USA > Indiana > Tipton County > History of Tipton County Indiana > Part 36
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M. V. B. Newcomer was brought to Hamilton county. Indiana, at the age of eleven months and was here reared to manhood. He well remembers pioneer conditions through this section of the state, and was in Indianapolis when it was no larger than Tipton. He grew up on his father's farm and attended the old-fashioned subscription schools, to which he had to walk
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five miles each way daily. Later he attended the public schools, and after- wards was a student in the W. F. W. C. Ensminger School in Boone county. Having determined to take up the practice of medicine as his life work, he matriculated in the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was graduated in 1867, though he had practiced the profession for nearly three years prior to that. He entered upon the active practice at Tipton in 1864, and has practiced here continually since, a period of almost a half century. Prior to taking up the study of medicine, Doctor Newcomer had given some attention to the study of law and had practiced that science for about a year. He has long held distinctive prestige in a calling which requires for its basis sound mentality and intellectual discipline of a high order, supplemented by the rigid professional training and thorough mastery of technical knowledge, without which one cannot hope to rise above mediocrity in ministering to human ills. In his chosen field of endeavor Doctor Newcomer has achieved success such as few attain, and his eminent standing among the leading medi- cal men of Indiana has been duly recognized and appreciated not only in Tipton, the city long honored by his residence, but also throughout the cen- tral part of the state. Doctor Newcomer is a member of the Tipton County Medical Society, the Indiana Medical Society and the American Medical Association, as well as the International Association of Railway Surgeons, the Pennsylvania Railway Surgeons Association, and was for some years a member of the Mississippi Valley Medical Society and the Medical Legal Society of New York City. He has been a railway surgeon for forty years, having been in the first railway surgeon appointed in Tipton and still holding that office. He is local surgeon for the traction lines, and was pension ex- amining surgeon for about thirty-five years. To Doctor Newcomer belongs perhaps the distinction of being the only doctor in America who ever pre- sided at the birth of a baby in an automobile. In addition to his long and creditable career in one of the most useful and exacting professions he has also proved an honorable member of the body politic, rising in the confidence and esteem of the people, and in all the relations of life he has never fallen below the dignity of true manhood, nor in any way resorted to methods that invited criticism. He is a stockholder and vice-president of the Citizens' National Bank at Tipton, a director in the Citizens' National Bank of Delphi, Indiana, and vice-president of the Citizens' Trust Company of Delphi.
On the 14th of December, 1865, Doctor Newcomer was married to Izora J. Wilson, the daughter of Joseph W. and Mary (Craig) Wilson. To
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this union have been born three children, Ora, Clelia and Ethel May. Ora became the wife of James A. Shirk, and they live at Delphi, this state; they are the parents of two children, Herbert and Esther. Clelia is the wife of William B., Mason, of Delphi, and they have four children, Robert N., Ruth N., George and William; Ethel May died in infancy.
Fraternally, Doctor Newcomer is a member of Tipton Lodge No. 1012, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and has for many years been an enthusiastic and appreciative member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Religiously, Mrs. Newcomer has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church continuously since she was fourteen years of age, a period of fifty-six years, and is the oldest in point of membership in that congre- gation. She was born at Darlington, Indiana, on November 7, 1843, her father being a native of Ohio and her mother of Kentucky. Her father was killed on the railroad near Perryville, Indiana, when sixty years of age. To him and his wife were born two children, Mrs. Newcomer and a brother, A. K. Wilson, of Kokomo, Indiana.
WELCOME CLYDE HOWARD.
It is pleasing indulgence to refer to the life and achievements of a man who has been so long and so prominently identified with the material activities of a community as has the subject of this review, and who stands conspicu- ously forward among the leading factors in the continued growth and pros- perity of one of the most flourishing and substantial sections of the Hoosier state.
Welcome Clyde Howard was born in Bloomington, Illinois, October 1, 1871, the son of James L. and Mary Etta (Brown) Howard, the father a native of Alton, Illinois, and the mother of Virginia. They had four sons : William F., of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Edward L., of Bloomington, Illinois; Berl Valentine, of Kansas City, Missouri, and Welcome C. The father was a carpenter and stairbuilder and was reared in Alton, Illinois, but is now living in Tipton. He and his wife are Methodists. During the Civil war he served for two years as a private soldier.
