.
He worked for his father
on the farm until he was 16 and then went to Dayton and served four years as an
apprentice in the mechanical trade. This continued until 1838 when he
began operating a general store. In 1843 he assisted in the organization
of a railroad company. From time to time he returned to the mercantile
business, but eventually was forced to retire because of ill health. In
the period from 1841 through 1864 he served as a justice of the peace.
In January 1838 he was
married to Mary Ann Sargent. They were the parents of ten
children.
Brother Hacker was made a
Mason in St. John's Lodge No. 13 at Dayton, Ohio, on February 4, 1833. He
transferred his membership to Lafayette (now Shelby) Lodge No. 28 on July 4,
1835 and was elected Master at the same meeting although he had never held
another Masonic office. It was said that for the next 29 years he
conferred every degree, except two, in this Lodge. At that time the Lodge
met at Shelbyville and Hanover, near Morristown, and had to maintain two Lodge
halls. After a period in which the charter of the Ledge was arrested it
was restored with one location only, and that at Shelbyville.
He accumulated a
collection of books on Masonry. numbering more than 2,000 volumes and
presented it to the Scottish Rite of Indianapolis in 1883. The library,
insured for $12,000, was destroyed by fire on November 3, 1894. Among the
books in that collection was a history of Freemasonry in Indiana, written by
Brother Hacker in longhand.
He also wrote a history
of Lafayette and Shelby Lodge No. 28 written in longhand. This history is
in possession of Shelby Lodge. It contains numerous biographies of most of
the early members of the Lodge.
Perhaps the outstanding
achievement of William Hacker was the collection, compilation, and printing of
the early Proceedings of Grand Lodge. The historian Daniel McDonald wrote
that "when he began the work some of the records were lost and others were
on detached slips of paper without order or system in their
arrangement." The collection begins in 1817 and runs through 1845.
He served as Master of
his Lodge 20 years, and in several offices of Grand Lodge, including Grand
Master two years and Grand Secretary three years. In the Royal Arch
Chapter he was High Priest nine years and Grand High Priest four years. In
the Council of Cryptic Masons he served eight years as Illustrious Master and
six years as Grand Master. In the Commandery he was Eminent Commander two
years.
Brother Hacker received
the Scottish Rite degrees by communication in Indianapolis on May 25,
1864. the 33rd degree was conferred on him through special authorization
of the Supreme Council November 18, 1886.
He died July 29, 1891
after a long period of failing health. The funeral was held at his
residence July 31. The Grand Lodge of Indiana performed the regular
funeral ritual and Baldwin Commandery No. 2 escorted the remains to Forest
Hill Cemetery, where Nicholas R. Ruckle, Grand Master, presided.
The home of Brother
Hacker, at 39 East Mechanic street in Shelbyville, erected in 1849, has been
remodeled many times, but the walls are the same.
The historian McDonald
described him as "tall and slender, being six feet and four inches in
height. In later years he had a full beard to his breast, while as
snow. For years prior to his death he was almost totally deaf and was
compelled to use an ear trumpet. Modest and unassuming, he was dignified
to a marked degree in speech and action. He was not brilliant but
painstaking. One citizen of Shelbyville said that he was of an very cold
disposition and did not have many friends for this reason, although everyone
admired his ability."
Many Lodges and Royal
Arch Chapters have been named in honor of Brother Hacker, the most recent being
William Hacker Lodge No. 759, chartered in 1985 and located at Shelbyville.
From the October, 1988 issue of The Indiana Freemason.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
William Hacker.* — I trace my ancestorial [sic] line back near
five hundred years. In the year 1491, so far as is now known, my
line of descent commenced at the birth of Wilhelm Heckardt, near
the city of Dresden, in Saxony. This gentleman being the first
born of his parents, of course under the laws of the country then
prevailing, inherited his father's estates, which were large and extensive.
In early manhood he espoused the cause of the Reformation as taught by Luther and his
co-adjutors. In consequence,
for personal safety, he was compelled to leave his native State and
he became reduced to want if not to real beggary. In 1520, he
reached the city of London. Being true to his convictions of religious faith, for a term of some six
years, he employed his time in
preaching the Reformation and distributing the Bible with Luther's
tracts, in and about London and Essex. While thus engaged he
became (quite proficient in the English language, and having now
nothing left to ever call him back to his native country, he Anglicized his name, writing it ever after William Hacker.
