USA > Indiana > Gibson County > History of Gibson County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions > Part 61
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On November 18, 1852, Mr. Howe was united in marriage with Eliza- beth J. Yerkes, who was born in 1833 near Homesdale, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Jacob Paul and Huldah (Skinner) Yerkes, he of Pennsylvania and she of New York state. In 1836 the Yerkes family came to Evansville, where the father died the same year. The wife moved to Owensville. In- diana, where she reared her family and lived for a number of years, and died in Vanderburg county, Indiana, at the home of her oldest daughter, Mrs. G. B. Mccutcheon. Mr. Yerkes was a carpenter by trade and the family were members of the Presbyterian church. There were ten children in the family, as follows: Amelia, Jonathan, Reuben, Harriet, Margaret, Charlotte, Anna. Culparina, Elizabeth and Honora. The last three named are living; Culpurina is the wife of Dr. David Malone, of Arnsville, Illi- nois; Honora is the wife of L. H. Hawes and lives at Mt. Vernon, Illinois, and Elizabeth is the wife of the immediate subject of this sketch. To Calvin R. Howe and wife were born seven children, two of whom died in infancy. The ones which grew to maturity are: Mary H., deceased wife of J. P. Brown, of Patoka township. At her death, which occurred in 1910, she left two children, Charles Y., now attending dental college at Indianapolis, and Lewis, who has been attending Moores Hill College for the past two years. The second child of Calvin R. Howe and wife was Anna, who died single at the age of thirty-three years; Charles J., who was a teacher and was drowned in the Colorado river in 1880; Willis Paul studied law, was admitted to the bar, practiced three years and died in 1890, and the fifth child is Nellie, wife of Andrew P. Carey, a dairy farmer in Patoka township. They are the parents of four children. Laura, Grace, deceased, Paul and Mabel.
Mr. and Mrs. Howe have a family heirloom much prized, in the form of a Masonic apron originally owned by Mrs. Howe's father, who was a prominent Mason. The apron is of white satin, hand-painted with the various emblems of the order, and is over one hundred years old. It is care- fully framed in order to best preserve it intact.
At the age of twenty years Mr. Howe joined the Sons of Temperance, and attributes his health and longevity, at least in part, to his abstaining from alcoholic beverages. Considering Mr. Howe's years, he is a man of remarkable activity and general vitality and gets about as well as a man very many years younger. His eyesight and hearing are unimpaired and he re- tains an excellent memory. Mr. and Mrs. Howe have been members of the Methodist Episcopal church for the last sixty-one years and have always taken an active interest in the affairs of the church. Mr. Howe's political
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sympathies are with the Republican party and, although he has never aspired for office, he has always taken an active interest in the affairs of his party.
How futile to attempt to add anything to the salient and simple facts of this long and wholesome life. Surely it should be an inspiration to those on the threshold of life to see this demonstration of the fact that right princi- ples of life and right habits of living conduce to that enviable state wherein "thy days may be long upon the land." Mr. Howe is well known from one end of Gibson county to the other and no citizen of that county is held in higher esteem.
A. R. BURTON, M. D.
It is not always easy to discover and define the hidden forces that move a life of ceaseless activity and large professional success; little more can be done than to note their manifestation in the career of the individual under consideration. In view of this fact, the life of the distinguished physician and public-spirited man of affairs whose name appears above affords a strik- ing example of well defined purpose, with the ability to make that purpose subserve not only his own ends but the good of his fellow men as well. He has long held distinctive prestige in a calling which requires for its basis sound mentality and intelligent discipline of a high order, supplemented by the rigid professional training and thorough mastery of technical knowledge, with the skill to apply the same, without which one cannot hope to rise above mediocrity in administering to human ills. In his chosen field of en- deavor Dr. A. R. Burton has achieved success such as few attain and his present eminent standing among the medical men of his community is duly recognized and appreciated.