The maternal grandfather of the subject was William Valentine Brown. a native of Virginia, who was an early settler in Illinois. He died at an extreme age, his death occurring in McLean county, that state.
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Welcome Clyde Howard was reared in Peoria, Illinois, and attended the public schools of that city. After leaving home his first employment was in the Wabash railroad shops at Decatur, Illinois, then being transferred to the store room and the baggage room of the same company. He was afterward employed as a brakeman on the Wabash road and then as a fire- man. Leaving the service of this company, Mr. Howard accepted a position with the Lake Erie railway as yardmaster at Bloomington, Illinois, soon being appointed a freight conductor and then a passenger conductor on the same lines. In 1905 he accepted employment as train dispatcher for the Union Traction Company of Indiana, with headquarters at Tipton, also having charge of the instruction of employes for some time.
On June 25, 1895, Mr. Howard was united in marriage to Lilly May Wright, daughter of James.M. and Martha Wright. They have one child, Lewis Edwin. Mrs. Howard was born in Fairbury, Illinois, her parents having one other child, Harry. James M. Wright holds a position in the office of the adjutant-general at the Soldiers' Home in Danville, Illinois.
Mr. Howard is a member of the Methodist church, while his wife be- longs to the Presbyterian church. The subject's fraternal relations are with Austin Lodge No. 128, Free and Accepted Masons; Tipton Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and Tipton Council, Royal and Select Masters; also the Mod- ern Woodmen of the World and the Tribe of Ben-Hur. In political matters, Mr. Howard is a strong supporter of the principles of the Republican party and in 1910 was elected city clerk, which office he now holds, and by his business-like conduct of the affairs of that responsible position he has gained .many friends, who are free to commend his administration of that office, re- gardless of political views.
JOHN O. BEHYMER.
Among the strong and influential citizens of Tipton county, Indiana. the record of whose lives have become an essential part of the history of this section, the gentleman whose name appears above occupies a prominent place and for years has exerted a beneficial influence in the locality. His chief characteristics are keenness of perception, a tireless energy, honesty of purpose and motive and every-day common sense, which have enabled him not only to advance his own interests, but also largely contribute to the
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moral and material advancement of the community. The owner and pub- lisher of the oldest contemporary newspaper in the county, he has long helped mold public opinion along lines conducive to the best interests of the community, and in his hands the interests of the "fourth estate" have never languished for want of a virile and facile pen and a spirit that knows no such word as defeat.
John O. Behymer, editor and publisher of the Tipton Daily Times, was born in Rush county, Indiana, April 9, 1855, a son of William and Martha { Littleton) Behymer, the former a native of Lincoln county, Kentucky, and the latter of Ohio. William and Martha Behymer were the parents of eleven children, namely: Mary J. is the wife of Jacob Hiatt, and resides near Rigdon, Indiana : Perry, of Ordway, Colorado; Andrew J., of Elwood, In- diana ; Rebecca A. is the wife of J. L. Newkirk and lives near Rushville, Indiana; John O., the subject of this review; Franklin P., of Elwood, In- diana; William H .; Christopher R. resides near Rigdon, Indiana; Sarah E., deceased, was the wife of A. T. Corbin, and lived near Sharpsville, Indiana ; Martha M. is the wife of Leander Jones and lives near Indianapolis : one died in infancy.
William Behymer, the subject's father, was a cooper by trade, but after his removal to Indiana, in 1851, he followed farming, first in Rush county, later, in 1861, locating in Grant county, from which, in the same year, he enlisted in the One Hundred and First Regiment, Indiana Volun- teer Infantry, being mustered in as a member of Company H, but later being transferred to Company E, in which he served until the close of the war, being promoted to the rank of sergeant near the close of the conflict. On his return home from his country's service he re-engaged in agriculture. He took an active interest in politics, being a strong supporter of the Demo- cratic party, and was honored by election to a number of offices, having been a justice of the peace in Green township. Grant county. for several terms, where he was a notary public and also practiced law. In Rush county he served as a constable for several years. He died at Rigdon, Grant county, August 25, 1890, at the age of sixty-eight years, his widow, who still sur- vives him, residing near Rigdon. He was a member of the Methodist Epis- copal church, as is his widow.