This is the
origin of the name, and with his descendants it has remained such
in all lands. The Bishop of London had been watching the Reformation with much uneasiness.
In 1527, he caused Hacker to be arrested, thrown into prison, examined, abused and mistreated in
many ways in order to make him confess and renounce his faith,
and finally by order of Sir Thomas More, as Chancellor under
Henry VIII, he was placed in the rack and tortured, but no renunciation of his convictions could they extort from him.
He was
left by his tormentors to linger along in awful agony and suffering
for perhaps near a year when he died. About 120 years later a
great-grandson of this original William Hacker, became the famous Col. Francis Hacker, the Drill Officer and Commander of
Cromwell's Iron-Side Brigade, and led that famous brigade in many
a well-fought battle during the Commonwealth of England. During
the imprisonment of Charles I, Col. Hacker had command of the
troops that kept guard over the King, and lead that unhappy Monarch
to the scaffold at his execution. Among the first acts of Parliament
after the restoration of the monarchy was the bill of attainder
against those who had taken part in the condemnation and execution of Charles I, which was to extend -to them and their posterity
forever. Under this act Col. Hacker was arrested, condemned
by the king's star chamber court, and on the 20th of October,
1660, was lead off to execution. A son of Col. Francis Hacker
during the Commonwealth of England, became a cadet under
Admiral Blake. The law of attainder being passed, of course this
gallant sailor became an out-law, he accordingly made his way to the now free State of Holland, where under an assumed name, he
joined the Holland Navy, in which he continued rendering good
service for the remainder of his life. A son of this sea captain,
named William, born in 1680, was taken by his father with him on
shipboard almost from his infancy, and thus in every sense of the
word he became a true sailor-boy. In 1725, being then about forty-
five years of age, he determined to quit the sea, come to America,
and settle down for life. He accordingly shipped as a common
sailor on an emigrant vessel, and on his way over he became acquainted with a young lady of Scotch descent, and on arriving at
Philadelphia, they were married, and soon after moved to the
Shenandoah Valley, near Winchester, Virginia, where they continued to reside, cultivating a farm until 1773, when they removed
with their children over the mountains on the west fork of the Monongahela, near what was then called Fort
Buchanan, when two
years later he died at the age of ninety-six years. His widow
survived him thirty-one years. She died in 1803, at the age of ninety-five years.
They had two sons — William and John — and five daughters. William, during the French and Indian war, became a soldier under Washington, and served in the army through
the Revolution and until the treaty of Greenville with the Indians. John, the second son of the sailor-boy, became my grandfather.
He
remained with his parents on the farm near Winchester, Virginia,
until 1769, when he brought his family over the mountains into
Western Virginia and settled on a tract of land he had purchased
from the State near where the town of Weston, in Lewis County,
is located, where he continued to reside cultivating his farm until
1824, when he died at the age of eighty-one years. Grandfather
Hacker was connected with the army in some capacity on the
frontiers from the commencement of the Revolution, until the
close of the Indian War in 1795, and was with General
Wayne at the treaty of Greenville, in that year,~ which closed the
Indian War in the west. My father, also named John, was the
second son of his parents. Born in a block-house on the west fork
of the Monongahela, in Lewis County, Virginia, January 17,
1773. He continued to reside with his parents, assisting in cultivating the farm and
fighting back the marauding bands of Indians
until 1805, when he emigrated with his family to Ohio, and settled
for a time in Greene County. In 1809, with a number of his neighbors, he moved up into what was then called the Big Darby Plains,
where he remained until about the commencement of the last war
with England, when he returned with his family to Greene County. At the surrender of General Hull, at Detroit, volunteers being
called for, he promptly enlisted under Gen. Harrison, and was with
that gallant officer until the war in the northwest closed. He then
purchased from the government a tract of land in Montgomery
County, Ohio, where he resided until the fall of 1833, when he,
with his family, came to Shelby County, Indiana, and settled on a
farm some six miles north of Shelbyville, where on the 15th of
