USA > Indiana > Madison County > History of Madison County, Indiana ; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 63
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L. and Eliza B. (Lee) Armington the youngest and only survivor is he whose name initiates this review.
Dr. Charles L. Armington was reared to the age of ten years in Indiana, to whose public schools he is indebted for his early educational discipline, and he then accompanied his honored father to Minnesota, where he finally supplemented his academic education by a select course in the Minnesota Central University, at Hastings, Minn. In 1865 he was matriculated in the literary department of the celebrated University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and after a year of study in this depart- ment he devoted a similar period to following the curriculum of the law department. He then complied with the wishes of his father, who desired him to prepare for the medical profession. Accordingly in 1867, he entered the medical department of the same university, where he con- tinued his technical studies for two years. He then returned to Min- nesota and was associated with his father in the practice of medicine at Northville until 1871, when he returned to his native state, having received appointment to the position of assistant physician in the Indiana Hospital for the Insane, at Indianapolis. After acceptably filling this position for three years he resigned and »turned to Minnesota. There he was engaged in general practice in the city of Minneapolis until 1876, when he came again to Indiana and established himself in practice in its capital city, Indianapolis, where he remained until 1879, when he came to Madison county and established his home and professional head- quarters at Chesterfield, where he gained unequivocal precedence and definite success. To fortify himself more fully for the work of his chosen calling he finally entered the Central College of Physicians and Surgeons, at Indianapolis, and in this institution he was graduated in 1886, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine and as valedictorian of his class. Thereafter he continued in practice at Chesterfield until 1891, when he removed to the city of Anderson, where he has been engaged in success- ful general practice during the long intervening years and where he has gained precedence as one of the popular and essentially representative physicians and surgeons of this section of his native commonwealth. He has been indefatigable and self-abnegating in the work of relieving human suffering and distress and it may consistently be said that in his home county his circle of friends is coincident with that of his acquaint- ances. He was appointed county coroner to fill out the unexpired term of the late Dr. William Hunt and thereafter he was twice chosen the incumbent of this office by popular election, as candidate on the Demo- cratic ticket. He has also served with marked carnestness and effective- ness as city physician and as physician to the Madison County Orphans' Home. The Doctor is an appreciative member of the Indiana State Med- ical Society, besides which he holds membership in the American Medical Association. In the Masonic fraternity he is affiliated with Roper Com- mandery, Knights Templar, in the city of Indianapolis, and he also holds membership in the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, and the Improved Order of Red Men. As a citizen he is distinctively loyal and public-spirited and in politics he accords staunch allegiance to the Democratic party. Both he and his wife hold membership in the Christian church. and their attractive home, at the corner of Prospect street and Central avenue, is known for its generous and refined hospitality.
In the year 1873, at Bloomington, Illinois, was celebrated the mar- riage of Dr. Armington to Miss Emma Taffe, daughter of the late Hanni-
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bal Taffe, who was long a prominent and honored citizen of Indianapolis, Indiana. Of the three children of this union the eldest is Florence L., who is the wife of Dr. Samuel C. Wilson, a prominent physician of Anderson; Katherine E. is the wife of Wilbur C. Roush, of Anderson ; and Dr. John C. is an able representative of the third generation of the family in the medical profession. He is engaged in successful practice in the city of Anderson and is well upholding the prestige of the honored name which he bears.
FRANK M. GREATHOUSE. The leading clothing merchant of Elwood, Mr. Greathouse, became a resident of what was then a small town more than twenty-six years ago, and began his career as clerk in one of the local stores. He has advanced himself through his own ability and by persistent application of industry and good judgment and now enjoys a prosperous position second to none among the larger business men of this city.
Frank M. Greathouse was born in Hillsboro, Ohio, August 16, 1859, a son of John and Carolina (Van Winkle) Greathouse, both of whom were natives of Ohio. The paternal grandparents were Isaac and Cath- erine Greathouse, who were natives of Virginia, and representatives of a pioneer family in the early days of the Ohio Valley. The paternal grandparents became early settlers in Highland county, Ohio, where they died at a good old age, the former at the age of ninety-two. In their family were the following children: John, Thomas, Isaac, Addison, Mary J., Johanna and Julia. On the mother's side the grandparents of the Elwood business man were Daniel and Eve (Giddings) Van Winkle, who were early residents in Cincinnati, Ohio, and subsequently moved to Highland county, Ohio. The grandfather was a farmer, and was also employed by the government as a mail carrier. He died when well along in years, and in the large family of the Van Winkles were the following children : Mary A., Lewis, William R., James M., Carolina and Peter W.
