USA > Indiana > Blackford County > Biographical memoirs of Blackford County, Ind. : to which is appended a comprehensive compendium of national biography embellished with portraits of many well known residents of Blackford County, Indiana > Part 39
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ceased, and Irvington, who resides in the town of Pennville.
From the age of five months until his twelfth year Stephen B. Borden lived with his parents in Pennville, in the public schools of which place he received his preliminary education and later pursued his studies in the schools of Portland until his seventeenth year. He then entered upon an apprentice. ship to learn the harnessmaker's trade in Chicago, where he applied himself diligently for a period of three years, returning to Portland at the expiration of that time and entering the city high school for the pur- pose of obtaining a knowledge of the more advanced branches of learning.
Mr. Borden's first venture in life upon his own responsibility was as a journeyman worker in Portland, in which capacity he continued for one year, serving during that time as a member of the city fire department, having in charge the chemical engine. In 1890 he came to Hartford City for the pur- pose of looking after his father's business, and six years later effected a co-partner- ship in harnessmaking with D. C. Cald- well, which lasted three years, Mr. Bor- den becoming sole proprietor at the ex- piration of that time. From the begin- ning in this city Mr. Borden's business has steadily increased, indeed far surpass- ing his most hopeful expectations, and at the present time he has the largest and most complete establishment for the manu- facture of all kinds of harness and the hand- ling of the same in the place and one of the most extensive of the kind in central Indiana. Ilis stock, which includes everything per- taining to the business, is quite large, repre- senting a capital of over twenty-five hundred dollars, and a force of from two to four ex- pert workinen is kept employed to supply the
A/B/Porden
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great and constantly increasing demand for the product of his shop. Mr. Borden is actuated by a laudable desire to please his many patron consequently nothing but first-class wo 's allowed to leave his place ; fair and upright dealing has brought its sure reward in a very large share of patronage, and the honorable reputation in business ch - cles reflects credit upon a gentleman whose business life has been directed and controlled by principles of honesty which should al- ways remain between dealer. and patrons. The annual volume of business transac ed by Mr. Borden is conservatively estimated at from six thousand to eight thousand dol- lars and, as already stated, the output of his place has a reputation much more than local.
As a citizen Mr. Borden is intelligent and progressive, keenly alive to the interests of his city and ambitious to promote any measure having for its object the material or moral well being of the community. In the spring of 1900 he was elected to repre- sent his ward in the city council, and al- though but a new member of that body he has already proposed some very important municipal legislation. He is chairman of the waterworks committee and has also been assigned to places on acts, claims and sewage committees, and it is safe to predict that his constituents will never have reason to regret the course they pursued in choosing him to be one of the custodians of the city's welfare.
Mr. Borden is a gentleman of pleasing personality, possessing in a eminent degree those qualities which make a man popular among all classes with whom he comes in contact, and his unswerving devotion to the principles of rectitude and the tenacity with which he adheres to the right make him a valued member of the community. Po- 19
litically he wields a strong influence in be- half of the Republican party, and while Hot a partisan in the strict meaning of the term. never having been an aspirant to the honors or emoluments of office, he believes that a strong adherence to the principles of a party is one of the unfailing tests of true Ameri- can citizenship.
Mr. Borden was united in marriage, in Portland, Indiana, on the 30th day of May. 1885, to Miss Minnie May Reid, who was born in that city in the year 1867, the dough- ter of Daniel and Elvira Reid. To this union have been born four children, namely : Trella V., Hazel M., Maudella and Mary. all of whom are living. Mr. Borden's re- ligious creed is represented by the Methodist church, of which both himself and wife are devoted members, and fraternally he is identified with the benevolent order of Mac- cabees.
HON. JOHN A. BONHAM.