October, 1834, he died. While my parents were residing in the
Darby Plains, on the 5th of December, 1810, I was born. As this
was at that time an unorganized territory, and claimed by the
Indians, they becoming quite hostile toward the white settlers for
thus — as they claim — intruding upon their lands. A short time
before the battle of Tippecanoe, in 1811, my parents moved back
to the settlement in Greene County, consequently I never did
know the exact place of my birth, but it was some where in what
was then known as the Big Darby Plains. When about five years
of age I lost my mother, my father being thus left with nine children to look after and provide for, I was in consequence thus left
in early life to look after and take care of myself, in a great measure. This, perhaps, more than any one thing else, taught me self-
reliance by which I have been enabled to successfully work my
way through life to the present time. Being thus brought up in a
new country, and but thinly settled, I had scarcely no educational
privileges. About two months in the winter season of four or five
years is all the schooling I ever had the privilege of receiving. But my
memory being extraordinarily good and my mind active
and vigorous, I naturally improved every spare hour in acquiring
such a knowledge of matters and things as would enable me to
take an honorable position in community and become useful to my
day and generation. This studious habit, commenced in early life
from necessity, has become a second nature to me, so that now at the
age of seventy-seven years I cannot enjoy an idle moment unless reading and
searching for further useful knowledge in some branch of
history or science, I am therefore as will be seen emphatically a self-
educated person. And such has been my success in this line that some
twenty years ago one of our incorporated colleges thought proper
to confer upon me the honorary title of LL.D. Until the age of
seventeen I remained working with my father on the farm, but being of a nervous, bilious temperament and consequently somewhat
weakly in bodily organism it was thought best for me to change
my occupation, I therefore went to Dayton, and served a four years'
apprenticeship to a mechanical profession. In 1833, I came with
my father to Indiana, purchased property in Shelbyville, which has
been my home ever since. In 1838, I left my trade and engaged
in mercantile pursuits. It, however, soon became evident that I
was made for a more active life. My health failed and I was thus
compelled to abandon such business pursuits. In 1843, I assisted
in organizing a railroad company, became its secretary, assisted in
locating the line, and superintending the construction of the road
until completed and in running order. In 1851, I tried merchandising again, but in the short space of three years failing health
compelled me to relinquish the business a second time. This was my
last venture in that line. Between 1841 and 1864, I served nineteen years as Justice of the Peace, and although in that time I
decided thousands of cases between neighbors, yet I never had a law
suit with any one on my own account in my life, nor did I ever
have a serious quarrel with any one. The best work, however, as
I conceive in which I have, perhaps, been of the greatest benefit
to my day and generation, has been in connection with the Masonic
Fraternity, the Church, the Sunday Schools and the temperance
organizations. I was made a Mason in St. John's Lodge No. 13,
Dayton, Ohio, July 9, 1832. The principles of pure morality - taught
me at my admission into the order being so in accordance with those taught me in
early life, that I at once conceived an ardent attachment
for the order which has not abated in the least to the present time. I
have passed through the grades of the lodge, chapter, council and commandry ; have presided over all those departments for many years;
have received the grades of the Scottish Rite to the thirty-third and
last degree of that rite. I became a member of the Grand Lodge
of Indiana in 1835, and I have been a working member of that body
at every session since. In 1846, I filled the office of Grand Master
for two years, and that of Grand Secretary three years. In 1868,
my hearing becoming so defective I was necessarily compelled to
decline further service in that position. I became a member of
the Grand Chapter of Indiana in 1848, and have been present and
assisted in its labors at every session held since. Served four years
as Grand High Priest and three years as Grand Secretary. I assisted in the organization of the Grand Council of Indiana, in 1855,
and have served six years as its Grand Master, and three years as
Grand Recorder; have been present and participated in its labors at every session to the present time.
