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 55
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On October 31, 1897, Mr. Downs was united in marriage with Miss Cora A. Noble, who was born six miles north of Elwood, in Madison county, Indiana, daughter of John Henry and Jane (Dickey) Noble. Two interesting children have been born to this union: Gladys and. Marian. Mrs. Downs' parents were both born in Indiana, her father in Rush county and her mother in Madison county. Mr. Noble died on his farm in Madison county, March 23, 1912, aged sixty-seven years, his wife having passed away in 1890, when but thirty-four years of age. They were the parents of seven children: Cora A., who married Mr. Downs; Bertha; Blanche; Samuel; Edward; Addie and Verilla ; Edith. who died at the age of two years. The father of these children was a school teacher in young manhood. The paternal grandfather of Mrs. Downs was Jonathan Noble, who married Lucinda Jane Smith, both being natives of Ohio. They both reached ripe old age and passed away in Madison county, where they had been early settlers. They were the parents of seven children : Adeline, John Henry, Perry, Hattie, Laura, James and Benjamin. The maternal grandparents of Mrs. Downs were Samuel and Sarah (Miller) Dickey, natives of Indiana and early settlers and farmers of Madison county, where the grandfather passed away in middle life, while his widow still survives him and is still liv- ing at the advanced age of eighty-five years. They were the parents of five children, namely :_ Jasper, John, Lavina, Jane and Edward.
LEE F. HUNT, M. D. It is not an infrequent or unusual occurrence for the men of a family to show an inclination for the same line of busi- ness or profession, son following father in a similar calling through several generations in many cases. Especially is this true in the medical profession, and a case in point is found in Dr. Lee F. Hunt, of Ander- son, a physician, son of a physician and grandson of a physician. Dr. Hunt has been engaged in practice in Anderson for ten years, and is in the enjoyment of an excellent professional business, his unques- tioned ability having attracted to him a representative clientele from among Anderson's leading people. Lee F. Hunt is a native son of Madison county, Indiana, born in the city of Alexandria, May 1, 1877, a son of Dr. John Walter and Etta (Brickley) Hunt.
William A. Hunt, the paternal grandfather of Lee F. Hunt, was
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a native of Ohio, and in young manhood came to Indiana as a pioneer physician. He traveled all over Madison county, either on horse-back or by carriage, and was known wherever there were settlements as one ·who was ready at all times, in all weather, to answer the call of his suffering fellow-men. He led the typical existence of the pioneer conn- try physician, and while he laid by no great fortune in earthly goods. he gained that love and affection which cannot be bought with money. His son, who inherited many of his father's sterling traits of char- acter, was born in Madison county in 1859, and, like the elder man, became highly esteemed and widely known, although his field was nee- essarily more restricted, and the greater part of his active career was passed in Alexandria. He was a valued member of the Madison County Medical Society, the Indiana Medical Society and the American Medical . 'Association, and in his death his community lost a man who stood high in the ranks of his profession. He passed away in 1904. Dr. Hunt married Miss Etta Brickley, a daughter of Dr. W. P. Brickley, a promi- nent physician of Madison county.
Lee F. Hunt received his preliminary educational training in the public and high schools of Anderson, Indiana, and after some prepara- tion entered the State University at Bloomington, this state, from which he graduated in 1899, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In the fall . of the same year he matriculated in Rush Medical College, Chicage. and in 1900 entered the medical department of Kentucky University. He was graduated from the last named institution in 1903, and at once returned to Anderson, where he opened an elegantly appointed suite of offices in the Union building, where he has continued to carry on a general practice. Dr. Hunt is a close and careful student, and is fully informed as to the advancements. inventions and discoveries which are constantly being made in his profession. He is a strict adherent of the unwritten ethics of the fraternity, and among his professional brethren bears a high reputation. He has never practiced the arts of the char- latan, but has done all in his power to maintain the high dignity of his honored calling and to forward the work of the Madison County Med- ical Society, the Indiana State Medical Society and the American Medical Association, of which organizations he is a valued member. Dr. Hunt also holds membership in the Beta Theta Pi and Phi Chi medical fra- ternities, and he also has membership relations with Mr. Moriah Lodge. Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
In 1908, Dr. Hunt was married to Miss Martha Carr, formerly of New Hampshire, who at the time of their marriage was a resident of New York. To this union there have been born two children-John Carr and Elizabeth. When Dr. Hunt can find leisure from the duties of his large practice he delights in travel, in the winter months taking trips to the south and in the summer months, with rod or gun, spend- ing his vacations in more northerly resorts.
