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 8
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In 1891 Mr. Handy married Miss Mabel Boes, of Kenton, Ohio, daughter of James and Elizabeth Boes. Mr. Handy is affiliated with the
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Knights of Pythias, and his attractive home is at 303 Jackson Street in Anderson.
FRANK D. PENCE. As the owner of a large and well equipped livery and sales stable in the city of Anderson, Mr. Pence has gained marked success and is known as one of the aggressive, enterprising and sub- stantial business men of Madison county. In addition to a general livery business of important order he has built up a profitable enterprise in the buying and selling of horses, and he is recognized as an authorita- tive judge of equine values. He has a wide circle of friends in Madi- son county and further interest attaches to the record of his achieve- ment by reason of the fact that he is a native son of this county and a member of one of its old and honored families.
Mr. Pence was born on the homestead farm of his father, in Rich- mond township, Madison county, Indiana, and the date of his nativity was April 19, 1865. He is a son of John J. and Rhoda (Coburn) Pence, the former of whom continued to reside on his farm until his death, in 1908, at a venerable age, his devoted wife having passed to the life eternal in 1893 and having been a daughter of John Coburn, another sterling pioneer of Indiana and for many years a well known citizen of Richland township, Madison county. John J. Pence was born near Connersville, Wayne county, Indiana, and virtually his entire active career was one of close and effective identification with the great basic industry of agriculture. He was numbered among the early set- tlers of Madison county and was long known as one of the representa- tive farmers and stock-growers of Richland township, where he was the owner of an excellent farm of one hundred and twenty-eight acres, upon which he made the best of improvements, including the erection of sub- stantial buildings. He died in Union township. He was a soldier dur- ing the Civil war and a Democrat in politics. He was a man of inflexible integrity and well fortified views, was liberal and loyal as a citizen and commanded the high regard of all who knew him. His father, Adam Pence, was one of the very early settlers of Madison county and did well his part in the development and upbuilding of this section of the state, the while he was known and honored for his sterling qualities.
Frank D. Pence has never had cause to regret the discipline which he received in the formative period of his life, and in connection with the work of the home farm he learned valuable lessons of responsibility and practical industry. He made good use of the advantages afforded in the district schools and continued to be associated with his father in the work and management of the home farm until he had attained to bis legal majority. At the age of twenty-five years he took unto himself a wife, who has proved a devoted companion and helpmeet, and shortly after this important event in his career he rented the old Pence home- stead, upon which he instituted independent operations as an agricul- turist and stockgrower. He applied himself with characteristic energy and ambition and thus his success was of substantial order. After the passage of a few years he purchased a farm of one hundred and twelve acres, in Union township, and in addition to continuing his successful operations as an agriculturist he began to purchase horses, which he brought into good condition and placed upon the market. His opera- tions in this branch of his enterprise expanded in scope and importance and at various times he was the owner of exceptionally valuable horses, several of which he sold at an approximate sum of five hundred dollars
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each. He is still the owner of his farm, upon which he has made such improvements as to mark the place as one of the model farms of the county, and he gives to the place a general supervision and he is also the owner of a considerable amount of real estate in the city of Anderson.
Mr. Pence continued to reside on his farm until 1899, when he re- moved to Anderson, where he engaged in the livery business and also continued the buying and selling of horses, in both of which lines of enterprise he is now one of the leading representatives in Madison county. In 1906 Mr. Pence purchased the Oliver Osburn livery and sales stables, which constitute one of the landmarks of Anderson, and here he has since continued his successful business operations. His stables are well supplied with excellent horses and vehicles and he gives careful attention to maintaining of the livery department of his busi- ness at a high standard, with the result that the same received a large and appreciative patronage. His operations as a dealer in horses are based on a technical knowledge gained through wide experience and he controls a most prosperous business in this line.
Though liberal and public-spirited in his civic attitude, Mr. Pence has had no desire for the honors and emoluments of political office. He accords a staunch allegiance to the Democratic party and in a fraternal way he is identified with the local organizations of the Loyal Order of Moose and the Improved Order of Red Men.