Hon. John Asbury Bonham, attorney at law, son of William A. Bonham, whose sketch appears above, was born in Hartford City, Blackford county, Indiana, on the 16th day of April, 1861. After attending the public schools at intervals until his twentieth year Mr. Bonham entered the State University at Bloomington, where he pursued his stud- ies for two years, after which he was for some time engaged as teacher in Blackford county. His career as an instructor, though briof, was most encouraging and he no doubt would have achieved distinction had he seen fit to devote his life to the cause of educa- tion. After remaining in the educational field three years Mr. Bonham began the study
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of law under the able instruction of his fa- ther and on becoming familiar with the prin- ciples of the profession was duly admitted to the bar in Hartford City by Judge H. B. Saylor, in September, 1884. Immediately there after he effected a co-partnership with his father, under the firm name of Bonham & Bonham, and at once enterod upon the ac- tive practice under most favorable auspices, assuming his full share of the large and lu- crative business at that time in charge of , the senior member. The Arm of Bonbam & Bonham continued until 1887, at which time it was dissolved by the death of the senior member. Two years later the subject became associated in the practice with Orlo L. Cline, a partnership of one year's dura- tion, Mr. Bonham retiring at the end of that time and moving to Colorado where he con- tinued his profession with success and finan- cial profit for a period of three years. Re- turning to Hartford City, Mr. Bonham prac- ticed alone until 1894, in the spring of which year Enos Cole became liis partner. The firm of Bonham & Cole lasted two years, the senior member withdrawing at the end of that time and becoming associated in the practice with Elisha Pierce, under the name of Pierce & Bonham, a firm still in existence and doing a very extensive busi- ness in the courts of Blackford and neigh- boring counties.
For a number of years Mr. Bonham has been an acknowledged Republican leader in Blackford county, contributing greatly by skillful management as well as by strong and eloquent appeals on the hustings to the party's success in a number of hotly con- tested campaigns. He was the party's can- didate in 1884 for the office of town clerk, to which place he was triumphantly elected and such was the ability displayed in the
discharge of his official functions that he was twice re-elected his own successor, the last time in 1886, at the end of which year he re- fused longer to be a candidate.
I rom 1888 to 1890 he served as member of the town board of trustees and in the latter year was appointed prosecuting attor- noy of Blackford county, the duties of which position he discharged in a manner highly satisfactory to the public. In recognition of his services as a successful party worker and the better to profit by his superior lead- ership, Mr. Bonham, in 1894, was made chairman of the Republican county central committee. While in Colorado Mr. Bonham served as attorney of Washington county, that state, where he also filled the position of chairman of the Republican central com- mittos during the year 1892.
Upon the organization, in May, 1894, of Hartford City under a city charter Mr. Bonham was honored by being elected its first mayor, filling the position for a period of two years and doing much during his incumbency to promote the material interests of the town. In 1898 he was further hon- ored by his party by receiving the nomina- tion for joint representative in the lower house of the state legislature for the coun- ties of Blackford, Jay and Randolph, to which he was triumphantly elected in the fall of that year. Mr. Bonham's career as a legis- lator has fully met the expectation of his constituents and an evidence of his party's satisfaction with his course is the fact of his ro-nomination by acclamation in Febru- ary, 1900.
Mr. Bonham's career as a lawyer, local official, party leader, legislator and private citizen is like an open book, read by all men of his city and county. His course through- out the various avenues in which from time
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to time his life has been cast is open to the most scrutinizing inspection and while ag- gressive as a partisan, taking advantage of every fortuitous circumstance to promote tho interest of his cause, an uncompromising op- ponent seeking by every legitimate mea: to overwhelm the opposition, he is withas honorable in all the term implies and never seeks victory by resort to disreputable prac- tices. As a lawyer he is a close student, thoroughly familiar with the basic principles of his profession, unifornily courteous to opposing counsel and spares no pains in look- ing after the interests of his clients. Llc is especially strong before a jury and seldom fails to convince by keen, logical arguments couched in language at all times clear and forceful and frequently ornato and truly elo- quent. For a number of years his name ap- peared in connection with the majority of important cases adjudicated at the Blackford bar and whenever retainod as counsel he throws himself so thoroughly into his cause as to inspire his clients with the greatest amount of confidence in the successful out- come. As a citizen Mr. Bonham occupies a conspicuous place in the public esteem ; in every relation of life his bearing is that of an honorable, upright gentleman, jeal- ous of hi pod name and ambitious to main- tain the agh character which has hitherto marked his career.
