USA > Indiana > Lawrence County > History of Lawrence and Monroe counties, Indiana : their people, industries, and institutions > Part 47
USA > Indiana > Monroe County > History of Lawrence and Monroe counties, Indiana : their people, industries, and institutions > Part 47
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LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIANA.
ARTHUR J. McDONALD, M. D.
Success in what are popularly termed the learned professions is the legit- imate result of merit and painstaking endeavor. In commercial life one may come into possession of a lucrative business through inheritance or gift, but professional advancement is gained only by critical study and consecutive research long continued. Proper intellectual discipline, thorough profes- sional knowledge and the possession and utilization of the qualities and attri- butes essential to success have made Arthur J. McDonald eminent in his chosen calling and for a number of years he has stood among the scholarly and enterprising physicans and surgeons in a community long distinguished for the high order of its medical talent. His life has been characterized not only by high professional ability, but also by the most profound human sympathy which has overleaped mere sentiment to become an actuating motive, for he early realized that there is no honor not founded on genuine worth, that there is a vital purpose in life, and that the best and highest accomplishments must come from a well trained mind and an altruistic heart. Those who know Doctor McDonald well are unstinted in their praise of his superior ability and his genial disposition. Older men here in the profession have relied on his judgment and younger ones have frequently sought his counsel, and the large success which has crowned his life work has been honestly merited.
Arthur J. McDonald comes of a sterling line of Scotch-Irish ancestry, the paternal line being Scotch and the maternal Irish. The subject's great- grandfather, James McDonald, was a native of Scotland and, on his emigra- tion to this country, located in Virginia, from whence he went to Kentucky, where he spent the remainder of his days. His son, James McDonald, was born in Kentucky. During his early active years he was a farmer near Paoli, Indiana, but later retired and moved to Orleans, Orange county, this state, where his death occurred at the age of seventy-five years. He had married a Miss Newkirk and reared a family of eight children, an equal number of boys and girls, among whom was Logan, who became the father of the sub- ject of this sketch. Logan McDonald was born in Orange county, Indiana, was a successful contractor during his active years, and is now living at Mitchell, Indiana. His wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Fitzpatrick and who was born in Lawrence county, Indiana, died at Mitchell in 1909. To Logan and Elizabeth McDonald were born seven children, of which number only two are living, Arthur J., the subject, and Anna, the wife of Eck Gunn, of Bedford.
Arthur J. McDonald was born at Orleans, Indiana, on the 16th day of
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LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIANA.
January, 1860, and was only eighteen months old when the family moved to Mitchell, Indiana, from whose public schools he graduated in 1878. He was then engaged in teaching school for a year, after which he matriculated in the Louisville Medical College, where he was graduated and received his degree of Doctor of Medicine on March 22, 1882. While pursuing his studies he won a gold medal for his researches in materia medica and therapeutics. Dur- ing the following seven and a half years Doctor McDonald was engaged in the active practice of his profession at Mitchell, but in 1889 he went to New York city and took a post-graduate course in the Polyclinic Hospital. Upon the completion of these studies, the Doctor came to Bedford and has since been engaged in the practice here. That he has been successful in an eminent degree is a fact generally recognized throughout the community and today he stands undisputably in the front rank of the medical men of Lawrence county. Doctor McDonald has been for a number of years local surgeon for the Monon Railroad Company and is examiner for a number of life insurance companies. That he is progressive in disposition and keenly alive to the latest advances in the healing art is evidenced in the statement that Doctor Mc- Donald received from New York the first diphtheria anti-toxin sent out from that city and he made the first use of the anti-toxin in southern Indiana. He is a close student of the best professional literature and among his fellow practitioners he is held in the highest regard because of his ability and attain- ments. He is a member of the Lawrence County Medical Society, the Indi- ana State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He has also for several years been a member of the board of United States pension examiners.
