Biographical sketch extracted from:

Biographical and historical record of Adams and Wells counties, Indiana. Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1887. pp. 947-948.

CHARLES E. LACEY, a young attorney, and connected with the firm of Wilson & Todd of Bluffton, Indiana, was born at Pierceton, Kosciusko County, Indiana, April 22, 1864, and is the youngest son of Rev. Henry J. Lacey and Elizabeth (Thompson) Lacey. His father was reared on a farm in Wayne County, Indiana, and was the son of William Lacey, one of the early settlers of that county. Elizabeth Thompson was born and reared in Randolph County, Indiana. Her parents died when she was young, and she was taken into the family of William Kenedy, where she lived as a daughter until her marriage, to Henry J. Lacey. They settled on a farm in Randolph County, where they lived for several years until he felt himself called to the ministry. Being a member of the Methodist Episcopal church he became a minister of the gospel in that church in 1853, and continued his active ministerial labors for thirty-three years, when he retired from active duty in the spring of 1886 and went back to his farm. To Henry J. and Elizabeth Lacey were born nine children, two dying in childhood, while seven, four sons and three daughters, grew to manhood, and womanhood, six of whom are now living, four sons and two daughters, the youngest of all being Charles E., the subject of this sketch. He obtained his early education in the graded and high schools of the various places where his father was engaged in the ministry until the spring of 1881, when he finished his high school studies and in the fall of the same year went to Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, to complete his education. He remained there two years, pursuing a general course of study, and in the summer of 1883 returned to Indiana. Between this time and the fall of 1884 he was engaged at different times in teaching school, in farming and in mercantile business, as clerk. In the fall of 1884 he came to Bluffton, where his father was then located, and, soon after began studying law in the office of Wilson & Todd, where he has ever since remained. He was admitted to practice at the Wells County bar March 24, 1886, a short time before his twenty-second birthday, and is the youngest attorney in Wells County. He is a Republican in politics and takes an active interest in political issues. On January 27, 1887, he was joined in marriage with Alice Studabaker, the youngest daughter of Major Peter Studabaker and Sarah (Morgan) Studabaker, and with his wife has made his home in Bluffton.