USA > Indiana > Cass County > History of Cass County Indiana : From its earliest settlement to the present time with biographical sketches and reference to biographies previously compiled, Volume II > Part 32
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When the late Moses L. Plummer was a lad of eight years his parents came to Cass county and settled in its fertile farming district. Here
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he was reared, and here he lived continuously until death called him January 1, 1871.
Born on August 2, 1825, in Fayette county, Indiana, he was the son of John and Nancy (Ladd) Plummer. The father was born on the 6th day of September, 1772, in North Carolina. In 1800 he located in Vir- ginia, moving thence to Georgia, where he was married in June, 1810. In the following year he came to Ohio, and in 1814 moved into Fayette county, Indiana, remaining there busy in the farming industry until the year 1833, when he came to Cass county. Here he purchased a goodly farm, secured his patent rights from the government, the place being situated in section 16, in Clay township, and known down to the present day as the old Plummer homestead in Cass county. He died at his home there on July 4, 1855, when he had reached the fine old age of eighty-three years, and his widow followed him on July 7, 1859. They were the parents of eight children, as follows: Noble, Mary A., Thomas, Elihu, Elizabeth, John, Nancy and Moses, the latter named being the subject of this review.
As has already been mentioned, Moses Plummer was a boy of eight when he first saw Cass county. He was educated in the common schools and gave the usual amount of his time to the work of the farm home that the average country youth contributed to such employment. When he discontinued school the young man remained at home and gave dili- gent and faithful service at the family homestead, and when he mar- ried on December 22, 1884, he left home and rented a place, it being his intention to establish an independent home. He was very successful in his farming enterprise, and though he rented for the first few years, he eventually secured a place of his own and gained a position of prom- inence and undeniable influence in the county as a farmer of means and intelligence.
Mr. Plummer married Miss Catherine Yohea, December 22, 1854, the daughter of Henry and Lydia ( Ault) Yohea, who came from Wash- ington county, Pennsylvania, many years ago and located in Ohio. They later moved to Fulton county, where Mrs. Plummer was reared. Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Plummer. The eldest, Elihu, mar- ried Caroline Sullivan, and they have two children-Charles W. and George A. Plummer; Emma is married to William O. Thomas, and they have three children living and one dead-Alvan M., Bessie and Owen. and Otho M., deceased; Mary married George J. Nichols, who is now deceased, and they have one living son-Kedar J .; John L. lives at home on the old homestead; and Etta, the next to youngest of the family, shares the old home with him, John having been born on the old Plummer place. The family received their schooling in the schools at Onward, and are living lives of usefulness in the communities where they are established in homes of their own, all bearing the same high reputation that characterized the life of their deceased father in the many years that he passed in Cass county as an active participant in the industrial affairs of the district.
Mrs. Plummer and her children have two old parchment deeds, one executed June 25, 1841, and signed by President John Tyler, the other dated April 1, 1848, and signed by President James K. Polk. This makes the third deed of the kind found in Cass county, and are valu-
Philip Voorhees
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able heirlooms in the Plummer family. The son John has his great- grandfather's will, dated October 26, 1805, and in the deed he willed three negroes, valued as follows: one at $2,500, one $2,000 and one at $1,800. This deed was executed in Florida.
The Plummer family each year has a family reunion and herewith is presented a protrait of the reunion of the family at Spencer Park, Lo- gansport, Cass county, Indiana, in 1912. The pretty homestead is known as "Wood Lawn" in Tipton township.
PHILIP VOORHEES first came to Logansport, Indiana, in 1889, here identifying himself with the lumber industry of the place. Since that time he has made continued progress in his business, and has added a planing mill, in addition to which he has engaged in the handling of hardware, cement and lime. His success has been of a solid growth, each year marked by a significant advance in his fortunes, and he is today one of the leading business men of the city. Born in Coshocton county, Ohio, on April 16, 1857, Philip Voorhees is the son of Stephen and Eliza Ann (Heishman) Voorhees.
