USA > Indiana > Lawrence County > History of Lawrence and Monroe counties, Indiana : their people, industries, and institutions > Part 52
USA > Indiana > Monroe County > History of Lawrence and Monroe counties, Indiana : their people, industries, and institutions > Part 52
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of Clear Spring Lodge. Politically, he was a lifelong Democrat. He was a faithful and courageous defender of the flag, having served in the Mexican war as a member of Company F, Second Regiment Indiana Infantry, and in the Civil war he was first lieutenant of Company F, Sixty-seventh Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry. To him and his wife were born five children, all of whom are living, namely: McHenry, the immediate subject of this sketch; Cass, who lives at Ridelin, South Dakota: Sarah, the wife of Marion Johnson, of Clermont, Marion county, Indiana; Mettie, the widow of James M. Henderson, of Brownstown, Indiana; Laura, the wife of William McKay Milligan, of Fayetteville, Arkansas.
McHenry Owen attended the district and high schools at Clear Spring, and then became a student in the State University, where he was graduated on June 12, 1877, having specialized in law. On August 21, of the same year, he located at Brownstown, where he formed a professional partnership with Judge Ralph Applewhite and was successfully engaged in the practice until October 21, 1881, when he removed to Leesville, Lawrence county, Indiana, where he remained until September 11, 1889. His life at Leesville was an active one, for, besides practicing law, he farmed, acted as editor of the Leesville Graphic and served as deputy postmaster. In October, 1886, Mr. Owen entered the service of the government as special examiner in the pen- sion department, his work being mostly at Dayton, Toledo and other Ohio points. He served efficiently in that capacity until June 30, 1889, and on the IIth of the following September he came to Bedford and resumed the prac- tice of law. On November Ist, of that year, he formed a partnership with Judge Newton Crook, which association was terminated in October, 1893, when Mr. Owen again entered the service of the government in the same capacity as formerly, being located at Dayton, Ohio, until April 30, 1897, at which time he again returned to Bedford and has been continuously engaged in the practice of his profession here since. He gives his attention to the general practice, though specializing somewhat in commercial law and acting as the local representative for a number of the leading commercial agencies. For a while he was associated with John R. East, of Bloomington, but is now alone in the practice. He is a busy man, for besides his professional duties, which are manifold, he is the owner of considerable valuable farm land in Lawrence county, which demands a share of his attention, while he has been for a number of years a member of the board of directors of the Bedford National Bank. Mr. Owen has achieved an enviable reputation in the field of effort to which he has devoted his energies, for from the beginning he was intensely methodical and unswervingly persistent in search of the true light
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and of the essentials of the legal foundations, and in sources of legal concep- tion and thought, holding devoutly to the highly embellished record of equity, the invariable theorems of law, the sure, certain, invincible methods of prac- tice ; therefore success could not help crowning his efforts and attracting to him public recognition and appreciation. Personally, he is a man of genial and kindly impulses and has won a host of warm and loyal friends in the community which has been honored by his citizenship.
Politically, Mr. Owen has positive convictions and has been an active and influential supporter of the Democratic party. Fraternally, Mr. Owen is a Mason of high degree, being secretary of the blue lodge, secretary of the chapter of Royal Arch Masons, secretary of the council of Royal and Select Masters, and recorder of the commandery of Knights Templar, while he is a thirty-second-degree member of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, Valley of Indianapolis, and of Murat Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, at In- dianapolis. In the Knights of Pythias he also takes a live interest, being a member of the degree team of the Bedford lodge.
McHenry Owen was married, on October 8, 1879, to Ada E. Smith, the daughter of Dr. William H. and Sally ( Holland) Smith, of Leesville, where her father was for many years widely known as a successful physician and public-spirited citizen. He was born in Salem, Washington county, Indiana, on September 5, 1830, and his death occurred at Bedford on October 30, 1911, to which city he had removed in 1893. He was educated in medicine at the Louisville Medical College and the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York City, after which he was continuously engaged in the practice of his profession at Leesville from 1853 until his removal to Bedford, where he also practiced for some years. He was successful in material affairs, owning considerable real estate and a store. He was numbered among the pioneer doctors of Lawrence county and was one of the organizers of the Lawrence County Medical Society. He was also vice-president of the Bedford National Bank. To Mr. and Mrs. Owen were born two children, namely: Anna May, born on November 21, 1880, is the wife of Prof. Everett E. King, who is professor of railway engineering at Iowa State College, AAmes, Iowa; Frank Smith Owen, born March 29, 1883, is a successful civil engineer at Bedford.