John Greathouse, the father, was reared in Highland county, Ohio, and became a merchant and farmer. In Highland county he improved a farm and partly reared his family on that place. Subsequently he moved to Hamilton county, Indiana, in 1865, settling at Noblesville, where he continued his occupation as a farmer until 1870, at which date he took his family out west to Lincoln, Nebraska, where his death occurred in 1872, and where his remains now rest. He was fifty-nine years of age at the time of his death. His widow brought her family back to Ohio, and settled near New Vienna, where her death occurred in 1878 at the age of seventy-one. She, as also her husband, was a member of the Methodist faith. The father took an active part in politics and was an influential Republican. The four children in the family are named as follows: Lewis C., now deceased; Frank M., of Elwood; Mary .S., who died in early childhood; and John, who lives at New Vienna, Ohio.
Mr. Frank M. Greathouse spent his early boyhood days in Ohio. where he attained his early schooling, and in 1865 came to Indiana, and then in 1870 to Lincoln, Nebraska, and at the return of the family to Ohio, grew to manhood in that state. He was reared on a farm, had district school education. and subsequently attended town schools for a time. His occupation up to the age of twenty-five was farming, and in 1886 he came to Elwood a young man without capital, and began his
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career as a clerk in one of the stores in this then small town. In 1902 he opened his own stock of clothing, and since then has conducted a very prosperous business and now has a beautiful store, with a large stock of goods and with a patronage which is drawn from the best class of custom in this city and vicinity.
On May 9, 1891, he married Miss Roxey Brown, daughter of Rudolph and Martha (Wiggins) Brown. Mrs. Greathouse was born in Madison county, and her father and mother were both natives of this state. Her father died in 1896 at the age of sixty-five and her mother died at the home of Mrs. Greathouse in Elwood, January 1, 1913, in the eighty- third year of her life. There was a large family of children, and the three now living are: Mrs. Frank Greathouse; Mrs. George Dice of Tipton, and Frank Brown of Frankfort. Mr. Greathouse, among other evidences of his prosperity, owns some farming interests in Ohio. He is affiliated with Quincy Lodge No. 230, A. F. & A. M., and also with the order of Elks and the Maccabees. In politics he is a loyal Republican.
FRED B. FORNSHELL. Now editor and manager of the Elwood Call- Leader, Mr. Fornshell is a young and enterprising newspaper man, and has proved himself a worthy successor of his father in the work of build- ing up and conducting a first-class newspaper. He was born at Van Wert, Ohio, March 14, 1885, and is the only son and child of Elmer E. and Emma (Conover) Fornshell.
His father, who was reared and educated at Camden, Ohio, first learned the tinner's trade under his father, and followed that occupa- tion for twenty-five years. He then entered the field of journalism, being associated with the two leading Cincinnati papers for a time, and also had experience in Toledo, as society and local editor for the Toledo Commercial. That experience as a newspaper man in Toledo was en- livened and made profitable by association with Brand Whitlock, the versatile journalist, writer, publicist and present mayor of Toledo.
When gas was discovered at Elwood and this town began advancing as an industrial center, Mr. E. E. Fornshell came here in October, 1890, while Daniel G. Reid and William B. Leeds were organizing the Ameri- can Tin Plate Company, the only plant of its kind in the United States at that time. These gentlemen induced Mr. Fornshell to establish a Republican newspaper in the town, and that was the beginning of the Elwood Leader. In 1895 it was consolidated with the Call and has since been known as the Elwood Call-Leader. He was the active manager of this paper for a number of years, until his appointment to the Elwood postoffice, and still retains a considerable share in the enterprise.
Mr. E. E. Fornshell is a communicant of the Universalist faith, while his wife is a Presbyterian. His parents, the grandparents of Mr. Fred B., were Benjamin and Amanda (Bennett) Fornshell, the former still living and engaged in the hardware business at Camden, Ohio. The paternal grandfather was a soldier in the Civil war. Of the three chil- dren Elmer E. was the oldest and the others are Glenn B. and Effie.
