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Note: The parents of John Batzner came to this country from Hallwangen, Wurtemburg, in the summer of 1837. There is some confusion as to John's birthdate, but careful study of many Census records indicates he was born February 22, 1839. His family was probably living in Butler Township, Franklin County, Indiana, about 10 miles West of the Whitewater River.
In the Census of 1850, John was living with the family of John H ??, a lawyer, in Brookville. He was listed as age 10. Several siblings were living with other families.
In 1860, John Batzner, age 21, was living in Cedar Grove, south of Brookville, and working as a blacksmith. His older brother Frederick Jr. was also living there with his family and working as a blacksmith.
On April 12, 1862, John Batzner and Martha A Hudson applied for a marriage license. She was the daughter of William and Mary Whitney Hudson who lived on Cedar Hill south of Cedar Grove. For some reason, this license was never returned to the county by anyone who said they had performed the wedding. A daughter, Calista, was born May 7.
John Batzner's older brother, Michael, had become a real estate tycoon by this time, and the Sheriff and Treasurer of Franklin County. In the summer of 1862, he took the county treasury and fled to Ontario, Canada, where he died in 1873. In November of 1862, Franklin County seized his various properties and sold them for $25,888 to recover some of the loss.
In September and October of 1862, Confederate armies moved north into Kentucky in an invasion that threatened Indiana and Ohio. There was panic all along the Ohio River. On October 24, John Batzner rode to Indianapolis and enlisted in the 3rd Indiana Cavalry, Company M. He mustered in there on December 11, for training. His outfit was kept in the vicinity for various duties in 1863. One of them was to chase the notorious Confederate Cavalry leader John Morgan in his most famous raid north of the Ohio River from southern Indiana across Ohio to very near the Pennsylvania line. The long hours in the saddle during this chase gave John Batzner problems the rest of his life.
Late in 1863, his outfit was sent to eastern Tennessee to join other elements of the 3rd Indiana Cavalry. There they fought many skirmishes and battles with Confederate regulars and guerillas in rough mountainous terrain. In April of 1864, his outfit became part of the large cavalry contingents in General Sherman's campaign to invade northern Georgia and capture Atlanta. From May through September, they fought and moved Confederates down to Atlanta. They rode clear around Atlanta in August, and spearheaded the flanking movement that later led to the Capture of Atlanta. They then proceeded on Sherman's famous March through Georgia to Savannah by Christmas, 1864, which thoroughly demoralized the Confederate cause. Early in 1865, they rode with Sherman's army's north into South and North Carolina enduring bad weather, floods on many rivers, and fighting many skirmishes and the larger battles of Averysboro and Bentonville. They were near Goldsboro, North Carolina, by April 1865, when Confederate armies collapsed and ended the war. John Batzner had survived many months of difficult mounted and dismounted cavalry battles without wounds and soon returned to Cedar Grove, Indiana.
On December 10, 1867, John Batzner and his older brother Frederick Jr. bought a lot, No. 66 in Cooley's Plat in Cedar Grove. On 22 February 1870, John bought his brother Frederick's half. The Census that year listed John as blacksmith and Frederick as saloonkeeper. On March 7, 1871, John sold the lot for $500 profit. They were still living in Cedar Grove in 1880.
On October 22, 1868, John Batzner and Martha A. Hudson took out a marriage license in Franklin County. The wedding was duly performed and the papers returned and entered.
In November of 1883, John Batzner bought two pieces of property in Mt. Carmel, a small village several miles northeast of Cedar Grove and east of Brookville in Franklin County. His daughter Calista and her family lived there in 1885, so perhaps they all moved there at the same time. In September and October of 1887, these properties were sold.
Although it is not clear when, John Batzner and his family and his son-in-law John Shinkle and Calista moved from Franklin County Indiana overland to Cabool, Texas County Missouri. They lived in Burdine Township southwest of Cabool. The Census of 1900 there shows him with Martha and daughter Mary. At the next house John's 4 year old Grandson, William A. Batzner, was shown living with Shadrack Chase Riggs and his mother, Bertha Tyler Batzner Riggs. John's son William Frederick had died in 1898 from a ruptured appendix caused by a baseball hitting him on that side. John was still blacksmithing at this point but it's not known how much. He did have a Civil War pension. He was peripherally involved in the cattle business through his son-in-law John Shinkle, but by 1900, the Shinkles had moved on to Kendall in western Kansas, in the cattle business.
On June 25 or 26, 1911, Martha Ann Batzner died in Webb City Missouri. She was buried on the ridge on the West Side of Mt. Hope Cemetery. John Batzner moved to his son Bradbury's in Nehalem Oregon. He took occasional trips around the country visiting his children and grandchildren.
In the Missouri, Jasper County, twp Joplin, ed 64--US Federal Census of 1920, John is living with his daughter Goldie and her husband Laurence Whalen. John is listed as age 83. This date would put his birth year at 1837. This is the last Federal Census of John Batzner.
On April 8, 1922, he died in Nehalem and was buried in the Veterans Memorial Cemetery in the Bradley Batzner family plot. His stone says: John Batzner, 3rd Indiana Cavalry.
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