Solomon Behymer, the paternal grandfather of the subject, wa's a native of Pennsylvania, of German descent, and after attaining his majority he removed to Lincoln county. Kentucky, where the subject's father was born. John Littleton, the maternal grandfather, was a native of the Buck-
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eye state and removed to Kentucky, where he passed away at an advanced age.
John O. Behymer was about six years old when his parents left Rush county and settled in Grant county, and in the latter locality, near Rigdon, he grew to manhood, following an agricultural life, his early education being acquired in the district schools. In 1875 he came to Tipton and taught his first term of school, later teaching two terms in Madison county. In 1878 the subject purchased a half interest in the Windfall News office, which he assisted in conducting, in addition to his pedagogical duties, until the spring of 1880. On the 11th of March of that year he was married, and, coming to Tipton, he purchased a half interest in the Times office. However, Mr. Behymer sold this interest during the following winter and started the Saturday Express, which he owned and managed until the spring of 1883, when he sold the plant and, going to Winamac, purchased the Democrat, which he conducted for about six months. At the end of that period he sold out and returned to Tipton, where he purchased the entire plant of the Times, which he has owned and published since. This paper was established as a weekly in 1855, but since March 19, 1913, the weekly has been discon- tinued and is now issued as a daily. In political complexion the Times is a strong supporter of the Democratic party. It has a large circulation and is liberally patronized by advertisers.
On March 11, 1880, Mr. Behymer was united in marriage to Annie E. O'Banion, daughter of William M. and Martha O'Banion, who were early pioneers in Rush and later in Grant county, Indiana. The father of Mrs. Behymer died in Tipton in 1898 and his wife in Windfall in 1870, the father having been a soldier in the Civil war. To Mr. Behymer and wife have been born two sons, Lawrence O. and Lester.
Mrs. Behymer is a member of the Presbyterian church and also of the Order of the Eastern Star, in which latter order she has served several terms as worthy matron. Mr. Behymer is a member of Austin Lodge No. 128, Free and Accepted Masons, and Tipton Lodge No. 1012, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. For more than twenty-five years Mr. Behymer has belonged to the Indiana Democratic Editorial Association and has served as its president and treasurer. Although never having been a candidate for public office, the subject was chairman of the Democratic county central committee in 1888 and was a delegate to the Democratic national con- vention at Denver, Colorado, in 1908. In his business Mr. Behymer has prospered and, besides owning his splendid home, has several other pieces
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of valuable residence property. Mr. Behymer is one of the strong, sturdy individuals who has contributed largely to the material welfare of the city in which he resides, being an up-to-date, public-spirited man, progressive in all he does, and has the respect and admiration of a large circle of friends.
JOHN H. TRANBARGER.
It is the progressive, wide-awake man of affairs that makes the real history of a community and his influence as a potential factor of the body politic is difficult to estimate. The examples such men furnish of patient purpose and steadfast integrity strongly illustrate what is in the power of each to accomplish, and there is always a full measure of satisfaction in ad- verting even in a casual way to their achievements in advancing the interests of their fellow men and in giving strength and solidity to the institutions which make so much for the prosperity of a community. Such a man is the worthy subject of this sketch, and as such it is proper that a review of his career be accorded a place among the representative citizens of the city and county in which he resides.
John H. Tranbarger, auditor of Tipton county, was born in Quincy (now Elwood), Indiana, on March 29, 1860, the son of David and Eunice (Cook) Tranbarger, who were born in Virginia, the mother being of sound old Quaker stock. They were the parents of seven children: Oliver N., of Anderson, Indiana; Miranda E., wife of William W. Stretcher, who lives north of Elwood, Indiana; Alcana L., of Forest, Indiana; Sarah A., wife of Mr. Smith, of Elwood; John H., of Tipton; Nathan S., of near Muncie, Indiana, and a daughter, Mary, who died at the age of two years. . The sub- ject's father came to Indiana with his parents when a small child, they locat- ing southwest of Elwood, where they entered land from the government, and there David was reared to maturity. He then continued the farm on his own account, and when about thirty-five years old he began the manufacture of brooms. which he continued until his death, in 1910, being in the eighty- fifth year of his age. His wife died in comparatively young womanhood, in 1867. The father belonged to the Christian church and the mother to the Friends. He was a man of prominence in his community, serving during most of his lifetime as justice of the peace. He was a son of Jacob and Sarah (Mumpower) Tranbarger, natives of Virginia, being of German
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descent on the paternal side and Scotch-Irish and German on the maternal. These grandparents died in Madison county, Indiana, the grandfather at the age of forty and the grandmother at the age of seventy-three years. They were the parents of six children, David, Alfred, Gabriel, Joseph, Olive A. and Emeratta.
