USA > Indiana > Greene County > Biographical memoirs of Greene County, Ind. : with reminiscences of pioneer days, Volume III > Part 14
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William Paris, the father of Mrs. John R. Wells. was one of the pioneers of Clay county, Indiana, sub- sequently becoming a resident of Jackson county, where the closing years of his life were spent. His wife was Lut- cinda Ayers, also a member of a pioneer family of Irish extraction. This worthy couple died in the county of Jackson and have long slept the sleep of the just in the
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old country cemetery, where lie the remains of many of their erstwhile neighbors and friends.
George W. Wells first saw the light of day in Seymour, Indiana, May 12, 1881, and spent his child- hood and youth in his native county, entering the pub- lic schools, where he received his preliminary educa- tional training. Later he attended the Central Normal School at Danville, where he took the teacher's course, following which he taught two terms of school, and then discontinued educational work to devote his attention to the legal profession. Mr. Wells began the study of law while engaged in teaching, subsequently continued the same in the law department of the Marion Normal Col- lege, and in 1903 was admitted to the bars of Jackson and Grant counties, entering upon the active practice of his profession on that year in the town of Seymour. During the ensuing three years he practiced in the courts of Jackson and adjacent counties, with steadily increas- ing popularity, built up quite a lucrative legal business and achieved marked success as a safe and reliable coun- selor and judicious practitioner.
At the expiration of the time indicated Mr. Wells disposed of his interests at Seymour and sought a more inviting field for the exercise of his legal talents in Greene county, where since 1906 he has followed his profession with signal success, being now recognized as one of the leading members of the bar, with a reputation far be- yond the limits of his usual field of practice.
On coming to this county he located at Linton and formed a partnership with William R. Collins, a well- known attorney of the place, the firm thus constituted being still in existence and widely known, in legal circles,
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throughout the southern counties of Indiana. Then practice, which is general, takes quite a wide range, and the firm i- retained on one side or the other of nearly every important case in the county of Greene, the high standing of the subject as a forcible and brilliant advo- cate making his services especially desirable in jury trials.
While versed in the basic principles of the law, and familiar with the profession in all its bearings, it is doubtless his ability in public address that has given Mr. Wells much of the prestige he now enjoys. He possesses in a marked degree the force, magnitude and brilliancy of the finished orator, qualities which seldom fail to influence juries, convince courts and sway popular assemblages. His power as a master of assemblages has made him popular as a political speaker, and his serv- ices to be much sought after during campaigns.
Mr. Wells occupies a prominent place in social cir- cles. While ever ready to hearken to his party's call and give to it the best services at his command, he has never sought official recognition nor aspired to any kind of public honors.
Fraternally he is a member of Lodge No. 560, Free and Accepted Masons and the Woodmen of the World, and religiously subscribes to the creed of the United Brethren church, with which demonination his parents were also identified.
CHARLES G. SHAW.
Charles Gilbert Shaw, a prominent citizen of Lin- ton, was born at Cloverdale, Putnam county, Indiana,
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January 15: 1881. He received a good education, toav- ing attended the Cloverdale public schools, Ladoga high school, Wabash College, also a business college at Craw- fordsville, Indiana, from which institution he graduated. having made commendable records in all these schools. He is also a graduate of the Southern School of Photog- raphy at McMinnville, Tennessee. He was an able in- structor in the last named school for two years, after which he attended the art department of Vanderbilt Uni- versity. Nashville, Tennessee, for one year.
Mr. Shaw came to Linton, Indiana, in January. 1906, and purchased his present business, the leading photo- graph gallery in that city, and he is generally con- ceded to stand at the head of his profession in Greene county. He was happily married November 29, 1906, to Coralie Graham Maze, daughter of D. R. and Nancy (St. Clair) Maze, well-known people of Greencastle, In- diana. Mr. Shaw is a Republican and a member of the Christian church, also a member of the Odd Fellows. and was past grand of Cecelia Lodge, No. 166, at Bloomington, Indiana, in which he has always taken much interest.