Mr. Fred B. Fornshell was about six years of age when the family moved to Elwood, so that this city has been his home nearly all of his conscious experience. As a boy he attended the common schools, and after leaving the high school he entered the great plant of the American Tin Plate Company. this subsequently becoming a subsidiary of the United States Steel Corporation. He was a clerk in the tin plate plant for seven years, and then entered the Call-Leader office at the time of
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his father's appointment as postmaster. He has since been connected with this paper, and as editor and manager and owner of a portion of the stock has given capable direction to the policy and the news value of the journal.
On the 16th of September, 1908, Mr. Fornshell married Miss Lola B. Callaway, daughter of John W. and Elizabeth (Cochran) Callaway. Mrs. Fornshell is a native of Elwood, where her parents were also born. Mr. John W. Callaway is a banker, farmer and stockman and one of the best known residents in this portion of Madison county. The three chil- dren now living in the Callaway family are Arthur B., Charles A., and Lola B. Mrs. Fornshell is a member of the Christian church, while her husband is a Presbyterian. He is affiliated with Quincy Lodge No. 230 A. F. & A. M. and with Elwood Lodge No. 368 of the Order of Elks. In politics he is a Republican.
ELMER ELLSWORTH FORNSHELL. As postmaster of Elwood since 1905 Mr. Fornshell has performed a large amount of useful public service for his home city, and has managed the affairs of his office to the best advantage and convenience of the citizens. But the accomplishments for which he is best known and by which his name is most closely identi- fied with the city of Elwood were his enterprise in establishing the Leader, and his subsequent connection with that and the combination paper now known as the Call-Leader. Mr. Fornshell has been in the newspaper business for many years and has a special record of success in establishing and putting newly organized papers upon a sound financial basis. He is also active in various business and financial organizations of Elwood.
Elmer Ellsworth Fornshell was born at Camden, Ohio. July 2, 1861, a son of Benjamin and Amanda (Bennett) Fornshell. The family were originally from Pennsylvania where the paternal grandparents, Ben- jamin and Cecelia (Frye) Fornshell were both born. The paternal grandfather was by occupation a tin and copper smith, and during the years before the war was one of the strong abolitionists in his com- munity. He died when ninety-two years of age. The children in his family were William, Thomas, Pomeroy, Benjamin, Matilda, and Belle. The maternal grandfather was Fred Bennett, who married a Miss Sutton. The former was a native of Indiana and the latter of Kentucky, and they were among the early settlers of Lebanon, Indiana, where the maternal grandfather owned a large tract of land. He lived to be seventy and his wife sixty-two years of age. Their nine children were Nelson, Smith, John, Harvey, Amanda, Lucinda, Mary, Ann, and Eliza Bennett.
Benjamin Fornshell, the father, was born at Camden, Ohio, while his wife was a native of near Lebanon, Indiana. Of their five children three are now living, namely : Elmer E., and Miss Effie and Glen, both of Camden, Ohio. The father, who was reared at Camden, followed the same occupation as his father, that of tin and copper smith, and made that the source of his prosperity for sixty years, all of this time being spent at Camden. His wife died on Thanksgiving Day of 1901 at the age of sixty-two. During the Civil war, he entered the Union service, and was in the ranks for more than a year, being a corporal in his company. The parents were both Universalists in religious faith.
Mr. E. E. Fornshell spent his youth at Camden, where he was equipped for life hy attendance in the public schools, and also learned Vos 11-10
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the tinning trade under the direction of his father. A mechanical trade, however, was not in the line of his best talents or inclinations, and in 1881 he went to Cincinnati and became a reporter on the Cincinnati Gazette, and later with the Enquirer for a short time. With this expe- rience on a metropolitan journal, he went to Lima, where he established a daily edition of the weekly Democrat, and soon afterwards to Van Wert, where he likewise brought out a daily edition for the Bulletin. His next enterprise in the field of journalism was at Toledo, where he spent a little more than a year on the staff of the Morning Commercial. This brought him up to the days preceding the great tariff and sound money campaign of 1896, and for his thoroughly proved ability as a newspaper organizer he was sent into the Indiana Gas Belt to establish a paper' for supporting the interests of Mr. Mckinley. For that pur- pose he located at Elwood where the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Works and and the MeBeth Lamp Chimney works had just been located. At that time also Daniel G. Reid and W. B. Leeds were just beginning the erec- tion of the tin plate factory. In this nascent industrial community, Mr. Fornshell established the Leader, a weekly newspaper with which the Call was afterwards consolidated, under the present name of the Call- Leader. He has since been connected with this prosperous journal, one of the most influential newspapers in Madison county.