John H. Tranbarger was reared by his grandmother on the old home- stead farm, his mother having died when he was about seven years old. He secured a good practical education in the district schools of the neighborhood and then taught one term of school. In young boyhood he began working out for six dollars a month at farm work, but after he quit teaching he worked in a store in New Lancaster, this county, afterwards buying an in- terest in the business, and was thus engaged for four or five years. He was elected justice of the peace, being at that time the youngest man elected to such an office in the state of Indiana, and served the greater part of two terms, resigning in order to accept the position of deputy county treasurer, under G. W. Myerly. He had formerly served as postmaster at New Lan- caster and had had good practical business experience. He served as deputy county treasurer during Myerly's term, and then during a portion of Auditor F. M. Price's term he served as deputy county auditor. He then returned to the treasurer's office under Treasurer Lem Darrow, and after leaving that office he was for three years manager of the Tipton Hardware Company, in which he exhibited business and executive qualities of high order. In 1905 Mr. Tranbarger again served as deputy auditor under Dr. T. W. Longfellow, and also under J. F. Barlow. In 1910 he was nominated by his party for the position of auditor and was elected by a majority of over six hundred. the highest majority won by a candidate of his party for twenty years, his predecessor having been elected by the Republicans by over a hundred ma- jority, and Mr. Tranbarger is justifiably proud of the fact that he received the largest vote in his home township of any candidate during the preceding years, he having one hundred and seventy-eight majority. In Cicero, his present home, he received two hundred and one majority, these facts stand- ing as marked evidence of his personal popularity and the faith that his fellow citizens had in his ability and trustworthiness. He has not disap- pointed his friends in any respect in the discharge of his official duties, and is one of the most popular officials Tipton county has ever had.
On August 14. 1887, Mr. Tranbarger married Emma Ressler. the daughter of Abraham and Elizabeth ( Litsinger) Ressler. To this union were born three children. Byron H., Bessie F. and Dallas. Byron H. is
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deputy to his father, and Bessie is also employed in the auditor's office. Dallas died when about eleven months old. Mrs. Tranbarger was born in Minnesota, but from young childhood was reared in Tipton county. Her parents were natives of Pennsylvania, but were early settlers in Tipton county, and here died. The father followed farming and was also an expert blacksmith. They were the parents of nine children : Jeremiah, Susan. John WV., Angeline, Mary J., Ella M., Emma, Nettie and Ida.
Politically, Mr. Tranbarger is a Democrat, while, fraternally, he be- longs to Austin Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and to the Tipton lodge of Odd Fellows and also the encampment. He is also a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Improved Order of Red Men, Som- erset Tribe. He and his family are members of the Methodist church, to which they give earnest support. Kind and genial in disposition, he has won a host of acquaintances and many warm and loyal friends throughout the county which has been honored by his citizenship.
MICHAEL T. SHEIL.
It is a well attested maxim that the greatness of a community or state lies not in the machinery of government, nor even in its institutions, but rather in the sterling qualities of the individual citizen, in his capacity for high and unselfish effort and his devotion to the public welfare. In these particulars he whose name appears at the head of this paragraph has con- ferred honor and dignity on his country, and as an elemental part of history it is consonant that there should be recorded here a resume of his career, with the object in view of noting his connection with the advancement of one of the most flourishing and progressive sections of the commonwealth, as well as his career as a member of one of the most exacting professions to which man can devte his talents and energies.