The father of the subject was Daniel F. Shaw, who was born in Cloverdale. Indiana, December 4. 1858: and his mother was Frances Utterback, who was born in the same town on December 13, 1860. They were married in their native town in 1878. Mr. Shaw was a farmer at Cloverdale. He is now engaged as engineer at an automobile works. Five children were born to them as follows: Charles Gilbert. Lyman Edgar, Mary Helen, Daniel F., Jr. One child died in infancy.
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The ancestors of the subject were of Welsh and German extraction, who first settled in Ohio, later com- ing to Putnam county, Indiana, in the pioneer days. His great-grandfather Shaw secured government land. The family is well established and highly respected as far back as it can be traced.
DAVID DUDLEY TERHUNE.
David Dudley Terhune, who is secretary and treas- urer of the Linton Trust Company, and one of the en- terprising business men of the city, was born August 29, 1879, in Boone county, Indiana, the son of Thomas J. and May (Kneisell) Terhune, the former a native of Greene county and at the present time a praticing attorney at Lebanon, Indiana, the latter also of Indiana birth.
Thomas J. Terhune, son of David and Sarah (Nealis) Terhune, was born near Linton, in the year 1848. and for the last twelve years has been one of the leading lawyers of Boone county. (For an account of the Terhune genealogy the reader is respectfully re- ferred to the biography of D. J. Terhune, which appears elsewhere in this volume.) The family of T. J. Ter- hune and his wife. May (Kneisell) Terhune, consists of three children, of whom David Dudley was the first born. the others being Mrs. Catherine Witt, of Thorntown, Indiana, and Thomas, who is still with his parents.
David Dudley Terhune was reared in his native
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town of Lebanon, received his early educational discipline in the schools of the same, and after finishing the high school course, became a student at Wabash College, where he prosecuted his studies until entering the Uni- versity of New York some years later. In the latter in- stitution he made substantial progress in the more ad- vanced branches of learning, and, retiring therefrom with a mind disciplined by critical study, and well forti- fied for the course of life he had in view, he embarked on the business career to which his energies have since been devoted. After engaging in various lines of en- terprise and filling positions of honor and trust, he be- came identified with the Linton Trust Company, of which he was one of the incorporators, and which since its organization in 1905 he has served in the two-fold capacity of secretary and treasurer, displaying a high order of business talent in his dual office and gaining the unbounded confidence of his associates and of the public. The Linton Trust Company, established in the year indicated above, has freely realized the high ex- pectations of its founders and is now one of the most successful and popular institutions of the kind in the states. It is capitalized at twenty-five thousand dollars, and under the efficient management of safe and con- servative business men, it has steadily gained the favor of the public and bids fair to grow to still larger pro- portions as the years go by. The official board at the present time is composed of the following well-known and enterprising business men: W. A. Craig, president : D. J. Terhune, vice president ; secretary and treasurer, D. D. Terhune : assistant secretary, Q. J. Mitchell ; L. M.
BIOGRAPIEICAL MEMOIRS
Priec. W. V. Moffett. Joe Moss and E. L. Wolford. with the officers, constituting the directorate.
In addition to his connection with the foregoing in- stitution Mr. Terhune is identified with several other business interests, being secretary and treasurer of the Linton Milling Company, assistant secretary and treas- urer of the Linton Water Company, treasurer of the Home Loan and Savings Association and president of the Public Library Board, besides being associated with his uncle, D. J. Terhune, in developing mineral lands in various parts of Indiana and other states, the style of the firm being Terhune & Terhune. Mr. Terhune's steady rise in the business world and the number of im- portant and far-reaching interests with which he is con- nected indicate far more than ordinary powers of mind and judgment, and. although a young man in years, his experience has taken a very wide range, and there are few who have achieved as great results in a much longer life. Socially he occupies a prominent place in the com- munity and in matters making for the good of his fel- low men find him an earnest advocate and liberal patron. His fraternal relations are represented by the Masonic brotherhood and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and while in college he became a member of the Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity, with which he is still identified.
The domestic life of Mr. Terhune dates from 1906. on September 4th of which year he was united in the bonds of wedlock with Jeanne Petit, daughter of Fred- erick and Adele Petit, of New York City, who has pre- sented him with one son, David Dudley Terhune Jr ..
