USA > Indiana > Vigo County > Terre Haute > Greater Terre Haute and Vigo County : closing the first century's history of city and county, showing the growth of their people, industries and wealth > Part 9
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Dr. Pence first located at Danville, Illinois, and thence removed to Terre Haute, in 1844. About a month after his arrival he rented an office at the corner of Second and Ohio streets, and it was in that locality that he passed more than sixty years of his professional life. In 1852 he established a drug store which was conducted in the same building with
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his home, and in 1864 he erected what was generally known as Pence Hall, at his old location on Second and Ohio streets. There, for many years in connection with his profession, he carried on a successful drug business. As a medical practitioner. his advancement was rapid and enduring, and hundreds are still living who eagerly subscribe to his skill, human sym- pathy and splendid qualities of heart and brain. At his death such testimonials came from all parts of the country. One lady from Chicago wrote: "The debt of gratitude I owe Dr. Pence can never be repaid. When I think what an invalid I was when the Doctor commenced treating me and how splendidly well I am now, I can never be thankful enough to him." A leading physician of Arizona wrote: "It was certainly for- tunate for me upon my first entrance to the professional and business world that I was thrown into such environment as your family gave me." The Doctor's wide and enduring influence as a member of his profession, made it all the more remarkable that he should have attained such standing in the civic affairs of Terre Haute. He was elected alderman by the Dem- ocrats in 1868, and by the Republicans in 1862, serving as city com- missioner in 1872, and in all his public service he displayed the same traits of conscientious earnestness and practical ability which marked the conduct of his private affairs.
Dr. Pence was first married in 1846, to Miss Elizabeth Sparks, who died several years later. She had been the mother of two children who died in infancy. On December 26, 1850, he wedded as his second wife, Miss Louise Weinhardt, by whom he had one son, who died at the age of eighteen months. A few weeks before his death Dr. Pence celebrated the fifty-seventh anniversary of his second wedded life, which had been filled with so much honor and happiness.
The deceased was a man of great singleness of purpose, never losing sight of his early ambition to become a good and conscientious phy- sician. His family life was kind and gentle, and he was tolerant of the faults of others, while maintaining a strict standard for his own life. He had an unusually keen sense of humor, with the tenderness, generosity and hospitality which usually accompany it. As a friend and a host he was therefore charming. In his professional capacity he never spared himself. and the night was never too black or cold, or the distance too great. to deter him from cheerfully responding to a sufferer's call. In quite an unobtrusive way, he was a strong force in the upbuilding of the city, and without display or flourish accomplished many acts of charity. Neither can his sympathetic co-operation in the extensive charities of his wife be passed over without high commendation. The deceased was a devout believer in Spiritualism, and for many years Pence's Hall was the center of interest for its supporters. Mrs. Pence and their daugh- ter, Mrs. V. N. Griffith, survive the Doctor.
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WALTER C. ELY, the treasurer and general manager of the Highland Iron and Steel Company, of Terre Haute, is a native of Ohio, born at Sylvania, September 23. 1861, a son of Henry C. and Delia Edith (Kent) Ely. Henry C. Ely was born in the state of New York and was descended from ancestors who settled in Massachusetts in colonial days. Mrs. Ely was born in Ohio, near Hiram, and was a classmate at Hiram College, of James A. Garfield, afterward President of the United States. The Kents were among the earliest settlers of the Western Reserve of Ohio.
Walter C. Ely spent the first twenty-one years of his life on a farmi, receiving his early educational training in the district schools, after which he became a student in the Raisin Valley Seminary, a Quaker college at Adrian, Michigan, and he completed his education by a course in civil engineering at the Nortwestern Ohio Normal University, at Ada, that state. He taught during the year following the completion of his education, during the following five years served as the deputy auditor of Lucas county, Ohio, at Toledo, and in 1889 entered upon a three years' connection with the United States internal revenue service, at Toledo. In 1892 Mr. Ely left the government service to become one of the organizers of the Marion Steel and Iron Company, and erected a roll- ing mill at Marion, Indiana, of which he took charge and operated as the secretary and treasurer. In 1901 he became treasurer and general manager of the Highland Iron and Steel Company, of Terre Haute.
