Biography of Isaac Miller Jackman, pages 678/679/680. History of DeKalb 
County, Indiana; B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc., Indianapolis, 1914. 



Isaac Miller Jackman

A review of the life of the honored subject of this sketch must of 
necessity be brief and general in its character. To enter fully into 
the interesting details of his career touching the struggles of his 
early manhood and success of later days would far transcend the limits 
of this article. He filled a large place in the ranks of the 
enterprising and public-spirited men of his day and generation and the 
memories which attach to his name and character form no inconsiderable 
chapter in the history of the community where he did his work and 
achieved his success. Sufficient is submitted, however, to prove him 
entitled to the honorable position he long occupied among the brave and 
energetic self-made man of Indiana,  who by enterprise and unswerving 
integrity forged to the front despite all obstacles and helped win for 
the grand old Hoosier commonwealth a place second to none other in the 
bright constellation of American states. Isaac Miller Jackman was born 
in Carroll county, Ohio, June 21, 1821, and was a son of Adam and Mary 
(Miller) Jackman. Adam Jackman was born in what is now West Virginia 
during the latter part of the eighteenth century and when about 
fourteen years of age ran away from home, coming to Carroll county, 
Ohio, about the beginning of the nineteenth century. He lived about 
seven years with the Indians, hunting and trapping, and when he 
attained his majority he entered one hundred and sixty acres of land in 
Carroll county. When about twenty-two years old he returned to his 
boyhood home and there gave a good account of the new country in which 
he had settled. The result was that a number of his old neighbors moved 
to Carroll county, among whom was the Miller family, a member of which, 
Mary, afterwards became his wife. He was a typical frontiersman, more 
of a hunter and fisherman than a farmer. Isaac Miller Jackman was 
reared on the Carroll county homestead and secured his education in the 
district schools of that locality. In 1847 he walked all the way to 
DeKalb county, Indiana, and bought a tract of land in the northwest 
corner of Wilmington township. Later he returned to Ohio and married 
Jane Whitla, who also was a native of Carroll county and they returned 
to DeKalb county, arriving at their new home on May 10, 1850. The trip 
was a long and tiresome one, there being practically no roads or 
bridges. Mr. Jackman had, during his former visits here, cleared a 
small portion of his land, but he later moved to what is now the 
eastern edge of Grant township, where he bought a good farm and there 
spent the remainder of his life, dying February 9, 1899. Jane Whitla 
Jackman was born in Carroll county, Ohio, on February 23, 1830, the 
daughter of William and Margaret (Steele) Whitla, and her death 
occurred near Waterloo, Indiana, on July 24, 1903, at the age of 
seventy-three years. Her marriage to Mr. Jackman occurred on January 
29, 1850. She possessed to a remarkable degree those qualities which 
characterized the pioneer of this locality, and she was to her husband 
a helpmate in the truest sense of the word. Their early experiences 
here were fraught with many incidents which seem strangely primitive to 
the present generation. Their first cabin home had no floor and during 
the first summer Mrs. Jackman cooked their meals over a stumpside fire. 
However, they enjoyed their life, being filled with energy, ambition 
and hope. She was a faithful wife, a devoted mother and kind and 
generous neighbor, and her children scarcely remember a time when their 
home was not a refuge for some homeless one. She was always called on 
in sickness and death by her neighbors, sometimes walking a distance of 
five miles to perform her ministrations of love. In early life she 
joined the Presbyterian church and was ever after wards a faithful and 
earnest member of that society. William Whitla, Mrs. Jackman’s  father, 
was born in Ohio, but his father, William, was born near Belfast, 
Ireland. The family name was originally Whitelaw, later abbreviated to 
Whitla. The family was descend from a Scottish chief named William the 
White, who was very large and tall above all his fellows. His law was 
so just and equitable as to be called White law, from which term the 
family name was formed. The Whitlas went from Scotland to Ireland, and 
eventually to America. Margaret Steele also was a native of Ireland, 
and came to America with her parents and a number of other families, 
including those of the Whitla and Snodgrass.  To Isaac M. and Jane 
Jackman were born the following children: Mrs. Mary Kiplinger, of 
Smithfield township, this county; J. W., of Grant township; I. M., of 
Wilmington township; Amos, of Wilmington township, and John, of Grant 
township, all of whom have in their own lives perpetuated the sterling 
qualities which characterized their honored parents.

Submitted by:

Arlene Goodwin

Auburn, Indiana

Agoodwin@ctlnet.com