PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM
page 447
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, this 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 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 black-smith, 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
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.