HALL, JACOB A., physician and surgeon, of Greenfield, was born in Fayette County, Indiana, May 22, 1822. His parents, Thomas and Matilda Hall, were hardy, respected pioneers, who endeavored to give their son the best education their limited opportunities would allow. Thomas Hall, the father, was a soldier in the War of 1812, an officer on the staff of General Lewis Cass at the time of Hull's memorable surrender at Detroit. At the age of twenty-six Jacob began the study of medicine with his brother, Doctor John F. Hall, and, after a few years of practice and study combined, graduated at the Physio-Medical College, at Cincinnati, Ohio. Prior to his graduation he was in partnership for a time with Doctor Falconbury. In 1850 he removed to Hancock County, where, engaging in his practice, he still resides. In politics Doctor Hall was a Jacksonian Democrat until 1860, since which time he has been a zealous adherent of the Republican party. Religiously, he was a New-light for many years, but he subsequently embraced spiritualism, and, as he is a man of great positiveness of character, he is likely to continue in the faith until death. He is a man of pleasing address, of great kindness of heart, and public-spirited, devoting much of his time in practice to the relief of the poor and distressed, from many of whom he can never expect the slightest remuneration. He joined the Free and Accepted Masons in 1854, and the Ancient Order of United Workmen in 1876. He was Junior Warden in the Free and Accepted Masons and trustee, and was Master S.P.M. and D.D.P.M. in the Ancient Order of United Workmen. As an evidence of their confidence in Doctor Hall's medical and surgical skill, the county commissioners have appointed him, at different times, the county physician. He is very popular with all classes, being almost without an enemy in the world. Early in life he determined to secure an education, and to his dogged perseverance and unflagging energy is due the credit for those intellectual acquirements that mark him to-day as a man of accurate and varied information. In this respect he is essentially a self-made man. Then, again, he is a man of great positiveness of character, and this excellent quality makes his co-operation valuable in the work of temperance reform, in which he is greatly interested. He was married to Miss Mary J. Cannady, daughter of Lewis L. Cannady, June 6, 1844. Ten children have been born to them, five of whom - one son, Lewis A., and four daughters - are still living.