Mr. Owen has always stood ready to identify himself with his fellow citizens in any good work and extend a co-operative hand to advance any measure that is calculated to advance the welfare of the community in any way. His integrity and fidelity have been manifested in every relation of life and he is eminently deserving of the marked popularity which he enjoys.
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R. A. AKIN, M. D.
The man who devotes his talents and energies to the noble work of ministering to the ills and alleviating the sufferings of humanity is pursuing a calling which in dignity, importance and beneficial results is second to none other. If true to his profession and earnest in his efforts to enlarge his sphere of usefulness, he is indeed a benefactor of his kind, for to him more than to any other man are intrusted the safety, the comfort, and, in many instances, the lives of those who place themselves under his care and profit by his services. It is gratifying to note in the series of personal sketches appearing in this work that there remain identified with the professional, public and civic affairs of Monroe county many who are native sons of the county and who are ably maintaining the prestige of honored names.
R. A. Akin was born at Bloomington, Indiana, on March 7, 1880, and is the son of George W. and Laura (Ridge) Akin. The father, who was born in Parke county, Indiana, was a carpenter and farmer and a man of good character and high standing in his community. He and his wife both died in Monroe county in 1910, the father having been retired from active pursuits for some time prior to his death. He was a Democrat in politics and, though not active in public affairs, he took intelligent interest in the current events of the day. He and his wife were the parents of two children, the subject of this sketch and Ida E.
R. A. Akin received a good common school education and then entered the State University, where he graduated in 1906. Having determined to take up the practice of medicine for his life pursuit, he then matriculated in the Indiana University School of Medicine, where he was graduated in 1908 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He immediately entered upon the active practice of his profession at Bedford, but a short time afterward he removed to Gary, Indiana, where he remained until 1900, when he came to Bloomington and has since continued here in the active practice of medicine and surgery. His well equipped offices are located in the Allen block, and, though one of the younger physicians of Bloomington, he is already in com- mand of a goodly share of the local patronage. He is a general practitioner, though he has achieved unusual success in surgery, having handled success- fully a number of very important cases and having assisted Dr. Harris in nearly all of the latter's important work. Dr. Akin possesses a pleasing per- sonality, which has won for him many warm friends throughout the com- munity and he is entirely deserving of the eminent standing he has secured, both professionally and socially. He is a member of the Monroe County
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Medical Society, of which he is secretary and treasurer, and also belongs to the Indiana State Medical Society. Politically, he is a stanchi supporter of the Democratic party, though his professional duties preclude his taking a very important part in public affairs. Fraternally he belongs to Lodge No. 446, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, in Bloomington, and takes a keen interest in the work of this fraternity.
REV. JOSEPH LANNERT.
Lawrence county has been the home and the scene of labor of many men who have not only led lives which should serve as a lesson and an inspira- tion to those who follow them onto the stage of life's activities, but who have also been of important service through important avenues of usefulness in various lines. The honored and highly esteemed subject of this sketch is a man of well rounded character, sincere, devoted and loyal, so that there are many salient points which render consonant a tribute to him in this compila- tion. Standing as he does today the head of one of the most important churches in Lawrence county, his labors have long been directed for the amelioration of the people of this community and rewarded with gratifying results.
