USA > Indiana > Henry County > Hazzard's history of Henry county, Indiana, 1822-1906, Volume I > Part 24
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confidence had grown between practitioner and patrons that will never be broken. He had been interested in its growth from a mere village to one of the best towns in the county, except the county seat. The cars on the Panhandle Railroad whirled by many times in a day, and the almost impassable roads were being transformed into smooth, solid gravel pikes. He had assisted in the development of its morals, until, under the local option law of 1851, all intoxicants were banished one mile beyond its incorporated limits. All these surroundings made it no small task for the Doctor to leave Middletown; yet other circumstances arising, these became subservient, and accordingly, on April 1, 1857, he was married the second time, removing to the neighborhood of his old home, in Perry County, Ohio. Here he bought a magnificent farm, and lived on it one year, then moving to New Castle, April 1, 1858. Finding nothing so conducive to his hap- piness as the practice of his profession, he once more entered the physician's arena, with a kindly spirit, attending the sick faithfully, ever conscientious in the dis- charge of its duties.
In April, 1862, he was appointed by Governor Morton, Surgeon of the Nine- teenth Indiana Infantry, but declined to serve ; yet on September 4, of same year, he accepted the Surgeoncy of the Fourth Indiana Cavalry, and served with that regiment until June, 1863, when he was appointed Brigade Surgeon of the First Brigade, Second Division, Cavalry Corps, Army of the Cumberland. Unfortun- ately for the medical interests of that department, he was obliged to resign his post November, 1863, because of the protracted illness of his wife. Upon return- ing to civil life he engaged with youthful ardor in his profession, which grows not old nor rusty with his years. By his studious devotion to his books, journals and newspapers, he kept himself up to the demand of the times in his art and in the current news of the day. By reason of his keen observation and calm judg- ment broadened by his practice of nearly forty years, none stood higher, and few there were whose counsels were sought more eagerly. Dr. Boor retired from active practice January 1, 1885.
He was a charter member of the New Castle Medical Society, organized in 1856, which held regular meetings three times a year, until it was reorganized under the name of the Henry County Medical Society, as an auxiliary to the State Society of which reorganized society he was also a charter member. He was at various times chosen president of these societies, before whichi he read many papers on medical subjects, one of which we find as early as 1858, on "Femoral Phlebitis as a Sequela of Enteric Fever"-a painful complication ushered in with a chill and increase of fever about the end of the second week, in which he argued its pathological identity with phlegmasia alba dolens-there having been no mention made of this troublesome complication in any of the medical literature at his command. He is also a member of the Indiana State Medical Society, and of the American Medical Association. March 11, 1869, he was appointed physician to the Henry County Asylum, and on April 2, 1870, he received the appointment of United States Examining Surgeon for Pensions, both of which offices he held for nearly twenty years.
In the development of our educational interests the Doctor is an earnest advocate, being one of the three trustees, who argued and labored to bring up our schools to a free graded standard, under which system they are among the most
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successful in the State. As School Trustee he served for more than twelve years. Dr. Boor has never indulged in dissipation, as his splendid physique and perfect health, in the main, attest, weighing the heaviest, 218 pounds, but generally about 210. He never used intoxicants nor tobacco in any form. The Washingtonian movement originated in 1840, and in April, 1842, he joined the society. Subse- quently the Sons of Temperance were organized ; the Doctor, joining them, worked for the abolishment of strong drink. He has been connected with all the temper- ance organizations, and given largely of his means for the furtherance of the cause. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, passed all the chairs, and been several times a representative of the Grand Lodge. He is also a member of the George W. Lennard Post, No. 148, Grand Army of the Republic, New Castle, in which organization he takes great interest. The Doctor's political attachments, though strong, are ever held subordinate to his sense of right, as seen in the fact that, although once a devoted Democrat, he left the party when it broke the Nation's compact and outraged the rights of man by repealing the Missouri Compromise. Since that event he has been a Republican.
The Doctor is a member of the Christian Church, and was immersed March 7, 1871, by Elder David H. Gary, then pastor of the New Castle Christian congre- gation. In church relation, as in other walks in life, a conviction of duty insures a steadfastness of purpose to the cause espoused. For many years he was President of the Board of Trustees and in the sacred trusts of a Deacon in the church and attendance at the Lord's-day services, his place is rarely if ever vacant. Business or pleasure, for the time being, are laid aside.
