USA > Indiana > Marion County > Indianapolis > Pictorial and biographical memoirs of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana, together with biographies of many prominent men of other portions of the state, both living and dead > Part 32
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AND MARION COUNTY, INDIANA. 179
home for two years. He then sold out and bought 160 acres in the same township. He moved on this and later bought forty acres adjoining, and made his home here until 1868, when he moved to Southport, Marion County, for the purpose of educating his children. He sold his Johnson County farm for $10,000 and bought a farm in Perry Township, Marion County, of 120 acres on which he built a brick house. There he lived for about eight years and then moved to Hendricks County, Ind., where he had purchased 208 acres on which were seven magnetic medicated springs, which have a great reputation for their wonderful healing qualities. On this farm our subject lived for ten years. Then a stock company was organized and this company bought the springs and made it a place of resort for invalids. Our subject is one of the board of directors. The wonderful curative properties of these waters have long been known, and countless testimonials of those who have been benefited by their use can be found on demand. The water is absolutely free from organic matter. No stifling odors or unpleasant taste, but delightfully cool, pleasant and refreshing. Our subject left there in April, 1891, and came to Southport, Ind., where he has since lived in a handsome house which he owns. He has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church since 1839 and has served as class leader and steward. While residing in Ohio Mr. Dobyns was second lieutenant of the Ohio militia. He is a Republican in politics although his first presidential vote was cast for Martin Van Buren. His next vote was for Polk and Dallas. Later he voted for John C. Fremont, then for Abraham Lincoln and since that time he has preserved the glorious record of his Republicanism. To his marriage were born eleven chil - dren, two of whom, Mary E. and Alice, died in infancy. The others were named as follows: Missouri C., widow of Robert T. Groves; Mary E., wife of Dr. A. Morgan, of Indianapolis, is the mother of two children, Walter A. and Jerome; Dr. K. P., married Alice Crow; Emma, died unmarried; Thursey, married Mr. Wooley; Olive, died unmarried; John Elsworth, unmarried; Phobe A., deceased, was the wife of J. S. Michael, who was all through the war and is now deceased, and Anna B., who married Edward White and they have one son, Everett.
WILLIAM M. WRIGHT, M. D. More than ordinarily successful among Indianapolis' younger physicians, is Dr. William M. Wright, if the length of time during which he has practiced his profession and the difficulties he overcame in preparing for it are taken into consideration, as they undoubtedly should be. Dr. Wright was born at Bridgeport, Marion County, Ind., March 7, 1863, a son of Peter M. and Martha A. (McCloskey) Wright. Peter M. Wright was born in Decatur township, Marion County, November 24, 1826. His par- ents, Edward and Jemimah (McVey) Wright, located in that township in December, 1825, having lived for a year previous to that time at Flat Rock, Ind. Edward Wright was a native of Maryland, but left the eastern shore of that State when a mere lad. He was a res- ident of Marion County for several years and owned a farm in Decatur Township. He died at Miller's Point, Ky., in 1844. His widow, Jemimah (McVey) Wright, makes her home with her son, Peter M. Wright, in Indianapolis. She has attained to the advanced age of ninety-three years and is one of only a very few pioneers of 1825 in Marion County, who are still living. Peter M. Wright was reared on a farm in Marion County, going to school in the winter months and assisting about the farm work during the balance of the year. He became a successful farmer and for many years lived in his native township. In 1891 he sold his farm and removed to Indianapolis, where he lives a quiet, retired life. During his residence in this county, Mr. Wright has held some official positions of importance, having been for six years superintendent of the Marion County asylum and for two years janitor of the court-house. He was married January 4, 1857, to Martha A. McCloskey, a native of Ohio and a danghter of Alexander and Christina (Blatchford) McCloskey, the first mentioned of whom died while Mrs. Wright was a child. Peter M. and Martha A. (McCloskey) Wright had four children: (Dr. ) William M., James K., Lewis G. and Ida B. Peter M. Wright is a Mason and he and his family are identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics he is a Republican. Dr. William M. Wright was a member of his father's house- hold until he was eighteen years old, working on the farm during the spring, summer and fall and attending the common school during the winter. In 1881 he became a student at the Indianapolis High School, and subsequently he took a three years' course at the Butler University. The succeeding three years he passed as clerk in a drug store and in the study