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whose birth occurred February 4. 1907. Mr. and Mrs. Terhune have a beautiful and commodious home in Lin- ton and are highly esteemed by the large circle of friends and acquaintances with whom they associate. They sub- scribe to the Methodist creed and take an active interest in the church at Linton, to which they belong. In politics Mr. Terhune pledges allegiance to no particular party. being independent in thought and action and casting his ballot for such candidates as are qualified for the post- tions to which they aspire, and who merit the support they seek.
JOHN BENJAMIN SMITH.
No matter how much natural talent one may have it takes close application and persistent effort to suc- ceed along any given line. To be an expert steam, gas or electric engineer is to be both talented and industrious, consequently the subject of this sketch must rank with this class, for there is said to be no better stationary engineer in Greene county than he. Mr. Smith is a native of this county, having been born in Taylor town- ship, February II. 1864. the son of James T. and Mi- nerva (Corbin) Smith, both natives of Martin county. Indiana. The father was a farmer all his life, his death occurring in 1898. The subject's mother lives among her children, principally with the subject. She is the mother of the following children: Nettie, the wife of Frank Reynolds, of Terre Haute; Annie and Emma, twins, the former now Mrs. Swain and the latter Mrs. Allen, both
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of West Brownsville. Washington county. Pennsyl- vania ; Clara, now Mrs. Neely, of Terre Haute : Willard. a huckster at Bloomfield; Minnie, the wife of Samuel Baker, a druggist, at Bloomfield. The first two children born to Mr. and Mrs. James T. Smith died in infancy.
The subject was educated in the public schools of Richland township, where the family moved in his early youth. Always manifesting a "bent" for engineering. he took up his work early in life, and was employed as engineer in a flouring mill for four years, later going to Linton, Indiana, where he worked in the mines for a time, and he has been hoisting engineer there for the past fourteen years, having been in the employ of the Summit Coal Company, the Island Coal Company, the Victoria Coal Company and the United Fourth Vein Coal Company, where he is now employed.
Mr. Smith was united in marriage with Etta Fitz- patrick, a daughter of Henry and Mary Fitzpatrick, (11 October 3. 1885. (A history of the Fitzpatrick family in to be found under the caption "Oscar Fitzpatrick." in this work.) Two children have been born to the subject and wife: Earl F., a student in the Linton high school, and Mary, a student in the State University of Indiana, in which she is taking a general college course. Miss Mary is a musician of more than local celebrity.
Fraternally Mr. Smith is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the uniform rank of the same order ; also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America. He is a good Demo- crat and the family belongs to the Christian church. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are highly respected by all who know them and their children are promising and popular.
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WILLIARD HAROLD WARNER.
Williard Harold Warner, the gentleman to a brief review of whose life and characteristics the reader's at- tention is herewith directed, is among the representa- tive citizens of Linton and he has by his enterprise and progressive methods contributed in a material way to the advancement of this locality, and during the course of an honorable career has been fairly successful in his work as a skilled mechanic and is thus well deserving of men- tion in this volume.
Williard H. Warner was born in Jackson county, In- diana, October 25, 1867, and lived there until he was twelve years of age, when he went to work on a farm near Elizabethtown, being a youth of unusual grit and "sticktoitiveness" and thrown on his own resources early in life, and he naturally developed those qualities of forti- tude and persistency that make for success when rightly applied. His mother, who was kown in maidenhood as Ursula Nicholson, died when our subject was fifteen years old.
Mr. Warner worked at farming in Bartholomew county until he was twenty-four years old. He then accepted a position in Indianapolis as a tin can maker, at which he made a success from the first, having re- mained in one shop for a period of eight years. He came to Linton in 1900 first finding employment with the Lin- ton Bottling Works, and in 1903 he established an ice cream factory in this city which has ever since been a profitable and substantial business, having been built up on honesty and industry, thereby gaining the prestige de-
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sired in the business world. It is the only institution of its kind in Linton and receives a liberal patronage both from the citizens there and surrounding country. This enterprise caters exclusively to the wholesale trade, find- ing an outlet for its products in all the towns tributary to Linton.
Mr. Warner was happily married in 1897 to Anna Strietelmeier, daughter of Frederick E. Strietelmeier, Sr. She was born in Stockton township and has lived there practically all her life.