I also assisted at the organization of the Grand Commandry of Knights Templars of Indiana,
in 1854, and have filled almost every station in that Grand Body to
that of Grand Recorder three years, and Grand Commander, two
years, and have been present and assisted in its deliberations .at every conclave held since its organization but one, when from
sickness I was unable to attend. For the past twenty years or more, I
have annually been placed at the head of the committee on jurisprudence in all those Grand Bodies. In consequence, their constitutions and laws, as
they now stand, are principally as I have moulded them. I assisted in the
organization of the council of
High Priests for Indiana, and in 1S55 was elected its presiding officer, which honorable position I held by annual re-elections until
the session of 1875, when my hearing becoming so defective that
I was compelled to decline further service in that important position. In
18?6, at the city of Hartford, Conn., I became a
member of the General Grand Chapter and Grand Encampment
of the United States, and still retain my membership in both of
those Grand Bodies to the present day. I was an officer in the
General Grand Chapter for twelve years. Three years of that
time I held that of General Grand King. At the triennial session
at Baltimore, in 1871, from my defective hearing I had necessarily
to decline all further official duties with these National Grand
Bodies. The first official station to which I was called in the Masonic fraternity, was that of W. Master of the Lodge.
This was
in June, 1835. Since then I have not been one moment's of time
without holding some prominent position among the craft, often,
and for years at a time, as high as eleven honorable stations. At
the present I hold, and for the past fifteen years I have held seven,
four elective and three appointed offices. This may signify that
my declining years have not abated my interest and zeal in the institution in the least.
In 1825, at about fifteen years of age, I became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and to-day I
remain as firmly attached to the government and doctrines of that
church as at any time m my life. In 1843, I was appointed a steward in the church and continued such until my loss of hearing compelled me to decline further service.
For twelve years in succession
I represented the district as lay delegate in the annual conference. In 1850, I was elected as one of the trustees of the church in Shelbyville, which position I held until 1879, when I sent in my resignation.
At the same time I was holding a similar position in the
Second Methodist Episcopal Church, which position I still hold and
endeavor to discharge its duties to the best of my ability. I became attached to the Sunday School cause as early as 1823, and
continued to attend upon its interests and labors until loss
of hearing rendered me useless. After having settled in
Shelbyville, I assisted in the organizing of the present Sunday
School of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and my labors
in that line as teacher, secretary, librarian, treasurer and
eighteen years as superintendent or until 1875, when my inability
to hear, became so great that I had to retire from further participation in these, to me, pleasing labors.
I have been a warm advocate of temperance all my life, never made use of a drop of ardent
spirits except as a medicine, consequently do not know from personal
experience, the feelings produced when under the influence of intoxicating
liquors. I connected myself with, and became an active
worker, in all the early temperance organizations, and openly advocated their cause until it went into politics.
Not caring to carry a
pure moral principle into State and National politics, I declined
further co-operation with the present temperance organization,
though, adhering as strongly as ever to the principle of temperance as a moral reformation that must and will
inevitably prevail,
as I believe. I have always been an ardent politician of the Henry Clay School, though never a noisy one.
I have advocated as strenuouslv as I could, without giving offense to those who might differ
with me in opinion, the doctrines of American labor, public improvements, national currency and free schools.
My father left
Virginia on account of slavery, consequently I was brought up under the free soil doctrines.
Hence when the present Republican party was organized, I naturally went with that party, and so
remain to the present day. The happiest hour perhaps that I ever
felt in mv life, was when I read President Lincoln's emancipation
proclamation. I was married January 20, 1839, to Miss May Ann,
daughter of Rev. Thomas W. Sargent, a distant relative of
Hon.
John Sargent, many years a Senator in Congress, from Pennsylvania, as also of the several noted ministers of the Methodist Episcopal Church of that name at Baltimore and Cincinnati.
We have
raised seven children, five girls and two boys, one died a few years
since, leaving us six still living, all married, settled in life, industrious and
striving to make an honest living. I have thus given as
concise a sketch of the male line of my family from the earliest authentic history, down to the present time as I know how, and were
I to sketch the female or maternal line, it would no doubt be far
more interesting than that of the paternal side of the house, but as
this is not called for, like the old Indian chief, I exclaim " Al-a-
baim-a," here I rest.
History of Shelby County, Indiana, Brant & Fuller, 1887,
"Shelbyville Sketches," page 488-92.
Contributed by Phyllis Miller Fleming
Hacker Family Album
Biography Index
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