Brown-Jackson-Bartholomew County IN Archives Biographies.....Ault, Jacob 1842 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 27, 2007, 6:50 pm

Author: B. F. Bowen (1904)

JACOB AULT.

   Success, to be properly appreciated and fully enjoyed, must be fairly and
honorably won, must result from earnest endeavor and ardent desire. It is the
offspring of work and the herald of peace, for to become familiar therewith one
must dip deep into the vicissitudes of life, and to love it one must not succumb
to the cares that so harass his footsteps while in its pursuit. When the writer
says of a man that he has been successful, it implies that he possesses to an
appreciable degree those essential qualities which have enabled him to overcome
the obstacles that confronted him and that he is now in a position to enjoy the
reward which he has so justly earned. The subject of this sketch may well be
classed with Brown county's successful men and a volume devoted to its
representative citizens would certainly be incomplete without due reference to
his life and achievements. In civic affairs he has made his influence felt in
various lines of activity and when treason was rife and the perpetuity of the
government was threatened by the armed hosts of rebellion he went forth to
battle, as did his ancestors before him, and nobly upheld the nation's honor,
giving several of the best years of his manhood to his country, besides shedding
his blood that it might be preserved as the fathers of the republic founded it.

  Jacob Ault comes from good old patriotic stock, his grandfather, Valentine
Ault, a native of Switzerland, having come to America in colonial times and for
three years fought for his adopted country in the war of the Revolution. This
ancestor settled originally in Pennsylvania, and from there, soon after the war
of the Revolution, migrated westward to Ohio and entered the land on which the
flourishing city of St. Clairsville now stands. He was a cooper by trade, but
after settling in the wilderness of Ohio turned his attention to agriculture,
clearing and improving a farm in Belmont county, on which, his death occurred
many years ago. George Ault, son of Valentine, was born in Pennsylvania, and
when quite young accompanied his parents upon their removal to eastern Ohio,
where he grew to maturity and when a young man married Miss Amy Battin, whose
birth occurred in the latter state, her family being among the pioneers settlers
of Belmont county. George Ault was reared to agricultural pursuits and followed
the same in Ohio until the year 1856, when he disposed of his interests there
and moved his family to Brown county, Indiana, settling in Van Buren township,
where he cleared a farm, which he made his home during the thirteen years
following. Selling his place in 1869, he moved to Macon county, Illinois, and
there resided until his death, in 1872, devoting his attention the meanwhile to
his life work and becoming a thrifty and prosperous tiller of the soil and a
worthy citizen. When the war of 1812 broke out he proffered his services to the
country, enlisting at the beginning of the struggle and continuing with the army
until the close, earning the reputation of a brave and fearless soldier, such as
his father before him had won in the campaigns and battles of the Revolution.
Mrs. Amy Ault survived her husband about eight years, departing this life in
1880, she being his second wife and bearing him seven children. By a former wife
Mr. Ault was the father of eleven children, which with those born to the second
marriage made his family consist of eighteen offspring, the subject of this
review being the fifteenth of the number, or the fourth of those resulting from
the union of his father and mother.

   Jacob Ault is a native of Belmont county, Ohio, and dates his birth from the
6th of August, 1842. He was eleven years old when his parents moved to Brown
county, Indiana, and with the exception of the time spent in the army and twelve
years in the counties of Jackson and Bartholomew, he has made this part of the
state his home ever since. When a mere lad he was put to work in the fields and
woods and bore his full share in clearing and otherwise improving the family
homestead, his winters the meantime being devoted to the district schools, which
in those days were supported by voluntary subscription and at best could not
boast much in the matter of efficiency.