Stephen Voorhees moved from Coshocton, Ohio, with his family to Carroll county, Indiana, locating southwest of Delphi, and there en- gaged in farming. He was a cooper by trade, and in the winter he occu- pied himself in that manner, giving up his summers to active farming. The first winter that Mr. Voorhees was in that community he worked in the woods, hauling his cordwood to Delphi, where he disposed of it. The following summer he rented a field and planted ten acres of it to corn. In the autumn, while he was engaged in making barrels, before he thought the corn ready for the harvest, the owner of the field appeared on the scene, harvested the ten acres of corn, husked it and made off, thus beating Mr. Voorhees out of his season's work. This experience, however, was not sufficient to daunt the courage of the man, and he located a farm, which he operated in summers and applied himself to coopering in the winter seasons. He passed the remainder of his life in Carroll county, and carried on his daily work until the infirmities attendant upon advancing age made it impossible to longer keep up his activities. Although he was a renter for a number of years, good man- agement and economy made it possible in time for him to secure a farm of his own, and when he died he left a competency to his widow. He died in 1903, aged seventy-three, and she survived him until 1909, and was eighty-two years of age at the time of her passing. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and was a devout and much loved woman. These parents had a family of fifteen children. The first born and the last two died in infancy, six sons and six daughters yet surviving.
When Philip Voorhees was two years old he came with his parents , from Ohio to Carroll county, Indiana. He was the youngest of the family at that time. As a boy at home he shared in the work of the farm, early learned something of the cooper's trade, and when he was nine years old made a creditable barrel, much to the pride of his father. He attended the district schools and remained in the home until he reached man's estate. When he was seventeen years old he began working at the carpenter's trade and he continued in that work until 1889, when he en-
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gaged in the saw mill and lumber business at Flora, Carroll county, Indiana. In 1897 he came to Logansport and straightway identified him- self with the lumber business. He operated saw and planing mills for some time, and was afterwards at Flora, and eventually worked into the handling of hardware, cement, lime and builders' supplies. He is also interested in a cream separator factory at Lebanon, Indiana, known as the "Dairy Queen Separator Company," and he is the president of the company, which was organized in 1911. He is the owner of several hun- dred acres in Dakota, in Jefferson county, Indiana, and in Lafayette county, Arkansas. He is now engaged in those various lines of enter- prise, and is enjoying a pleasing success in the business world of Logans- port. One son, Arthur V., has a one-fourth interest in the business with Mr. Voorhees.
On March 27, 1885, Mr. Voorhees was united in marriage with Miss Flora Baer, of Carroll county, Indiana, and Arthur W., previously men- tioned, is their only living child, one other having died in infancy.
Mr. and Mrs. Voorhees are members of the Christian church, and Mr. Voorhees supports the platform of the Prohibitionist party. He is a mem- ber of the Order of Ben Hur.
BENJAMIN F. LOUTHAIN. More than thirty-five years ago Benjamin F. Louthain first attached himself to the Logansport Pharos, and since 1877 he has been the chief editorial writer on its staff. That he has borne an emphatic part in the moulding of sentiment in Cass county along lines of public interest and civic development is undeniably true, and it is a truth patent to all that the influence of such a man as he has ever proven himself to be could only be for the best good of the com- munity in which his opinions and utterances hold sway.
A native son of Cass county, Benjamin F. Louthain was born on the farm of his father, a short distance from the then village of Logansport, in the year 1847. His parents, William Preston and Elizabeth (McGrew) Louthain, were pioneers of the Wabash valley, and their son was reared in pronounced primitive fashion, as might be expected in consideration of the period and station of the family. It is significant of the boy that he was always a student, and his tastes in that line were early demon- strated by his buying a United States history with the first money he ever earned. Diligent effort made it possible for him to enter the high school at Logansport when he was seventeen, and it was but a short time from then that he began work as a teacher. He was soon made principal of the school in Walton, Indiana, in which position he was especially successful. It was in about 1875 that he began to take a lively interest in the activities of the Democratic party, and in that year he was ap- · pointed deputy sheriff of Cass county, in which position he acquitted himself in a most creditable manner. He was particularly active in the campaigns of his party in the year of 1882, 1884, 1892, 1894 and 1896, in those years serving as chairman of the Democratic county central com- mittee, and has since held the same position in the party. In 1890 he served as a member of the Democratic state central committee, and his public services also include membership on the board of trustees of the State normal school at Terre Haute.
