My Genealogy Hound

THOMAS C. ACKERSON. The business interests of Springfield, find a worthy representative in the subject of this notice, who is a dealer in slate roofing material, understanding it in all its details, and is senior member of the well-known firm of T. C. & E. H. Ackerson. He is located many leagues from the place of his birth in Monmouth County, N. J., where he first opened his eyes to the light June 5, 1829. He is the offspring of a good family, being the son of John and Eliza (Hayward) Ackerson, also natives of that State.

The Ackerson family is of German descent, and the paternal grandfather of our subject was Thomas Ackerson, a native of the Fatherland, who emigrated to America in time to have a hand in the Revolutionary War. On the maternal side of the house he is of English extraction, his grandfather, Abraham Hayward, having emigrated directly from England. His father, John Ackerson, was a stone-mason, brick-layer and plasterer by trade, and emigrated to Ohio about 1847, at that time changing his occupation, and locating on a farm in Springfield Township. He only lived six years thereafter, his death taking place in 1853.

The mother of our subject survived her husband a number of years. The household circle included five sons and three daughters, and only three of the family are living. Thomas was the fourth child and remained with his parents until a boy of eleven years, going then to live with his uncle, Dr. J. S. English, of his native county. He attended school and assisted the Doctor on the farm until a youth of seventeen years. He was then apprenticed to one Amos Helvean, to learn the trade of a blacksmith, and this accomplished, came to Ohio, and locating in Harmony, Clark Township, set up a shop and did business on his own account for seven years. Then removing to Springfield, he entered into partnership with James Neily, and they conducted a successful blacksmithing business until the outbreak of the Civil War. Mr. Ackerson then enlisted as a Union soldier in an independent company of light artillery which was assigned to the Sixteenth Ohio Regiment, which he accompanied to St. Louis, Mo. There they joined the command of Gen. Fremont, and three months later our subject was made wagonmaster of a train. Subsequently he was appointed Quartermaster of the Battery, a position which he held until being mustered out in 1864, at Columbus, Ohio.

Returning now to Springfield with his health much improved, Mr. Ackerson went from there to his native State, where he carried on farming three years. At the expiration of this time he returned to Springfield and engaged in his present business. He was married in 1873 to Miss Jennie, daughter of Louis C. and Eliza J. Huffman. This lady was born in Clark County, this State, February 24, 1841, and by her union with our subject has become the mother of two children, Lyda and Bessie. Mr. Ackerson is a member of Mitchell Post, No. 45, G. A. R., and is a stanch supporter of the Republican party. His religious views coincide with the doctrines of the Methodist Church.