USA > Indiana > Grant County > Biographical memoirs of Grant County, Indiana : to which is appended a comprehensive compendium of national biography with portraits of many national characters and well-known residents of Grant County, Indiana. > Part 55
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In October, 1897. Dr. Bobbitt came to Marion, Indiana, where he has established a very large and lucrative general practice, but gives especial attention to surgery, obstetrics and gynecology. He owns the only static generator and "X-ray" outfit in Grant county, and his office is fitted with almost every modern appliance known to the surgeon and physician. His suite com- prises a reception room, private office, a sur- gical operating room for minor work and a complete chemical and microscopical lab- oratory. The Doctor is a member of the Grant county Medical Society, the Indiana Medical Society, the American Medical Association and the North Carolina Medical Society.
Having thus given the professional status of Dr. Bobbitt it is now necessary to relate a few facts touching his family and social relations.
Dr. William H. Bobbitt is a son of the Rev. Dr. James B. and Mary ( Miller ) Bob- bitt. the former of whom was a Methodist
clergyman, and for twenty-five years edited the North Carolina Christian Advocate, the recognized organ of Methodism in the state. He was a gifted but self-educated gentle- man, and passed many years in the itiner- ant service of his church, dying in Raleigh in 1896, at the age of sixty-two years. He had married Miss Mary Miller, daughter of Alexander Miller, a native of Scotland, who settled in New Berne, North Carolina, hav- ing come from Glasgow early in the "for- ties." To the marriage of Rev. James B. and Mary (Miller) Bobbitt were born three sons and two daughters, but of these the daughters died in childhood. Dr. Bobbitt is the eldest of the three sons. The second, J. Hal Bobbitt, is a noted pharmacist of Raleigh, North Carolina, and the present vice-president of the American Pharmaceu- tical Association; he is also the proprietor and manufacturer of Bobbitt's "Rheuma- cide," a blood specific for rheumatism and kindred ailments. The youngest of the three brothers is Dr. Alexander M., who was graduated from the dental department of the University of Maryland, and is now successfully practicing his profession in Baltimore. The beloved mother of these children was called away in 1892, at the age of forty-eight years.
October 29. 1884. Dr. William HI. Bob- bitt married Miss Laura S. Blake, who was graduated from the Wesleyan Female In- stitute at Staunton. Virginia. She is a daughter of Joseph and Lucy Blake, the for- mer of whom was a prominent southern planter, but is now living in retirement with his wife in Raleigh. The Blake family is of English. origin and was founded in Amer- ica many years ago by three brothers, one of whom settled in Massachusetts, another
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in Virginia, and the third, the grandfather of Mrs. Bobbitt, chose North Carolina for his home, became famous as a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal church South, and for many years was affectionately known as "Father Blake."
To the marriage of Dr. and Mrs. W. H. Bobbitt have been born three children, the eldest of whom, Bennett Blake, now a lad of fourteen years, is a student in the Marion Normal school; Laura Miller, now twelve years old, is an attendant at the public school, and Lucy Davis died in infancy. Dr. W. H. Bobbitt is a member of the I. O. O. F. and likewise of the K. of P., and he is, more- over, a member of his college fraternity, the Kappa Sigma, which is very popular in the south. No family in Marion holds a higher social position than that of Dr. William Haywood Bobbitt.
CLAUDIUS NEFF MARTIN.
Claudius Neff Martin, the popular and efficient agent of the Pan Handle Railroad at Marion, Indiana, was born in the Shenan- doalı valley, West Virginia, March 12, 1843, his parents being John R. and Nancy A. Martin.
John Martin had been a prominent planter and slave owner in Virginia, but becoming disguested with the institution of slavery, sold what he owned and removed to a free state becoming a merchant at Phil- adelphia, where several years of the boyhood of Claudius N. were passed. The later home was at Hollidaysburg, near Altoona, and here the father died, at the age of eighty- five. Knowing to the core just what slavery meant, he had become pronounced in his adherence to the movement that had for its
great object its overthrow. He become an ardent anti-slavery man, being identified with the operation of the under-ground railroad in Pennsylvania. Claudius had been with his father until the year 1859, when he set out in the world severing the ties that bound him to the old home.