BLAINE H. BALL. Probably the law has been the main highway by which more men of merit have advanced to prominence and posi- tion in the United States than any other road, and it is not unusual. therefore, to find among the leading citizens of a community a member of the legal profession. A prominent figure in many of the legal con- troversies of the Madison county bar, a man of unerring judgment. and one able in the solution of many complexities, Blaine H. Ball, of Alex-
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andria, has long been known as one of this city's most influential men. He is a native of the Hoosier state, and was born in Rush county, July 13, 1879, a son of Cyrus W. and Sarah E. (Wilson) Ball.
Jonathan and Asenith Ball, the paternal grandparents of Blaine H. Ball, were natives of Pennsylvania, from whence they drove through to Indiana at an early day, and settled in Rush county. In early life Mr. Ball had been a tailor, but on coming to Indiana took up govern- ment land and became a successful farmer, being the owner of 1200 acres at the time of his death, which occurred when he was ninety-two years of age. He and his wife were the parents of these children : Henry, Demosthenes, William, Caleb, Cyrus, Mary and Emily. The maternal grandparents of Mr. Ball were natives of Maryland, and were early settlers of Fayette county, Indiana, where they passed the clos- ing years of their lives in farming. Their three children were: Jona- than, Melissa and Sarah.
Cyrus W. Ball was born in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, in 1832, and was a child of three years when he accompanied his parents in an ox-wagon in their journey to Rush county, Indiana. There he grew to manhood, being reared to agricultural pursuits, improved an excel- lent farm, and continued to live within a mile of the old homestead throughout the rest of his life. He died there in May, 1903, when seventy-one years of age, while his widow still survives him and resides at Rushville. She is a native of Fayette county, Indiana, and is a member of the Methodist church, with which her husband was identi- fied. During the Civil war he served as a private during the ninety- day service. Cyrus W. and Sarah E. Ball were the parents of four children : Osmer W., who resides at Malta, Idaho; Pearl, deceased. who was the wife of A. J. Shelby; Eva M., who lives with her mother at Rushville, Indiana ; and Blaine H., of Alexandria.
Blaine H. Ball was reared on his father's farm, on which he worked until he was eighteen years of age, in the meantime pursuing his studies in the district schools and the Carthage High school. When eighteen, he began studying law and stenography, in the office of his brother- in-law, A. J. Shelby, at Lebanon, Indiana, and in the fall of 1901 entered the Indiana Law school, at Indianapolis, being graduated there- from in 1903. In the spring of that year he came to Alexandria, where he has since been engaged in the practice of his profession, his native ability and conscientious devotion to the interests of his clients having attracted to him a very satisfactory professional business. He main- tains well-appointed offices at No. 2051/2 North Harrison street.
Mr. Ball belongs to Alexandria Lodge No. 235, Free and Accepted Masons, of which he is the present master; Alexandria Chapter No. 99, Royal Arch Masons; Alexandria Council No. 85, Royal and Select Masons, and has attained to the thirty-second Scottish Rite degree. He also holds membership in Alexandria Lodge No. 335, Knights of Pythias, and Alexandria Lodge No. 478, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is a Republican in politics, and his general popu- larity was attested when he was elected city attorney for five years under a Democratic administration. Mr. Ball's religious connection is with the Methodist church.
SHERIDAN BRONNENBERG. Among the names of those intimately associated with the pioneer history of Madison county is that belong- ing to the Bronnenberg .family, members of which located here at a
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day when the most primitive conditions prevailed and through thr !! work developed excellent farming property out of raw prairie land and timber. The first male white child born in the county bore this nants. Michael Bronnenberg having been born in what is now Union town ship and a grandson of this progenitor, Sheridan Bronnenberg, is box representing the family worthily, being a successful farmer and store raiser and valued and valuable citizen of Richland township. Although not a native of the county, Sheridan Bronnenberg has been identified with its agricultural interests for many years, and is regarded as on ... of his community's substantial men. He was born in Douglas county. Illinois, in 1869, and is a son of Carl and Polly (Nelson) Bronenberg.