The Logansport Pharos has long been recognized as the able exponent
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of the principles of the Democratic party, and it has in Mr. Louthain one of its stanchest advocates.
Mr. Louthain has always given a deal of thought to the public school system of education, and has been the friend of advanced methods and more efficient service throughout. He has given valuable service to the city as a member of the school board, and for four years was postmaster of the city.
On May 4, 1881, Mr. Louthain was united in marriage with Mrs. Matilda M. Emslie, of Logansport.
GEORGE W. WALTERS. Displaying energy and resource, and measur- ing up to the standards and requirements of his profession, George W. Walters, of Logansport, has attained to an enviable place at the Cass county bar, and is well deserving of mention among those who have added to his adopted city's professional prestige. Losing his mother when he was an infant, his life from earliest boyhood has been passed practically among strangers, but his commendable perseverance has won him recognition as an attorney, and his admirable personal qualities of character have drawn about him a wide circle of appreciative friends. Mr. Walters was born in Boone township, Cass county, Indiana, July 19, 1862, and is the one survivor of the two children born to Jacob and Emily (Washburn) Walters. His father, in early life a farmer, and later justice of the peace in Boone township, is now deceased, while his mother, as before stated, died when he was an infant.
George W. Walters was reared in the village of Royal Centre, where he secured his education during the winter terms, while his summers were spent in working at whatever honorable employment presented itself. Ambitious and industrious, he seized every opportunity that came within his reach to gain an education, and when only sixteen years of age had qualified to teach school, in which vocation he continued for eight years, at intervals. For four years he was superintendent of the Royal Centre schools, but in 1883 gave up teaching to enter the National Normal University, of Lebanon, Ohio, being graduated from the scientific course thereof in 1884. Four years later, Mr. Walters came to Logansport and took up the study of law in the offices of McConnell & McConnell, and in the following year became an employe of the United States government at Washington, D. C., as a special agent of the labor department. In 1893 he returned to Logansport and entered upon the active practice of his profession, which he has continued to follow to the present time. In 1903 and again in 1905 he was elected prosecuting attorney of the twenty-ninth judicial district, serving, in all, four years, and during this time displayed high abilities as a public executive. Mr. Walters has accomplished the task of the translation of the aspiring boy to the full- fledged lawyer with an acknowledged position at the bar. His early years were a period of struggle, of privation, of incessant labor with head and hands, but never with lessening of purpose, rather with eye firmly fixed on the goal, each obstruction in the way an incentive to in- creased endeavor and greater energy. Such a career should carry its own lesson, and prove inspiring to the youth of today who consider themselves handicapped by lack of funds and influential friends. For- merly a Republican, Mr. Walters in 1912 transferred his allegiance to Vol. II-16
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the new progressive movement that resulted in the birth of the so-called "Bull Moose" party. His fraternal connections are with the Masons, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Pythias.
In 1886 Mr. Walters was united in marriage with Miss Lillian Barron, and they have two daughters: Edna and Mildred. They attend the Broadway Methodist Episcopal church, in which they have many sincere friends.
DR. ADELBERT LEE PALMER in the nine years of his identification with the medical profession in Logansport has come to be one of the best known and most successful practitioners in the city or county. His advance has been constant and his rise in the public favor has seen a healthy growth since he established himself in practice in Logansport after he received his M. D. degree from Rush Medical College at Chi- cago, and once more has it been demonstrated that a man need not cut himself off from his native community in order to experience success in his chosen field of activity, the old aphorism to the contrary notwith- standing.
Born in Washington township, Cass county, Indiana, on September 27, 1878, Dr. Palmer is a son of John and Mary (Best) Palmer. John Palmer is a native Ohioan, born near Ironton, that state, of Scotch-Irish ancestry. He was a farmer, and first came to Cass county in 1852 in com- pany with his parents, settling on a farm in Clinton township, but after a short time the family moved to Logansport, thence to Washington township, where he has since resided, thirty-five years representing the time he has spent on the place he made his own in that locality. In 1870 he married Mary Best, whose people were Pennsylvanians, and they be- came the parents of three sons, Charles Quincy, George Harrison and Adelbert Lee. The mother died on July 20, 1910. Mr. Palmer has served in varied local positions of trust in this community, and is known as a strong Democrat in his political faith, while he is a member of the Masonic fraternity.