In finance, Dr. Boor has been eminently successful-a charter member of the First National Bank, a Director, Vice-President and President of the same, being first elected to the Presidency in 1885 and being thereafter annually re-elected until January, 1902, when he declined a re-election on account of his advancing age and other business interests demanding his attention. At the second re- organization of the bank in January, 1905, Dr. Boor was continued as a director, by the unanimous vote of the stockholders.
But, after all, a true man's light shines brightest in his own home circle. Should its rays be clouded there, they cannot fall with much warmth or force in their radiation on a church relation, business circle, professional engagement or general society. This phase of the Doctor's life the author cannot touch without giving more than a passing notice to his wife.
Sarah A. R. Roof, daughter of Samuel Roof, a sketch of whom appears below, was born in New Castle, Henry County, Indiana, January 28, 1838. At a very early age she learned her A B C's, and when she was five years old-then reading in the second reader-she was sent to school, taught by Simon T. Powell. Books were her chief delight ; to be a teacher her highest ambition. Industrious in habit, persistent in effort, utilizing her meagre opportunities with much ability, when she was fourteen years of age the earnest desires of her heart had been attained. Passing a critical examination by James S. Ferris, she received a teacher's cer- tificate, and opened her first school. The subsequent years were spent in ardent devotion to literature, as pupil or teacher, until her marriage to Dr. William F. Boor, April i, 1857-two lives now merged into one, complementing and supple- inenting each other; the one full of experience, and communicative; the other
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eager to grasp opportunities which were opening up, broadening and deepening channels for her life work. From this home, "the spot of sunshine in a shady place," emanates the hospitality of which we read : "I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat : I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink : I was a stranger, and ye took me in : naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me : I was in prison, and ye came unto me." A home of intelligence and culture, without formality or exclusiveness ; of industry and order, without disquietude or severity-home to them is an equal partnership, rather than a place to stay. Together business is planned, books studied, and the questions of the hour discussed. When the Doctor went into the army he left all of his business interests to his wife's management, which she judiciously controlled, sending her husband monthly or quarterly state- ments of their financial standing. Mrs. Boor's library, in number and variety of books, on almost all subjects, is perhaps not excelled by many other private libraries in the State ; among them are books she purchased with her first earnings; others valuable because of their antiquity. Her cabinet of rare minerals and shells, specimens in geology, archæology, paleontology, Chinese and Japanese curiosities, would seem a life-work within itself. With her books, specimens and bric-a-brac she is conversant, and equally at home upon the moral, religious and political ques- tions of the day.
Mrs. Boor is a charter member of the Christian Church at New Castle, and was immersed by Elder Benjamin Franklin, February 25, 1863. She has been Treasurer of the church, collecting and disbursing its funds; Deaconness on the official Board, from the organization of the church in 1863 ; a member of the choir ; Manager of the Woman's Working Society ; President and Corresponding Secre- tary of the Missionary Society, auxiliary to the Christian Woman's Board of Missions ; later State Secretary and organizer of the State Christian Woman's Boards of Missions for five years ; and was a teacher for more than thirty years in the Sunday School.
Mrs. Boor was one of a committee of three appointed by the commissioners, provided by statute, to look after the interests of the Orphan Children's Home, as long as it was located at Spiceland. For fifty years she has been an earnest advocate of temperance and woman's suffrage. In these positions of responsibility and trust, as in the execution of her household management, her motto is, "What- soever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might."
Doctor Boor is the father of four children-two sons by his first wife, the younger, Milton G., dying in infancy. The elder son, Walter Axline, was born January 27, 1849, in Middletown, Henry County, Indiana ; studied medecine with his father, and was graduated from the medical department of the Michigan University, March, 1872. He attended a regular course, and was graduated from Bellevue Hospital College, New York, March, 1876. But few physicians at his age had his advantages, and none had made closer application and been rewarded with more successful results. In August, 1877, he entered into partnership with his father in New Castle, and until the time of his death, which occurred at New Castle, May 24, 1897, was one of the most efficient and active practitioners in Henry County. He was a member of the Henry County Medical Society, and had several times been elected as its presiding officer; also a member of the Indiana State Medical Society, and of the American Medical Association. In September, 1873, he married Angelia M., the only daughter of Dr. Luther W.
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Hess, of Cadiz. Two sons and one daughter were born of this marriage-Howard Hess Boor, born October 21, 1874; Frank O. Boor, born May 25, 1884, died February 5, 1902, and Hazel Axline Boor, born May 21, 1888.