A. R. Burton was born in Gibson county, Indiana, April 26, 1859, the son of Bazil and Lucinda (Kilpatrick) Burton, the father born November 10, 1835, in Winchester, Virginia, and the mother in Gibson county, In- diana, in 1836. Bazil Burton was a farmer and he removed to Indiana in pioneer times, where he made a success of agriculture. When the Straight Line railroad was being built through the county he contracted to build five miles of roadbed, but the enterprise ruined him financially. The greater part of his life was spent at or near Francisco, his declining years being passed in the home of the subject, dying in 1901 at the home of his nephew, Dr. Hiram Burton, near Somerville, Indiana, his wife having preceded him to her reward in 1881 in Princeton.
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To Bazil and Lucinda Burton were born four children, namely: George S. died in Montana; Bell married Dr. R. L. Broadwell, of Petersburg; Louis H., who lives in southern Illinois, is a contractor of tiling and ditching; A. R.
Mr. Burton attended the common schools of the district and Fort Branch and on the completion of this rudimentary education began reading medicine under the tutelage of V. T. West, of Princeton, in whose office he studied until the fall of 1879, at which time he entered the Medical College of Ohio, now the University of Cincinnati, where he spent three years pre- paring himself for the exacting duties of the medical profession. Graduating March 4, 1882, the Doctor located at Princeton, where he has since remained, his superior skill in his practice having obtained for him a wide reputation and established for him a most desirable and remunerative practice. For fifteen years Doctor Burton has been a member of the pension board, his terin of service never having been interrupted by the changing administration of political parties.
A close student of the art of medicine, the subject keeps posted on all the latest discoveries in his profession. He belongs to the American Medical Association, served as secretary of the Gibson County Medical Association for ten years, and also was a member of the State Medical Association and for ten years served as secretary of the city and county board of health.
On August 10, 1883, the Doctor was united in matrimony to Margaret J. Fentriss, of Princeton, daughter of James H. and Johanna (Skinner) Fentriss, old residents of that city. The mother of the subject's wife was a native of Scotland, while the father was born in Gibson county. James H. Fentriss was a harness-maker by trade and served for years as a justice of the peace, also for four years holding the office of county recorder. Both parents of Mrs. Burton are now deceased.
To the subject and wife has been born one child, Blanche, who is living at home with her parents. She has gained favorable notice as a musician of high order and her services have been engaged at a number of the leading musical functions throughout the state, she rendering vocal and instrumental selections in a manner that has attracted wide notice among the critics and promises much for the future.
Doctor Burton is Democratic in his political belief, while, fraternally, he belongs to the Improved Order of Red Men, Knights of the Maccabees, Court of Honor, Tribe of Ben-Hur, Royal Arcanum and the Loyal Order of Moose, and he was formerly affiliated with the Fraternal Order of Eagles. He takes an active interest in the Presbyterian church, of which he is an earnest member.
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R. S. ANDERSON, M. D.
The unostentatious routine of private life, although of vast importance to the welfare of the community, has not figured to any extent in history. But the names of men who have distinguished themselves by the possession of those qualities which mainly contribute to the success of private life and to the public stability, and who have enjoyed the respect and confidence of those around them, should not be permitted to perish. Their examples are most valuable and their lives well worthy of consideration. Such are the thoughts that involuntarily come to mind when we take under review the career of such an honored individual as the gentleman whose name initiates this paragraph, who is numbered among the leading practitioners of the art of healing in Gibson county.
Robert S. Anderson, M. D., was born in Princeton, Gibson county, Indi- ana, July 24, 1861, the son of William Anderson, Jr., and Nancy Louisa (Garrett) Anderson, he a native of Ireland and she of this county, the mother being a descendant of the Stormont family. The paternal grandfather, Will- iam Anderson, Sr., came from county Donegal, Ireland, to Gibson county in 1854 and located on land one mile south of Princeton, afterward purchasing a farm four miles south of the town. He reared a large family, and resided here until his death in the late seventies. His son, William, Jr., learned the trade of blacksmith, which he followed until 1875, when he took up agricul- ture, following it until his death, April 9, 1880. His wife died in 1900. To the subject's parents were born four children, namely: Lizzie A. is the widow of John A. Pfohl; Martha M. is the wife of David Birchfield, of Princeton ; Fanny J. is the wife of John O. Hamilton, of Manhattan, Kansas, who is professor of physics in the State Agricultural College at that place; R. S.