Dr. A. L. Palmer was reared on the home farm located three miles south of Logansport, on the Kokomo pike, and thus his acquaintance with the city has dated from his earliest boyhood. He attended the district schools in boyhood, later the schools in Logansport, and in September, 1897, he entered the State University of Michigan for the purpose of taking preliminary instructions in the study of medicine. He remained there until June, 1898, then matriculated at Rush Medical College in Chicago, and in 1903 was duly graduated from that institution with the degree of M. D. The newly fledged doctor straightway turned to his home community and there established himself in medical practice, and so well has he succeeded that he has never considered a removal to other fields, being well content to exercise his skill in the city which has known him all his life, and which has not been slow in recognizing his talent.
In 1905-6 Dr. Palmer was secretary of the city board of health, and in the latter part of 1909 and in 1910 was county coroner of Cass county, being appointed to fill an unexpired term. In both these offices he dis- charged the duties intrusted to him admirably and to the entire satis- faction of all concerned. In 1910 he was elected to succeed himself in
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the office of coroner, his re-election following in 1912. Dr. Palmer is a Democrat in politics, and his fraternal relations are centered in the Masonic order, in which he has membership in the Knights Templar and the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is also a member of the Cass county and Indiana state medical societies and the American Medical Association.
On June 28, 1906, Dr. Palmer married Miss Daisy Grace, daughter of William Grace, of Logansport.
JOHN P. HETHERINGTON, M. D., has been established in practice in Logansport since 1890, and has found a sure place in the esteem of the community at large in the passing years, as well as winning a high posi- tion in the ranks of the medical profession in this section of the state. Born in Cicero, Indiana, on February 15, 1869, Dr. Hetherington is the son of Dr. Augustus and Catherine (Teter) Hetherington.
The Hetheringtons spring from one of the old Scottish clans known to history in Scotland from the Middle Ages. The American ancestors of the doctor came to America in the late half of the seventeenth century, settling in New York. The father, Augustus S. Hetherington, was a native of the state of Ohio, and he died in Hamilton county, this state, when his son, John P., was scarcely more than an infant. The widowed mother later wedded Dr. D. L. Overholder, of Logansport. Dr. Hether- ington died in 1872, when he was but forty-two years of age.
Until he was five years old, Cicero represented the home of John P. Hetherington, after which he went to Logansport, where he remained until he was about fifteen. He was a student in the schools of the city during those years. In 1887 he began reading medicine under the ad- vice and instruction of Dr. McIntyre at Unadilla, Nebraska, and in the following year matriculated in the Eclectic Medical Institute in Cin- cinnati, from which he was graduated in 1890, with the highest honors in his class. Almost immediately the young doctor established himself in practice in Logansport, in association with Dr. J. B. Shultz, with whom he continued for the long period of twenty-one years. Since then he has conducted an independent private practice.
Dr. Hetherington is local surgeon for the railroads and the inter- urban roads at Logansport, and he has the distinction of being one of the first doctors in this community to introduce the X-ray into his profes- sional work, and probably the first to own a heavy X-ray machine. · While engaged in general practice, he has given especial attention to surgery and has won a considerable local prominence in that branch of his work. He is a member of the American Medical Association, the county and state medical societies, and also a member of the Wabash & Pennsylvania Railroad Surgical Association. In a fraternal way he is affiliated with the Masonic order, being a Knight Templar of St. John's Commandery, and a member of the Knights of Pythias. He is a member of the Broadway Methodist Episcopal church. In the line of public service Dr. Hetherington has done good work as county coroner of Cass county, as well as serving on the city council at one time.
Dr. Hetherington has been twice married. His first wife was Mary Lux, who was a past grand matron of the Eastern Star of Indiana. She died in April, 1910. The doctor later married Mrs. Bertha Miller, of Muncie, Indiana.
