My Genealogy Hound

JUDGE JOHN HORNBACK, judge of county court, pioneer settler, and farmer of Jasper county, is widely known as one of the early inhabitants of Jasper county, as was his father before him. He was born in Champaign county, Ohio, Aug. 24, 1827. At the age of four years his father, James, removed to Tippacanoe county, Ind., and in Oct., 1838, arrived at the then almost unknown Southwest, settling where his son Judge Hornback now lives in Jackson township, southwest of Carthage. James Hornback entered this land before the county was surveyed, which comprised a tract of 556 acres, and died on his estate, at the home of his son, July 29, 1877, at the age of eighty-one. The subject of this sketch was about eleven years of age when he came to this county, and has therefore been chiefly raised and educated in this county. He was united in the holy bonds of matrimony, Jan. 24, 1850, with Eleanor Walker, who was born in Highland county, Ohio, in 1831, and has been deceased since May 2,1877; she left eight children, whose names are as follows: James F., Mary L., William W., Malinda E., George D., John G., Eleanor S., Ira W. Mr. Hornback is a member of the Masonic order; he was a member of the Kansas Militiamen, with rank of first lieutenant. In 1862 he left Jasper county and settled in Douglas county, Kas., during the war, returning to Jasper county in 1866. Judge Hornback owns a good farm of 320 acres, raising 700 bushels of wheat, 1,500 bushels of corn, 500 bushels of oats, and a fine orchard producing quantities of fruit. Judge Hornback, in the earlier history of the county, was a judge of the county court, and has always been quite prominently identified with its public enterprises and improvements. He shared the peculiar experiences of pioneer life, so mingled with hardships and joys; as long and tedious journeys, by the slow ox team, to distant markets; and then the house-raising for a neighbor, ten miles distant; the hunting of game then so plenty, and the welcoming of the “tenderfoot,” etc. Judge Hornback lives in the quiet of his rural home in sections 19 and 30, township 28, range 31 of Jackson township. He is quite prominently known as a Greenbacker, and commands the respect of all men and all parties.