Biography of Robert William Lockhart, pages 
854/855/856/857.  History of DeKalb County, Indiana; B. F. 
Bowen & Company, Inc., Indianapolis, 1914.



The visitor to the highly improved farm of this gentleman, 
in Smithfield township, finds it difficult to realize its 
former state and the many hard stokes necessary to bring it 
to its present condition.  There is little in the 
commodious residence, fine barns and outbuildings, 
cultivated fields and lowing herds to suggest the pioneer 
period, but this beautiful place represents a link in that 
remarkable evolution which, in the lifetime of men still 
living, has converted Indiana from a wilderness to a 
smiling garden.  Robert William Lockhart was born on 
November 28, 1872, in the beautiful city of Crawfordsville, 
Montgomery county, Indiana, and is the son of William C. 
and Mary Elizabeth (Hickox) Lockhart. William M. Lockhart 
was born on May 27, 1834, at Troy, Richland county, Ohio, a 
son of James and Jane Lockhart. James Lockhart was a native 
of county Tyrone, Ireland, and was a son of William and 
Mary Ann (McLaren) Lockhart. James was left an orphan in 
infancy and learned the trade of a linen weaver. At the age 
of twenty-five he emigrated to America, locating in 
Pennsylvania, where he worked for several years and then 
learned the trade of a distiller.  He was intensely loyal 
to his adopted country in her hour of need, being a strong 
supporter of the Union and the Constitution. In 1856 James 
and Jane (McBride) Lockhart came to Smithfield township, 
DeKalb county, bringing with them their son William C.  The 
latter had from early childhood until his majority lived in 
Lexington, Ohio, where his father, through the dishonesty 
of a partner, became bankrupt. William C. and his brother 
nobly determined to pay the father’s debts and this they 
did, though it meant tremendous exertion and untold 
hardships. The financial condition of the family interfered 
with the education of the boys, who received very little 
schooling. William C. Lockhart was a soldier for the Union 
during the Civil war, where he was severely wounded and was 
discharged from the service because of physical disability 
after about fifteen month’s service. In 1864 he married 
Elizabeth Spencer at Salesville, Ohio, her death occurring 
in October, 1867. On May 5, 1869, Mr. Lockhart married Mary 
Elizabeth Hickox, and to them were born, on November 28, 
1872, a son, the immediate subject of this sketch. On 
February 6, 1884, Mary E. (Hickox) Lockhart died, and on 
October 17, 1887, Mr. Lockhart married Julia P. (Hickox) 
Osborn, a sister of his former wife.  Her death occurred at 
Waterloo, Indiana, on December 16, 1891, and on January 4, 
1894, he married Elizabeth Ames Ansley. After recovering 
from his army wounds, Mr. Lockhart resumed the lumber 
business, in which he had been engaged before the war and 
was quite heavily interested in this business for a number 
of years.  In December, 1869, he moved to Crawfordsville, 
Indiana, where he was engaged in the sawmill business, and 
in which he was very prosperous, so that just prior to the 
panic of 1873 and invoice showed the business to be worth 
ninety thousand dollars, with many good contracts on hand. 
Along with the panic came serious losses by fire, the mill 
in Parke county and the dry kiln in Crawfordsville being 
burned, and many creditors failed to pay them what their 
owed.  They had hard work stemming the tide, but, extending 
their business to Iowa, they began to recover financially, 
when the flood washed out a big jam of logs, the loss 
amounting to more than twenty thousand dollars. In January, 
1885, Mr. Lockhart went out of business and returned to 
Crawfordsville and in the spring of the following year he 
moved to Waterloo, where he lived until his last marriage, 
then located in Fairfield township, where he died on 
February 25, 1910, at the age of seventy-five years. A good 
business man and indefatigable worker, he enjoyed the 
universal respect of all who knew him. He was a Mason and 
Odd Fellow and a regular attendant of the Baptist church, 
being an enthusiastic worker in the cause of temperance.

Robert W. Lockhart received a good common school education 
at Waterloo, Crawfordsville and Des Moines, Iowa, and was 
then employed at different vocations and in different 
places until the fall prior to his marriage,  and after 
that event he located, in 1894, on the farm in Fairfield 
township, which he operated for nine years. He fell heir to 
forty-five and one-half acres of land from his father, 
which he sold and then bought eighty acres of good land in 
Fairfield township.  Eventually he sold this tract and 
bought one hundred and sixty acres of land in section 17, 
Smithfield township, which is the present homestead,  and 
to this he has devoted his undivided attention, so that 
today there are few farms in this favored section of DeKalb 
county which are its equal.  It is known as the old Joel E. 
Thompson homestead. Not only has the fertility of the soil 
been maintained, but the permanent improvements on the farm 
made by Mr. Lockhart have been noteworthy.  The large, up-
to-date, roomy and well arranged barns and other 
substantial outbuildings, the house of modern and 
attractive appearance, the well-kept fences and all other 
incidental accessories of an up-to-date farm attract the 
attention of the passerby, and add to the value and 
desirability of the place.  Mr. Lockhart has been intensely 
progressive in everything he has done and the barn erected 
by Joel E. Thompson was the first one built along modern 
ideas in this township. He has now lived on this farm for 
five years and has already achieved a splendid reputation 
among his fellow agriculturists.  On February 25, 1894, 
Robert W. Lockhart married Mary Catherine Hartman, the 
daughter of Joel E. and Sarah (Gushwa) Hartman, who are 
referred to elsewhere in this work. This union have been 
born six children, namely: Carl W., Ralph Russell, Mary 
Dorothy, Eda Grace, Wilma, deceased, and Robert Spencer, 
the latter being the eighth generation of Robert on the 
McBride side of the family.  Politically, Mr. Lockhart was 
formerly a Republican, but is inclined to the support of 
the Progressive party, believing that the principles as 
advocated by Theodore Roosevelt and other distinguished 
advocated of Progressive principles to be the most 
conducive to the welfare of the American people. Mr. 
Lockhart was appointed township committeeman of the 
Republican party, but in 1898, because of pressing duties 
of his private business he resigned the position after one 
year of effective service. Fraternally, he is a member of 
the Modern Woodmen of America at Ashley, while, 
religiously, though not a member of any church, his 
sympathies are with the Baptist faith.  Mr. Lockhart has no 
special fads or specialties, but contents himself with 
general farming operation, not neglecting stock raising on 
a moderate scale, and although enjoys the reputation of 
being a painstaking and prudent husbandman.  Because of his 
business success and his high personal qualities, he is 
held in high esteem by his fellow citizens of Smithfield 
township and is entitled to rank among the representative 

men of his profession in DeKalb county.

Submitted by:

Arlene Goodwin

Auburn, Indiana

Agoodwin@ctlnet.com