In the year 1892 Mr. Pence was united in marriage to Miss Susan Bronenburgh, of Chesterfield, this county, and they became the parents of three children, Leslie and Hazel. M., both of whom are deceased; and Harold L., who remains at the parental home, the same being an attrac- tive residence at 802 Park avenue.
C. K. MCCULLOUGH. Until his death on October 31, 1909, Carroll K. Mccullough was one of the foremost leaders in the business activities of Anderson and Madison county. He was known as a banker in the local insurance field, as a legislator, and in many ways was identified with the public life of his county and state. The MeCulloughs have for sixty years been prominent, in the history of Madison county, and members of three generations have given their enterprise and character to the framing and development of the varied life and interests of this locality.
The late C. K. McCullough was born in Madison county, September 4, 1855. The old Mccullough homestead farm was located near the city of Anderson, and the late Mr. Mccullough retained its ownership until his death. He was a son of Neel C. and Maria ( Edgerle) MeCul- lough. His grandfather was one of five brothers who came from Scot- land and located at Oxford in Butler county. Ohio.
Neel C. MeCuilough, who during his day and generation took a prominent part in commercial affairs in Madison county, was born in Butler county, Ohio, December 25, 1820, was educated in the Miami University and was a classmate of the former president. Benjamin Harri- son. At Oxford he learned the drug trade, and in 1852, having located at Muncie, Indiana, he established a hardware store there. Two years later, in 1854, he moved to Madison county and located on a small farm two miles southwest of Anderson. He proved an enterprising and suc- cessful farmer, and eventually became the owner of eight hundred acres of improved land.
. - In the spring of 1855 Mr. McCullough established the Old Citizens
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Bank, the first financial institution in the history of Anderson. In that enterprise he was associated with Byron K. Elliott, who afterwards became chief justice of the Supreme Court of Indiana. When the National Bank Act became a law in 1863, Mr. McCullough and Mr. J. G. Stilwell organized the Citizens Bank into the First National Bank of Anderson, with Mr. Mccullough as cashier. But he afterward with- drew from the institution and for several years was actively engaged in the grocery and hardware business.
The First National Bank having in the meantime failed, Neel C. Mccullough, in 1871, organized the Citizens Bank, which he managed alone until 1873. His son, the late Carroll Kay, then became interested in the bank, and the firm was thereafter known as N. C. Mccullough & Company. In 1897 W. T. Durbin, of Indianapolis, and later gover- nor of Indiana, was admitted to the firm and the capital was increased to fifty thousand dollars. In 1881 Mr. D. F. Mustard took the interest of C. K. McCullough, and the latter then retired, but four years later bought Mr. Mustard's interest. In 1887 the Citizens and the Madison Banks were consolidated under the name of N. C. Mccullough & Com- pany, with N. C. Mccullough as general manager. While a banker the latter also managed his large farming and other interests. In 1868 he platted N. C. McCullough's first addition to Anderson, a tract of land now comprising that portion of the northwestern quarter of the city. In 1875 he bought the Artificial Gas Plant, operating it until 1887, when natural gas was discovered. He was an active Republican until the nom- ination of Horace Greeley by the Democrats in 1872, and then became a Democrat and was active in the cause of the latter party as he had been in behalf of the Republicans.
The wife of Neel C. McCullough was born in Sehnectady, New York, and was a daughter of George W. Edgerlee, who went from New Hamp- shire to New York and later to Montgomery county, Ohio. The daughter was reared in Ohio, and was educated at Oxford Female College, being a schoolmate of Carrie Scott, who afterward married Benjamin Harrison, president of the United States. Mrs. Neel C. Mccullough is a leading member of the Methodist church in Anderson. She resides in the old homestead in that city, and became the mother of five children, three of whom grew to adult years. The daughter Bertha M. became the wife of Hon. W. T. Durbin, a former governor of Indiana; Carroll K. was the next younger : and Maud married Dr. C. N. Branch.