Coming to Ohio he secured a position with the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad as conductor of a construction train; and making such progress with his work as to command the confidence of the officials, he was placed in a somewhat more responsible position, remaining with that road until August, 1862.
In company with seven of the former, employes, he enlisted, upon the above date, in Company F, One Hundred and First Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was assigned to the army of the Cumberland under Gen- eral Buell, and later under Generals Rose- crans, Thomas and Sherman. His com- mand was in the battles in Tennessee and at Chickamaugua, where he was wounded by a canister-shot through the right thigh, and wa scaptured on the field. He was confined in the famous Libby Prison hospital at Richmond for three months, when he was paroled and kept in parole camp at Annap- olis, Maryland, till exchanged a couple months later. As soon as able for duty, he was returned to his command, which he re- joined after an absence of five months-just before the battle of Peach-tree Creek; before Atlanta, he was again slightly wounded and taken to the field hospital, being dis- abled from duty for two weeks. This army was sent in pursuit of Hood's army and he was with it in the battles of Spring Grove, Franklin and Nashville.
The command was then sent overland
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to assist Grant ; but while in the mountains of eastern Tennessee, received the news of the surrender of Lee, when they were re- turned and were mustered out under general order, in June, 1865. From the time of his return to the regiment, after his exchange, he was made quartermaster sergeant of the regiment, devoting the greater part of his subsequent efforts to the necessities of the subsistence department. Resuming the for- mer line of work he found employment as clerk in the railroad office at Ft. Wayne, but a year later went to Omaha in a similar position.
The Union Pacific had at that time but reached North Platte, and this terminal sta- tion was given him. As the road was pushed further to the west, he went with it, having charge of the station at the terminus all the time. During the next eighteen months he occupied the stations of Brady Island, Julesburg, Stephenson and Cheyenne, thus being the pioneer representative of the new order of things over a stretch of one hundred and eighty miles of the road. The exper- ience there was a training, that served a purpose in the better fitting him for the fu- ture contact with the world. At the extreme ci civilization he encountered the characters of the wilderness, the wild animals, the In- dians and the still wilder outcasts of the east, whose terrorism of all those new towns became a reproach to civilization.
After two and one-half years spent on the frontier, failing health compelled his making a change, which he did by taking a place as yard-master at Logansport for the Pan Han- dle Railroad Company. He has remained in the employ of the same company since. having, however, various positions. At the time of the great strike in 1876, he was
given charge of the new engineers, and re- mained in the locomotive department for one year, being given the station at Marion, in 1875. For a quarter of a century-and that the greatest quarter of a century the world has ever known-he has remained at his post ever ready to respond when wanted by the company or by the citizens of Marion. He has seen the town of three thousand five hundred grow to a city of twenty-four thou- sand population, the demands of his own office keeping pace. Where he had two as- sistants-a day and a night man-he now has eleven men under his supervision. The business of the station for one year now ag- gregates nearly twenty-five thousand dol- lars.
He was a member of the first city council, after a charter was secured, being elected for two years ; but after serving one, he resigned. At the election in May, 1898, he was again chosen, and was assigned to the important committee on streets and public improve- ments. He advocates a policy of doing well all that is done, believing that first-class work is the cheapest and best in the end. To his earnest efforts and persuasive argument is due something, for the fine system of brick and asphalt streets and alleys, the extent of concrete walks and the fine public buildings already completed or in the course of con- struction.
The careful attention of Mr. Martin to the interests of his company has emphasized the confidence ever imposed in him, the soundness of judgment and the general conservative position on all matters of busi- ness-private or public- tending to ever in- creased confidence on the part of the general public.
Casting his first franchise for Lincoln,
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while in the service of his country in the mountains of eastern Tennessee, he has ever retained that early political relation and is generally found in the councils and conven- tions of the party. Some years since, he was selected as the nominee of the party for the position of county treasurer ; it happened to be at a time when all but one of the party's nominees suffered defeat, he going with the remainder. For thirty-five years he has sat in the various Masonic bodies -- blue lodge, chapter, council and commandery-in some of which he has taken an active official part. He has attended two of the National con- claves of the Knights Templar-those at Chicago and Pittsburg. He was married at Ft. Wayne, Indiana, in 1870, to Miss Alice Cummings of that city. Not having children of their own, their hearts were touched by the appeals of the homeless to the extent that they adopted Paul Martin, when but a child of four. He has now at- tained the age of seventeen, and with the progress of the advantages given him is proving a comfort and reward. While al- most wholly devoted to the demands of the position and such other business as occupies his attention, Mr. Martin finds some time to devote to the recreation found in follow- ing the dog with gun in hand.