By the second wife Dr. William F. Boor had a daughter and son. The daughter, Minnie L. Boor, was born in New Castle, April 5, 1858. When nearing her twenty second birthday she was suddenly and unexpectedly called hence in the early morn of the new year, 1880. She was possessed of an amiableness of disposition and gentleness of spirit rarely found, endearing herself to all. An active and devoted member of the Christian Church, she was ever found at her place in all the meetings. A graduate of the New Castle schools, under Prof. George W. Hufford, and two years at Antioch College, Ohio, she attained a high degree of intellectual culture. Thoughtful for humanity, she was diligent in the temperance work and moral reforms of the day.
The son, Orville L. Boor, was born in New Castle, September 24, 1859. He and his sister Minnie were taught by their mother at home until they were pre- pared to enter the high school, then superintended by Prof. George W. Hufford. He was within one year of graduating when the Professor was called to other. fields of labor, and the graduating class disbanded. He studied medicine in his father's office about one and a half years, but on account of ill health was compelled to abandon the profession, and in the Spring of 1881 moved to his father's farm, in Prairie Township, where he continued to reside until 1888, having been very successful during the time he was on the farm. In August, 1888, he went to Toronto, Canada, and took a full course of study at the School for Veterinary Surgeons, from which he graduated in the Spring of 1890. He then returned to Indiana and began the practice of his profession as a veterinary surgeon at Muncie. In June, 1891, he was appointed by President Harrison as chief inspector of provisions prepared and packed for foreign shipment, with his headquarters at Hammond, Indiana, not far from Chicago, where great packing interests are located. He held this position until June 1, 1893, when being a Republican, he relinquished the place, on account of the change of administration.
He was married April 1, 1882, to Miss Cora L. Bouslog, daughter of Wesley and Amanda (Pickenpaugh) Bouslog. Of this union they have one son, Everett Blaine Boor, born June 7, 1884. Politically Walter A. and Orville L. Boor, having been nurtured upon the love of country and rocked in the cradle of patriot- ism, became active Republicans, Walter so continuing to the day of his death and Orville L. having been continuously of that faith.
The author thus contributes to Henry County history a sketch of one who, with his family, has been identified with her interests for more than half a century. That his career has been highly successful is generally known. There are no cas- cades, whirling eddies or shallows on his life-strand; it has always been an even, deep and steady flow. He moves quietly on, and when he acts, does so without ostentation or show. By precept and example he gives to his fellow men, and more directly to his children and grandchildren, honesty, industry, economy, faith, hope, charity, upon which to build their own characters for time and eternity.
SAMUEL ROOF, FATHER OF SARAH A. R. (ROOF) BOOR.
Samuel Roof, father of Sarah A. R. (Roof) Boor, wife of Dr. William F. Boor, a sketch of whom appears above, was a native of Virginia, having been
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born in Shenandoah County, March 3, 1797, of German parentage. He was early apprenticed to learn the trade of a tanner, at which he became very proficient. He followed that occupation for more than half a century. He was united in mar- riage with Dorothy Steffy, of Rockingham County, Virginia, March 25, 1819. To them were born nine children, four sons and five daughters. About October I, 1835, Mr. Roof, with his wife and seven children, the youngest being then four months old, moved from Virginia to Indiana, arriving at Washington (Greens- fork), Wayne County, November 1, 1835, where they resided until March, 1837, when Mr. Roof entered into a contract with John Powell to take charge of the latter's tannery at New Castle, Henry County, and very soon thereafter became a permanent resident of that place, then a village of probably three hundred in- habitants. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Roof after they came to New Castle, namely : Sarah A. R. Roof, born in January, 1838, and Leah E. Roof, born in July, 1840. It is a notable circumstance that Samuel Roof and his wife were the first persons immersed, as Disciples of Christ, in New Castle, November 5, 1839,by Elder James McVey. Mr. Roof was, for many years, an elder in the Christian Church, of New Castle, and a teacher in the Sunday School. No man was more uniform in his attendance at Church and more earnest in his devotion to the Christian religion. He was an excellent man in all respects and during his long life in New Castle had the sincere respect and confidence of all of his neighbors. He had no enemies.
Of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Roof, John W., the eldest ; Erasmus ; James, the youngest, and Ann Eliza, are dead. Those living are Franklin, residing in Wells County, Indiana; Leah E., now Mrs. Eli Murphey, of Tuscola, Illinois ; Elizabeth, widow of Abraham Brown, residing at Anderson, Indiana ; Catharine, now Mrs. Larkin Murray, of Iowa, and Mrs. Sarah A. R. Boor, above mentioned. Samuel Roof died March 8, 1889. His wife preceded him to the grave, dying in December, 1871. Both are at rest in South Mound Cemetery, New Castle, Indiana.
