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Note: The following is from a letter to me by my father, John Rush Hann (b. 1917) on 17 March 1983:
"My grandfather, John Rush Hann, was born on a farm in Bunker Hill Indiana. So far a I know his parents and family were all farmers-not artisans or tradesmen. His formal schooling was quite limited-he could read and write but not well. About 1861 he enlisted in the Union Army and served in the area from Pennsylvania to Virginia along the Atlantic Coast. About 1863 he was �invalided� out of the Army because of yellow fever and sent home. He was too weak to do farm work so decided to �go West� and rebuild his health. He had his mustering out pay and no more except for a willingness to work.
"In independence, Missouri about 1864 he �hooked on� to a wagon train headed for Oregon. The wagons were owned and driven by families headed west. My grandfather was one of two single men who simply rode along. Their function he told me was �to scout the trail, watch for Indians, fight to protect the wagons when needed and to keep all of the families in the wagons in fresh meat.� For this the various families gave him whatever �support� he needed on the trip. They �laid-over� the winter in Fort Jim Bridger, Wyoming and arrived in western Oregon the Fall of 1865 I believe. I remember him telling me stories when I was a small boy-say 6 to 11. They were about outwitting and out shooting Indians who were all bloodthirsty heathen to be killed because the were bad! The herds of buffalo were vast in numbers but they were easy to shoot. There were lots of deer and other animals to be shot to keep the wagoneers supplied. He used his own old �muzzle-loader� because the �new-fangled Springfield� rifles were inaccurate. Grandad said that he could not afford to waste a shot - ever. Noise attracted attention as well as each shot had to be hand made and loaded each time. His stories of the drinking and carousing at Ft. Jim Bridger were over my head then, but the soldiers were always fighting Indians and protecting settlers as I remember.
"His objective was California so he left the wagon train somewhere in Oregon and continued on his own horse to the south. I don�t know the route but I remember that the Indians on the coast were �not bad people�. Apparently he liked the Los Angeles area and stayed there doing odd jobs for several months. He then caught a steamer at San Pedro and went to Panama. After walking across the Isthmus (and getting so sick of bananas that he never again would eat one!) he caught another steamer up to New Orleans. I believe he took a river boat up the Mississippi to Natchez where he follow the Natchez Trace back to Indiana and then on home. I don�t know if he walked or had a horse then.
"Instead of farming he apprenticed as a cobbler and learned that trade. Meanwhile he married Carrie Hendricks of Bunker Hill. There were five children born in Indiana in three different counties. He supported his family as bootmaker and of course with the obligatory small family farm.
(Additional note by Nancy Hann Chandler: My grandmother, Florence Hann told me once that her father-in-law John Rush Hann had bought one of the first mechanical wheat harvesters. He followed the wheat crops around Indiana harvesting wheat and hoped to make his fortune that way. That is why his children are born in several different counties. Anyway, one winter he left his machine parked on a bank of the Mississippi River. Sadly, the embankment and machine on it were washed away during that winter's flooding. That's when he decided to move to California.)
Resuming his grandson's account,
"About 1875 or 6 he decided to take his family and move to the Los Angeles area. The union Pacific Railroad now crossed the country and so the little family went West by train. He looked first to settle around the Pasadena area but that land was not level enough to farm. So, he bought land from GD Compton at the NE corner of what is now Alameda and Rosecrans Boulevards. I really have no idea how much land he bought or what he paid. He raised barley in addition to the normal family crops. He also opened a bootshop on Compton Boulevard near Alameda about a mile from his home. He owned that property also. I think that Grandad was an Elder in the Baptist Church and may have been on the School Board. Because old man Compton was a Methodist the two men were apparently in frequent disagreement.
" When my parents (Clarence and Florence) were married in 1915 they moved into his parent�s home where the young bride had the job of taking care of a senile mother-in-law (Carrie Hann). Grandad (John Rush Hann) then was living in a shack or shanty on the back of his Bootshop where he had a Mexican �housekeeper� - fulltime. My father had been called back by his father in 1913 to save the shop after his older brother had nearly bankrupted it and then again in 1923 for the same reason. At that time Grandad sold the store to Dad and retired. He also sold his farm to land developers and lived off those proceeds until his heath. Grandad �s reputation was that of a perfectionist craftsman. Certainly he was an unerring �shot� with his rifle. I have watched him kill blackbirds at about 20-30 yards with one shot - and never miss. He was in his 80s. He stood about 5�4� to 5� 5� and was husky without being fat. I remember a lot of white hair and a dirty white mustache. He chewed tobacco constantly. By reputation he was one tough old man in addition to being a perfectionist. My mother told this story many times: She and Dad took (at considerable expense then) Grandad to Grumman�s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood to see Cecil B. De Mill�s �The Covered Wagon� right after its premier. As the movie unreeled in the dark and elegant theatre my grandfather jumped to his feet, spat on the aisle carpet and exclaimed of one of the characters on the screen., �That ain�t Jim Bridger, he waren�t niver that sober!� Broke up the house and embarrassed my mother to tears. I do not remember if they stayed for the rest of the epic movie.
"Grandad died during a flu epidemic in 1928. I believe he had the flu but am not sure. He was 84 and took care of himself and his home to the day of his death."
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From Discharge Papers: Enrolled in Jonas Hoover's Company A 20th Regiment of Indiana on 2 Jul 1861 for a 3 year term. Discharged 21 March 1863 at Falmouth VA, by disability.
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Obituary - Los Angeles Times November 11, 1928
Hann, John R. Hann, at his home in Compton, November 26, aged 86 years. Funeral Wednesday, November 28, at 10 am from the Chapel of Neel & Town Compton. Interment, Woodlawn Cemetery.
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