Mr. Ely married Miss Charlotte, the daughter of Louis Walker. of Waukesha, Wisconsin, and their three children are Walter C., Jr., Delia Katherine and John Huntington. Mr. Ely is a member of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to the Toledo (Ohio) Consistory of the Scottish Rite, and Murat Temple of the Mystic Shrine, at Indianapolis. He also belongs to the Commercial and Young Business Men's clubs.
JAMES C. SAWYER, one of the leading lawyers of Terre Haute, is a member of the substantial firm of Lamb, Beasley & Sawyer. His parents were natives of North Carolina, he himself being a son of the Hoosier state. Mr. Sawyer received his education in Sullivan county, Indiana, attending, among other institutions, the "Old Seminary," at Farmersburg. Well prepared, both by natural aptitude and thorough training, he commenced soon after his graduation to teach school in Sullivan county and the adjoining territory. He was thus occupied for about eight years, and, although he had already become interested in the law, he did not begin his systematic readings until he was a resident of Newport, Vermilion county.
Mr. Sawyer made such good progress in his legal studies that he 35
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was admitted to the bar in January, 1876, at once entering practice at New- port. Within the succeeding twenty years he established a leading practice in that part of the state. and in 1896 he entered a larger profes- sional field by coming to Terre Haute with Judge Rheuby and estab- lishing the firm of Sawyer & Rheuby. A few years later Judge Rheuby returned to Newport, but Mr. Sawyer continued his professional prog- ress until January 1, 1904, and at the date named became a member of the firm of Lamb, Beasley & Sawyer.
Mr. Sawyer has attained a firm standing as a thorough, conservative and successful lawyer, and is also recognized as one of Terre Haute's most reliable and progressive citizens. He is an active member of the Commercial Club, and stands high among the fraternal orders of Masons and Elks. His wife was formerly Miss Mintie Harvey, of Newport.
JAMES WESLEY LANDRUM, a prominent educator and business man, has for many years been closely identified with the coal operating interests of this part of Indiana and is now the secretary, treasurer and general manager of the Terre Haute Coal and Lime Company. The president of this company is J. Smith Talley, and the vice president William E. Eppert. two of the prominent business men of Terre Haute. From 1893 to 1907 Mr. Landrum was also secretary of the Coal Bluff Mining Company. another of the important industries of Terre Haute.
He was born in Eminence, Morgan county, Indiana, May 6, 1855. to William R. and Margaret (Rhea) Landrum, who came from their native state of Tennessee to Indiana, in 1854. After graduating in the Terre Haute high school with the class of 1874 James W. Landrum taught for eight years, one year in the country and seven years in the city schools, and during this time he served two years as principal of the Fourth District school of tliis city, from which he was transferred to the principalship of the Seventh District school. After another three years he gave up a professional for a business life, and during the following five years held a responsible position in the office of the Vandalia Railroad Company. In 1887 the Terre Haute Coal and Lime Company was organized with Mr. Landrum as its manager, but in later years his duties with this com- pany have so far increased until he is now its secretary and treasurer as well, and from 1892 until 1907 he was also secretary of the Coal Bluff Mining Company. During the years of 1882-3-4 Mr. Landrum was a member of the Terre Haute city school board, serving during the first vear as secretary of the board, during the second as treasurer. and dur- ing the third year was the president. When the Columbia Club of Terre Haute was organized he was elected its vice president, and in 1889 was chosen the president. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, Young
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Business Men's Club and Commercial Club. He holds membership in Centenary Methodist Episcopal church and is superintendent of Liberty Avenue Methodist Episcopal Sunday school. He is a charter member of Young Men's Christian Association and a member of its board of directors since its organization, and also a director of the state Young Men's Chris- tian Association board.