Michael T. Sheil is a native son of Indiana and was born near Atlanta, Hamilton county, on March 28, 1853. He is descended from sterling old Irish stock, his paternal grandfather, Michael Sheil, who was familiarly known by his friends as "General" Sheil, having been a native of the Emer- ald Isle. His wife bore the native name of Bridget O'Brien. They both lived to advanced ages, he dying at eighty years and she at about ninety. They were the parents of the following children: Ellen, James, John,
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Thomas, Catherine, Mary Ann, Michael, Edmund (who died young), Ann, Victoria and Margaret. Of these children, James, the subject's father, was born in county Tipperary, Ireland, in 1820, and in 1833, when but thirteen years old, came to the United States with his parents, who settled near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1835 they came to Hamilton county, Indiana, where Michael, the subject's grandfather, purchased land from the govern- ment. Here James grew to manhood and he carried on farming for over seventy years on the same farm, his death occurring there at the age of eighty-seven years. He was a well-known and influential citizen of the com- munity and in his active years made many political speeches and was known all over Hamilton and Tipton counties as being very apt and up-to-date. He served as justice of the peace in Jackson township for twelve years, and was a Democrat in his political views. During the Civil war Mr. Sheil was in- strumental in raising a full quota of soldiers in his native township. He married Sarah J. Forkner, who was born in Indiana, and they had two children, Michael T., the immediate subject of this sketch, and Mary A., the wife of Francis H. Gallagher, of Atlanta, Indiana. The subject's mater- nal grandparents were John and - ( Herrington) Forkner, natives of North Carolina, and early pioneer settlers of Hamilton county, Indiana, where they followed farming pursuits and where they spent the rest of their lives, their deaths occurring here. They had a number of children, among whom were James M., Sarah J., Cerilda and William W.
Michael T. Sheil was reared on his father's farm in Hamilton county, Indiana, and received his early education in the district schools of that neigh- borhood, later attending the public schools of Atlanta and supplementing this by five months' attendance at Notre Dame University and two years at the college at Valparaiso, graduating from the classical and scientific courses in the latter. He then spent one year in the law department of the Univer- sity of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and in 1878 was admitted to the bar of Hamilton county. Locating at Noblesville, he studied law under David Moss, and practiced his profession there for a year and a half. He taught school for thirteen years, and on March 31, 1891, he came to Tipton and has con- tinuously practiced law here since that time. Mr. Sheil is an able and re- liable attorney, with a fair acquaintance with the principles, intricacies and complexities of jurisprudence, but his honesty is such that he has frequently advised against long and extensive litigation, and this, too, often at the loss of liberal fees. He has stood high in his profession, and has built up an exten- sive practice in his own and other counties, being frequently retained in im-
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portant cases in other courts. No one knows better than he the necessity of thorough preparation for the trial of cases and no one more industriously applies himself to meet the issues than he. Throughout his entire profes- sional career, Mr. Sheil has been animated by lofty motives and has made every personal consideration subordinate to the higher kinds of duty. Broad and liberal in his views, with the greatest good of his fellow men ever before him, his conduct has been right on the level of the true and loyal citizen. He is ready at all times to make any reasonable sacrifice in the cause in which he has been enlisted. Mr. Sheil has written and published a copyrighted work on the "Immortality of the Soul," and previously had written a work on the "Origin and Perpetuation of the Human Family," both works being of unusual merit, receiving the commendation of some of the best thinkers in our country.
In 1883 Mr. Sheil married Luella A. Phillips, who was born in Ham- ilton county, Indiana, in 1863, the daughter of Charles C. and Jane (Thomp- son) Phillips. These parents came from North Carolina to Indiana, being early settlers of Hamilton county, where they spent the remainder of their lives. They were the parents of three children, Luella A., Ora and Orley. To Mr. and Mrs. Sheil have been born two children, James Carl and Law- rence S. The former is a lawyer and teacher. He served at one time as prose- cuting attorney of Tipton county and is now engaged in teaching in Huron, South Dakota, being principal of a ward school. He married Mabel Brook- bank and they have one child, Genevieve. Lawrence S. Sheil studied medi- cine and later was a teacher in the public schools of Tipton county. He maried Golda Green, who is now deceased, leaving two children, Mary J. and Catherine Judith.
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