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
MICHAEL F. MAHONEY. Undoubtedly while some men achieve success along certain lines and in certain professions, there are those who are born to them, their natural leanings and marked talents pointing unmis- takably to the career in which they subsequently achieve distinction. With some the call of the church cannot be disobeyed; to others the science of healing appeals; the business mart or the political arena en- gages many, while there are still others who early see in their visions of the future their achieving in the law and the summit of their ambition. To respond to this call, to bend every energy in this direction, to broaden and deepen every possible highway of knowledge and to finally enter upon this chosen career and find its rewards worth while-that has been the happy experience of Michael F. Mahoney, one of the leading attorneys of the Logansport bar. Mr. Mahoney was born at Delphi, Indiana, De- cember 18, 1863, one of the eight children, six now living, of Michael and Katherine (Ryan) Mahoney. His parents were natives of County Lim- erick and County Cork, Ireland, respectively, and each came with their parents to the United States, locating at Delphi, Indiana, where they were married. For twenty-seven years Mr. Mahoney, Sr., was in the employ of A. T. Bowen, the old-time banker of that place. In 1867 the family moved to Washington township, Carroll county, and there Michael Mahoney was reared.
Until he was eighteen years of age, Mr. Mahoney divided his time be- tween work on the home farm and attendance in the country schools. In 1884 and 1885 he attended the State University at Bloomington, and in 1886 and 1887 Georgetown College, Washington, D. C. He then came to Logansport, and in April, 1887, entered the law office of Michael D. Fansler, then prosecuting attorney. He practiced in the justice and city courts until he was admitted to the bar by examination, and immediately thereafter became Mr. Fansler's assistant. In 1888 he became assistant to John W. McGreevy, prosecuting attorney, and served as such four years. In 1892 he became his preceptor's partner, the firm being known as Fansler & Mahoney, which continued uninterruptedly until Mr. Fansler's death in May, 1895. In November of that year Moses B. Lairy, present appellate judge, retired from the circuit bench, and with him, under the firm style of Lairy & Mahoney, Mr. Mahoney continued in practice until January 1, 1911. By a singular coincidence Judge M. B. Lairy was elected appellate judge, defeating Judge J. M. Rabb, who had served on the appellate bench for four years, and Judge Rabb, on June 1, 1911, became Mr. Mahoney's partner, under the firm name of Rabb & Mahoney, which has since continued. During the session of the legislature of 1889, Mr. Mahoney was committee clerk in the house of representatives ; in 1894 he was county attorney, and also held that office in 1896, 1897, 1898 and 1899; in 1908 and 1909 he was a member of the Logansport school board. In political matters he is a Democrat, and in 1888 was secretary of the Democratic county central committee. Ever since being admitted to the bar, by reason of his legal associations, Mr. Mahoney has been connected with nearly all of the noted criminal cases in the judicial circuit. He is a Roman Catholic in religion, and belongs to the Sigma Chi college fraternity.
On June 20, 1894, Mr. Mahoney was married to Katherine Farrell, and they have two children, Madeline and Raymond.
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DAVID PAYSON HURD. Although he has been the owner of his pres- ent farm on the Walton and Bunker Hill road for only seven years, D. P. Hurd is one of the old residents of this part of Cass county, whence he came as a lad of seven years. His subsequent career covers a period spent in the grain business and in extensive agricultural operations, and at this time he is the owner of an eighty-acre tract two miles west of Walton. In all of his operations, Mr. Hurd has been uniformly success- ful, and he has not only been fortunate in a material way, but has suc- ceeded also in firmly establishing himself in the good graces of all with whom he has had transactions. Mr. Hurd is a native of the Prairie state, born April 12, 1861, at Lawn Ridge, Marshall county, Illinois. His father, a native of Nashua, New Hampshire, migrated to Illinois in young manhood, and was there married and settled down to agricultural pursuits. In 1868 he came to Walton, Indiana, and embarked in the sawmill business, in which he continued throughout the remainder of his life. He also did an excellent business in handling grain, and was known as one of Walton's substantial business citizens. He and his wife were the parents of six children: Walter, deceased, D. P., Ma- tilda, Willard, Lyra and Frank.
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