ADDEND.i.
Dr. Robert A. Spencer, of the firm of Dillon and Spencer, of Uniontown ( for the past sixty years known as Fultonham), attained great eminence in his pro- fession and became Professor of Anatomy at the College of Physicians and Sur- geons, Cincinnati, Ohio. At the time Dr. Boor began his study of medicine, Dr. Spencer had private rooms especially fitted for educating young men in medicine and surgery, and all students were required to pass three years under his instruc- tion, during which the Winter of each year was spent in the dissecting room. The opportunities thus afforded were eagerly seized by Dr. Boor, and his subsequent attendance at the Jefferson Medical College, and his attendance of one year at the clinics of the Pennsylvania Hospital connected with the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, for which he holds the certificate of that institution, rendered him an accomplished physician and surgeon.
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JOHN THORNBURGH.
LIEUTENANT AND QUARTERMASTER, 4TH CAVALRY REGIMENT, INDIANA VOLUNTEERS, AUTHOR AND BANK CASHIER.
At the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, John Thornburgh was the junior member of the firm of H. and J. Shroyer and Company, drygoods merchants, New Castle, Indiana. Their business was situated on what is now known as the "Shroyer Corner," the building they then occupied being one of the most pretentious business blocks in the town.
Shortly after the beginning of the war, it became necessary for the Govern- ment to make provision for the payment of volunteers and to this end a number of additional paymasters of United States Volunteers were appointed. President Lincoln tendered one of these appointments to Martin L. Bundy. Each paymaster was entitled to two clerks, and prior to assuming his new duties, Major Bundy asked Mr. Thornburgh to become one of his clerks and the late Elijah Holland, the other. Mr. Thornburgh accepted the position thus tendered, disposed of his interests in the firm of H. and J. Shroyer and Company, and as soon thereafter as possible, went with Major Bundy to St. Louis, Missouri, where the Western Pay Department was then located. From the moment of their arrival, Major Bundy and his clerks were exceedingly busy, paying off troops at various points in the State of Missouri, besides paying the 4th Iowa Cavalry at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa; the 3rd Iowa Infantry at Keokuk, in the same State, and a regiment of infantry at Quincy, Illinois. They also assisted in paying the troops at Rollo, Missouri, just after their return to that point from the Pea Ridge battlefield, and visited Jefferson City, Lexington, Palmyra, Hannibal, St. Joseph, Mexico, Cameron, Florence, Huntsville, Chillicothe and many other points in Missouri. Early in 1862 Major Bundy was transferred from St. Louis to Indianapolis.
In the Fall of 1862, while stationed at Indianapolis, Mr. Thornburgh was tendered the position of First Lieutenant and Regimental Quartermaster of the 4th Indiana Cavalry. After considering the matter for several days, at the earnest request of Dr. William F. Boor, who had been appointed Surgeon of the regiment, Mr. Thornburgh accepted the position and was duly commissioned, September 17, 1862, the commission being signed by Governor Oliver P. Morton, attested by William A. Peele, Secretary of State, and countersigned by Larz Noble, Adjutant General of Indiana. The endorsement on the back of the commission is as follows :
"I do hereby certify that I mustered John Thornburgh, by authority of Governor Oliver P. Morton, into the service of the United States as First Lieu- tenant and Quartermaster, 4th Cavalry Regiment, Ind. Vol., Sept. 18, 1862.
"NATHAN W. OSBORN,
"Captain 13th Infantry, U. S. A., Mustering Officer."
Prior to muster in as above, the entire regiment with its full complement of officers and men, except one company and the Quartermaster Sergeant, George W. French, of Rising Sun, Indiana, had gone to the front, two companies being at Carrollton, Kentucky; four companies at Henderson, Kentucky ; one company at Vicksburg, Mississippi, and the others located at various points in the South. The
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regiment never was assembled as a unit until some time after the beginning of the Atlanta Campaign.
Lieutenant Thornburgh joined that portion of the regiment located at Car- rollton, and from there, with two companies of the 5th Indiana Cavalry, under the command of Colonel Isaac P. Gray, who afterwards became the Governor of Indiana, moved to Louisville, Kentucky, and thence to Mumfordsville, where it spent the Winter of 1862-63. In 1863 the command was ordered to Nashville and subsequently to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where the full regiment, except the company at Vicksburg, came together and from which point it entered upon the famous campaign, having for its objective, Chattanooga. Before beginning this campaign, however, the 4th Cavalry, with a large portion of the troops at Murfreesboro, were ordered to Triune, Tennessee. A few days after reaching that point, the army started on its march to the South, but the Quartermasters with their trains were ordered back to Murfreesboro to await further orders.
