USA > Indiana > Madison County > History of Madison County, Indiana : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II > Part 20
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Patrick S. Bradley was reared in Troy, New York, and there attended the parochial - schools. On completing his education he entered the employ of the Standard Oil Company, at Troy, and following this joined their forees at Bradford, Pennsylvania, where he continued to be employed for upwards of a quarter of a century. In 1894 Mr. Bradley came to Elwood, and this has been his home until the present time. For seven years he was the proprietor of a saloon business, but sold out to become identified with the Home Storage and Manufacturing Company, of which he was president until January, 1913, and since that time has
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acted in the capacity of general manager. This company, with which he has been identified sinee shortly after its inception, manufactures ice and pop and does a coal and cold storage business, and a large force of men is kept busily occupied. Mr. Bradley has the executive ability necessary to the handling of the multitudinous affairs ineident to such a position, and has the thorough confidence of his associates and the respeet and esteem of his men. He has been able to develop and extend the scope of the company's trade, and his dealings have been of a nature calculated to inspire confidence and good feeling.
In October, 1890, Mr. Bradley was married to Miss Elizabeth Doral, who was born near Louisville, Kentucky, daughter of Bryan and Mary (Kavanaugh) Doran, natives of Ireland who are both now deceased. There were five children in the Doran family as follows: Mary. Larry, Elizabeth, James and Bryan. Mr. and Mrs. Bradley have had eleven children : Thomas, Bernard, Marguerite, Viola. Arthur, Edna and Genevieve, and four who died in childhood. Mr. and Mrs. Bradley are members of the Catholic church. They live in their own home, which Mr. Bradley built in 1899, at No. 1003 S. Anderson street, and have many friends in that vicinity. He is a Democrat in his political views. but takes only a good citizen's interest in public matters and has never sought preferment of an official nature.
CHARLES H. HERRING. The career of Charles H. Herring, of Elwood, furnishes an example of the truth of the fact that industry, perseverance and well-directed energy invariably lead to success. Content to start business life in a humble capacity, and to work his way upward through merit, he finds himself today in an enviable position among the business men of this city, and his establishment, at No. 1528 Main street, where he carries a full line of general house furnishings, receives its full share of patronage. Mr. Herring was born at New Albany. Floyd county. Indiana, June S, 1857, and is a son of John and Martha A. (Royse) Herring.
The Herring family originated in Germany, from whence the pro- genitor of the name eame to the United States and settled in Pennsyl- vania, where the paternal grandparents of Charles H. Herring spent their lives. The maternal grandfather, Henry H. Royse. was a native of Indiana, and lived at New Albany, where for years he was engaged .in a tinware and hardware business. He died at that place in his sixty- sixth year, the father of these children: John. William, James T .. Martha A., Louise, Mary and Roxanna. John Herring, the father of Charles H. 'Herring, was born at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and was there educated in the public schools and reared to manhood, learning the trade of tailor. As a journeyman, he removed to New Albany, Indiana. at an early date, and subsequently removed to Illinois, about 1858. where his death occurred. Later she married again, her second husband being James M. Moreland, of Rockville, and they had two children : James W. and Chauncey R. Mr. and Mrs. Herring were faithful members of the Presbyterian church. Charles H. Herring was their only child.
Charles H. Herring resided in New Albany, Indiana, until he was seven years of age. at which time he moved with the family to Rockville. and there attended the public schools. On reaching the age of twenty years, he went to Indianapolis, where he seeured employment in a fur- niture store, with which he was connected for some twenty years, beeom- ing thoroughly familiar with every detail of the business. IIe subse-
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quently eame to Elwood, where he opened a house furnishing store for J. T. Royse, an establishment which he managed for five years, and then bought an interest in the business. Four years later he disposed of this interest to Mr. Royse, and with his brother, Chauncey R. Morlan, formed a partnership and opened a similar establishment. This association con- tinued for three years and ten months, when Mr. Herring bought out Mr. Morlan's interest, and sinee that time has successfully conducted the business alone. Mr. Herring's business operations have ever been hon- orable and straightforward, and his close application, perseverance and unabating energy have enabled him to work his way steadily upward to a place of affluence. He is loyal as a citizen, faithful in his friendships, and enjoys the warm regard of all with whom he has been brought into contact.