In politics Mr. Fornshell has been an influential Republican for a number of years. He represented Madison county in the Indiana legis- lature in 1897. In 1905 he was elected to the office of mayor of Elwood, but after a short time in that office resigned in order to enter. upon his duties as postmaster, an office to which he had just been appointed and which he has held now for eight years. Mr. Fornshell is a stock holder in the First National Bank and the Citizens State Bank, and also in the Elwood Trust Company. Fraternally he is a popular member of the local lodge of Elks. His wife belongs to the Presbyterian church.
On the fifth of February, 1884, Mr. Fornshell married Miss Emma Conover at Van Wert, Ohio, a daughter of David and Susan (Merrill) Conover. Mrs. Fornshell was born at Greenville, Ohio, and her parents were natives of that state and for many years resided at Greenville, Van Wert and at Dayton. Her father died in Van Wert, and her mother in Tipton, Indiana. The three children in the Conover family were Edwin, Charles and Emma. Mr. and Mrs. Fornshell have one son, Fred B., associated in the newspaper business with his father.
BERTAN E. SNEED. Any city would do well to have more of such progressive and public spirited merchants and citizens as Mr. Sneed, the druggist and pharmacist of Elwood. Mr. Sneed began his career with little except his brains and energies, and having once got a foot- hold in the drug trade has continued his advantage from one position to another, until now for a number of years he has been an independent and fairly successful business man. Mr. Sneed represents the young and aggressive element of Elwood's citizenship, and the continued advance- ment of the city rests upon the spirit of energy manifested by the group of citizens among whom he is a prominent member.
Bertan E. Sneed, though born in Breckenridge, Missouri, January 27, 1874, represents an old family of Indiana, and presents a somewhat unusual case of a man returning eastward to what may be regarded as his ancestral home. His paternal grandfather was Evan Sneed, who with his wife was a native of Pennsylvania, was a Baptist preacher and one
1
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of the pioneers of his denomination in Indiana. It is related that during some of his early service in the ministry in this state he carried a mus- ket to protect him from the Indians. He was one of the old-fashioned itinerant preachers who rode horse-back over the country, carrying a little supply of clothing and sometimes food, and his bible in the saddle- bags which were part of the inevitable equipment of the preacher and doctor in those days. He finally located at Newbern, Indiana, in Bar- tholomew county, where his death occurred at the good old age of seventy- seven. He had a family of children who were named, William, Shad- rech, Samuel, Perry and Callie.
The parents of the Elwood druggist were Perry and Catherine (Wiley) Sneed, the former a native of Pennsylvania, and the latter of Kentucky. The mother was a daughter of John Wiley, who married a Miss Wolf. He was a blacksmith by trade and a preacher in the Univer- salist faith. The Wiley family were among the first settlers of Bar- tholomew county, locating there about 1835 or 1836, near Hartsville, where John Wiley died in 1876. He was three times married and had twenty-one children by his three wives. The father of Mr. Sneed was reared at Hartsville, Indiana, became a blacksmith and wagon maker, and for many years followed that honorable mechanical occupation. His death occurred at Cowgill, Missouri, in 1886, when about forty years of age. His wife passed away in 1876 at the age of twenty-nine. Their three children were Effie, deceased, who was the wife of O. B. Lawson; Elzie C., of Greensburg, Indiana : and Bertan E.
Mr. Sneed, who lost his parents when he was a little more than a child, was reared chiefly in Breckenridge, Missouri, where he attended the public schools, and after graduating from the high school in 1890 entered the Missouri Wesleyan College at Cameron, where he was one of the popular students four years. Leaving college he began his practical career as a clerk in a drug store at Browning, Missouri, and followed the same occupation at Kirksville and Green City. In 1893 he came to Indiana, and was located at Burney and at Osgood, being married dur- ing his residence at the latter place. In 1902 he came to Elwood, where he worked as pharmacist for five years. He was then in the drug business for himself at Odon, this state, for three years, and in October, 1910, re- turned to Elwood, where he continued his work as pharmacist until 1912. at which time he succeeded Dr. Saylor as proprietor of the leading drug establishment of Elwood. He keeps a fine store, placing special emphasis upon the compounding of pure drugs and careful prescrip- tions, and also maintains a large stock of druggists' sundries.