At Triune, Lieutenant Thornburgh was taken with a severe attack of yellow jaundice and became so ill that the acting brigade surgeon, Dr. William F. Boor, and Colonel Edward M. McCook, in command of the brigade, decided it best tor him to resign. This suggestion was acted upon and though the army was on the march, with headquarters in the saddle, a few days after the return to Murfrees- boro, Lieutenant Thornburgh received his discharge from the army on account of disability.
Lieutenant Thornburgh was educated in the public and common schools of New Castle, commencing first under the late Simon T. Powell and ending under Abbott and Ferris, principals of the New Castle Academy. Subsequently he spent one year (1854-55) at Asbury, now De Pauw University, Greencastle, Indiana.
He was married to Eliza Josephine Elliott, eldest daughter of the late Judge Jehu T. Elliott, March 21, 1859. This date is further memorable in the family annals from the fact that on the same date, his brother, Jacob, started for Pike's Peak, Colorado, along with the late Dr. John Darr, Joseph McDowell and others. All returned the same year except Jacob, who died in a wagon at Beatrice, Nebraska, from an attack of typhoid fever, contracted by exposure to the waters of the treacherous Platte River. To the union of Lieutenant Thornburgh and Eliza Josephine Elliott were born six children of whom three survive, namely, Mrs. Edward D. Parsons of Oak Park, Illinois, Mrs. Ellsworth D. McConnell of Aberdeen, South Dakota, and Miss Olive Louise Thornburgh, a teacher in the New Castle public schools.
Lieutenant Thornburgh was a practical printer and served his apprenticeship with the late Cornelius V. Duggins, editor and publisher of the New Castle Courier. After the death of Mr. Duggins in 1849, Mr. Thornburgh finished his trade with the late John W. Grubbs of Richmond, Indiana, the founder of the Courier, who at that time, 1841, was regarded as one of the best newspaper men of the period.
Lieutenant Thornburgh is probably best known throughout the county of Henry as the author of "John's Occasionals," a series of letters which uniformly attracted the attention of the readers of the New Castle Courier and other papers of the county. These letters are largely of a reminiscent character and contain much matter of interest concerning the history of New Castle, of Henry County and of Eastern Indiana. At this writing, 1905, Lieutenant Thornburgh is the
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President of the Henry County Historical Society and was for several years prior, Secretary of the same. To that institution and to its success, he has given his closest attention and hopes that in the coming years, it will occupy a place second to none in the history and annals of the county.
After Lieutenant Thornburgh's return from the Civil War, he became a part- ner with John M. Moore, now of Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the drug business in New Castle, under the name of Moore and Thornburgh. After about four years in this business, he sold out in 1868 to William M. Pence and shortly afterwards went into the First National Bank of New Castle as bookkeeper. In a few months the bank was re-organized, Major Martin L. Bundy becoming president and Lieu- tenant Thornburgh cashier in the place of the late Daniel Murphey, resigned. Lieutenant Thornburgh continued in this position until the year 1873-4, when he resigned and was succeeded by the late Robert M. Nixon. Lieutenant Thorn- burgh then became associated with William H. Elliott in the law and insurance business and when the latter became proprietor and editor of the New Castle Courier, Mr. Thornburgh continued with him as associate editor of the paper until 1880, when he disposed of his interests in New Castle and removed with his family to Richmond, Indiana, where for about two years, he was associate editor of the Richmond Palladium, now the second oldest paper in Indiana. Leaving Richmond in 1882, he removed with his family to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he resided for thirteen years. During that time he was assistant cashier of the private bank of Valentine G. Hush, until it went out of existence in 1886. He then helped to organize and was for a time the assistant cashier of the Farmers' and Merchants' Bank of Minneapolis. He was also for three years, the cashier of the Home Savings and Loan Association, better known then as one among the numerous National Building and Loan Associations of the Northwest, most of which flourished for a brief period and then went out of business., They were not a financial success. Lieutenant Thornburgh was for two years connected with the Housekeeper Publishing Company, a paper established by the late Captain Alfred G. Wilcox, who was some years ago, editor and proprietor of the New Castle Courier. In 1895 Lieutenant Thornburgh and family left Minneapolis for Oak Park, Illinois, where they lived about four years and then in 1899 returned to New Castle where they expect to abide permanently.
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