Politically, Doctor McDonald has for many years been an active sup- porter of the Democratic party, though never an aspirant for public office. Fraternally, he is a member of the Masonic order, in which he has taken the chapter degrees of the York rite and the Scottish rite up to and including the thirty-second degree ; he belongs also to Murat Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, at Indianapolis. He is an appreciative member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, being a trustee of the Bedford lodge. His religious affiliation is with the Methodist Episcopal church, while his wife is a member of the Christian church.
On June 26, 1886, Doctor McDonald was married to Hattie Overman, of Mitchell, Indiana, but who was born at Bryantsville, Lawrence county, the daughter of Levi and Sarah J. Overman. To Doctor and Mrs. McDonald have been born two children, Carl, who died when three and a half years old, and Harriet Jane. Doctor and Mrs. McDonald move in the best social circles of their community and are held in the highest regard by all who know them.
496
LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIANA.
JUDGE HENRY CLAY DUNCAN.
Human life is like the waves of the sea; they flash a few brief moments in the sunlight, marvels of power and beauty, and then are dashed upon the remorseless shores of death and disappear forever. As the mighty deep has rolled for ages past and chanted its sublime requiem and will continue to roll during the coming ages until time shall be no more, so will the waves of human life follow each other in countless succession until they mingle at last with the billows of eternity's boundless sea. The passing of any human life, however humble and unknown, is sure to give rise to a pang of anguish to some heart, but when the "fell destroyer" knocks at the door of the useful and great and removes from earthly scenes the man of honor and influence and the benefactor of his kind, it not only means bereavement to kindred and friends, but a public calamity as well. In the largest and best sense of the term, the late Judge Henry Clay Duncan was distinctively one of the notable men of, his day and generation, and as such his life record is entitled to a conspicuous place in the annals of his county. As a citizen he was public spirited and enterprising to an unwonted degree; as a friend and neighbor he combined the qualities of head and heart that won confidence and com- manded respect ; as an attorney, who had a comprehensive grasp upon the philosophy of jurisprudence and brought honor and dignity to the public posi- tion he filled with such distinguished success, he was easily the peer of his professional brethren of the bar, and as a servant of the people in places of honor he had no superiors. It is scarce less than supererogation in outlining the leading facts in his life to refer to him as a lawyer in the ordinary phrase- ology which meets requirements when dealing with the average member of the legal profession. He was indeed much more than eminently successful in his legal career, as was indicated by his long and praiseworthy record at the bar and his efficient service on the bench. He was a master of his profession, a leader among men distinguished for the high order of their legal talent, and his eminent attainments and ripe judgment made him an authority on all matters involving a profound knowledge of jurisprudence and vexed and in- tricate questions growing out of its interpretation.
Henry Clay Duncan was born in Lawrence county, Indiana, on January 16, 1845, and his death occurred at his home in Bloomington, on January 30, 19II. He was the son of William and Mary ( Malott) Duncan, both of whom were natives of Jefferson county, Kentucky. They were married there in
HON.H.C.DUNCAN
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LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIANA.
1824 and two years later they moved to Lawrence county, Indiana. where they spent their remaining years, the father's death occurring on March I, 1875. They were the parents of eight children, all of whom are now de- ceased.
Henry Clay Duncan received his preliminary education in the common schools of Lawrence county, later being a student in Northwestern Univer- sity (now Butler College), and then, on January 1, 1864, he became a student in Indiana University. However, realizing that his services were needed by his country, which was then in the throes of the greatest civil conflict this world has ever known, he relinquished his text books and enlisted in the One Hundred and Thirty-sixth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, under Col. John W. Foster, with which command he served until mustered out on October 1, 1864. He then resumed his studies in the State University and in 1868 received his Bachelor of Arts degree, and also graduated from the law department. He had a natural predilection for the law, and immediately after leaving college he began the reading of law with Moses F. Dunn, of Bedford. In 1869 Mr. Duncan was appointed and served as enrolling clerk in the state Legislature. In 1872 he formed a partnership with his former preceptor, Mr. Dunn, and engaged in the active practice of law at Bedford. Two years later he came to Bloomington and formed a law partnership with John W. Buskirk, which firm soon took rank as one of the strongest law firms in south- ern Indiana, and continued until 1887, when he formed a partnership with Ira C. Batman, which continued until the time of his death. In 1880 Mr. Duncan was elected prosecuting attorney for the judicial district composed of Monroe, Lawrence, Orange and Martin counties, serving two years and gaining a splendid reputation as a painstaking, thorough and successful law- yer. Subsequently he was appointed judge of the circuit court, in which posi- tion he gained additional laurels, his record having been one which reflected great credit on himself and honored the counties over whose court she pre- sided. His integrity was of the most insistent and unswerving type and no shadow rests upon any portion of his professional career.