On the 17th of February, 1878, Mr. Landrum was married to Kate. a daughter of Jamies MI. and Mary (Scantline) Tolbert. Mrs. Landrum graduated from the high school in the same class with her husband. Their eldest son and child, Robert Dallis, born in 1882, graduated from the high school and the Rose Polytechnic Institute, and from 1904 to 1907 was chemist for the Columbian Enameling and Stamping Works. Terre Haute. He was then made the assistant professor in chemistry of the Kansas University at Lawrence, that state. Margaret, the eldest daughter, born February 12, 1885. is a graduate of the Terre Haute high school, the DePauw University and the Indiana State Normal. She taught in the Booneville high school during the school year of 1905-6. and in September, 1907, was elected an assistant teacher in Latin in the Terre Haute city schools, Ruth, born December 16, 1891, is a member of the senior class of the high school.
JAMES N. HICKMAN, who is meeting with success in the undertaking business in Terre Haute, has been thus engaged since 1891. and in 1895 erected his present building at Nos. 1210 and 1212 Wabash avenue. His life record began in Floyd county, Indiana, October 6. 1849, his parents being Preston and Sarah ( Ross) Hickman, who were also natives of Floyd county. this state. The paternal grandfather. James Hickman. was born in Virginia. and after residing for some time in Kentucky, came to Indiana, where he lived until after his children had attained adult age. when he returned to the Old Dominion and there passed the evening of his life. Preston Hickman became a farmer by occupation and upon the home farm James N. Hickman was reared. early becoming familiar with all the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the agriculturist. He con- tinned to assist his father until twenty-one years of age. but, thinking to find other pursuits more congenial. he then left home. He gained a fair 'education in the schools of New Albany, Indiana, and received a teacher's certificate in his native county, after which he engaged in teaching in the district schools for several terms. He also followed the profession in the town of Palmyra, Indiana, and later took up merchandising, which he followed in Palmyra until 1877.
That year witnessed the removal of Mr. Hickman to Terre !laute. where he engaged in the sewing machine business and was general agent
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for the White sewing machine in ten counties. He was thus associated with commercial activity until 1895, but in 1891 had entered the under- taking business and since 1895 has given his undivided attention to this line. It was in that year that he erected a fine business block at Nos. 1210 and 1212 Wabash avenue, here carrying on business very success- fully.
In 1880 Mr. Hickman was united in marriage to Miss Maggie Han- cock, a native of Harrison county, Indiana, and unto them have been born two children : Harley E., who is associated with his father in business, married Hallie Sherwood and has one child, Charles Sherwood Hick- man ; and Raymond N. Both father and son graduated from Barnes' College of Embalming of Chicago, and from the Massachusetts College of Embalming of Boston, and are licensed embalmers of the state of Indiana. Mr. Hickman belongs to the subordinate lodge and the en- campment of the Odd Fellows' Society, and has attained the Royal Arch degree in Masonry. A pleasing personality has gained him many friends and he is much esteemed in Terre Haute, where he has now resided for more than three decades.
JOSEPH G. ELDER .- The life record of Joseph G. Elder is another il- lustration of the fact that in America opportunity is unhampered by caste or class. The great majority of the business men who are today enjoying success and prominence in their respective communities are those, who without special advantages at the outset of their career, have worked their way upward through the force of their character and utilization of advantages which surround the great majority of mankind. Mr. Elder, conducting a prosperous business as a real estate and insurance agent in Terre Haute, is a native of Pennsylvania, his birth having occurred in Bedford county, February 22, 1852. He is a son of John and Louisa (Vickroy) Elder. His ancestors settled in Pennsylvania during the colonial period in American history, several generations having lived in Bedford county.
The great-grandfather of Joseph G. Elder came originally from Scotland and established his home upon a farm of one hundred and ninety acres, which he entered in Bedford county and which is still in possession of his descendants, it having passed from family to family.
Joseph G. Elder lost his father when only eighteen months of age. He was about twenty years of age when he accompanied his mother to Terre Haute, Mrs. Elder remaining a resident of this city until her death in 1904, at the age of seventy-eight. In this city the son first secured employment in the planing mill of which James Hook was proprietor. He remained there eight years : the mill was destroyed by fire in 1880. Sub-
Joseph & Boden
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
Astor, Leno, and Tilden Foundations. 1909
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sequently Mr. Elder became manager of a large farm in Kansas owned by W. R. McKeen, of Terre Haute. He resided there for two years, after which he returned to Terre Haute and became superintendent of the Terre Haute Street Railway Company, in which position he served for three years, or until the motive power of the system was changed to electricity. He then accepted a position in the real estate and insurance office of I. H. Royse, where he continued for six years and then became engaged in business as a partner of John Foulkes. In 1894 he became secretary of the Wabash Savings, Loan and Building Association and has since been a leader in its development, which has grown under his management to the largest in western Indiana and fourth in size in the state, its deposits being $574.000.00 in 1907, the stock in force being $3,000,000.00. He has at the same time maintained a real estate and insurance business. The transactions of the former have grown to over $200,000.00 per year. He is now operating along these lines and is well known in connection with property interests of the city.
