PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL
RECORD OF OKLAHOMA
EDMUND MILFORD HEGLERA young man of talent and ability, broad and progressive in his views, Mr. Hegler has been actively identified with the legal and judiciary affairs of Oklahoma since taking up his residence in El Reno, in 1892, having been connected with the second district court as clerk or deputy clerk for several years. He was born in Attica, Fountain County, Ind., September 15, 1869, a son of Capt. Benjamin F. Hegler, now clerk of the supreme court of Oklahoma.
His paternal grandfather, Jacob Hegler, a portrait painter by profession, was a native of Switzerland, whence he emigrated to America while yet a young man, eventually settling in Indiana. He married Julia A. RICHARD’s, belonging to an influential family of the Old Dominion State, her father and grandfather having both been prominent ministers of the Baptist denomination.
Benjamin F. Hegler, father of E. M. Hegler, was born in Fort Wayne, Ind., November 27, 1842, and received his education in the public schools and at the printing press, early in life entering the fields of journalism and law. The very day after the fall of Fort Sumter he offered his services to his county, enlisting in Company A, Fifteenth Indiana Infantry, of which he was made sergeant. During the summer of that year he was in West Virginia, under Gen. Joseph Reynolds, in the Elkwater and Tygart valleys taking part in the battle of Greenbrier and in the operations at Cheat Mountain. In the fall of 1861 he came down the Ohio river to Kentucky to join Nelson’s division of Buell’s army, and was soon afterward promoted to the rank of first lieutenant, as such participating in the battle of Shiloh, the siege of Corinth, in the Buell-Bragg campaign to Louisville, and in the engagements at Perrysville and Stone River. In the last-named battle the heaviest loss in the Union army was in his regiment, one hundred and eighty-eight men having been shot, among the number being twenty-eight men out of the forty-three men composing his company. He was then captain of Company A., being then but twenty years of age. A month later he was captured by the enemy and confined in the Atlanta and Libby prisons until exchanged.
On rejoining his regiment, he was appointed provost marshal of his brigade, and under General Rosecrans took part in the operations against Tullahoma; was with his brigade when Chattanooga was occupied; was at the battle of Missionary Ridge, where his regiment, the Fifteenth Indiana, belonged to Sheridan’s Division, which, with Woods’ Division, made the assault on the center. In that battle he was assigned a ranking captain to assist in the command of the regiment, of which he afterwards had the entire command, his superior officer having been wounded before the ridge was taken, while the loss to the regiment was two hundred men killed or wounded out of a total number of three hundred and thirty-four, the entire loss being inflicted in the ascent of the ridge, that lasted but forty-five minutes. Captain Hegler, who then lacked two days of being twenty-one years old, was hit three times in the fight, had his horse shot under him, and was stunned by concussion, but he maintained his courage, and for his gallant conduct received special mention. He continued in command of his regiment through the Knoxville campaign for the relief of Burnside, in the winter of 1863 and 1864, remaining in service until June 1864.
On returning to Indiana from the army, Captain Hegler, then but twenty-one years of age, became editor and proprietor of the Attica Ledger, Fountain county, Ind., which he edited for ten years, making it one of the leading Republican journals of the time. He became very prominent in municipal county and state affairs, having been actively engaged in every political campaign in the state, either as writer or worker, from the time of taking up newspaper work until his removal to Oklahoma. For eight years he was postmaster of Attica, Ind., which he also served a mayor, and was city attorney four terms, resigning in 1891, when he came to Oklahoma. Here the captain began the practice of law, but was soon appointed clerk of the United States court, second district, under Hon. John H. Burford, now chief justice, and served the term of four years. Resuming his profession, he continued in practice until 1898, when he received his appointment as clerk of the supreme court of Oklahoma, a position which he is now filling.
March 24, 1864, Captain Hegler married Arthena A. MILFORD, of Attica, Ind., who died in May 1879. Two sons were born of their union, namely: Frank Marshall, who was accidentally killed when but fourteen years old; and Edmund Milford, the special subject of this sketch. In 1880 the captain married Barbara J. CAMPBELL, of Fountain county, Ind., and they have two sons, Benjamin F., Jr., and Leon Burns, the former now at Kansas University, the latter in the Guthrie high school. Captain Hegler is prominent in the Grand Army of the Republic, having been commander of the first post organized in Attica, Ind., and in 1898 was inspector general for Oklahoma. He is also a member of the Territorial Bar Association.
Edmund M. Hegler was a pupil in the public schools of Attica until entering Wabash College at Crawfordsville, Ind., where he remained three years. He subsequently spent six months in Talladega, Ala., engaged in newspaper work as reporter on the News-Reporter, then returned to Attica, where he remained as one of the staff of the Attica Ledger, of which his father was proprietor, until in 1892, he joined his father in El Reno, of which he has since been a resident, and was appointed deputy clerk of the United States court, second district, under Captain Hegler, and when Judge J. C. Tarsney succeeded Judge John H. Burford, Mr. Hegler was appointed deputy clerk of the same court. This position he retained until after the resignation of J. H. Warren, clerk, September 11, 1898, when he was appointed clerk, an office that he has since ably filled, devoting his entire time and attention to its duties, which are many and varied, this district being the largest in area of any in the territory. Mr. Hegler has been active in city affairs, having at tow successive times been elected city clerk of El Reno, the first time serving the full term of two years, but being obliged to resign at the expiration of a year and a half during his last term, on account of his appointment as clerk of the district court. He is now clerk of the second district, having been repainted to that office by Judge C. F. Irwin, the successor to Judge J. C. Tarsney.
On February 7, 1893 in Turon, Kans., Mr. Hegler married Miss Lillie SELTZER, who was born in Richmond, Ind. Politically, Mr. Hegler is a warm advocate of the principles of the Republican part, and fraternally his is a Knight of Pythias and a Knight of Honor.
Portrait and Biographical Record of Oklahoma (Chicago: Chapman Publishing Co., 1901), 273.
Transcribed for OKGenWeb by Mary Charles Dodd Hull, December 1999.