R. S. Anderson secured his elementary education in the common schools. In preparation for the practice of the medical profession, he attended the University of Louisville (the old Kentucky College of Medicine), from which he graduated in 1884. In later years he took a course in the Polyclinic Insti- tute at Chicago. On his graduation from the Louisville Medical College the subject engaged in the practice of his profession at Grove City, Christian county, Illinois. and continued there for eight years, at the expiration of which period he removed to Princeton, Gibson county, Indiana, where he has since remained in the general practice of medicine and surgery.
Doctor Anderson was married at Grove City, Illinois, in 1888. to Lizzie
R. S. ANDERSON, M. D.
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B. McCoy, of that place, and to this union has been born one child, Oscar M., born in 1895 and now in school.
In addition to a long and successful career as a general practitioner, the subject has served as city and county health officer for a number of years and for eighteen years has been local surgeon for the Southern and the Chicago & Eastern Illinois railroads. He is a member of the Gibson county, the state and the American medical associations, and also holds membership in the Association of American Railway Surgeons.
In his fraternal relations, Doctor Anderson is an enthusiastic believer in the tenets of the Masonic order, having attained to the thirty-second de- gree, belonging to the Scottish Rite consistory at Indianapolis and being a Knight Templar at Princeton. He has filled all the chairs in the local lodge and was chairman of the building committee and one of the trustees who had charge of the erection of the handsome new Masonic Temple at Prince- ton. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
The subject has ever displayed an active and intelligent interest in political affairs, formerly serving as treasurer of the Republican county com- mittee, but during the last campaign he severed his connection with that body and joined the Progressives.
JAMES M. SCANTLIN.
Clearly defined purpose and consecutive effort in the affairs of life will inevitably result in the attaining of a due measure of success, but in follow- ing out the career of one who has attained success by his own efforts there comes into view the intrinsic individuality which made such accomplishment possible, and thus there is granted an objective incentive and inspiration, while at the same time there is enkindled a feeling of respect and admiration. The qualities which have made Mr. Scantlin one of the prominent and suc- cessful men of Princeton, Gibson county, Indiana, have also brought him the esteem of his fellow townsmen, for his career has been one of well-directed energy, strong determination and honorable methods.
James M. Scantlin was born October 26, 1842, at Evansville, Indiana, the son of Thomas and Eleanor J. ( Parvin) Scantlin. The mother was a descendant of Gen. Robert Evans, founder of the city of Evansville, near which place she was born in a log cabin. The father was born in Lexington.
(40)
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Kentucky, and was engaged in the stove and tinware business at Evansville, In- diana, starting there in 1836 and continuing until his retirement in 1908. Thomas Scantlin, who was a prominent man and was highly esteemed in his community, died January 19, 1912, at the extreme age of ninety-eight, and his wife died four years previous to his demise. To the subject's parents were born nine children. of whom six are living, namely: Lavinia E. and Ethel are unmarried and reside in Evansville; Mrs. Julius Stewart, of Evans- ville; Mrs. Carrie Overman, of New York City; Thomas E., of Medford, Oregon; James M.
Thomas Scantlin, the subject's father, removed to Princeton about 1819, with his father, James Scantlin, who was a charter member of the First Methodist church of that city. The subject's grandfather settled on a farm south of Princeton and conducted a tin shop on his place, which is now the William Spore farm. The subject's father learned the trade of tinner there and started in business for himself in Evansville in 1836. In 1852 he came back to Princeton, however returning to Evansville in 1853.
James M. Scantlin, the immediate subject of this review, was educated in the schools of Evansville and Princeton and attended the old college on Seminary Hill. He graduated from the Evansville high school about 1858, but did not receive his diploma for nearly forty years. He was subsequently a student at the Indiana State University at Bloomington, and while there was made a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. He began helping in his father's business when he was but fourteen years of age, and continued in this work, with only such interruptions as were caused by his school work, until the Civil war, when he enlisted in Company K, One Hundred and Thirty-sixth Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry, serving until 1864 and attaining the rank of corporal. On returning from the service of his coun- try, he again resumed his connection with his father's business, and continued thus until 1894, when he removed to Princeton and established his present prosperous hardware store.
