My Genealogy Hound

J. A. HALLAR, M. D., is engaged in practice at Rose Hill, Johnson County, where he has been located for about sixteen years. He has invested from time to time in land, and is now the owner of six hundred acres in the vicinity of his home. He is a native of the Blue Grass State, and his birth occurred December 15, 1841. There he grew to manhood, having but poor opportunities for obtaining an education. His parents were John H. and Rebecca (McDaniel) Hallar.

During the war Dr. Hallar enlisted in the Kentucky State Guards, taking part in several skirmishes and holding the rank of Sergeant. He then enlisted in the regular United States service at Camp Kenton, and drilled with the Second Ohio Infantry, though a member of Company I, Eighteenth Kentucky Infantry. He assisted in driving Gens. William and Humphrey Marshall from Kentucky, taking part in numerous small engagements. In the spring of 1862 he was stationed in central Kentucky as Sergeant in command of a blockhouse and twenty-four men. In June, Morgan took Cynthiana, only seven miles distant, and this scared his guards so that they left him, and he was left on duty alone for two days. Relief then came from Covington, and he was promised a commission for his fidelity, but through some one’s neglect failed to get it. In August he was present at the battle of Richmond, Ky., and his regiment suffered severely. Colonel Warner being shot through the right lung, the lieutenant-colonel being shot in the arm and right jaw, and Adjutant Duall being killed, as was also Captain Lewis, and the First Lieutenant, James Dunlap; while the Sergeant-Major was wounded and the acting Lieutenant was killed. Dr. Hallar, the Second Sergeant, was slightly wounded in the right leg by a piece of shell, his cartridge box shot off, with slight injuries to his spine. He was picked up on the field and kept a prisoner from Saturday until Tuesday without rations. Then, being paroled, he returned home and remained one night, when the rebel guerrillas surrounded the house and he was obliged to leave secretly. With Captain Boone, he traveled to the Ohio River, his feet bleeding and sore, and at Augusta found a regiment with a detachment of United States soldiers. He took up arms again and helped defend Augusta, but the Confederates won the victory, and he made his escape only by swimming the river and landing in Ohio. Reporting to his regiment at Jeffersonville, he did duty there as ranking officer. Just before the battle of Perryville Colonel Millwood found out that he was on parole and ordered him to Camp Chase to be exchanged. Fourteen days later he returned to Kentucky with letters and dispatches, and in January, 1863, after he had been exchanged, joined his regiment and started southward. At Franklin, Tenn., he was placed in command of one hundred and twenty men who were to cut a ditch around Ft. Megley and Nashville. At the end of two months he started for Carthage, Tenn., to join his regiment, and was on board the transport “Chippewa Valley” when, the second morning after leaving Nashville, the vessel struck an obstruction in the river and sank. Mr. Hallar was lying in the engine room, and only had time to reach the hurricane deck. In company with a fellow-passenger, he jumped off and swam to the Kentucky side. A few persons on the doomed vessel clung to the wreck and floated to the Tennessee shore, the rebels shooting at them from the river bank. Mr. Hallar and his friend in misery took a life-boat, paddled back to the wreck, and were taken aboard a gun-boat. At length, reaching his regiment, he remained with them until after the battle of Chickamauga, when, as his leg was getting worse all the time, he was discharged, in December, 1863.

In January of the next year Dr. Hallar was awarded a pension of $4 a month for his injuries, and as he was a cripple it is but little wonder that he was too indignant to accept such a compensation. He now receives $24 a month, and, considering what he has gone through, even this is a small return. Desiring to improve himself, he commenced studying at home in earnest, and February 20, 1864, married M. E. Roundtree, who was a good scholar and was of great assistance to him. In a year he was able to obtain a first-class certificate, and began teaching. During the six years which followed he studied medicine and taught all but two weeks of each year. He attended the Normal Institute at Carlisle, Ky., taking a special course in the liberal arts and sciences, after which he went to the Louisville Medical College for two years, graduating in 1876. He at once began practicing medicine in his native county, and it was not until 1879 that he moved to Johnson County.

The first wife of Dr. Hallar died in 1877, leaving five children, all but one of whom still survive. In 1879 Miss D. E. Taylor, of Nicholas County, Ky., became his wife, and by this union there have been born five children. The parents are members of the Missionary Baptist Church, and stand high in the estimation of all who know them. The Doctor is a Mason of the Third Degree, belonging to the lodge at Holden.