Standard History of Adams & Wells Counties, Indiana - 1918
Tyndall & Lesh - Pgs. 460, 461 & 461

Hon. Silas W. Hale. As Mr. Hale is one of the advisory editors for Adams County in this publication, his career is a subject of general interest to all the readers. But aside from this, the achievements of a long and worthy life deserve such description and record as a work of this kind alone can afford.

Mr. Hale was born at Bluffton in Wells county, Indiana, September 18, 1844, son of Bowen and Mary Ann (Deam) Hale. His father, Bowen Hale, was born in Kentucky in 1801, but from early youth was reared in Greene County, Ohio. His early environment was that of a farm, but he also learned the trade of chair maker and painter. During the '20s he worked at these trades along the Mississippi River and in a number of the old towns in that section of the country. He finally came to Indiana and engaged in merchandising at Fort Wayne and from there moved to Wells Counnty. He was one of the pioneers of Wells county, was here at the time of organizaation, and became one of the prominent citizens and officials of Bluffton. He was postmaster, clerk of the County Court after its organization, and was always keenly interested in public affairs. he lived at Bluffton until his death in 1887. His wife, Mary A. Deam, was a native of Ohio. Bowen Hale was a democrat and a member of the Masonic fraternity. His children were: John D., former clerk of the County Court of Adams County; Silas W.; James P., who became a prominent lawyer at Bluffton, Emma, who married Andrew Van Emmon; Jane, who married Daniel Markley; Mary; and Bowen.

Silas W. Hale is today one of the oldest surviving native sons of Bluffton. He grew up there, attended some of the early schools, graduating from high school. At the age of eighteen during 1862-63 he taught in a country district. In December, 1864, Mr. Hale enlisted in the army and was made sergeant in Company E of the 153rd Indiana Infantry. Later he was transferred to the quartermaster's department and served with the Army of the Tennessee during the final months of the great war. He was discharged at Louisville, Kentucky, in September, 1865.

After the war Mr. Hale was employed in the store of A. Deam & Company at Bluffton, as a clerk, and remained there until 1869, when he joined his brother John D. Hale at Bluffton in the grain and produce trade under the firm name of J. D. Hale & Brother. In 1871 they transferred their business to Geneva in Adams County. The partnership was continued until 1878. In the meantime from 1873 to 1878 Silas Hale was also telegraph operator for the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railway at Geneva, and during 1876-77 was also station agent for that road.

Upon the dissolution of the partnership in 1878 Silas Hale moved to Portland, Indiana, and engaged in the same line of business there. In 1883 John D. Hale was elected to the office of county clerk of Adams County. His brother then sold his business interests at Portland and returned to Geneva to take charge of the properious establishment in that place, and continued it with growing success and energy until he finally retired in 1902. Mr. Hale still makes his home in Geneva.

For a long period of years Mr. Hale's name has been associated with offices of trust and responsibility in this part of the state. One of his earliest positions at Geneva was as member of the School Board from 1883 to 1886, and altogether he put in eighteen years on the board of education and has exercised every influence in his power to promote the welfare of the local schools. In 1886 he was elected to represent Adams, Jay and Blackford counties in the senate and was a member of that body during 1887 and 1889. During the sesion of 1889 he was chairmman of the Committee on Military Affairs, and his study and careful planning brought about the military laws under which Indiana has conducted its state military organization since that date.

In 1891 Mr. Hale was elected by the Legislature a member of the Board of Trustees of the Eastern Indiana Hospital for the Insane, and was on that board twelve years, all of the time its treasurer. He spent much of his time in looking after the material welfare and upkeep of the institutions under the board and was also a close student of the many subjects connected with the administration of insane hospitals. By virtue of his office he also was a member of the National Conference of Charities which met in various cities of the United States. At the close of his long service of twelve years as a member of the Board of Trustees and upon his retirement the Board of State Charities passed a very complimentary resolution giving him credit for painstaking, careful and conscientious service in every relationship with the board.

After retiring from this board he was appointed one of the trustees to establish and organize the epileptic village near Newcastle. That great institution owes much to him for its foundation and he was a member of its Board of Trustees four years.

Mr. Hale has found many interests to give him useful occupation even in his later years. He has been an officer of the Bank of Geneva. He has rounded out more than half a century of membership in the Masonic order. He was first made a Mason in Bluffton Lodge in 1867. In 1878 he transferred his membership to Portland and was master of Portland Lodge in 1882 for one year. On returning to Geneva he became a charter member of Geneva Lodge No. 621 Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and has been one of its most regular attendants. He is also a member of the Lodge of Perfection and the Scottish Rite Valley of Fort Wayne and is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias of Geneva. Mr. Hale was reared as a Presbyterian, but in 1884 took his letter from that church at Portland and placed it with the Methodist Church at Geneva.

In 1869 Mr. Hale married Miss Phebe C. McFadden, a native of Ohio and daughter of John and Catherine (Daugherty) McFadden, who settled on a farm in Wells county, Indiana, in 1852. John McFadden was for a period of eight years county auditor of Wells county. Mrs. Hale, who died August 17, 1906, was the mother of the following children: William, married Nellie Clawson, and has three children, Helen, Mary and William; Frank, married Daisey Mason and has one daughter, Mrs. Ed Lemike of Fort Wayne; Stella and Winnie are deceased, Clara, married J. A. Anderson, now deceased, has two children, Catherine and Joseph; and Fred, married Anna Schaffer and has two children, Cornelius and James.