Biography of Ezra D. Hartman, pages 877 / 878.  History of De Kalb County, 
Indiana.  Inter-State Publishing Company, Chicago, 1885.

Ezra D. Hartman, attorney at law, Auburn, was born in Lehigh County, Pa., 
May 16, 1841, a son of Abraham and Catherine Hartman, also native of the 
State, his father of German, and his mother of English descent.  Abraham 
Hartman was a minister in the Methodist Episcopal church.  In 1847 he moved 
to De Kalb County, Ind., settled on a farm three miles northeast of Auburn, 
where he lived several years and subsequently moved northwest of Auburn, 
where he died in the spring of  1873. aged sixty-three years.  He was an 
energetic, progressive citizen and was especially active in all matter of 
interest to the church.  His wife is still living on the homestead with one 
of her sons, in the seventieth year of her age.  Ezra D. Hartman received 
a good education attending the district school and the Auburn High School.  
He began teaching when but seventeen years of age and taught several 
years, attending school in the meantime as he had opportunity and means.  
While teaching he borrowed some law books of Judge Mott and read during 
his leisure hours under his direction.  He afterward entered the office of 
J.B. Morrison and remained with him till September, 1861, when he went to 
Ann Arbor, Mich., and entered the law department of the Michigan University, 
remaining there six month.  Returning to Auburn he continued his studies 
and in June, 1862, was admitted to the bar.   The following August he 
enlisted and helped to raise a company and on its organization was elected 
and appointed its Second Lieutenant; in less than two months he was 
promoted to First Lieutenant, and two months later to Captain, having 
served in that capacity the greater part of the time from the start.  He 
participated in the operations of the army in Kentucky and Tennessee and 
later in the siege of Vicksburg and the capture of Jackson, Miss.   While 
in the army he contracted disease, especially of the eyes, which disabled 
him for active service, and in the spring of 1864, having received an 
honorable discharge, he went to Cleveland, Ohio, for treatment and 
remained till July, 1866, attending in the meantime lectures at the law 
school from which he graduated in the spring, his previous knowledge of 
the law enabling him to pass the examination with very little reading.  In 
the Republican Convention of that year he received the nomination for 
Representative in the State Legislature.  His opponent was Hon. Freeman 
Kelly.  Mr. Hartman entered at once in the campaign speaking at every 
available point in the county, and though the county was very close 
politically, was elected and served with credit.  In the spring of 1867 he 
again began to practice in Waterloo, and the following fall was elected 
Prosecuting Attorney for the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit, composing the 
counties of De Kalb, Steuben, Lagrange, Noble, Elkhart, and Kosciusko, and 
served three years.  In the meantime he had formed a partnership with J.L. 
Morland, and the firm of Hartman & Morland continued till the winter of 
1871, when Mr. Hartman moved to South Bend, engaging in practice there.  
In 1873 he returned to De Kalb County and located in Auburn, forming a 
partnership with J.E. Rose.  In September, 1881, this firm was dissolved 
and Mr. Hartman has since practiced alone.  He is a popular and successful 
lawyer and has many friends both in and out of the profession.  He is an 
eloquent speaker and although not a bitter partisan freely gives his 
services to the cause of the Republican party.  He is Royal Arch Mason, 
and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was the first 
Commander of the Post at Auburn.  He is a member of the Presbyterian 
church, and has served as Trustee and Elder since 1873.  He was married 
Oct. 15, 1868, to Mary, daughter of Levi Cummingham, a prominent citizen 
of Bryan, Ohio.  They have three children---Mabel, born May 16, 1870; 
Walter C., born Feb. 11, 1873, and Hubert Ezra, born Oct. 27, 1884.

Submitted by:
Arlene Goodwin
Auburn, Indiana
Agoodwin@ctlnet.com