Mr. Bonham is identified with the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows, having filled all the chairs in local lodge No. 262, and encampment of Hartford City ; he is also an active worker in lodge No. 135, K. of P. Ile was married in Lobanon, Indiana, May 6, 1891, to Miss Maude Perkins, a daughter of Jesse and Jane (Lister) Per- kins, a union blessed with the birth of three children: Merle, Jesse and Robert. In re-
ligion Mr. Bonham subscribes to the Method- ist creed. as does also his wife, both being communicants of the church in Hartford City.
SAMUEL HOLLIS, M. D.
The subject of this sketch is one of the distinguished physicians and surgeons of Hartford City and professionally enjoys much more than local reputation. He is a native of Indiana, born in what is now the village of Matthews, Grant county, January 20, 1852, and is the son of William and Margaret (Roberts) Hollis. The father moved in an early day from Ohio, the state of his nativity, to Grant county. Indiana, of which he was a pioneer, settling about the year 1834 near the Blackford line on land purchased from the government. After living there for a period of seven years hic removed near the present site of Matthews, where he bought land and cleared a farm. upon which he continued to reside until his death, at a ripe old age, in 1892. His wife, who preceded him to the grave in 1863, was the mother of nine children, of whom but three are now living, the subject of this sketch being the youngest member of the family.
Dr. Samuel Hollis grew to manhood's estate on the home farm, amid the rugged duties of which he acquired a strong and vigorous constitution, thus laying broad and well the foundation of a life of great ac- tivity and usefulness. Until nineteen he attended, during the winter seasons, the country schools of his neighborhood, and with such assiduity did he apply himself that before his twentieth year he was sufficiently advanced in his studies to obtain a teacher's
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license. During the four succeeding winters he taught country schools and in the mean- time pursued the higher branches of learning in Ridgeville Academy, an educational insti- tution of considerable note in the town of Ridgeville, Randolph minty. Ile discon- tinted teaching in the fall of 1873 and made a trip to Wyoming and Utah, where he was for some time engaged as assistant with a surveying party, and later after returning home he was induced to take charge of the school in his old neighborhood, which he taught during the year 1874-75. In addi- tion to his duties as an instructor, Dr. Hollis assisted his father until the spring of 1876. when, yielding to a desire formed a nu !! of years previous, he began the stur F medicine at the village of New Cumber now Matthews, under the instruction of Dr. H. D. Reasoner, in whose office he remained the greater part of four years. Meanwhile he increased his professional knowledge by attending several courses of lectures in the Kentucky Medical College at Louisville. and in 1879 entered upon the active practice with his preceptor, Dr. Reasoner, with whom he remained in the town of Matthews until the latter part of 1881. During the period thus spent the Doctor succeeded in building up quite a large and lucrative practice and earned the reputation of a successful physi- cian and skillful surgeon. On the last day of January, of the above year, he opened an office in the town of Upland, where he continued to practice with most encouraging results until 1898, in February of which year he removed to Hartford City, and here has since been located.
Politically the Doctor is a Democrat, act- ive in behalf of his party's interests, but broad and liberal in his views on all ques- tions of public or political nature. While a
resident of Upland he served as president of the town council from the time of its incor- poration until leaving the place, and is now a member of the board of pension examiners for the counties of Blackford and Wells. He is identified with the Masonic fraternity, belonging to the blue lodge and Eastern Star of Hartford City, and his name also appears upon the records of the local lodge of Maccabees meeting in this place.
Dr. Hollis entered into the marriage re- lation in Jay county, Indiana, October 10, 1875, with Miss Ella Allen, who was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, on the 17th day of January, 1858. The parents of Mrs. Hollis were Ephriaist and Sarah (Taylor) Allen, natives respectively of Ohio and Vir- ginia, the father in early life an iron worker and later a wealthy and prominent manu- facturer of pottery. The family of Dr. Hol- lis originally consisted of four children, namely: Earl, deceased; William A., a stu- dent of the Louisville Medical College: Arthur C., student of the Hartford City high school; and Mabel.