The late C. K. McCullough was reared in Anderson and began his education in the local schools. While attending Asbury (now DePauw) University at Greencastle occurred the failure of the First National Bank of Anderson and then the reorganization by his father of the Citizens Bank, and at this juncture in the community and family's financial affairs his father gave Carroll the choice either to continue school or to go in business with the newly organized Citizens Bank. He chose the latter course, and at the age of eighteen years became identified with banking, and continued with the Citizens Bank until 1881. In that year he assumed the management of the Artificial Gas Plant, and thus continued until the plant was abandoned in 1887.
In the great era of local business improvement which set in with the discovery of natural gas in 1SS7, the late Mr. Mccullough became one of the most energetic factors, and not only developed a large business of his own, but lent his efforts liberally and freely to the general welfare of the community. At the outset of Anderson's prosperity following
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the natural gas discovery Mr. Mccullough laid out ninety-one lots in Park Place and twenty-seven lots in what was known as the second addi- tion, and in order to stimulate purchase he built fourteen houses, all of which were quickly sold, as well as the majority of the lots. In 1890, in connection with W. T. Durbin and other members of the family, Mr. Mccullough built what has long been known as the post-office block, with a frontage of seventy-two feet on Ninth street, a three-story build- ing, one of the largest and most conspicuous structures in the business history of this time. He also owned a large farm on Pendleton Pike southwest of Anderson, and he was one of the leading men in the organi- zation of the Anderson Driving Park Association, the association having eighty-four acres of level ground and a fine one-mile track. He was also the owner of Riverside Park, a beautiful plat of ground between Anderson and the White river.
Mr. Mccullough continued actively identified with the Citizens Bank of Anderson until the organization of the Liberal Life Insurance Com- pany in 1900, and thereafter was nominally in the bank in the capacity of manager. He was secretary and manager of the newly organized Liberal Life Insurance Company, and was one of the eleven original directors, of whom nine survived in 1909, the time of the death of Mr. Mccullough. The other associates in the insurance company at the beginning were: The late Major J. H. Terhune, R. P. Grimes, Thomas J. Nichol, Daniel Goehler, James Wellington, George Shreeve. S. L. Van Patten and Robert Schenck. After the death of Mayor Terhune in March of 1909 Senator Mccullough became president and manager of the company, and this addition to his many other interests and duties was largely responsible for his quickly failing health, ending in his death.
C. K. MeCullough was an active Democrat, and was a member of the state senate at the time of his death. He had been elected a state senator in 1908, and served in the session beginning in 1909, but still had the second session before him. In 1907 he was elected a member of the House of Representatives. In 1888 he had been the nominee of his party for senator from Madison and Grant counties, but the district was then strongly Republican and he was accordingly defeated. He also gave local service as a school trustee and city councilman, and to the extent of his ability was always ready to assist and co-operate with local enterprises. He organized the first volunteer fire department of Ander- son, and was secretary and treasurer of every fair association until his passing away. He organized and was the first exalted ruler of the Anderson Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, was a past commander of Anderson Commandery, Knights Templars, and was also a past master and a past high priest of other bodies in the York Rite, and at the time of his death was treasurer of Mt. Moriah Lodge A. F. & A. M. and Grand Senior Warden of the Grand Commandery of the state of Indiana. His other fraternal affiliations were with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Royal Arcanum and the National Union.
In 1877 Mr. Mccullough married Miss Hattie Black, who was born in Union county, Indiana, a daughter of Mcfarland Black, one of the pioneer farmers of Richland township. Mrs. McCullough received her education in the Anderson high school. Their three children are Mildred, Neel and Mary.
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NEEL M. MCCULLOUGH. As cashier of the Citizens Bank of Ander- son, as a member of the firm of Vinnedge-Mccullough Real Estate Agency and as president of the Pierce Speed Controller Company, Neel M. Mccullough is a worthy successor of his late father, and though one of the youngest independent business men, is successfully super- vising the many important interests entrusted to his management.
Neel M. Mccullough was born in the city of Anderson, March 19, 1886, the only son of the late Carroll K. and Hattie B. (Black) McCul- lough. His early education was obtained in the grammar and high schools at Anderson, and after graduating from the latter he entered Culver Military Academy at Lake Maxinkuckee, where he was graduated in 1904. In the fall of the same year he entered the University of Mich- igan, but left that institution after one year to enter the banking busi- ness. Entering the Citizens Bank in 1905, he went through the entire routine of banking, and in 1911 was promoted to the office of cashier, his present position. He is the secretary and treasurer of the Anderson Club, the city's leading social organization.