On December 23, 1886, Mr. Herring was united in marriage with Mrs. Mary A. Sullivan, widow of William Sullivan, and daughter of Valentine and Martha (Adams) Harlan. Mr. and Mrs. Herring have had no children, but by her former marriage, Mrs. Herring had a daugh- ter, Nellie Sullivan, who married Joseph Mahoney, and had two chil- dren,-Paul; and one who died at birth. Mrs. Herring is a consistent member of the Christian church, where she has many friends. Her husband belongs to Quiney Lodge No. 230. F. & A. M., and Elwood Chapter No. 109, R. A. M., and Anderson Council No. 69, R. & S. M .; to Elwood Lodge No. 368, B. P. O. E., and to Seneca Tribe No. 113, I. O. R. M. His political views make him a Republican, and he has been stanch in his support of the principles and candidates of his party, although he has never desired personal preferment. The pleasant family home is situated at No. 2528 South A street.
GEORGE W. KooNs. It has been the privilege of Mr. Koons to witness practically all the developments and growth of the remarkable industrial city of Madison county. Elwood. since he has lived in this vicinity for nearly thirty years, and his family represent the early settlers in this portion of Indiana. Mr. Koons has been identified with the Elwood postal service for a number of years and is now assistant postmaster, and during his official term has done much to improve and facilitate the mail service in this city.
George W. Koons is a native of Grant county. where he was born February 19, 1868. His family were originally from North Carolina, the paternal grandparents, Alfred and Mary Koons, both being born there. Alfred Koons was a farmer by occupation, and his death occurred near Pendleton, Indiana. In his family were the following children : Alfred, Samuel, Elijah, John, James, Rebecca, and Eliza.
The parents of Mr. George W. Koons were Margaret (Black) Koons. His father, a native of North Carolina, was reared in the mountains of Tennessee, came from that state to southern Indiana when a young man, settling at Brookville, following farm labor and tending stock. He sub- sequently moved into Rush county, where he was married and where he worked at the carpenter's trade. From there he brought his family to Grant county, buying a small farm in the woods, and clearing and improving it, and thus reaching a high degree of material prosperity. His next home was in Tipton county on another farm, and in the fall of 1SS4 he came to Elwood and lived retired for some time. He then moved to a farm in Duck Creek township, but after several years returned to Elwood, where his death occurred in 1909. at the venerable age of eighty-
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nine years. His wife, who was a native of Indiana, was the daughter of early settlers in Franklin county, and her father died in Missouri at a good old age. In the Black family were the following children: Ben- jamin, James, Rachel, Margaret, Elizabeth, Mary, Sallie, Lucinda and Winifred. The mother died in 1911 at the age of seventy-six. Both parents were members of the Christian church. The early boyhood days of George W. Koons were spent in Grant and Tipton counties, and he arrived at manhood in Madison county. The district schools near the home farm gave him his early educational advantages. and as he was about sixteen years of age when the family located in Elwood he attended the public schools of this city and completed his preparation for practical work by study in the Indiana State Normal School at Terre Haute. His first regular vocation in life was as teacher, and during nine years he made a record of efficiency and success in that calling. He subsequently took a clerkship in the Elwood postoffice, was then made a carrier in the city delivery service, continuing in that capacity for four and a half years, and in 1909 was advanced to the position of assistant postmaster, and has since had much of the practical direction and responsibility of. this office.
On the nineteenth of August, 1891, Mr. Koons married Miss Alice Gray, daughter of David H. and Ellen (Nutt) Gray. Mrs. Koons was born in Union county, Indiana, and her parents were also natives of this state and spent most of their lives on a farm just north of the city of Elwood. Her mother died there in November, 1912, at the age of . seventy-six. Her father is still living. The three children in the Gray family were Alice, Lorena and Dora. Mr. and Mrs. Koons have three children, whose names are Howard S., Esther and Marcella. The family worship in the Presbyterian church at Elwood. and Mr. Koons is an elder in that society. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Improved Order of Red Men and in politics is a Republican. A public spirited citizen, one who is always ready to advanee the best inter- ests of his home community, Mr. Koons is giving further public service as a member of the board of education. His home is at 2119 South A street.