Rev. Joseph Lannert, pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic church at Bedford, was born at Evansville, Indiana, on the 9th of February, 1867, and is the son of Joseph and Frances ( Bossler ) Lannert, the former a native of Germany and the latter of Pennsylvania. Joseph Lannert, Sr., who followed the vocation of a painter, lived the major part of his life at Evansville, where his death occurred on January 16, 1876. He was survived many years by Mrs. Lannert, whose death occurred on June 2, 1902, at Evansville. She remained a widow thus more than a quarter of a century that her children should not have a step-father, as had been her experience. She was the mother of five children, all but one of whom are living, namely: Joseph, the subject of this review: Raymond, who is manager of the Diamond Coal Company, of Evansville, Indiana; Mary, the housekeeper of Father Lannert ; Mrs. Walter Buhrman, of New Castle, Indiana. Joseph received his ele- mentary education in the parochial schools of Evansville, which he attended for seven years. During the following luster he was variously employed in Evansville stores, but he had determined to devote his life to the ministry of his church, and to that end, in September, 1885, he went to St. Minard's Coi- lege, in Spencer county, Indiana, where he studied for four years. In Septem-
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ber, 1889, he went to Mount St. Mary's, Emmitsburg, Maryland, where he spent another period of four years. The following two years he attended the seminary at. Mount St. Mary's of the West, Cincinnati, where, on June 19, 1895, he was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop William Henry Elder.
His first appointment was as assistant priest at St. Joseph's church, In- dianapolis, where he remained five and a half years, following which, for four and a half years, he was pastor of St. James' church, in Gibson county, In- diana. On July 14, 1905. Father Lannert became pastor of the church at Bedford, and has remained here continuously since. His labors here have been fruitful in results and he has earned the commendation of his supe- riors for his splendid administration of the church here. He has succeeded in paying off the greater part of the church debt which existed when he came here, and on September 8, 1908, he opened a parochial school on Eighteenth street. Three years later he erected on I street the present school building and residence, constructed of Bedford stone. The first day the building on Eighteenth street was occupied for school purposes ninety-five pupils re- sponded; now there are one hundred and sixty enrolled, with an average daily attendance of one hundred and forty. These accomplishments meant much hard work and a zeal and perseverance that only those who were closely connected with the parish can clearly understand and appreciate. Besides this, Father Lannert has been active in building up the spiritual welfare of the congregation, which is now in excellent condition. Father Lannert's work here has met with the united approval of his own people and others as well. The good he has accomplished does not stand alone in the material and visible results, which are apparent to the eye, but they are deeply en- graven on the hearts of the people of the community, among whom he is held in the most reverential regard.
JOHN S. BAILEY.
The venerable gentleman whose career is briefly sketched in the fol- lowing lines is one of the older residents of Bedford and his life has been such as to gain the confidence and good will of the people of his community and to make him well and favorably known throughout the county of which he has so long been an honored citizen. In the highest sense of the term he is a self-made man and as such has met with success in material things such as few attain and made a record which may be studied with profit by the young men of the rising generation.
JOHN S. BAILEY
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LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIANA.
John S. Bailey was born on September 10, 1831, on his father's farm six miles north of Bedford, Indiana, and has therefore been a participant in and an eye witness of the wonderful development which has characterized this section of the state during the last few decades. He is the son of Levi and Catherine (Holman) Bailey, the father a native of Indiana and the mother of Woodford county, Kentucky. The subject's paternal grandfather, Charles Bailey, was a native of Hagerstown, Pennsylvania. In boyhood he was bound out, but ran away and came to Louisville. At this time there were only seven houses there. He was a great hunter and woodsman and in order to find available locations he settled on Lost River, in Orange county, Indiana, where he remained several years. Later he located six miles north of Bed- ford, where he took up government land and lived until 1847, when he moved to Sullivan county, this state. He married a Miss Smith, a native of Kentucky, who died in Sullivan county, and eventually he went to Linn county, Iowa, where his death occurred. He was the father of the following children: John, Levi; Gideon, who was a doctor, and after he moved to Iowa was appointed a marshal; Harrison, Joseph, Lena, Rebecca, Sallie and Ann. Levi Bailey had few opportunities for securing an education and his early years were devoted to agricultural pursuits and stock raising. These lines of effort developed a large business and he eventually became noted as a shipper, having sent twenty-one boat loads of pork and wheat on flat hoats to New Orleans. He built his own boats and was successful in all his under- takings, at one time owning fourteen hundred acres of land six miles north of Bedford. He was a Democrat in politics and was well known throughout the community where he lived. His death occurred in 1854 and his wife died in 1844.