Mr. Elder was married to Margaret M. Miller, a daughter of Daniel Miller, one of the old-time and respected business men of Terre Haute. They have one daughter, Mallie B.
Mr. Elder belongs to the Commercial Club, to the Young Busi- ness Men's Club and to both the subordinate and uniform rank of the Knights of Pythias. He and his wife have many friends in the city and hospitality of many of the best homes is freely accorded them. He has gradually advanced in the business world, owing to the fact that he has made himself a useful factor in business circles, manifesting at all times a capability that has been supplemented by the most thorough trust- worthiness.
L. J. WILLIEN, M. D., holds high rank among the physicians and surgeons of Indiana. He has practiced his profession in Terre Haute since 1872, and his strict conformity to a high standard of professional ethics, combined with his recognized skill and ability has won him the approval and respect of his professional brethren as well as of the gen- eral public, which accords him a liberal patronage. . \ native of Alsace, France, he acquired a liberal literary education, and then took up the study of medicine, the degree of Doctor of Medicine being conferred upon him in 1863 by the Strasburg Medical Faculty.
Upon coming to the United States Dr. Willien first practiced medicine in Jasper county, Illinois, in 1864, and received his degree of Doctor of Medicine from St. Louis Medical College in 1867, and two years later re- moved to Effingham, Illinois, where he resided until coming to Terre Haute in 1872. During his thirty-six years in which he has been connected
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with the medical profession of this city he has been one of its most active practitioners, from the beginning enjoying a liberal patronage, which has extended beyond Terre Haute and the vicinity to other cities. He established St. Anthony's Hospital at Terre Haute, being the one who leased the first building at the northeast corner of Second and Mul- berry streets, and brought the sisters here, and has been longer and more closely associated with the hospital than any other physician in the city. For many years he was pension examiner, and for thirty-five years physician to St. Mary-of-the-Woods. While many years have passed since he became an active practitioner he has at all time, kept abreast with the progress that has been made by the medical fraternity. He has also advanced in the profession in touch with various societies for the dissemination of scientific knowledge. He belongs to the Vigo County Medical Society, the Indiana Medical Society. the Aesculapian Medical Society of Wabash Valley and the American Medical Association.
In religious faith Dr. Willien adheres with fidelity to the teachings of the Catholic church. In political matters he has never been active, devoting his time and attention to his profession, yet he is not remiss in the duties of citizenship, and at all times favors progress and improve- ment. In manner he is kind and courteous, firm in his convictions and true and faithful in his friendships.
JOSEPH H. HAUCK. M. D .- One of the able and well known phy- sicians of Terre Haute is Dr. J. H. Hauck, who was born at Harmony, Clay county. Indiana. March 15, 1874. When he was but two years of age his father, G. C. Hauck, established the family home in Terre Haute, and here the little son was reared and received a high school training as well as instruction in a business college for a short time. His first employment was as a clerk in a wholesale notion house, but after four years of business life he left the store to begin the prepara- tion for his future life work as a practitioner of medicine, studying under Dr. J. H. Baldridge as his preceptor for two years, and he then entered the Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati and graduated in 1899. He at once began practice in his home city, Terre Haute. Dr. Hauck is a member of the Eclectic Medical societies of Vigo and Sullivan counties, and of the State and National Eclectic Medical societies. His fraternal relations are with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Mac- cabees, and he is a member of the Methodist church. Dr. Hauck has hewed his own pathway to prominence in the professional life of Terre Haute.