CHARLES L. ARMINGTON, M. D. Numbered among the able and hon- ored representatives of the medical profession in Madison county is Dr. Charles Lee Armington, who is a scion of one of the sterling pioneer families of the Hoosier state and who has attained to marked distinction in the profession that was dignified and honored by his father. Dr. Armington has been established in the practice of medicine and surgery at Anderson, the thriving capital of Madison county, for nearly a quarter of a century, has served as county coroner and held other positions of trust, and his hold upon popular confidence and esteem is on a parity with his high professional attainments and sterling worth of character.
Of French and English lineage on the paternal side, Dr. Armington was born at Vevay, Switzerland county, Indiana, on the 23d of February, 1847, and he is a son of Dr. John L. and Eliza B. (Lee) Armington, the former of whom was born at Ballston Springs, New York. and the latter of whom was born in Pennsylvania, as was also her father, Col. Charles W. Lee, who was a distinguished officer in the United States army, in which he was for some time a line officer of the Fifteenth Infantry : he held the rank of colonel at the time of his death, which occurred when he was but thirty-four years of age, and it is worthy of special note that
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he was a kinsman of the distinguished officer of the Confederacy in the Civil war, General Robert E. Lee.
Dr. John L. Armington was a son of Benjamin Armington, who was born in the state of Rhode Island and who was a carpenter and con- tractor by vocation. For a period of years Benjamin Armington main- tained his residence at Ballston Springs, New York, whence he finally removed to Palmyra, that state, near which place he became the owner of a farm situated opposite to Bible Hill, a place so designated by reason of the fact that the hill was that on which Joseph Smith claimed to have found the Mormon bible, the "Book of Mormon." Upon this homestead farm, three miles distant from Palmyra, Benjamin Armington died at the venerable age of eighty years.
Dr. John L. Armington, a man of exalted integrity of character and" of fine intellectuality, admirably fortified himself for the profession in which he achieved unqualified success and prestige. In 1839 he was graduated in the Louisville Medical College, at Louisville, Kentucky, and after receiving from this institution his degree of Doctor of Medicine he was engaged in the practice of his profession at Vevay, Indiana. In 1848, he removed to Greensburg, the judicial center of Decatur county, where he continued in successful practice until 1857, his wife, Mrs. Eliza B. (Lee) Armington, having there passed to the life eternal in the year 1849. Upon leaving Greensburg Dr. Armington removed with his family to Minnesota and became one of the pioneer physicians and sur- geons of that state. He remained for a time at Hastings and then re- moved to Goodhue county, where he purchased a farm, near Cannon Falls, and where he continued in the practice of his profession, in con- nection with the development and improvement of his farm, until he responded to the call of higher duty and entered the service of the Union, the integrity of which was jeopardized by armed rebellion on the part of the southern states. He enlisted in the Second Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, of which he became assistant surgeon, and with which he saw arduous and varied service. He was with his command in numerous engagements, including those of Perryville, Crab Orchard . and Murfreesboro, and finally he was appointed a member of the board of examining physicians for the Army of the Cumberland, with assign- ment to duty with General Steadman's brigade. His service in this capacity had to do with the granting of discharges to soldiers. Later he was appointed physician at Hospital No. 1 at Gallatin, Tennessee, and finally he was transferred to the Army of the West, in which he served as surgeon of the Second Cavalry, under General Polk, until the close of the war. At the battle of Perryville his servant was killed and his horse was shot beneath him. He lived up to the full tension of the great conflict for the preservation of the Union and his record in this con- nection gives lasting honor to his name and memory.'After the close of the war he returned to his home in Minnesota and in 1896 he removed . from his farm to Northville, that state, where he was engaged in the practice of his profession, as was he later at Minneapolis and Marshall. He passed the closing years of his long and useful life at Minneapolis, where he was summoned to eternal rest at the venerable age of eighty- seven years. He served as surgeon of his post of the Grand Army of the Republic, was a Knights Templars Mason and was prominently affil- iated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, as was he also with various professional associations. He was one of the founders of the State Medical Society of Indiana. Of the four children of Dr. John
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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 academie 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 returned 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 earnestness 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 alsc 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.
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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 elothing 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 Quiney 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 Eimer 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 eame 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.
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