In 1907 occurred the marriage of Mr. McCullengh to Miss Char- lotte Gedge, a daughter of Burton H. Gedge, one of Anderson's well known business men. The two children born to Mr. and Mrs. McCul- lough are Carroll Kay and Burton Gedge. Mr. MeCullough is a prominent Mason, affiliated with Mt. Moriah Lodge, No. 77. A. F. & A. M., of which he is the treasurer; with Anderson Chapter, No. 52, R. A. M .; Anderson Council, No. 62, R. & S. M .; and Anderson Com- mandery, No. 32, K. of T. He also has fraternal relations with the Royal Arcanum and the order of Ben Hur. The Mccullough home is a substantial brick residence at 424 West Tenth street.
JAMES M. LARMORE. Born near Arcola, Douglass county. Illinois, September 26, 1874, the youngest son of Matthew T. and Mary ( Wild- ridge) Larmore. The father was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, August 15, 1832, the mother in Franklin county, Indiana, January 1, 1834.
The son attended the common schools of Indiana and graduated in 1891, after which he spent some years on the farm, reading law in the winter, and one year in the office of Lovett & Holloway, Anderson, Indi- ana, up to 1898, when he engaged in the insurance business, locating in Pendleton, Indiana. IIe continued there for a period of about three years, after which time he moved to Anderson, Indiana, and engaged in the same business with the old firm of Jackson & Burr, it being known after his connection therewith as The Jackson-Burr Com- pany, which continued in the insurance business from the time of his connection to the first day of January, 1913, when the company was con- solidated with the Farmers Trust Company, of which Mr. Larmore is now a stockholder and on its Board of Directors. He is also State Agent for Indiana and Illinois for the Norwich Union Fire Insurance Society, having held this position since 1904.
He was married to Laura A. Lewis, October 16, 1901. Laura A. Lewis was the daughter of James M. and Eliza M. Lewis of Markle- ville, Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Larmore have three children, two daugh- ters and a son, Eliza Agnes, Mary Louise and James Matthew. The father of Mr. Larmore is still living at the age of eighty-one. the mother having died at the age of seventy-seven years. The home of the Lar- more family is at 300 West Thirteenth Street, Anderson, Indiana.
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SANFORD M. KELTNER. Eminently entitled to specific recognition in this history of Madison county is Mr. Keltner, who was one of the repre- sentative members of the bar of this section of the state for twenty-six years. He is president of the Anderson Trust Company and vice-presi- dent of the Anderson Computing Scale Company, two of the important corporations of the county, and he is known and honored as a citizen of substantial worth of character and marked loyalty and public spirit.
Mr. Keltner claims the Buckeye state as the place of his nativity and is a son of one of its sterling pioneer families. He was born in Preble county, Ohio, on the 10th of July, 1856, and is a son of Joseph and Rachel (Paulus) Keltner. He gained his rudimentary education in the schools of his native county and was about nine years of age when, in 1865, the family removed to Darke county, Ohio, where his mother's death occurred when he was eleven years of age. Shortly afterward Mr. Keltner came to Indiana and found a home with James P. Burgess, an old gentleman who was then living two and one-half miles south of Richmond, Wayne county. Mr. Keltner remained in this kindly home until he had attained to the age of fifteen years, and in the mean- while he had duly availed himself of the advantages of the local schools. At the age noted he went to Pierceton, Kosciusko county, this state, where his father had established a home after contracting a second mar- riage. At Pierceton the subject of this review continued his educational discipline in the public schools and he soon proved himself eligible for pedagogic honors. For some time he served as an able and popular teacher in the schools of Kosciusko county and in 1875 he entered the Indiana State Normal School at Terre Haute, where he continued his higher academic studies for two years. For several years thereafter ne divided his time between teaching and attending school, and in Septem- ber, 1881, he came to Anderson and assumed the position of principal of the public schools. He was most earnest and successful in his work in this connection. After devoting three years to teaching and esecu- tive duties in the city schools Mr. Keltner initated the work of preparing himself for the exacting profession in which he has achieved much of distinction and precedence. In June, 1884, he began the study of law in the office and under the able preceptorship of the firm of Robinson & Lovett, and he made rapid progress in his absorption and assimilation