   When sixteen years of age Mr. Ault entered a tannery to learn the trade of
leather making, but hardly had he acquired a practical knowledge of the same
than the alarm of rapidly approaching civil war caused him to exchange the
implements of industry for the death-dealing weapons of bloody conflict. In
July, 1861, he enlisted in Company B, Twenty-second Indiana Volunteer Infantry,
and shortly thereafter accompanied his command to the Southland, where he soon
met the enemy and received his baptism of fire. For two years and two months he
was constantly at the front and experienced the vicissitudes of warfare on the
march, in camp and on the field of battle, and during that period never lost a
day by reason of disability nor was absent at any time from his post of duty.
This fortunate state of affairs, however, was not destined to continue, for
while engaged with the enemy at Big Shanty, Georgia, he received a gunshot wound
in the thigh which completely disabled him and caused him to be taken to the
hospital, where, and at home, for fourteen consecutive months he suffered great
pain, and at times untold agony, while his injury was being treated. He was not
able to take a single step until the expiration of the above period and several
years elapsed before he was sufficiently recovered to resume his duties, the
wound being of such a nature as to defy for a long time the most skillful
treatment. Blessed with a naturally strong and vigorous constitution, he
gradually but slowly regained his physical powers and when sufficiently improved
to warrant removal was dismissed from the hospital and immediately thereafter
returned home, and was honorably discharged and mustered out of the service at
Indianapolis on August 22, 1865.

   After the war Mr. Ault worked at his trade for some time and later turned his
attention to carpentry, which, in connection with farming, occupied his time
until about the year 1882, when he moved to Beck, where he has since resided. He
now owns a small but highly improved farm, the greater part of which is devoted
to fruit growing, and for several years past he has given his time and attention
principally to this fascinating and profitable branch of husbandry, being
familiar with horticulture and believing that at no distant day it will become
one of the most important of Brown county's agricultural industries. He also
raises the grain and vegetable crops usually grown in this part of the state,
manages his business affairs with system and dispatch, and by industry and good
management has placed himself in comfortable circumstances. His beautiful and
commodious dwelling on his place at Beck is one of the finest and most
attractive residences in the township of Van Buren, and he has not been sparing
in supplying it with conveniences and comforts, to the end that it may be a home
in all the term implies and the dearest spot on earth to those who constitute
the happy family circle. Mr. Ault served as postmaster of Beck during- President
Harrison's administration and still holds the office to the satisfaction of the
public, having been re-appointed his own successor by the late President
McKinley. Politically he is an ardent Republican, and as such has been
interested in the work of his party, adding not a little to its growing strength
in Brown county, besides using his influence to advance its interests in the
district and throughout the state. Fraternally he is identified with the ancient
and honorable order of Masonry, and also belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic.

   September 8, 1867, Mr. Ault contracted a matrimonial alliance with Miss Mary
A. Spaulding, who was born in Belmont county, Ohio, in 1847, the daughter of
William Spaulding and a granddaughter of George Spaulding, who served with
distinction in the war of 1812. Mrs. Ault's father came to Brown county in 1852
and here spent the remainder of his life as a prosperous farmer, dying in the
month of February, 1890. To Mr. and Mrs. Ault eleven children have been born,
namely: Addie J., who died in infancy; George W. lives in Illinois; Marietta
departed this life when quite young; Flora B., Eva L., Minnie P., David E.,
deceased; Edith B., Iva Grace and an infant who died unnamed. The three youngest
of the living children are still with their parents, the others being married
and doing well in their respective spheres of life.

   The religious faith of Mr. and Mrs. Ault is represented by the United
Brethren creed, of which they have for a number of years been earnest and
consistent communicants. Both are highly esteemed in their community and enjoy
to a marked degree the confidence of the large circle of friends in which they
are wont to move. Mr. Ault owes his present commendable standing in social and
business life, as well as all he possesses, entirely to his integrity, industry
and judicious economy, and he is deserving of much praise for his upright, manly
course and for his persistent efforts to success. As a citizen he has nobly
borne his part in the affairs of his township, county and state and in the days
that tried men's souls, the dark and troublous days, when the national union was
trembling in the balance and dire forebodings dwelt in the hearts of all loyal
citizens, he proved his love of country by tendering his services and if need be
his life in its heroic defence. For this generous devotion to duty he is
entitled to the love and gratitude of every true American and the memory of the
pain and suffering endured is more than recompensed by the consciousness that is
his of having served his country so faithfully and so well.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF BARTHOLOMEW COUNTY
INDIANA

INCLUDING BIOGRAPHIES OF THE GOVERNORS AND OTHER REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF INDIANA

ILLUSTRATED

1904

B. F. Bowen PUBLISHER


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