The subject of this sketch was educated in the common schools of his home neighborhood, remaining under the parental roof until he had attained his majority. He lived on the home farm north of Bedford until about the time of the breaking out of the Civil war, when he went to Sullivan county, Indiana, where he remained until about a year after the war closed. He then bought ninety acres of land located two and one-half miles east of Bedford, where he remained two years and then traded that for a farm in Guthrie township. He was very successful in his farming operations, acquiring sev- eral other farms located at different places in the county and he devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits until 1912, when he retired from active business life and moved to Bedford, where he now resides. Persistent in- dustry and sound business methods characterized his career and in all his (35)
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relations with his fellow men his dealings were marked by the strictest integ- rity and fairness, so that at all times he enjoyed the confidence of all who were associated with him in any way.
On July 9. 1862, Mr. Bailey enlisted at Madison, Indiana, in Company A. Sixty-seventh Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, with which he took part in the battles of Munfordville, Kentucky : Chickasaw Bayou, Mississippi ; Arkansas Post, Arkansas; Grand Gulf, Port Gibson, Raymond, Champion's Hill, Big Black River Bridge, siege and capture of Vicksburg, and Jackson, Mississippi ; Apelousas and Grand Coteau, Louisiana ; Matagorda Bay, Texas; Grand Ecore, Saline Cross Roads, Moresfield, Cane River Crossing, Cane River, Alexandria, Hunt's Plantation, Dunn's Bayou, Bayou DeLamora, Avayletes Prairie, Yellow Bayou, Old River and Anhapologa Bayou, Louis- iana; Ft. Gaines, Fort Morgan, Pollard and Ft. Blakely, Alabama. He was honorably discharged in August, 1865. He is now a member of the Grand Army Post No. 247, at Bedford.
Mr. Bailey has been married three times, first in the spring of 1852 to Mary Ramsey, of Bedford, Indiana, who died in 1862. In August, 1866, he married Margaret Malotte, of Bedford, Indiana, whose death occurred in February, 1906, and on November 19, 1908, he married Mary E. Scott, the widow of Reuben B. Scott, of Bedford, a farmer whose death had occurred in 1906. Mr. Scott was a prominent man in his community and had served as representative in the Legislature from Lawrence county. Mrs. Bailey is the daughter of John W. Miller, who married Susan J. Udderback, both of whom were natives of Kentucky, who came to Lawrence county and settled four and a quarter miles northeast of Bedford, where he conducted farming operations and also worked at his trade as a cabinet-maker. He died on Feb- ruary 3, 1857, and his wife died on July 16, 1881. They were members of the Christian church and were the parents of two children: Elijah H., who died in 1896. was a farmer, and Mary E., the wife of the subject. To Mr. Bailey's first union were born two children, Oscar, who is a carpenter and farmer at Woodmond, Oklahoma, and Austin, a carpenter who died in 1887. To the subject's second union were born the following children: Frank, a member of the hardware firm of Bailey & Pittman of Bedford. He married Hester Dodd, and they have two children, Roy and Mary; Homer, who was a soldier in the Spanish-American war, died of typhoid fever during that war; Fred C., in the transfer business at Bedford, married Mabel Julian, and they have two children, Joy and John S. ; Lillian is the wife of Fay Hamilton, of Greencastle, Indiana, and they have five children, Glen, Gene, Louisa, Lowell
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and Francis; Emma C. is the wife of Wesley Ramsey, of Seattle, Washing- ton, and they have four children, Ivan, Irene, Mary and John; Lee, a shoe and clothing merchant at Bedford, married Grace Owen; Robert M., who is a druggist at Martinsville, Indiana, married Mabel Dill, and they have one child, Margaret A.
Fraternally, Mr. Bailey is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Bedford, while his religious connections are with the Christian church, of which he is a faithful and earnest member. He enjoys a wide and favorable acquaintance throughout the county and everywhere he is held in high esteem by those who know him.
ROBERT NEWLAND PALMER.