Being a sound business man, an up-to- date citizen, a genial companion and an all round whole-souled gentleman, the confi- dence reposed by his employers is appro- priately seconded by the universal expres- sion of his fellow citizens.
ORLO L. CLINE.
Among the younger attorneys who are practicing at the bar of Grant county and whose legal talents are said to be of a high
character is Orlo L. Cline, of the firm of Custer & Cline, at Marion. He is the son of William W. and Harriet A. Cline of whom an extended review is given in a his- torical work devoted to Blackford county, and to which the enquirer is referred.
The birth of Orlo L. Cline took place at Hartford City, September 9, 1862. He re- ceived the advantages of the common and high schools, completing a four-year course at De Pauw University, from which he grad- uated with the class of 1888, receiving the degree of Ph. B., and during the last year in that institution had the advantage of the work in the junior year in the law school con- nected therewith. Being dependent upon his own exertions for his education, he had worked his way by teaching and by farming, having been allowed a small share in the pro- ceeds of the farm. After graduating, he taught one year in the Hartford City higli school, reading law in the meantime in the office of John A. Bonham, and was admitted to practice in June, 1889. His first profes- sional association was as a partner of John A. Bonham for about one year, and then with Enos Cole until, in 1892, when he was chosen as the prosecuting attorney for the forty-eighth judicial circuit composed of the counties of Grant and Blackford. How- ever, before he assumed the duties of the place, the circuit was limited by statute to Grant county, which necessitated his removal to Marion. October, 1893, he entered upon the duties of the office, which occupied his at- tention to the exclusion of general practice for the ensuing two years, although despite the requirements as prosecutor he, in asso- ciation with the former prosecutor, Charles M. Ratliff, did quite an extensive general practice.
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The term as prosecutor was marked with an absence of what might be termed diffi- cult or unusual cases, the county enjoying a period of comparative freedom from the actions of a class of criminals who made it a field of operation both before and after. However, his conduct of the office was such as to command the respect and esteem of much older men at the bar.
While making no pretentions as an ora- tor, the forensic ability displayed upon sev- eral occasions by Mr. Cline, in the presen- tation of logical argument, was of such a character as to not only excite the admira- tion of the general audience,- but also to draw from learned judges expressions of the greatest approval and commendation. Dur- ing the conduct of general practice, Mr. Cline has been specially fortunate in his associa- tions with professional men, being a partner of Judge Brownlee until he assumed a place upon the bench, in 1897, and then having Judge Paulus as his associate until that gen- tleman was also elevated to the bench. The present relationship dates from March, 1899, the benefits being many by the mere fact of close professional interchange. The law library of the firm is among the best working reference libraries in the county, numbering some eight hundred volumes of the most needed law books, including the standard authorities as well as the recognized re- ports.
Mr. Cline was married September 19. 1893, at Hartford City, to Miss Harriet A., daughter of Charles W. AAbbott, of Black- ford county. This lady was born in Ohio, but reared and educated in Hartford City, where she was a teacher for some time pre- vious to marriage. They have two children -William H. and Angeline. Having be-
come thoroughly imbued with the principles embodied in the law, he has devoted his at- tention almost exclusively to the practice, not having his attention distracted by the many attractions of other lines of thought.
SARAHI ELIZABETH CRANSTON.
Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth Cranston, who is a representative of one of the oldest and most prominent families of Grant county, was born in Washington township October 28. 1840, and November 15. 1860, was united in marriage to Enoch Cranston, who was born in Guernsey county, Ohio, August 28, 1836, and who died December 30, 1897.
