John Hahn

1820s–1840s

Born in Bavaria about 1821–1830, the son of Joseph Hahn and Eva Frances Gaeterman. Came to America about 1843 and settled in Dearborn County, Indiana, where he married Elizabeth Weber.

1850s–1860s

Farmed in Kelso Township, Dearborn County, where by 1860 he had a hundred acres worth $2,500. Children Lana, Adam, John, Kate, Barbara, and Joseph were born.

1870s–1880s

Moved to Marion Township, Decatur County, by 1870 and built up a farm of about two hundred acres south of Greensburg. Died there of tuberculosis on 28 February 1885.

A Bavarian Farmer in Indiana

John Hahn was born in Bavaria, around 1821 to 1830 by the varying records, the son of Joseph Hahn and Eva Frances Gaeterman. He came to America around 1843, by one account at thirteen, and settled among the German Catholic farmers of Dearborn County, Indiana. There he married Elizabeth Weber, who had also come from Bavaria, from Landstuhl.

In 1850 John was farming in Kelso Township, Dearborn County, on land worth $700; by 1860 he had a hundred acres worth $2,500. His children were Mary Magdalena (Lana, 1847), Adam, John, Catharina (Kate, 1855), Barbara (1856, Ben's 2x-great-grandmother), Joseph (1860), Mary Elizabeth, and Josephine. Two of his daughters married two brothers: Kate married Wendel Amrhein in 1875, and Barbara married George Amrhein in 1880.

By 1870 the family had moved to Marion Township in Decatur County, and the farm was valued at $10,000. By 1882 John owned about two hundred acres there, with two houses and a set of livestock scales. He died of tuberculosis at home, five miles south of Greensburg, at about ten at night on February 28, 1885. Father Steigerwald conducted his funeral at the Catholic church in Greensburg, and he was buried in St. Mary's Cemetery.