Carl Bronnenberg was born on the old Michael Bronnenberg home- stead farm on Kilbuck Creek, in Madison county, Indiana, and grew to manhood in Union township, there securing his education in the publi .. schools. Some time after his marriage he migrated to Douglas county. Illinois, and there he passed a number of years in farming and rais ing stock. He was uniformly successful in his operations and was known as a good citizen and thorough man of business. He and his wife became the parents of four children, of whom two are living: Sheridan; and Laura, who married Gilbert Mooreland. an agricul- turist of Alberta, Canada, and has four children-Paul, George, Nina and Carl T.
Sheridan Bronnenberg was brought from Douglas county, Illinois. to Madison county, Indiana, when a child, and here was reared to man hood. As a lad and youth he worked on his father's farm, and in this meantime, during the winter terms, secured a good education in th- schools of Center, Thornberg and College Corner, and for a time was also a pupil in the old schoolhouse situated on the Conner farm. Mr. Bronnenberg continued to remain with his father until twenty-seven years of age, at which time he decided to embark upon a career of his own and accordingly rented a tract of land from his grandfather and started operations in farming and stock raising. Industry and perse. verance brought him a well-earned success, and in 1911 he removed to his present property, a handsome tract of land located in Richland township about one mile from the city of Anderson. Mr. Bronnen- berg is a practical farmer, but is ready at all times to give innova- tions and new ideas a trial, believing thoroughly in the use of pro- gressive methods. He has been successful alike in general farming and stock raising, and in addition for some years has bred draft horses for the markets, his animals meeting with a ready sale. Thoroughly busi- ness like in his methods, he has won the esteem and respect of his asso- ciates, who have shown their confidence in his judgment on numerous occasions.
On January 29, 1896, Mr. Bronnenberg was united in marriage with Miss Anna Green, daughter of George W. and Lydia (Kirkman) Green, and to this union there have been born four children, namely : Bernice, Edna, Forrest and Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Bronnenberg are faithful members of the Christian church, and have repeatedly given of their time and means in assisting to support its various religious and charitable movements. Mr. Bronnenberg is a Republican in poli- ties, but has not cared to enter actively .into public life, although all good movements enlist his interest and co-operation. He has also devoted some attention to fraternal work, and among the members of the local lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Modern
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Woodmen of America, with which he is connected, he has numerous warm friends.
C. B. THOMAS. The manager of the Linwood Jersey Farm, a prop- erty located about seven miles north of Anderson, on the Florida turn- pike, in Lafayette township, C. B. Thomas is one of the self-made men of Madison county, and his career is an excellent illustration of what may be accomplished by the youth of ambition, determination and per- severance. A native son of the county, thoroughly versed in its soil and climatic conditions, with a knowledge of agriculture that has come down to him through a long line of farming ancestors, he has been able to apply his knowledge and inclinations to the management of a prop- erty noted for its famous Jersey cattle.
C. B. Thomas was born August 25, 1888, on the old Thomas home- stead, located one mile north of Linwood, in Lafayette township, Madison county, and is a sou of John U. and Hattie (Ballard) Thomas. The only child of his parents, he lost his father when he was but nine years of age, but went to live with an uncle, Thomas B. Ballard, a veteran of the Civil war. His education was secured in the public schools of Linwood and the high school at Anderson, from which he was graduated in 1908, following which he began his career as an agriculturist, a vocation in which he has since been engaged. Mr. Thomas was married November 7, 1910, to Miss Jones, who is a daugh- . ter of Thomas F. and Sarah F. Jones, and to this union there has been born one daughter: Dorothea Isabella. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas are consistent members of the Christian church. He has never cared for the activities of public life, and his only interest in polities is that of a good citizen, for his time and attention have been too much occupied in his business duties. He is recognized as an excellent judge of cattle, and the breed of Jerseys raised on the Linwood Jersey farm find a ready sale in the neighboring markets and have made an excellent impression wherever exhibited. He has been interested in fraternal work to some extent, and is a popular member of the local lodge of Odd Fellows.