The professional career of Dr. Hollis em- braces a period of twenty years of success- full ministration to the wants of suffering humanity, and his reputation is of the high- est order of excellence. He brought to the practice a mind well fortified with intellectual and professional training, and he possesses a presence and sympathetic nature which at once gains him the confidence of his pa- tients, and the skill displayed in difficult and critical cases render him a true friend of the afflicted. In the sick room his presence in soothing the suffering and his conscientious fidelity to duty nd principle has won for him the confidence and love of all with whom he comes in contact as a medical adviser. With success long since assured and a standing
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among his professional associates second that of no other physician in this part of the state, the Doctor is nevertheless a close and painstaking student, a careful reader of the leading medical literature of the day and fully in keeping with the most advanced thoughts of the profession, both in this county and abroad. ITe studies his cases with the greatest care, voldom errs in diag- nosis and bringing to the exercise of his duties a mind enriched by culture and ex- perience rarely fails in placing the sufferer on the sure highway to recovery. Progres- sive and enterprising, he occupies a de- servedly high place in the estimation of his fellow citizens; surrounded by the blessing of abundance, the fruits of a well spent life, honored and respected for his character as an upright gentleman, the Doctor is indeed one of the notable men of the city in which he resides.
Mrs. Hollis secured her education at the Ridgeville Academy, which she attended until eighteen years of age, and while a stu- dent there n t her husband, who was one of her classmates. From early youth she mani- fested a decided tendency for the reading of good books, and cultivating this taste throughout life she has a wide and varied knowledge and her acquaintance with liter- ature, both ancient and modern, is critical and profound. Not long after marriage she began a course of medical reading under her husband's tutelage, and later, 1890, was graduated from the Medical College of Ju- diana at Indianapolis, her record while at- tending that institution ranking second to that of very few students. After receiving her diploma she began practicing the healing art with her husband at the town of Upland. proving a great assistant to him by making a specialty of obstetrics and diseases of
women and children, in all three of which her success has been such as to elicit the highest commendation not only of her numerous patients but from leading physicians whom she has frequently met in consultation. She keeps fully abreast of the times in all mat- ters pertaining to the profession, is indefati- gable in her attention to those requiring her services and takes an active part in the de- liberations of the Grant County Medical So- ciety, of which body she is the first lady member ever admitted. Her calm self-pos- session and the hope she inspires in the minds of the suffering makes her presence in the sick room a benediction, and few physicians have found a more permanent abiding place in the affections of those treated than her. An optimist in her views of the demands of the present age, believing thoroughly in the dignity of her calling, which she considers to be legitimately within woman's sphere, Mrs. Hollis has accomplished much more than many physicians of greater length of pr: tice, and the creditable record already made is prophetic of still larger benefit to humanity in the future. She is a member of the East- ern Star lodge, F. & A. M., the Lady Mac- cabees and Rathbone Sisters, in addition to which she is also a ruling spirit in the li: erary circles of the city and a leader in all charitable and benevolent enterprises of the Woman's Relief Corps. In her library, which has been selected with the greatest of care and which, by the way. is perhaps the finest collection of choice literature in the city, she finds her highest enjoyment, and her home has become the rendezvous of a circle of kindred spirits, whose greatest de- lights are the study and discussion of lit- erature in all its phases and bearings upon society and the world. In short Mrs. Hollis is, in the true sense of the word, a refined
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and elegant lady, with perceptive and re ceptive faculties most keen and discriminat- ing. Her moral nature is sweet and beauti- ful, benevolence being one of the underlying principles of her character. and a landable desire to minister to the needs of suffering humanity the prime motive of her life.
CHARLES RICKETS MASON
For a number of years the subject of this sketch has been a leader in the medical pro- fession of Blackford and surrounding coun- ties, and the reputation achieved in every de- partment of his cho en calling has made his name widely and favorably known in places Tar remote from his place of residente Dr. Mason, both natives of Fairfield county, of Wells on the 12th day of January. 1846. His parents, Dorsey and Nancy (Rickets) Mason, both natives of Fairfield county. Ohio, removed, about three years after their marriage, to Wells county, Indiana, of which they were pioneers, and there resided upon a farm until their respective deaths. The elder Mason was a man of local prominence. in- telligent beyond the majority of early set- tlers in a new county, and bore an active part in the growth and development of the cour- munity which he assisted in founding. A Methodist in his religious belief, he was in- strumental in planting churches of that faith among the sparse settlements of Wells county, and for many years he was a leader of the Republican party in the community where he lived. Dor- sey and Nancy Mason reared a fam- ily of nine children, whose names are as follows: Samantha, wife of Rev. C. F. Wiggins, of Steuben county, Indiana;
onidas, a physician and surgeon, practic- ing his profession at Bluffton, this state; Berzetta, wife of J. B. Shadle, a farmer of Wells county : Catharine married J. S. Uut- son, of Neosha county, Kansas; Charles R. : Hannah, Dorsey, Alvin and Adaline, the last four deceased.
