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ALPHA M. HASSLER
Vol. 3, p. 995-96

A scion of an ancient Swiss family of marked distinction and of one
whose name has been one of much prominence in the annals of American
history since the early part of the nineteenth century, it has been
given to this well known and highly honored citizen of Tulsa,
Oklahoma, to do well his part in upholding the prestige of the
patronymic and to have had wide and varied experience in the great
West, where he has witnessed and aided in the march of civic and
industrial development and progress, been a productive worker and an
example of strong and upright manhood. Mr. Hassler is now engaged in
the real-estate and loan business in the City of Tulsa and is one of
the successful and influential representatives of this important line
of enterprise in this section of the state.

Mr. Hassler was born at Ripley, the judicial center of Jackson
County, West Virginia, on the 25th of May 1869, and is a son of John
J. S. and Ida (MANNING) Hassler, the former of whom was born at
Bedford, Somerset County, Pennsylvania, in 1833, and the latter of
whom was born in New York City. The father was a resident of Enid,
Oklahoma, at the time of his death, in 1889, and passed away at the
age of fifty-six years, his death having occurred only a short time
prior to the formal organization of the Territory of Oklahoma. His
widow still survives him, and of their twelve children, of whom the
subject of this review was the fourth in order of birth, six attained
to maturity and five are now living.

Frederick Hassler, grandfather of him whose name initiates this
article, was for a number of years a prominent citizen of Bedford,
Pennsylvania, but shortly after the death of his wife, he removed
from the old Keystone State to West Virginia, in company with his
three sons. Thereafter he assisted in important work for the
Government, as he became assistant superintendent of the United
States coast and geodetic survey along the Atlantic seaboard, and he
was in North Carolina at the time of his death. His father, Prof.
Fredonian R. Hassler, was born and reared in Switzerland and was a
man of fine education and high intellectual and scientific
attainments. Professor Hassler became a man of distinctive prominence
and influence in his native land, where he made the boundary survey
between that country and France, this important work having been done
at his own expense. The boundary thus defined was later surveyed by
the great Napoleon, who claimed that the line was on French soil, but
the stone boundary marks that had been placed by Judge Hassler were
never removed. The judge later became a member of the Swiss Senate
and served also as attorney general of his canton, the constitution
of which was written by him. He served also on the bench of the
Criminal Court of Switzerland, and his plenary powers were such that
no lawyer was permitted to appear in this court without his official
sanction. This distinguished man came to America at the instance of
President Thomas Jefferson, and he defined and perfected the system
of weights and measures now in use in the United States. He also
served as a member of the faculty of the United States Military
Academy, at West Point, in which he held the chair of mathematics,
and was superintendent of the United States coast and geodetic
survey, - a man of exalted character and great ability, and one whose
name merits enduring honor on the pages of American history.

John J. S. Hassler fully exemplified the admirable intellectual
capacity and mature judgment which he might almost have claimed as a
natural heritage, and prior to the Civil war he was found engaged in
the successful practice of law in the City of New York. Well may this
and other historical publications record that his was the honor of
having, in association with three other young men, effected the
organization of the first company formed for the defense of the Union
when the Civil war was precipitated on a divided nation. When
President Lincoln made the first formal call for volunteers he
enlisted for the term of ninety days, was made captain of his company
and with the same took part in the first battle of Bull run. Later he
was appointed a second lieutenant in the regular army of the United
State, as a member of Company K, Fourth Regiment of the United States
Infantry, and Company K was made the personal body guard of General
Grant, who had previously been a member of the same. Thus Captain
Hassler was in direct service under General Grant during the progress
of the Civil war and was with this great commander at the time when
he received the surrender of the gallant General Lee. Captain Hassler
continued in the regular army after the close of the war and was
assigned to various posts in turn on the western frontier, where he
took part in the Indian war of 1869-70. Soon after this conflict he
resigned his commission and established his home at Ripley, Jackson
County, West Virginia, where he erected a woolen mill and engaged
successfully in the manufacturing of woolen goods. In the first
administration of President Cleveland Captain Hassler was appointed
chief clerk of the appropriation division of the Department of the
Interior, under Hon. L. Q. C. Lamar, secretary of that department. In
this capacity he continued to serve until the election of President
Harrison, and when Grover Cleveland was again elected to the
presidency Captain Hassler was appointed chief clerk of the
Department of the Interior, in which capacity he had charge of
contracting for all Indian supplies. Later he was made receiver of
public moneys at the United States Land Office at Enid, Oklahoma, at
the time when the famous Cherokee Outlet was thrown open to
settlement, but his death occurred during President Harrison's
administration. As may naturally be inferred, he was an
uncompromising advocate of the principles of the democratic party,
and at the time of his demise he was department commander of the
Oklahoma Department of the Grand Army of the Republic, in the affairs
of which great patriotic organization he had taken the deepest
interests in the ranks of which he was held in the highest esteem.

Afforded excellent educational advantages of a preliminary order, it
was the privilege of Alpha M. Hassler to continue thereafter his
higher academic training in the University of West Virginia, at
Morgantown, and in Georgetown University, at Washington, D.C. from
which he received the degree of Bachelor of Law. After effective post-
graduate work in Columbian University, in the same city, he received
therefrom the degree of Master of Law, this institution now being
known as George Washington University. He was a student in Columbian
University during the second administration of President Cleveland,
and while prosecuting his studies he held also a position in the
United States Senate Committee of Education and Labor. Finally going
to New York City, Mr. Hassler was there actively identified with the
wholesale importing and jobbing business about four years, and he
then went to South Dakota, where he passed three years in effective
service in connection with the construction of the Forest City &
Sioux City Railroad. When South Dakota was admitted to statehood its
first chief executive, Governor Melette appointed Mr. Hassler a
member of his military staff, with the rank of colonel, and when
settlers of the new commonwealth became alarmed by the menacing
activities of the Sioux Indians, the governor assigned to Colonel
Hassler, who had received excellent military discipline while a
student at State University of West Virginia to the supervision of
the work of distributing arms among the settlers along the border.

From South Dakota Mr. Hassler eventually came to Oklahoma, and for
three years thereafter he was an executive in this state of the
United States Land Department, as a representative of which he was
stationed for some time at each Enid and Perry. Upon serving this
connection he removed to Oswego, Kansas, and after having there been
associated with an investment company about six years he broadened
his experience by removing to New Mexico, in which territory he
entered a homestead claim. After perfecting his title to the tract of
Government land he finally returned to Oklahoma and established his
permanent residence at Tulsa, where he has since developed a large
and prosperous insurance and loan business, his home being at 21
South Utica Street. He is one of the loyal and public-spirited
citizens and representative business men of Tulsa County, is a
republican in his political allegiance, and is actively affiliated
with the Masonic fraternity. In the City of Washington, District of
Columbia, he was raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason in
National Lodge, No. 12, Ancient Free 7 Accepted Masons, from which he
received a dimit, his present affiliating being with Tulsa Lodge, No.
71. He also holds membership in the lodge of the Benevolent &
Protective Order of Elks at Coffeyville, Kansas.

On the 15th of July, 1914, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Hassler to Miss Nellie Frances CURD, she was born at Pueblo,
Colorado, and who is a daughter of John H. and Ida Curd, the former a
native of the Kentucky and the latter of Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Hassler
have two children, -- Ferdinand and John W.

Typed for OKGenWeb by: Earline Sparks Barger, December 19, 1998.