Aside from his professional interests, which demanded the major por- tin of his time, Judge Duncan was also deeply interested in the welfare of the city in which he lived and became identified with a number of enterprises of local importance. For many years he was president of the Workingmen's Building and Loan Association; was a director of the Citizens Loan and (32)
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LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIANA.
Trust Company ; was a director of the First National Bank, and vice-president of that institution at the time of his death, and in other ways he evinced a live interest in the development and progress of Bloomington.
Politically, Judge Duncan was a stanch and earnest supporter of the Re- publican party and took a prominent part in political affairs. He was elected a state senator and in that capacity was influential in retaining the State University at Bloomington, at a time when there was a movement on foot to locate it elsewhere. He was also an influential figure in the election of Charles W. Fairbanks as United States senator. While in the Senate he was the author of the bill changing the prison at Jeffersonville to a reformatory, and was appointed a member of the first board of trustees, serving one term. Religiously, he was for many years an active member of the Christian church, which he served as trustee and elder, and to the support of which he was a liberal contributor. Fraternally, he was a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, the Grand Army of the Republic, and the Sigma Chi fraternity.
On December 11, 1872, Judge Duncan was married to Sadie Cummings, the daughter of Dr. Adam F. and Melissa (Edwards) Cummings, both of whom were natives of Ohio. Both had come to Jefferson county, Indiana, in childhood with their respective parents, and were there reared and married, their union resulting in the birth of four children, namely: Marie Antoin- ette, Frank and an infant, all of whom are deceased, and Sadie, who became the wife of the subject of this sketch. Mrs. Cummings is still living, at the advanced age of eighty-seven years, and is making her home with her daugh- ter, Mrs. Duncan. To Judge and Mrs. Duncan were born four children, as follows: Frank, of Bedford; Antoinette, who became the wife of Burton E. Hansen, of Bedford; Newland, a farmer in this county; and Sallie, the wife of Phillip B. Hill, of Bloomington.
As a lawyer Judge Duncan was industrious, able, courteous and of kindly disposition in his intercourse with his professional brethren, always enjoying the respect and confidence of bench and bar, and never allowing the asperities and antagonisms of professional business to interrupt the warmth and cor- diality of his personal friendships. He was fortunate in that because of his kindly nature he was not inclined to provoke the kind of antagonisms which engender bitterness, and therefore through life he enjoyed to a marked degree the personal esteem and warm friendly regard of his professional and busi- ness associates. He was a good citizen, liberal always in his counsel, his time and his means, in all enterprises which gave promise of the betterment of his fellow men or of the general public good.
499
LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIANA.
EARL G. SHORT.
It is a well attested maxim that the greatness of a community or a state lies not in the machinery of government nor even in its institutions, but rather in the sterling qualities of the individual citizen, in his capacity for high and unselfish effort and his devotion to the public welfare. In these particulars he whose name appears at the head of this review has conferred honor and dignity upon his locality, and as an elemental part of history it is consonant that there should be recorded a resume of his career, with the object in view of noting his connection with the advancement of one of the most flourishing and progressive sections of the commonwealth, as well as his official relations with the administration of the public affairs of the county honored by his citizenship.