On June 7, 1869, Mr. Scantlin was married to Helen E. Wallace, born in the city of Princeton, a granddaughter of Alexander Devin. To this union has been born one daughter, Nora, who married Herbert R. Clarke, a railroad man of Aurora, Illinois. Herbert and Nora Clarke have two children, Helen R. and Gertrude E.
Mr. Scantlin is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and in politics gives his support to the Republican party, while in religious affairs he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he serves as a steward.
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GIBSON COUNTY, INDIANA.
SANFORD TRIPPET.
The record of the gentleman whose name introduces this article con- tains no exciting chapter of tragic events, but is replete with well-defined purpose which, carried to successful issue, have won for him an influential place in the ranks of his profession and high personal standing among his fellow citizens. His life work has been one of unceasing industry and per- severance, and the systematic and honorable methods which he has ever followed have resulted not only in gaining the confidence of those with whom he has had dealings, but also in the building up of a large and re- munerative legal practice. Well grounded in the principles of jurisprudence, and by instinct and habit a constant reader and student, Mr. Trippet com- mands the respect of his professional colleagues, and his career has reflected honor upon himself and dignity upon the vocation to which he has devoted his efforts.
Sanford Trippet was born November 13, 1875, in Gibson county, In- diana, the son of Aaron and Susan (Robb) Trippet, natives of this county. The mother was the oldest daughter of David Robb, one of the pioneers of the community and a nephew of Major David Robb, who fought at the battle of Tippecanoe. The father has passed his life in White River township, being a successful and progressive farmer, his wife still living. To Aaron and Susan Trippet have been born eleven children, all of whom yet survive. Aaron Trippet is at present a county councilman and is president of the board.
The subject of this review, after completing his preliminary studies in the common schools, attended the Princeton Normal School and then entered the Indiana State University at Bloomington, graduating with the literary class in 1901. Deciding on the legal profession as his life work, Mr. Trippet then matriculated in the law school at Ann Arbor, Michigan, from which he was subsequently graduated. Returning to Princeton, he entered into a part- nership with Thomas Duncan for the practice of law, the firm name being Duncan & Trippet, this partnership existing for about a year, when, in 1905, the firm of Ballard & Trippet came into existence.
That same year, 1905, the subject was married to Edith M. Kightly, daughter of Charles and Eva (Gardner) Kightly, the father being a drug- gist in Oakland City, Indiana, until his death in 1913. To the subject and wife have been born three children, Blanche, Byron and Charles K.
In addition to his duties in the legal profession, Mr. Trippet for a num-
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ber of years ranked high as an educator, he having taught school in Hazleton for five years and been principal of the schools there for three years, during which time his services were highly appreciated by the patrons, his progres- sive and intelligent pedagogical methods being a distinct boon to the educa- tional institutions there.
Fraternally, Mr. Trippet is a member of Masonic Lodge No. 420, at Hazleton, in which he takes an earnest and active interest.
The home of the subject is located at No. 331 West Walnut street, in the city of Princeton, and it is the hospitable center of a wide circle of friends.
FRANKLIN H. MAXAM, M. D.
It is not always easy to discover and define the hidden forces that move a life of ceaseless activity and large professional success; little more can be done than to note their manifestation in the career of the individual under consideration. In view of this fact, the life of the successful physician and public-spirited man of affairs whose name appears above affords a striking example of well-defined purpose, with the ability to make that purpose sub- serve not only his own ends but the good of his fellow men as well. Doctor Maxam, who has had exceptional training in his chosen profession, holds distinctive prestige in a calling which requires for its basis sound mentality and intellectual discipline of a high order, supplemented by rigid professional training and thorough mastery of technical knowledge, with the skill to apply the same, without which one cannot hope to rise above mediocrity in ministering to human ills. There is, therefore, a due measure of satisfac- tion in presenting, even in brief resume, the life and achievements of such a man, and in preparing the following history of the scholarly physician whose name appears above it is with the hope that it may prove not only interesting and instructive, but also serve as an incentive to those who contemplate mak- ing the medical profession their life work.