In placing the name of Robert N. Palmer before the reader as one standing in the front rank of the enterprising men of affairs and a leader of the bar at Bedford, Indiana, whose influence has tended to the upbuilding of the city of his residence and the advancement of the affairs of his native county of Lawrence, simple justice is done a biographical fact, recognized throughout the community by those at all familiar with his history and cognizant of the important part he has acted in the circles with which he has been identified. His career presents a notable example of those qualities of mind and character which overcome obstacles and win success, and his ex- ample is eminently worthy of imitation.
Robert N. Palmer first saw the light of day on November 11, 1848, on the paternal homestead, about four miles east of Bedford, Indiana. His par- ents were James W. and Laura (Newland) Palmer, the former born in Farquier county, Virginia, on March 18, 1826, and the latter a native of Lawrence county, Indiana. The subject's paternal grandparents, Joseph and Elizabeth (Fuller) Palmer, came from the Old Dominion state in an early day and settled on a farm about seven miles northeast of Bedford, in Pleas- ant Run township, and there they spent the remainder of their lives, dying there at the respective ages of eighty-two and ninety-four years. James W. Palmer engaged in the mercantile business in Bedford in 1852 and for forty years he was numbered among the enterprising and successful merchants of this locality, being engaged actively in business almost up to the time of his death. To James and Laura Palmer were born two children, the subject of this sketch and one who died in infancy. Mrs. Laura Palmer died on Sep-
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tember 15, 1853, and in 1857 Mr. Palmer married Jennie Johnston, to which union were born five children, namely: Isaiah J., better known as Sida, of Bedford; James W., of Indianapolis; Edward ( Jack), who is assistant book- keeper for the Bedford Electric Company; Mary, wife of Charles H. Strupe, of Bedford, and Goldie Ann Palmer, who remains at home.
Robert N. Palmer was reared on the home farm and secured his ele- mentary education in the public schools of Bedford, completing his general educational training in Indiana University. For a year or two he was em- ployed at ordinary work of various kinds, and then entered the law office of Judge Francis Wilson, devoting the ensuing five years to the study of law, at the end of which time he was admitted to the bar of Lawrence county, and has been engaged in the practice of his profession continuously since. His success was assured from the start, for he early evinced those qualities which make for success in any line of effort-earnestness of purpose, persistent in- dustry, undivided attention and inflexible integrity. During his professional career Mr. Palmer has achieved an enviable reputation in the branch of crimi- nal law especially, having been prominently connected with many of the most important criminal cases tried in the local court, among which were the Towe and Beasley, Tomlison and Gaines, Shaffer, Deckard and Ira Cobb murder cases. He is counsel for the Stone City Bank and since 1893 has been counsel for the Baltimore & Ohio Railway Company. As a lawyer he is well in- formed in his profession and faithful to his clients and the law. He is an honest and fair practitioner, and the record of testimony is ample that he is a good citizen in the full sense of the term, worthy of all honor and public trust.
On November 6, 1879, Robert N. Palmer was married to Louisa La- Force, the daughter of David R. LaForce, an old resident and prominent business man of Bedford. To this union was born one child, Craigie M. Palmer, who is at home. Mrs. Palmer died on March 4, 1887.
In political affairs, Mr. Palmer has for many years been a prominent figure. He has assumed an independent attitude, though nominally a Demo- crat, and in 1896 he supported the gold standard wing of the party, being a delegate to the national convention of the Gold Democrats and a presidential elector from the second congressional district. Recently he has been identi- fied with the Progressive movement. Though never a candidate for public office, he served seven and a half years as a member of the Bedford school board, where he rendered efficient service in the interest of educational affairs. Fraternally, he is a member of the Masonic order. Mr. Palmer, in his life career, has honored the two family names which he bears, both of which have
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been prominent in the annals of the county. His maternal grandfather, Will- iam Newlands, was a prominent man in the early history of this section. With others, he established the Christian church in Lawrence county and helped to build the first church, known as Leatherwood church, in 1836. He died in 1854. Personally, Mr. Palmer is of a genial nature and a very agree- able companion, enjoying a large circle of warm and loyal friends, and it is safe to say that no man in the community enjoys to a greater measure the confidence and regard of the people than he.
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