Four children have added happiness to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Warner, namely: Mary F., born March 1. 1900: Laurence G., born March 22, 1902; George Norman, born July 23, 1905 : Harold Fred, the first born, died July 10, 1899, age ten months and four- teen days.
Mr. Warner is among that class of deserving citi- zens who have worked their own success, receiving aid Mom no ulterior sources, having worked hard since a Fud of eight years. He is truly a self-made man in the real and best sense of that oft abused term. He a loyal member of the Presbyterian church and is among Lin- ton's honored and upright citizens.
NATHAN G. DIXON.
Occupying a conspicuous place among the repre- sentative business men of the thriving city of Linton is Nathan G. Dixon, whose important commercial interests
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and successful business career stamp him as a man of more than ordinary executive and managerial ability-
Mr. Dixon is a citizen of Greene county by birth. being born in Fair Play township, November 13. 1857. His father was Daniel Dixon, a native of old Kentucky. and a prosperous farmer and lumber manufacturer. His mother was Mary J. (Walker) Dixon, also a native of the Blue Grass state. The elder Dixon came to Greene county about the year 1842, when the county was sparse- ly settled and wholly undeveloped. He located on a farm in Fair Play township, south of Worthington, where he continued to reside until his death in 1872. The mother passed to her reward fifteen years later, her demise being at the old homestead. This union was pro- ductive of sixteen children, eleven of whom are num- bered among the dead. Those remaining. besides the subject of our sketch, are: Anna, wife of H. D. Hunt. Linton : Charley Dixon, Linton; Mattie L., widow of George Geckler: Bessie, wife of Harry Hunt, Linton.
Nathan spent his boyhood on the parental farm. attending the common schools until a lad of fifteen, when his father's death forced him to abandon further educa- tional advantages. His first business venture was en- tering the mercantile business. at Dugger, Indiana, in 1882. This business he successfully conducted there until 1892, when he came to Linton, continuing the mer- cantile business until the year 1904. In the meantime. he had established a successful grain and feed business, which he still conducts, devoting a portion of his time to this when his other and larger interests permit.
Mr. Dixon is a director of the First National Bank
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of Linton, of which institution he is one of the largest stockholders. He is president of the Bicknell Lumber Company, of Bicknell, Indiana, which does an extensive wholesale and retail lumber business. He is also presi- dent of the Dixon-Miller Company, of Midland, Greene county, a corporation doing a general mercantile busi- ness. Besides these important connections, Mr. Dixon is. treasurer of the Linton Investment Company, secretary of the Linton Improvement Company and resident man- ager of the Southern Indiana Building and Loan Asso- ciation. He is also interested in extensive timber land in the South, besides having numerous other business inter- ests throughout Greene county.
Mr. Dixon's marriage occurred in 1884. Dollie Abrell, becoming his wife. She was a daughter of R. T. Abrell, former sheriff of Owen county, Indiana, who moved to Fair Play township. Greene county, in the year 1880. Three children resulted from this union, only one of them now living. Reid. age fifteen years.
The palatial home of the Dixons is on North Main street and is one of the finest in the county, being built exclusively of Bedford stone. Mr. Dixon's fraternal re- lations are the Elks and the Masons, and politically he is an unswerving Democrat.
ROBERT REID KEYS. D. D. S.
The doctor or dentist who would succeed at his profession must possess many qualities not to be gained
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from text and medical books. In analyzing the career of the successful practitioner of the healing art it will be invariably found to be true that a broad-minded sympathy with the suffering and an honest, earnest de- sire to aid his afflicted fellow men have gone hand in hand with skill and able judgment. The gentleman to whom this brief tribute is given fortunately embodies these necessary qualifications in a marked degree, and by energy and application to his professional duties is build- ing up an enviable reputation and drawing to himself a large and remunerative practice.
