Benjamin G. Ackerman, proprietor of the Ackerman Head, Stave and Hoop Factory, of Marion, Indiana, was born January 1, 1839, in what was then known as Richland county, now Morrow county, Ohio, on a farm near Williamsport. His parents were Abraham and Isabelle (Greene) Ackerman, and his grandparents, John and Anna Ackerman. The latter were of German extraction and natives of Pennsylvania, where they were engaged in agrigcultural pursuits, but at an early day migrated to Knox county, Ohio, where they settled on Owl creek and followed the same vocation.

        John Ackerman was a private in the war of 1812, and received a gunshot wound in the leg, causing him to lose that member at the knee. The Indians gave a great deal of trouble when he settled in Ohio and it was necesasry to erect block houses at different points for the protection of the white settlers during the hostilities. One of these was constructed on the farm of John Ackerman, under his supervision, and was the scene of frequent carnage. He died on this property when about seventy years of age.

        Abraham Ackerman, one of his children, was born in the "Keystone state" and was a child of four years when his parents moved to Ohio. Here he grew to manhood and married Miss Isabelle Greene, daughter of the Rev. Benjamin and Carrie (Hocking) Greene, both of whom were born near Baltimore, Maryland. They moved to Knox county, Ohio, at an early day and settled on Owl creek, where he ministered in the same Baptist church for a period of fifty years. He died at the age of eighty-nine, in the ripness of age and the consciousness of a well-spent life. His wife was called to her reward at the age of three score years and ten. Mrs. Ackerman was quite small when her parents took up their abode in Ohio and was there reared to young womanhood, where she met and married her husband. They carried on farming in the county until about 1850, when they thought to try their fortunes in the west and moved to Missouri, where he bought a farm in Holt county, which he cultivated for twenty months, when he sold it and moved to Mills county, Iowa, where he purchased a large farm on Silver creek, seven miles east of Glenwood. He improved this property and five years later was able to dispose of it at a good profit, when he immediately invested his money in eight quarter-sections of land--1280 acres-- in Richardson county, Nebraska, that he might provide farms for his children. He was fify-five years old,--in the zenith of his life--and a very successful man in his business. Mr. Ackerman was an energetic worker in the Baptist church, of which he was a member, and a Democrat in politics. He had received but a meager education in Ohio, as the advantages were very limited, and it was ever one of the most pleasant duties of his life to help along the public school system; indeed he was one of the most efficient members of the school board for many years--the only office he would ever accept. He lived two years in Nebraska, when he sank to sleep, passing beyond earth's fading shore into the glorious springtime of heaven, his last resting place being the beautiful "city of the dead" at Salem, Nebraska. His widow disposed of the property in the west and returned to the old home in Knox county, where she passed the remainder of her days. Mrs. Isabelle Ackerman was a life-long Baptist, and when seventy-two seasons of frost and sun had passed the lamp of life had burned away on earth to be renewed in heaven. Ten children lisped the name of "mother" at her knee and received her prayerful care. Three are with her in the better land and seven have been left, who carry her portrait in their hearts.

        Benjamin G. Ackerman remained with his parents until he had attained his sixteenth year, when his father secured a position for him in a general store in Omaha, Nebraska. This city, now one of the most populous and thriving of the middle west, the boasted of but two stores, a blacksmith shop and a hotel. The work was well suited to the acquirements of the young man, whose genial disposition and obliging ways soon made him popular with the patrons of the store, and he remained in that capacity two years, the relation only being dissolved when his employer sold the business. He then went to Plattsmouth, Cass county, that state, and clerked one year, when he went with his parents to Richardson county, and the next seven years were spent as a tiller of the soil. He then sold out and returned with his mother to Ohio, purchasing a farm in Morrow county, near Woodbury, which he cultivated for two years, when he sold out and moved to Anderson, this state. Here he opened a dry-goods and grocery store, which he conducted for eleven years on a very profitable basis until 1875, in the month of October, when a fire swept away everything that he had, leaving him with an indebtedness of five thousand dollars on stock recently purchased. His next venture was in making heads and staves for barrels in the same village, and in this he was more successful; he continued there for nine years, when he disposed of his plant and came to Marion, where he engaged in the manufacture of oil barrels and staves. This factory was operated until February, 1899, when misfortune once more overtook him and a second fire razed his buildings to the ground. He rebuilt just enough to enable him to cut up the timber he had on hand, and in the fall of that year went to Paris, Tennessee, expecting to start a factory for the manufacture of export spokes, but finding the timber unsuitable for the work he returned to Marion, and in January, 1900, leased the J. M. Wise factory and has since been engaged in its operation, manufacturing barrel heads, hoops, and staves.

        Mr. Ackerman was married, in Richardson county, Nebraska, to Miss Julia Laudrey, of that place, by whom he has five children, namely: George, a prominent farmer and dairyman of this county; Ida, wife of Edwin Parbt, of Anderson; Thomas F., who is foreman in his father's factory; Emma K., who is familiarly known among her friends as "Peach," is the wife of Maurice Callens, of Anderson; and Charles, who resides at home. Mr. Ackerman is a Democrat, and during his residence in Anderson served two terms in the town council, but he is not what may be termed an office seeker, as his time has been too completely taken up by private business to admit devoting it to public life.

        In 1862, while a resident of Nebraska, he was first lieutenant under General Saunders in a military company and drilled every week for several months, but was not called out. He is a member of the Masonic order of Anderson, having been raised to the degree of Master Mason in the lodge of that place. He is a man whose honor and integrity is well known and he has been accorded the esteem of all those who have known him. In addition to his business interests in this city he has a half-interest in a farm of one hundred and twenty acres five miles east, and also in a tract of thirty acres, both lying in the oil regions.