Dr. Charles R. Mas a was reared to agri- cultural pursuits on the home farm and at in- tervals until his twentieth year attended the county schools, in which he obtained a mas- tery of the elementary branches of learning.
His first move after leaving the parental roof was not unmixed with adventure, being a trip in his twentieth year across the plains to Denver, Colorado, with a train of pro- visions, driving ox teams, meeting with many interesting incidents en route and spending some time in that popular center of the west. In due time he returned home and, actuated by a laudable desire to in- crease his scholastic knowledge, he soon aft- erward entered Liber College, Jay county. where he pursued his studies for a period of two years, the meanwhile maturing plans to prepare himself for the profession of medi- cine. In order to procure the funds neces- sary to prosecute his medical studies the Doctor taught school during the winter sea- sons and read medicine throughout the spring and summer months, continuing this procedure from his twenty-first to his twen- ty-fourth year, and attending at intervals during 'e period lectures in the College of Medic and Surgery at Cincinnati, Ohio. With at earnestness most commendable he succeeded in overcoming an unfavorable en- vironment, and in 1870 was rewarded by re- ceiving a certificate of graduation from the above institution, after which he began the practice of his profession at the town of Warren, Indiana, with his pre-
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ceptor. Dr. Jonas Good, with whom he re- mained one year. During the time spent at Warren Dr. Mason spared no reasonable pains to become acquainted with the prac- tical duties of his profession, and with such commendable zeal did he address himself thereto that many cases were intrusted to him, with results most sat ffactory in their outcome.
For the purpose of fing a more en- larged field for the exercise of his profes- sional skill the Doctor, in the spring of 1870, opened an office in Hartford City, where his rise was at once rapid and his success most flattering. After practicing continuously for a period of fifteen years the Doctor took a post-graduate course in one of the leading medical institutions of New York City, thus bringing to his life work a mind well forti- fied with the highest professional training and placing himself in the front rank among medical men of this part of the state. The Doctor has no specialty, but devotes his at- tention to the general practice, in which his success has been' long since assured. His past success is prophetic of a continued and still larger share of public patronage in the future.
As a physician and surgeon fully abreast of the exacting age in every detail of his profession, Dr. Mason easily takes place among the leading medical men of Hartford City. In attending to the ailments of suffer- ing humanity no one is better calculated to bring comfort and cheer to the sick cham- ber, his presence inspiring confidence and his ministrations, tender and sympathetic as that of a woman, rendering him indeed the ideal family physician. He is of pleasing ad- dress, of great kindness of heart and public spirited, impartial in his practice, devoting much of his time to the relief of the poor and
1 ortunate, from whom he never expects to receive the slightest financial remuneration. In social life the Doctor is a genial and pleasant companion. a good conversational- ist, affable and police in his bearing to all. and his private character is as irreproachable as his professional record is unquestioned. In short, he justly bears the name of an exemplary husband and father, a substantial citizen, a physician and surgeon of eminent ability, and last, but by no means least, an honest man.
The Doctor's married life began in 1870. on the LIth of August of which year he was united in the bonds of wedlock, in Hunting- ton county, Indiana, to Miss Sarah L. Mor- rison, daughter of Leander and M. Ida (Jones) Morrison. The issue of this mar- riage was one child, which died in infancy unnamed. Politically the Doctor wields an influence for ie Republican party, but he has never had any ambition to distinguish himself as a partisan worker or aspirant for official position. He owns a : nutiful home on Water street, where, j 1 from the onerous and exacting duties of busy profes- sional life, he spends his leisure hours in restful and happy quietude.
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