Earl G. Short was born in Springville, Lawrence county, Indiana, on the 5th day of December, 1871, and he is the son of Dr. Wesley and Mollie E. (Rafferty) Short. The father, who was born near Somerset, Kentucky, was brought to Lawrence county, Indiana, when two years old, by his father, Milton Short. The farm which they settled on at Springville is now the property of the subject of this sketch and his brother. On that farm Doctor Short lived until his death, which occurred on March 23, 1900. He was by vocation a physician, as his title would indicate, having received his profes- sional education in the Cincinnati Eclectic College, and afterward taking a post-graduate course in New York city, and he was engaged in the practice continuously up to within a year of his death, being not only eminently successful in the treatment of disease, but also enjoying to a notable degree the confidence and esteem of the entire community. He was a veteran of the Civil war, serving first as assistant surgeon of the Twenty-sixth Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and afterward being promoted to surgeon of the First Texas Cavalry Regiment, serving two years in all. To him be- longed the distinction of being probably the only soldier in Lawrence county who never applied for a pension. To Wesley and Mollie Short were born three children, namely : Earl G., the immediate subject of this sketch; Carl M. and Mary C., who now live on the home farmn.
Earl G. Short was reared on the home farm and is indebted to the com- mon schools for his educational training. In 1893 he started in life on his own account by engaging in the mercantile business at Springville, but at the end of three years he went to Switz City, Greene county, this state, where he was in business for the same length of time. He then formed a partner- ship with George Holmes and they engaged in the mercantile business at
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LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIANA.
Oolitic, this county, but at the end of a year Mr. Short's health failed and he turned his attention to farming operations, having bought a splendid farm of four hundred and seventy acres near Springville, to which he de- voted his attention for six years. Mr. Short then made a trip to New Mexico and on his return, in 1906, he came to Bedford and engaged in the livery business, in which he is still interested, in partnership with William F. Owen. In November, 1912, Mr. Short was elected to the office of county treasurer, for which he had been nominated on the Republican ticket, assuming the duties of his office on January 1, 1913. He is discharging the duties of this responsible office in a manner that has earned for him the approval and commendation of all classes, regardless of political lines.
On November 24, 1897, Mr. Short was married to Dora Hurley, the daughter of John and Addie ( Martin ) Hurley, of Switz City, Indiana. She died on October 7, 1906, at Albuquerque, New Mexico. To their union were born five children, Mary, Harry, Glenn, Bessie and Beulah.
Fraternally, Mr. Short is affiliated with the Masonic lodge at Hobbie- ville, Greene county, Indiana, and with Lodge No. 826, Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks, at Bedford. He is a man of splendid business quali- fications, which, combined with his courtesy and genial disposition, have commended him to the good will and friendship of all who know him. As a side line, Mr. Short gives some attention to the breeding and raising of Shetland ponies, in the handling of which he has been very successful, selling them practically all over the world.
CHARLES B. WALDRON.
Representing one of the oldest and best known families of Monroe county, and a man of enterprise and sterling worth, Charles B. Waldron is well entitled to notice among the substantial professional men of Blooming- ton, and it is with much satisfaction that the story of his life is accorded a place in these pages.
Charles B. Waldron was born on September 1, 1885, at Bloomington, Indiana, and is the son of John B. and Mary A. ( Shiel) Waldron. The father also was a native of Monroe county, Indiana, and was engaged in the tan- nery business with his father, John Waldron, and later was a partner in the furniture business with Showers & Dodds, one of the best known business houses in this locality. Subsequently he became a bookkeeper in the First National Bank, a position he held at the time of his death. He was a staunch
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LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIANA.