On April 11. 1900, Mr. Sneed married Miss Lottie McCallister, daughter of William and Adelaide (Burroughs) McCallister. Mrs. Sneed was born in Cincinnati, December 9, 1874, her paternal grand- father being William McCallister, whose wife's maiden name was Val- landingham, both of them being natives of Ohio. Mrs. Sneed's mother died in her native state of Ohio in 1875, and her father now lives in Elwood. The three children in the McCallister family were Horace, Lottie, and one now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Sneed have a household of three children, Charlotte, Marcia, and Ruth. Mrs. Sneed is a member of the Presbyterian church, and he is affiliated with the Osgood Lodge of Masons and the Knights of Pythias. In politics he is one of the stanch Republicans of Elwood.
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ELMER A. GUY. A prospering business man of Elwood who has been identified with this city for the past twenty years, Mr. Guy has two first class stores for the cigar, tobacco and confectionary trade, and his business also includes a similar establishment in the town of Tipton. He carries on both wholesale and retail trade, and by progressive business methods has placed himself in the front ranks of Elwood business leaders.
Elmer A. Guy was born in Walton, Cass county, Indiana, July 11, 1875. The family settled in Cass county during the pioneer period. The founder of the family in that section of Indiana was Alfred Guy the paternal grandfather, the maiden name of whose wife was Quinn. This grandfather had been a soldier in the War of 1812, subsequently came to Cass county when it was a wilderness and while the Indians were still in possession of much of the country, and located in the country ten miles southeast of Logansport. He went out from Indiana as a soldier in the Mexican war, and was captain of his company, during that brief struggle with the southern Republic. His death occurred in Cass county, at the venerable age of eighty-seven years. His wife also attained old age.
Their large family of children were named Andrew, William, Jo- seph, Milton, Lavina, Hattie, Charles, Edward, Emma. The parents of the Elwood business man were Joseph M. and Marthia (Fitzer) Guy, both of whom were born in Indiana. The father of Martha Fitzer was William Fitzer, he and his wife being natives of Ohio, and early settlers in Cass county, where they died at a good old age. In their family were the following children: Mary, Sarah, Melcina, Laura, Martha, Levi, Joshua, Henry, John, George and Jane Fitzer. Joseph M. Guy was reared about Logansport and was a farmer near that city and spent nearly all his life there and reared his children. His home is now near Lewisburg, Ohio, on a farm, and he and his wife are both members of the Christian church. The seven children in the family are named as follows : Elmer A. of Elwood; Lavora, wife of Frank Knight of Wal- ton, Indiana; Harry, of Walton; Jessie, of Lewisburg, Ohio; Bertha, wife of Claude Hammond of Logansport; Elta, wife of W. J. Beckner of Logansport; and Wilda, who is married and lives at Eaton, Ohio.
Reared on his father's farm in Cass county, Elmer A. Guy during his boyhood attended the district schools, and completed his education in the Logansport High School and the Logansport business college. In 1893 he came to Elwood, and became connected with the retail cigar and tobacco trade. He subsequently enlarged his store to handle cigars, tobacco and confectionery as a jobbing business, and still combines these two departments of his business. He has two well stocked and well patronized stores in Elwood and one in Tipton.
On September 13, 1898, Mr. Guy married Miss Maude E. Venard, daughter of Stephen and Mary (Phillips) Venard. Their one son is named Cecil S. Mrs. Guy was born at Walton and her parents were natives of Cass county. Her mother died when about thirty-five years of age. She was one of two children, her brother being named Warren. Mrs. Guy's maternal grandfather was James Phillips. Mrs. Guy is a member of the Presbyterian church of Elwood, and her husband is popular in the fraternal orders of the city. He has affiliations with Quincy Lodge No. 230 F. & A. M .; Elwood Chapter, No. 109, R. A. M., and is a member of Murat Shrine, Indianapolis. He also belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, with Quincy Lodge No. 200, and has membership in Elwood Castle No. 166, Knights of Pythias, with the
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