Her husband. Enoch Cranston, came to Grant county in company with his father, William Cranston, who died not long after their arrival. The boy remained with his mother, being her principal support, having at the time of his marriage acquired one hun- (Ired acres of land, upon which they resided for twenty years, and which he cleared and increased in acreage till he owned one hun- (red and forty acres of the best section of the community. In 1880 he purchased the present farm of one hundred and sixty acres, which is located on the same section of lan .! upon which her father had originally set- tled upon coming to the county. The tract was entered by Jonathan Bevard, whose father was an uncle of Mrs. Cranston's father, and who erected a log house in 184; that has only in 1900 been replaced by a handsome modern residence. About 1864, Bevard sold the farm, removing to Iowa. Upon the purchase of the farm by Mr. Cranston it had but fifty acres cleared, to
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which he added about the same, and in vari- ous ways enhanced the value of the place. Originally it was flat, there being the great- est necessity to open drains to carry off the water. This was finally done at great ex- pense, more than one thousand five hundred rods of tile being laid, the result showing in the increased growth of crops. A good barn was built some ten years since, the con- stant effort of its owner being put forth to make lasting and substantial improvements. He had devoted his every energy to the cul- tivation of the farm, not relaxing his efforts until within a few weeks of his death.
Mr. Cranston was a quiet, unobtrusive citizen who ever exercised the keenest inter- est in the public affairs of the county, though never aspiring to the holding of office him- self. In his earlier life, he had been a Re- publican, but after marriage identified him- self with the Democratic party owing to the events growing out of the Civil war. Mrs. Sarah E. Cranston is the daughter of Will- iam and Mariah (Tedrick) Pulley, who were born, reared and married near Win- chester, Ohio. About 1835, with all their possessions packed in an old wagon drawn by one horse, they came to Indiana, securing land located on the same section upon which the daughter still resides ; and, here for sev- eral years, they made their home, removing later to another farm north of the present village of Hanfield. Sarah was born on the original homestead and in the first cabin erected by her father and remained there till past the age of fifteen. She has recol- lection of the wolves coming to the cabin and looking into the windows. Those were in- deed primitive times, much of the living being made from the woods in the way of game or honey. Her mother died at the age
of sixty-seven. Her father married again and survived his first wife but about four years. Five sons and three daughters grew to ma- turity : John, a carpenter at New Virginia, Iowa; Samuel, who was a resident of Wash- ington township and died at fifty-five; Will- iam Michael lives with his sister, Mrs. Crans- ton ; and Joshua, who is on a farm near Lan- dessville. Thomas Benton Pulley is on the old homestead with his sister Rosannah, who is a maiden lady ; she is a woman of strong intellect and great memory, and who is filled with entertaining reminiscences of the early times. The other surviving sister is Rebec- ca, wife of James Baxter, who resides ou part of the old homestead.
William Pulley was one of the most pop- ular men who have ever lived in this sec- tion of the county, and being an excellent story-teller, never lacked for something good relative to pioneer days, with which to regale his auditors. He was a Democrat and was ever much interested in the questions that divided the two great parties. He was a strong Methodist his later relations being with the Antioch church, to which he gave devoted attention and support.
The Cranston family are four children : Mary Jane, Levina, Elias Benton and Will- iam Luther-the two latter being twins, who were born December 20, 1868.
ADA A. FOWLER, M. D.
Ada A. Fowler, M. D., a homeopathic physician and surgeon of fine reputation, with her consultation parlors in the WVigger block, Marion, Grant county, In- diana, is a native of Wabash, Indiana, and a
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daughter of Newton and Matilda ( Gamble ) Fowler, natives of Indiana and Virginia, respectively.
Newton Fowler was a farmer in Wabash county. His wife died in 1862, and his own death occurred in 1885. They left three sons and one daughter, viz. : Horace, a contrac- tor and builder in Wabash; Will, a civil en- gineer, with his headquarters at Wabash; Dr. „Ada .A., the subject of this sketch, and Rev. Clarence, pastor of the Presbyterian church at Covington, Fountain county, In- diana.
Dr. Ada Fowler was a mere child when she lost her mother and she early acquired habits of self-reliance. She succeeded in se- curing a common-school education in her native county, although under the home cir- cumstances or conditions of affairs is was necessary that she shouldl act as housekeeper for her father and brothers, after reaching her tenth year. In 1885 she began the study of medicine in the office of Dr. Dunn, of Wa- bash; was under his instructions two years; it: 1887 entered Hahnemann Medical Col lege at Chicago; and from this, the leading homeopathic college in the United States, she was graduated in 1889. The succeed- ing two years she passed in post-graduate work, and following this for eighteen months she was house physician in the Chicago Nose and Throat Hospital.