Republican in politics and one of the sterling and respected citizens of his community. His wife, Mary A. Shiel Waldron, was a native of Jackson county, Indiana, and their union was blessed by the birth of one child, the subject of this sketch. The subject's paternal grandfather, John Waldron, was born at Drogheda, Ireland, in June, 1827, and was the eldest of a family of three children born to John and Mary ( Hughes) Waldron. He received a common school education in his native land and in boyhood learned the trade of a tanner with his father. Left an orphan, however, he came to America in 1847, locating first at Newark, New Jersey, where he was employed at his trade until 1848, when he went to St. Louis, Missouri, where he worked in a tannery until 1856. In 1856 he came to Bloomington and soon afterward bought the old Judy tannery, to which he made extensive additions and im- portant improvements, the tannery becoming one of the largest in Blooming- ton and many men being employed in its operation. In this enterprise Mr. Waldron achieved an eminent success, accumulated a comfortable compe- tency and became financially interested in a number of other local affairs of importance. He was a large stockholder in the First National Bank of Bloomington, of which he became a director at the time of its organization in 1871, and on the death of George W. Buskirk in 1874 he was elected president, serving in this position for several years. He remained a director of the bank until his death. In 1890 he retired from the tanning business, but retained his interest in other local enterprises, being a stockholder in the Cen- tral Oolitic Stone Company and other quarry concerns, and having a one- third interest in the Waldron-Hill-Buskirk Spoke Factory, one of the impor- tant concerns of Bloomington. In the civic and political life of the com- munity he was long prominent and as a staunch supporter of the Republican party he received official preferment at the hands of his fellow citizens, having served for twenty years as a member of the town council and for three years as a member of the county board of commissioners. In the devel- opment and progress of Bloomington he was deeply interested, and he took a very active part in the raising of the fifty-thousand-dollar fund required for retaining Indiana University in this city at a time when there was strong effort being made to locate the university elsewhere. Thus in many ways he became recognized as one of the most progressive and substantial citizens of the community who enjoyed to a marked degree public popularity and esteem. His death occurred on May 11, 1899. On September 4, 1853, he was mar- ried to Ann Bonecum, the daughter of John Bonecum, of St. Louis. He was a member of the Catholic church, to the support of which he contributed, and in his daily life he exemplified the highest degree of morailty and truth.
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LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIANA.
Charles B. Waldron, Jr., received his education in the common schools in Jackson and Monroe counties, being graduated from the high school and then became a student in the law department of the Indiana State Univer- sity, where he graduated in 1910 with the degree of Bachelor of Law. He then attended the law department of Yale University, where he received his Master's degree in 1911, immediately after which he returned to Bloomington and entered upon the active practice of his profession. Though among the younger members of the Monroe county bar, Mr. Waldron has impressed his personality upon those with whom he has come in contact and has been connected actively with much of the important litigation tried in the local courts.
Politically, Mr. Waldron is a staunch supporter of the Republican party, while fraternally he is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Columbus. Religiously, he is a member of the Catholic church. In professional, political and social circles Mr. Waldron enjoys a wide acquaintance and is deservedly popular and possesses to a marked degree those qualities of character which win and retain friendship.
EDMUND B. THORNTON.
In examining the life records of self-made men, it will invariably be found that indefatigable industry has constituted the basis of their success. True, there are other elements which enter in and conserve the advancement of personal interests-perseverance, discrimination and mastering of expe- dients-but the foundation of all achievement is earnest, persistent labor. At the outset of his career Mr. Thornton recognized this fact, and he did not seek any royal road to the goal of prosperity and independence, but began to work earnestly and diligently in order to advance himself, and the result is that he is now numbered among the progressive, successful and influ- ential business men of Lawrence county.
Edmund B. Thornton was born in the city of Bedford, Indiana, on Jan- uary 11, 1856, and is the son of George .\. and Mary ( Braxton) Thornton, the father born near New Albany, Indiana, and the mother at Paoli, this state. George A. Thornton was a successful man and was cashier of the Bedford State Bank at the time of his death, which occurred in 1864, at the compara- tively early age of forty-three years. He was educated with the intention of following the legal profession, but never practiced much along that line. He was elected to the office of county clerk, but resigned the position to accept that
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LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIANA.
of cashier in the bank. He was for many years an elder in the Presbyterian church at Bedford, having come to this city in young manhood. He was sur- vived many years by his widow, who died in 1894. They were the parents of eight children, of whom six are living, namely : Thomas V., Henry C. and Joseph F., of Indianapolis; Mrs. R. P. Shaw, of Tacoma, Washington ; Mrs. A. H. Davis, of Washington, D. C., and the subject of this sketch.
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