JOHN
EUGENE IGLEHART
August 10, 1848 - April 18, 1934
JOHN E. IGLEHART was
born in Campbell Township, Warrick County, Indiana, the son of Asa
Iglehart (1817–1887) and Ann Cowle (1817–1882). Asa Iglehart
was a prominent lawyer and judge in Evansville, Indiana.
John E. Iglehart
graduated from Asbury University
(now DePauw University) in 1868, and immediately embarked on a career in law at his father’s
law firm in Evansville. He was admitted to the bar in 1869 and admitted to practice
before the Supreme Court of the United States in 1874. Much of John E. Iglehart’s practice throughout his
career was as attorney for the Evansville & Terre Haute Railroad
Company.
Iglehart married
Lockie W. Holt on 4 November 1874. They had four children:
Eugene H., who married Emily Powers; Ann, who married John Ingle, Jr.;
Lockie Holt, who married Charles Humphry; and Joseph H., who married
Gertrude Townley.
Iglehart experienced
much success in his legal career and turned toward personal pursuits
later in life. He was a leader in the founding and activities of
the Southwestern Indiana Historical Society, which encompassed Posey,
Vanderburgh, Warrick, Spencer, Perry, Dubois, Pike, and Gibson counties,
and later Knox County. Founded in 1920, the Southwestern Indiana Historical Society
promoted the recognition of the importance of the frontier influence of
Southern Indiana, with particular emphasis on the recognition of its
influence on Abraham Lincoln, who spent ages seven to twenty-one in Spencer
County.
Published historical
works of Iglehart include History of Indiana
from Its Exploration to 1922, vol. 3: An Account of Vanderburgh
County from Its Organization (Dayton: Dayton Historical Publishing
Co., 1923) and The Environment of Abraham Lincoln in Indiana
(Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, 1925). Ida
Tarbell, a close acquaintance from his work with the Southwestern
Indiana Historical Society, paid tribute to him in her book, In the
Footsteps of the Lincolns (New York: Harper & Bros.,
1924).
Iglehart remained
president emeritus of the Southwestern Indiana Historical Society until
his death in 1934.