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WILLARD E. McJOHNSTON, M. D., one of the old-school physicians of Terre Haute, has now practically retired from the profession and is devoting his entire time to his large drug trade. He was born on a farm in Vanderburg county, Indiana, September 24, 1852, a son of Edwin and Ann (Hilliard) McJohnston. Edwin McJohnston was born in Van- derburg county, this state, and became a local Methodist minister in Evansville, as well as a successful merchant and farmer. He was born September 3, 1823, and died November 27, 1894, his life's span covering seventy-one years.
Dr. Willard E. McJohnston was a boy of thirteen when his father moved to Evansville, and there he completed his literary education and worked in his father's grocery and meat market. But after the business was sold the son worked at the carpenter's trade for some six or seven years, and from that occupation entered upon the study of medicine under the preceptorship of Dr. C. P. Bacon, with whom he studied for about two years. In 1874-5-6 he attended the Evansville Medical Col- lege, and from the spring of 1876 until the fall of 1878 practiced his profession at Youngstown, having practiced there two and a half years before his graduation, 1879. In the fall of 1882 Dr. McJohnston en- tered the Chicago College of Pharmacy, and after a one year's course there he secured the position of pharmacist in North, Illinois. Two years later he rèsigned that position to become a druggist in Evansville, where he was engaged in business from March, 1885, until September, 1893. It was at the close of that period that he came to Terre Haute and re- sumed his drug business. After one year he bought where his present store now is, at 1401 South Third street, but in August, 1896, sold his stock and leased the building, and during the following three years Dr. McJohnston engaged actively in the practice of medicine in Terre Haute. In June, 1899, the store and its contents were burned, but in the fall of 1899 he rebuilt his store and again became a druggist. He has now practically retired from the medical profession and gives his time ex- clusively to his large drug trade. He is a member of the Vigo County Medical Society, the Indiana State Medical Society and the Pharmaceu- tical Society. Dr. McJohnston married, October 7, 1880. Rena St. Clair, of Youngstown, Indiana.
SAMUEL VALENTINE RAMSEY, D. V. S., the leading veterinary sur- geon of Terre Haute, is at the head of one of the largest and best equipped veterinary hospitals in Indiana, located at northeast corner of Third and Poplar streets. He was born in New York city, February 8, 1860, and was reared in that city to the age of twelve years. When but a boy of eight he was left fatherless. When he had reached his
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twelfth year he was sent by the Children's Aid Society of New York to Champaign county, Illinois, where he worked for wages on a farm during the following six years. He was then eighteen, and having de- veloped a fitness and fondness for veterinary surgery he turned his attention to that line of work in Champaign county, and about nine years afterward he became a student in the Chicago Veterinary College and graduated in March, 1889. From that time until 1897, Dr. Ramsey practiced his profession in Tuscola, Illinois, and from there came to Terre Haute and entered upon a career which has been extremely satis- factory and has placed him in the lead in his special line of work. After seven years of practice his hospital was enlarged and better equipped, and in 1904 his present hospital building, the largest and best equipped in Indiana, was built and furnished with all modern improvements. In connection he has a canine and feline department, a building fifteen by sixty feet, with operating rooms and kennels, all of which are well ven- tilated. Dr. Ramsey has hewed his own pathway to success. and is a man of liberal views and public spirit.
He married, in 1881, Mary Muns, of Parkville, Champaign county, Illinois, and they have four children: Samuel Vern, Lola, Nettie and Sylvia, and an adopted daughter, Edna. The Doctor is a Republican politically, and is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Order of Red Men.
JAMES E. ELLIOTT, M. D., holds and merits a place among Terre Haute's well known physicians. He is also the son of an eminent med- ical practitioner of Indiana, Dr. Thomas A. Elliott, who was a native of Clay county, Indiana, and a graduate of the University of Tennessee. He practiced for about twenty-seven years at Poland, Indiana, and rose to high rank in his profession. He died on the 16th of June, 1907, his life's span having covered fifty-six years. He had married Annie B. Collier, who survives him, and unto the union were born five children. The first born, Harry, is a member of the profession at Poland, the successor of his father's large practice, and a graduate of the Indiana Medical College in 1904, graduating in the same class with his brother, Dr. James E. Elliott.
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