GRATTAN A. BUSBY. Madison county is fortunate in that among its substantial agriculturists are found many men of the younger gen- eration, who, in the full strength of their manhood, are able to con- tribute to the needs of this developing locality, adding the enthusiasm and zealousness of youth to the experience and practicality of the older men of the community. A representative of this younger class is found in the person of Grattan Busby, of Anderson township, who - in addition to operating an excellent farm of 120 acres is also exten- sively engaged in the threshing business with two of his brothers. Mr. Busby is by birth, nurture and training a Hoosier. He was born on a farm near Hamilton, Steuben county, Indiana, November 15, 1888, and is a son of John M. and Emma (Brown) Busby. There were nine children in the family: Lena, Charles, Grattan, Blanche, Edith, Harry, Fred, Lloyd and Arthur. Of these, three now reside on the home farm on Anderson Rural Route No. 5.
Grattan Busby was given the advantages of a good educational training, attending the common schools of his native locality and the Anderson high school, and supplementing this with one year at Purdue University. In the meantime, his education as a farmer was not neg-
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lected, for he spent the summer months in assisting his father and brothers in the work of the home place and in gaining the training necessary for his life vocation. On reaching manhood he embarked in general farming and stock raising, in both of which lines he has made a decided success, and in addition, with his brothers, he has taken up threshing, and they now control the majority of the work of this nature in their section. An earnest, industrious and energetic agriculturist. Mr. Busby has allowed no other interests to claim a part of his atten- tion, being satisfied to follow the vocation which his forefathers made their life work. His property of 120 acres is under an excellent state of cultivation, his machinery is of the latest manufacture, his stock shows the beneficial effects of careful breeding, and his products find a ready market at top-notch prices. While he has not entered public life as a seeker after office, he has always taken an intelligent interest in those things which make for progress in his community, and can be depended upon to support good men and measures.
The members of the Busby family have always belonged to the Christian church.
JOHN J. GIBSON, M. D. Twenty years of practice at Alexandria as a physician and surgeon have brought Dr. Gibson special distinction and success as an able and skillful doctor and as a man who devotes himself conscientiously to the duties of professional life.
Dr. Gibson is a native of Canada, and a product of one of the best medical schools of that nation. He was born in Perth, Lanark county, Ontario, February 3, 1866, a son of John and Mary (Scott) Gibson. The partenal grandfather was John Gibson, who married Agnes Murray. On both sides the family is of Scotch ancestry. The grand- father was a merchant in Scotland, in the town of Dumfries, and after transferring his home to Canada followed farming. Both he and his wife attained a good old age before their death, and in their family were the following named children: William, James, Andrew, John, Mary. Elizabeth, Mary Ann and Maggie. Andrew Gibson, of this family. after graduating from Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, practiced medicine successfully for several years in Clinton, Ontario. He then took a post graduate course in London, and Edinburgh and then set- tled in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he enjoyed for about fifteen years a very lucrative and extensive practice. His death was caused by typhoid fever. William and Annie (Harkness) Scott, the maternal grand- parents of Dr. Gibson, had the following children: Edward, Matthew. James, John, Thomas, Mary, Mina, Maggie and Annie. The parents both lived to between seventy and eighty years of age.
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Both John and Mary (Scott) Gibson spent most of their lives in Lanark county, Ontario, on a farm. John Gibson was of age when he left his native land of Scotland, and he located on a farm in Lanark county, where he maintained his home until his death, at the age of forty-nine. His wife survived him and is now sixty-nine years of age. Their church was the Presbyterian. and the father during his life time held various township offices. Their family of children numbered ten, eight of whom reached maturity and are mentioned as follows: Dr. John J. Gibson, of Alexandria; William, of Atlanta, Georgia: Macy. of Lanark county; Jessie, who died in the spring of 1912, the wife of Charles Grant, of Kenora, Ontario; Samuel, of Lanark county: Edith. who is married and resides in the state of New York; James, of Lanark
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county ; Jean, of Lanark county, on the old homestead and living with her mother.