Franklin H. Maxam was born February 14, 1850, in Gibson county, Indiana, about four miles east of Princeton. He is the son of Napoleon B. and Mary S. (Slack) Maxam, who were the parents of eight children. Two of the children and the parents are now dead. Napoleon B. Maxam was born and reared on a farm near Maxam Center, east of Princeton, Gibson county, Indiana, the locality in which Sylvester Maxam, grandfather of the subject, settled when he came in the early days of Gibson county from his
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old home in New York. Dating from those early days, the family has al- ways been foremost in all things pertaining to the best good and welfare of the community at large. Mary S. Slack, mother of the subject, was a native of New Jersey, where her family had resided for many years. She was a granddaughter of Aaron Slack, a hero of the war of 1812.
Doctor Maxam received his elementary education in the common schools of Gibson county, later attending the Princeton high school and also the high school at Owensville, Indiana. He later attended the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, for one year. Upon his return to Princeton he took up the reading of medicine with Doctor Munford and Doctor West. He later on entered into a partnership with Doctor Munford, which partnership was in force for one year only. Wishing for more thorough training in his profession than could be obtained in his locality, he went to New York City, where he entered the Long Island College Hospital at Brooklyn, New York, where he remained for one year. Later he entered the Bellevue Hospital in New York City, from which he was graduated in 1877. He then returned to Princeton, where he took up the practice of his profession. This he continued for some time, when, desiring still greater advantages. he spent one year in Europe in the various famous hospitals of the continent. Most of his time was spent in Vienna, from the hospitals and laboratories of which have come forth so many things of benefit to suffering humanity. The fame of its surgeons, physicians and chemists has gone abroad through the world, so that post- graduate study in that city is a thing coveted by all who take up the pro- fession of medicine as their life work. Upon his return from Europe, Doctor Maxam returned to his native Princeton, where he has since made his home, gaining an enviable reputation for himself and a warm place in the regard of his fellow townsmen. With a desire to still further equip himself in his profession, Doctor Maxam has, since entering upon the active practice, taken several post-graduate courses in New York City. embracing a combined period of several months.
In 1884 Doctor Maxam was united in marriage to Jane Howe, a resi- dent of Princeton, daughter of Sanford Howe. She came from a family prominent in the affairs of the county. To this union were born two daugh- ters, Ruth and Charlotte. Mrs. Maxam was a charming woman, of excep- tional qalities of heart and mind and her beautiful influence traveled far be- yond her home circle. She died July 16, 1913.
Doctor Maxam's religious affiliation is with the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he is a consistent member. He is a Republican of the old
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school, interested in the workings of his party. He is an active member of the Gibson County Medical Society, the Indiana State Medical Society and the American Medical Association, in the proceedings of all of which he takes an interested part. Doctor Maxam has had remarkable success in his pro- fession, and is often called into consultation by his professional brethren be- cause of his ability as a diagnostician and his uniform success in the handling of diseases. In addition to splendid technical skill, he possesses broad sym- pathies which enable him to at once gain the confidence of his patients.
Doctor Maxam has not only always kept in close touch with the trend of medical thought, but is also a close student of social, political and scientific subjects, being broad-minded and keenly interested in all that makes for the betterment of his fellow nien. In every sphere of endeavor in which he has taken a part, his ability and strict integrity have elevated him in the confi- dence of his fellow citizens and his influence is always powerful and salutary in the community.
ROLLIN MAXAM.
The history of a county or state, as well as that of a nation, is chiefly a chronicle of the lives and deeds of those who have conferred honor and dignity upon society. The world judges the character of a community by those of its representative citizens and yields its tributes of admiration and respect to those whose words and actions constitute the record of a state's prosperity and pride. Among the prominent citizens of Gibson county who are well known because of the part they have taken in public affairs, as well as the fact that they come from an old honored family, is Rollin Maxam, the subject of this sketch.
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