Dr. R. R. Keys, who is in active practice at Lin- ton, is one of the leading professional men of Greene county, having achieved a brilliant reputation while yet a young man, for he was born in 1863 in Gallatin count- ty, Kentucky, the son of William and Elizabeth ( Mc- Cawley) Keys, the former a native of Ohio and the lat- ter of Pennsylvania. William Keys was an expert ma- chinist who moved to the Blue Grass state when the subject of this sketch was born, and in 1870 he moved with his family to Jefferson county. Indiana, settling on a farm, which he successfully maintained up to the time of his death in 1899. His faithful life companion fol- lowed him in 1907. Nine children were born to the subject's parents, six of whom are living in 1908.
The subject of the sketch remained at the old home- stead, assisting with the necessary work about the place and attending the common schools until he reached young manhood. He first decided to make teaching his life work, and taught school in an eminently satisfactory manner for seven years in Jefferson county, gaining a
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reputation as a high-minded and painstaking pedagogue. But he had long entertained a desire to become a doc- tor of dentistry, and with this end in view he entered the Louisville College of Dentistry in 1891. from which he was graduated in the front rank of a large body of students with high honors in 1893. taking the degree of Doctor of Dentistry, after which he immediately began the practice of his profession, locating in Walton, Ken- tucky, where he secured a fine start and remained until 1905, when inducements in the thriving city of Linton, Indiana, lured him to this place, where he has since made his home and gained a large patronage both from the city and surrounding country.
The doctor was united in marriage in 1897 to Margaret Linderman, daughter of William Linderman, a well-known and substantial citizen of Linton. Their union has been blessed with two children. Marian Esther and Helen Gertrude.
Dr. Keys is regarded as standing at the very sum- mit of his profession and his office on Main street is equipped with every necessary accessory for the success- inl practice of modern dentistry. While he does not fil time to take an active part in local politics the doc- tor is nevertheless greatly interested in every movement. that pertains to the welfare of the city of Linton. Some- thing of his high character and standing with the re- ligions element of that place is realized when we learn that he holds the responsible position of trustee of the Presbyterian church and is a zealous worker in church circles.
Fraternally Dr. Keys is affiliated with the Masons
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and the Modern Woodmen and he is regarded as a learned and studious gentleman, having a large private library, consisting of the best books on the market, those best suited to aid him in his professional duties as well as those gathered from the best sources in the book world for the gratification of his esthetic tastes.
SAMUEL ALEXANDER MAXWEIL.
Many years have elapsed since Samuel A. Maxwell came to Greene county. This district was then wild, much of its land unclaimed and its resources undeveloped. True many courageous frontiersmen had some two decades before dared to locate within its borders, but the work of progress and improvement remained for the future. In the years that have passed since the parents of the subject brought him to this county a great transformation has been wrought, and in this he has held a conspicuous place, bearing his full share of the work in developing the county until he is now one of the enterprising farmers of this locality. Mr. Maxwell is a native of the Tar Heel state (North Carolina) where he was born January 5, 1840, the son of James and Nancy Jane (Delay) Maxwell, both natives of that state, where they were married, coming to Indiana in 1844. settling in Greene county, where the mother died May 12, 1858. In 1865 the father moved to Missouri, where he lived until his death in 1879, having survived his wife, since 1858. They were members of the Baptist
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church. Six children were born to them, four of whom are living in 1908. Only one, Samuel A., our subject, lives in Greene county, where he assisted his father clear the land on which he settled, attending subscription and public schools as opportunity afforded, until he could read and write and was enabled to transact all ordinary business.
Mr. Maxwell was united in marriage with Phoebe A. Purcell January 5, 1860. She was born in Hadden township, Sullivan county, Indiana. April 28, 1843, the daughter of Washington Purcell, born in that county June 13, 1821. Her mother's name was Charlotte Mor- ris, who was born and raised in Stafford township. Greene county. Her father come from Virginia, her mother from Ohio. The Purcells came from Ireland. Mrs. Maxwell received a common school education. Four children were born to this union, three surviving infancy. Florence I., who was born October 14, 1861, is the wife of John O. Hungate, of Sandborn, Indiana ; Christie A., who was born December 25, 1862, now Mrs. Samuel M. Culbertson, living in Linton, Indiana; Char- lotte Alice, who was born December 25, 1867, is a grad- uate of the common schools and taught school for some time. She is now the wife of John T. Smith and lives in Indianapolis.
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