From "Counties of Clay and Owen, Indiana. Historical and Biographical."
Published 1884 by F.A. Battey & Co., Publishers, Chicago Ill.
JOHN G. ACKELMIRE was born in Prussia January 12, 1827, and came to
America with his parents, landing in Baltimore in March, 1833. They
remained there until 1834, when they came to Terre Haute, Ind., where his
father died. In 1835, he moved with his mother and sisters to Cloverland,
Clay County, where his mother was married to a blacksmith, with whom our
subject served an apprenticeship at the trade. In 1848, he bought the
interest of his step-father, and carried on a very extensive and lucrative
business until 1854, when he, with J. A. Carpenter, built the first steam
flouring mill ever erected in Clay County. This enterprise proved a grand
success to the young speculators. In 1860, Mr. Ackelmire was nominated by
his party for the office of Treasurer of Clay County. About this time the
dark days of the rebellion were dawning, and Mr. Ackelmire took his stand
as a war Democrat, and was elected. Before the close of the term, he had
become so popular with the masses that he was the unanimous choice of the
voters of the county, and was elected a second time without opposition. He
had sold his interest in the mill to his partner, and at the close of the
this term he moved to Brazil, where he assisted in building a woolen mill,
and at the same time managing a dry goods store, and in 1871 he was
elected Mayor of the city. At this time he had become a heavy contractor
and builder, and erected the Ackelmire Block, the Cruzan Block, the
Methodist Episcopal Church, besides a number of very fine residences, and
later built the beautiful court house of Clay County, on which he lost
considerable money. Mr. A. is a first- class builder, and he has done
much toward beautifying and improving the city. On July 2, 1850, he was
married to Sarah A. Goodrich, who bore him four children. She died
September 8, 1876. He was next married on October 16, 1877, to Nellie
Russell, who was born in the County Clare, Ireland. To this union have
been born two children, only one of whom is living.