of the science of jurisprudence, with the result that he was admitted to the bar in 1886. After having been for three years identified with the activities of the firm mentioned, its members showed their appreciation of his character and ability by admitting him to partnership, where- upon the title of the firm was changed to Robinson, Lovett & Keltner. This effective alliance continued until Colonel Robinson, the senior member of the firmn. was called to the bench of the appellate court, after which the firm of Lovett & Keltner continued the business. The firm of Chipman, Keltner & Hendee, of which Mr. Keltner subsequently be- came a member, was formed on the 1st of June, 1893, and gained pres- tige as one of the leading law firms in this part of the state. On the 1st of June, 1910, Mr. Keltner severed his connection with the law firm of Chipman, Keltner & Hendee, of which he had been an honored and valued member for a period of seventeen years, and thereupon he assumed the active management of the Anderson Trust Company, of which 'he is now president and to the affairs of which he gives all of his time and attention. He is one of the alert and liberal men of Madi- son county and has contributed in generous measure to the civic and
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material progress and prosperity of his home city, where it may well be said that his circle of friends is coincident with that of his acquaint- ances. As a lawyer he has been concerned in much important litigation in the courts of this section of the state and his reputation in his chosen profession is on a parity with his recognized ability and success as one of its prominent representatives in Madison county.
In politics Mr. Keltner has been found a staunch and effective exponent of the cause of the Republican party, and while he has not been imbued with ambition for political office he has served in local positions of trust and in the same has shown himself animated by the utmost civic liberality and progressiveness. He was for seventeen years a valued member of the Anderson board of education and he has been most zealous and enthusiastic in advancing the standard of the schools of the county. . During the administration of Mayor John H. Terhune Mr. Keltner served as president of the board of public works of Anderson, and in this position he made his labors inure greatly to the good of the city and its people. He is affiliated with the local organ- izations of the Masonic fraternity, the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks, and the Knights of Pythias.
On October 20, 1886, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Keltner to Miss Alice May Cockefair, who was born in Union county, this state, and who is a daughter of Sylvanus and Mary A. Cockefair. The two children of this union are Ruth and Mary. The family are members of the Presbyterian church.
DANIEL L. BOLAND, Clerk of the Court of Madison county since Jan- uary 1, 1911, and for a number of years engaged in the insurance and loan business. is one of the more prominent and popular men of the city and county in which he has long been located. Born in Henry county, Indiana, Daniel L. Boland is the son of Patrick and Ellen (Tierney) Boland, the father a native of County Tipperary, Ireland, and the mother of the same place.
Patrick Boland was educated meagrely in the schools of his native land and passed his boyhood days on a farm. His marriage to Ellen, daughter of Daniel and Katherine (Kiley) Tierney, took place in Janu- ary, 1845, and some five years later Mr. Boland determined to try his fortunes in America. He left his wife and three small children in the care of his parents and hers and accordingly set forth, reaching New Orleans in 1850 and soon after coming to Dearborn county, Indiana. Two years later his wife left the Island home to join him here, accom- panied on the long journey by her only surviving child, two others hav- ing died in the absence of the husband and father. In Dearborn county the little family, re-united after two years of separation, settled down, there remaining until 1855, when they removed to Middletown in Henry county, Indiana. While there Mr. Boland was employed as a section foreman on the railroad, and was a much trusted and faithful employe. In 1883 the family removed to Anderson where the father died on March 21, 1884, aged sixty-six years. He was a staunch Demo- crat. taking a true Irishman's interest in the politics of his community, and being ever the loyal supporter of his Democratic friends in their political aspirations. He was a Catholic, as was his faithful wife, and they reared their family of twelve children in the faith of their fathers. At the time of the death of Mr. Boland seven of the children were living A man well known for his many excellent traits of character, he was
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