Biography of Ezra D. Hartman, pages 837/838/839.  History of DeKalb 
County, Indiana; B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc., Indianapolis, 1914.



Ezra D. Hartman

Among those who have stood as distinguished types of the world’s 
workers was the late Judge Ezra D. Hartman, who was one of the able and 
honored lawyers of northern Indiana.  He was a man of fine intellectual 
attainments, of most gracious personality, of strong and noble 
character, and one who labored with zeal and devotion in the pursuit of 
his vocation. As one of those who have lent dignity and honor to the 
legal profession in Indiana and who brought to his chosen vocation the 
strength and devotion of a great soul and a great mind, it is most 
consonant that an extended tribute to his memory be entered and 
perpetuated in this history. 	Ezra D. Hartman was born in Lehigh 
county, Pennsylvania, on May 16, 1841, and died at his home in Auburn, 
Indiana, on May 6, 1903.  He was the son of Abram and Catherine 
(Russell) Hartman, who were referred to specifically in the sketch of 
Joel E. Hartman, elsewhere in this work, therefore further mention will 
not be made of them in this connection.  The subject of this sketch was 
brought to DeKalb county, Indiana, in 1847 with his parents and 
received a good common school education, in addition to thorough course 
in commercial work and the study of law.  He completed his law course 
in the University of Michigan, and in June, 1862, was admitted to the 
bar.  However, soon afterward he felt called upon to enlist in his 
country’s defense, and in August, 1862, he assisted in recruiting a 
company which was assigned to the One Hundredth Regiment Indiana 
Volunteer Infantry, with which he went to the front.  He was 
commissioned lieutenant of his company and was later promoted to the 
rank of captain.  He experienced many hardships and discharged his 
duties with a fidelity and bravery, which earned for him the 
commendation of his superior officers.  However, his military service 
was the ultimate cause of his death, for he there contracted diseases, 
which undermined his constitution and from the effects he suffered 
until the time of his decease.  In 1866 Mr. Hartman located in 
Waterloo, Indiana, where he began the active practice of his profession 
and the same year was nominated on the Republican ticket for 
representative against Hon. Freeman Kelley and, after an active 
campaign, was successful at the polls.  In the fall of 1867 he was 
elected prosecuting attorney of the fourteenth judicial district, 
composed of the counties of DeKalb, Steuben, Lagrange, Noble, Elkhart 
and Kosciusko, serving three years in this position and discharging his 
duties with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of his fellows.  
He continued the practice of law in partnership with J. L. Morlan, in 
Waterloo, Indiana, until 1871, when he moved to South Bend, but two 
yeas later he returned to DeKalb county and formed a partnership with 
Hon, J. E. Rose, of Auburn, which continued until 1881.  In 1898 Mr. 
Hartman was nominated in convention held in the Waterloo opera house 
for judge of the thirty-fifth judicial circuit, composed of Steuben and 
DeKalb counties, and was triumphantly elected.  During his term of 
office he was at times incapacitated for the discharge of his official 
duties because of his failing health, but he demonstrated a wonderful 
tenacity and will power and oftentimes presided over the court when 
almost any other man would have felt unable to be present.  He was 
conscientious and carefully guarded the public interest as judge in 
rendering decisions and gave eminent satisfaction both to counsel and 
litigants.  He manifested a thorough knowledge of the law and had a 
remarkable comprehension of the main points at issue when a case was 
presented in his court.  Kindly and considerate of the attorneys in his 
court, he was in turn treated by them with a reverence almost amounting 
to affection, as his death was considered not only a distinct loss to 
the community, but to many of the attorneys of DeKalb county his 
passing away was held to be a personal bereavement. On October 15, 
1868, Judge Hartman was married at Bryan, Ohio, to Mary Cunningham, to 
which union were born three children, Mabel, Walter C. and Hubert Ezra.  
Mrs. Hartman died a number of years ago, and there after Judge Hartman 
made his home with his daughter, Mabel.  Fraternally he was an 
enthusiastic member of the Masonic order, having attained to the degree 
of the Royal Arch, and was also a member of the Grand Army of the 
Republic.  Religiously, he was a member of the Presbyterian church, in 
which he held the office of elder.  He was a faithful supporter of the 
church’s interests, and in church, political and private life alike he 
was consistent in his motives and actions, never violating the 
confidence, which the people universally held in him.  He was a fair, 
honest and able judge, a brave and courageous soldier, a good citizen 
in the broadest sense of the term, and a friend who never violated any 
confidence placed in him.  In all that constitutes true manhood and 
good citizenship he was a worthy example and none stood higher than he 
in the esteem and confidence of the circles in which he moved.



Submitted by:

Arlene Goodwin

Auburn, Indiana

Agoodwin@ctlnet.com