My Genealogy Hound

JOHN W. LAMAR, one of the earliest pioneers of Spencer County, was born in that county December 9, 1822, and is the oldest son of John and Elizabeth (Woolen) Lamar, the former a native of North Carolina, and the latter of Ohio. He received his education in the primitive log schoolhouse of the frontier, having attended at the same school where “Honest Abe” received his early education. He worked on the farm until reaching his majority. In his twenty-first year he was elected constable, and six months later was elected justice of the peace for a term of five years. He was elected for three succeeding terms, but did not finish the last one, as he resigned and was commissioned first lieutenant in the Home Guards. March 1, 1861, he enlisted in Company C, Fifty-third Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He remained in active service upward of twenty months, receiving his discharge in April, 1863, when he was commissioned captain of the Home Guards. After the war he was elected to the office of county commissioner. In 1870 he was appointed notary public, but in a short time (against his will) was elected justice of the peace, serving for eight years. He was again appointed notary, but resigned to accept the office of township trustee, which office he held for four years. In his business of farming he has been quite successful, and has succeeded in accumulating considerable property. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His wife is a member of the Missionary Baptist Church. March 12, 1846, he married Millie Barker, to whom eight children were born, seven of whom are living.