William H. Hessin was born on January 13, 1844, in Lisbon, Ohio, to Henry and Sarah Hessin. His father was a cabinetmaker. Hessin grew up and attended school in Lisbon.

 

He enlisted in the Union army on December 4, 1861, and he mustered in as a private in Company I of the 78^th Ohio Infantry on January 15, 1862. The regiment took part in the Battle of Fort Donelson, the Battle of Shiloh, the Vicksburg campaign, the Atlanta campaign, the March to the Sea, and the Carolinas campaign. He was promoted to 2^nd lieutenant on March 24, 1863, to 1^st lieutenant on August 1, 1863, and then to captain on January 12, 1865. He mustered out on July 11, 1865.

 

Hessin returned to Ohio after the war, and he married Rebecca Hall on April 10, 1866. They had at least three children: Effie, born around 1867; James, born around 1869; and Sadie, born around 1871. They moved to Huntington, Indiana, in the late 1860s, and Hessin worked as a produce dealer there. By 1870, he owned $2,300 of real estate and $800 of personal property.

 

He became working as a lawyer in the 1870s. He applied for a federal pension in April 1876 and eventually secured one. By 1910, he was earning a living as a poultry farmer. By 1930, he was living in his daughter Effie’s household in Pontiac, Illinois. He died in Pontiac on October 16, 1931.

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