Dr. John J. Gibson was reared on his father's farm, in Lanark county, and as a boy attended the country schools and the Perth Col- legiate Institute, where he was graduated in 1882. The profession of medicine was the goal toward which his ambition centered, but he had to pass through some years of independent effort before he could secure the means to prepare himself for practice. He was engaged as a teacher for six years, and then entered Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario, where he studied until graduation with his medical degree in 1893. In the same year, on the 1st of June, he located in Alexandria, and has enjoyed in later years the best practice in the city.
Dr. Gibson is a member of the Presbyterian church, and his frater- nal affiliations are with Alexandria Lodge, No. 235, F. & A. M .; Alex- andria Chapter, No. 99, R. A. M .; and Alexandria Council, No. 85. He also belongs to the Knights of Pythias, the Odd Fellows, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Alexandria, and in the line of his profession is a member of the County and State Medical Societies and the American Medical Association. His politics are Republican. Dr. Gibson in graduating from Queen's University was valedictorian of his class, and his subsequent successful career has fully justified the prom- ise and hopes raised by his under graduate work.
JOHN KLUMPF, SR. Practically all. the business career of John Klumpp, Sr., has been passed in the employ of the Macbeth-Evans Glass Company, one of the most widely known concerns of its kind in the United States today, if not, indeed, the most famous. He was ten years of age when he first identified himself with the glass business in Pittsburg, and continued there with the main plant until 1902, when he came to Elwood, Indiana, to take charge of the plant at this place. and he has continued as superintendent at this point without interrup- tion since that time. His identification with the glass business has been of a most interesting character, and has brought him into prominence as an expert glass-blower in the largest cities of this country.
Born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, on November 3, 1865, John Klumpp is the son of Charles and Barbara ( Hoffman) Klumpp, both natives of Baden, Germany. They came to America in 1841. Five children were born to them, as follows: Barbara, who died unmarried at the age of nineteen years; Catherine, who married Gust Bodenhagen, and is now deceased; Charles, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; John, of this review; and Frank, also a resident of Pittsburg. The father of this family settled in Pittsburg soon after his arrival in this country and engaged in various activities. He fought in the Civil war as a member of what was known as "The Fifth Heavy" regiment and gave faithful service for something like three years. He died in Pittsburg in 1882 at the age of fifty-five years, and his widow survived him until 1906. when she passed away at the advanced age of seventy-six years. Both were members of the German Lutheran church during their lives.
John Klumpp was born and reared in Pittsburg, and attended the public schools of that city for a few years, but his education was cut short in his boyhood by his advent into the commercial world when he was ten years of age. after which he attended school but little. He began work in the plant of the Macbeth-Evans Glass Company at that age. and has been connected with them for the greater part of his life
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up to the present time, principally in Pittsburg, and coming to Elwow! in July, 1902, to assume the superintendeney of their mammoth plan: at this place.
Concerning this magnificent organization, it may be said briefly lier .. that it was organized in Pittsburg in 1874, being known first as ti ... George A. Macbeth Glass Company. It was reorganized in 1897 as the Macbeth-Evans Glass Company, and now has branches and factori .... in numerous cities throughout the United States. The Elwood branch. was established here in 1892, when the country hereabouts was in the heights of the gas excitement. The plant went into operation with a force of about four hundred persons, a number that has since been increased with the demands of the business until today a force of between five and six hundred people are on the pay rolls of the company here, the same aggregating some $18,000 a month. The principal output of the factory is lamp chimneys, lantern globes and lamp shades, and! the products of the plant are shipped all over the world. About sixty - five thousand globes and chimneys is the average daily output. The company maintains branches at Marion, Indiana; Toledo, Ohio; and Charleroi, Pennsylvania, in addition to their mammoth plant at Pitts. burg, and they employ about twenty-six thousand people in their com. bined factories and offices. The Elwood plant is a fine brick building. admirably suited to the business, and under the able direction of Mr. Klumpp is able to make a fine showing among the various factories of the company.
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