The Doctor began general practice in 1893 in Chicago; was kept busy four years with her individual patients, and also for two years on the professional staff of Hahnemann Hospital. In 1897 she came to Marion and located at her present office in the Wigger block, where she has established a satisfac- tory line of general practice. Being a mem- ber of the Homeopathic Institute of Indiana,
the Doctor has every opportunity of keeping herself informed on the progress made in the science, of which she fully avails herself.
The Doctor is a member of the Plymouth church of Chicago, and for seven years, while a resident of that city was a teacher in the Armour mission. The parents and brothers of the Doctor were all reared in the Presbyterian faith. Dr. Fowler is a member of Forestville chapter, No. 177, Or- der of the Eastern Star, her brother Will being a member of the Masonic fraternity in which he has held prominent official posi- tions.
The Fowler family in America descends from an English family who settled in Mary- land just prior to the Revolutionary war, and several of the members of this family were identified with that struggle for indepen- dence. The family in Wabash county, In- diana, was established in 1836 by Isaac Fow- ler, grandfather of Dr. Ada A. Fowler, of Marion. Isaac Fowler was also the founder of the Presbyterian church in Wabash, and was the first county surveyor. He entered the land for his own farm and those of his two sons, and here passed the remainder of his life as one of the most honored and re- spected of pioneers.
GEORGE W. PENCE.
George W. Pence, proprietor of the well- equipped livery establishment at the rear of the Spencer House, Marion, was born in Grant county, Indiana, near the town of Converse. December 14, 1855, and is a son of Darius Pence, a native of Virginia. Darius Pence was reared in Champaign county,
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Ohio, and was a farmer. Mrs. Mary Pence, his wife, was born in the city of Marion, In- diana, and was united in marriage with Mr. Pence in Grant county. The parents passed their married lives on a farm near Converse, where the mother died in 1874, aged forty- eight years, and the father in 1884, aged fifty-four years. Their family comprised ten children, of whom seven still survive, George WV. Pence being the second born of the family and the eldest son. The names of the other survivors are : Asa O., Dora C., Maggie, Rosa, Anna, Cora and all are married.
George W. Pence worked on the home farm until he attained man's estate in the meantime securing an education in the com- mon schools of his neighborhood-the Pence school-house-and by an attendance at the Converse public schools for a year or two. Since leaving the homestead he has been en- gaged in various lines of business, the chief of which will be here mentioned. In 1883 Mr. Pence located in Marion, and was in the carriage business eight years; then for two years was in the railway mail service between Marion, Ohio, and Chicago, Illi- nois, on the Chicago & Erie Railway. The next two years he was in his present busi- ness, owning a select but limited stock of horses and rigs. In connection with his livery, Mr. Pence is also engaged in the sale of musical instruments.
George W. Pence was joined in the bords of matrimony, in 1875, to Miss Caroline E. Swayzee, a native of Warren, Huntington county Indiana, and three children have come to bless this union, viz. : Lerton Elmo. now twenty-three years of age, is a clerk m Jonesboro, chiefly in dry goods; Fredois, now twenty-one years old, is an atlilete of more than ordinary proficiency ; Georgianna.
the youngest of the family, is but seven years of age.
Mrs. Pence is a daughter of Rev. Samuel Swayzee, an old resident of Grant county and well-known to all the oldl settlers. He is of German extraction, as, indeed, is also the Pence family. Mr. and Mrs. Pence are con- sistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and have always contributed freely from their means toward its support. In politics Mr. Pence is a Republican, but has never been very aggressive in his political demonstrations. Both the Pence and Sway- zee families are among the old and highly respected pioneers of Grant county, and have been largely instrumental in developing it from the wilderness, and the present gener- ation on either side stands very high in the esteem of the general public.
RENWICK W. BARTLEY, M. D.
Renwick W. Bartley, M. D., who is pop- ular as a citizen and prominent as a physician and surgeon, with his office at No. 703 Gal- latin street, Marion, Indiana, was born in New York city March 14, 1845, and was there reared and educated in both public and private schools.
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