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of medicine during his spare time, for two years of this time acting as prescription clerk for the county asylum. It does not detract at all from the credit that is due him to state that he was obliged thus to earn money to complete his medical education, and on the contrary, the fact that he did so speaks eloquently for his determination and his sturdy manhood. Entering the Medical College of Indiana, at Indianapolis, in the fall of 1887, he was gradu- ated therefrom with the degree of M. D. in 1890. While a junior in the college, he was, on account of his knowledge of pharmacy, appointed prescription clerk in the city hospital and in the quarantine hospital, which work he managed to do in well arranged intervals in study. At the time of his graduation, he entered a competitive examination for appointment as interne to the city hospital, and his standing was the highest of seven who entered the com- petition, and as a consequence he was appointed to and beld the position mentioned for a year. He was also for a like period senior house physician to the city hospital, and at the expiration of his term of appointment entered upon a general medical practice which has been successful and has grown from year to year ever since until it is one of importance and quite remuner- ative. In 1890, he was made prosecutor of anatomy in the Medical College of Indiana, and, in 1891, demonstrator of anatomy, which chair he still holds. He is a member of the Marion County Medical Society and of the Indiana State Medical Society, and is medical director of the Indiana militia and a member of the consultation staff of the city dispensary. For sev- eral years he has been a member of the drill team of the Indianapolis Light Infantry. He is a Scottish Rite Mason and has been advanced to the eighteenth degree. In politics he is a Republican.
EPHRAIM BORING. Characteristic of the American is the ability to change the line of his business and achieve success in what he undertakes. Of the old adage "a rolling stone gath- ers no moss" the reverse may often be said to be true if accompanied by the true spirit. For- tunate is he who can-when times are troublous and circumstances hard-keep his eye fixed on the goal, and forge ahead to grasp success as a reward for his striving. A gentleman who possesses much business ability is Ephraim Boring, a plastering contractor of Indianapolis, who has followed this calling since 1864, and has met with marked success in this line of human endeavor, and has won a reputation for ability and thoroughiness which is unsurpassed. He was born in Carroll County, Md., thirty miles northwest of Baltimore on a farm belong- ing to his father in 1836, being the youngest of eight children born to Isaac and Elizabeth (Cole) Boring, who were also born in Maryland. The father was a farmer of prominence, and by his good management and much energy he accumulated a goodly property, but he unfortunately died when just in the prime of life, when the subject of this sketch was about six years of age, but his widow lived to be about seventy-three years of age. Several members of the Boring family were soldiers in the War of 1812,and all the family were noted for their patriotism and loyalty. In his native county, in Maryland, Ephraim Boring received his initiatory education, and while still a mere youth he began learning the plasterer's trade, and has followed that occupation ever since-a period of forty years. After finishing his trade in Baltimore he did more or less contracting for some time, and about one year after his arrival in Indianapolis, in 1863, he started in business for himself, being associated with Cassius Cornelius for thirteen years, and was then by himself for the balance of the time until admitting his sons, Edward E. and Ephraim, to a partnership, both of whom are prac- tical plasterers, having learned all the details of the business from their father, who proved a wise and able instructor. Mr. Boring is a member of the Builders and Traders' Exchange, and has been since its organization, having been a director in the same for two years. During. the great Civil War of this country he offered his services to the Union, but for good reasons, but by no means to Mr. Boring's detriment, he was not accepted. Politically he has always been a Republican. In 1859 lie was married to Miss Mary Wolf, of Maryland, by whom he became the father of three sons and five daughters, two daughters being now dead. Socially Mr. Boring is a member of the Chosen Friends, and as a citizen is loyal, public spirited and law abiding.
WILLIAM A. SCOTT & SONS. This well known firm of contractors and builders have won a reputation for thoroughness and honorable and upright dealing which is not surpassed by any other like firm in the city of Indianapolis, and they therefore have a trade that keeps them constantly employed and nets them a satisfactory sum annually. William A. Scott,
GABreckling A
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was born in Pennsylvania, August 30, 1830, a son of Robert Scott, a pioneer of Greene County, Ind., who moved to the wilds of Eel River in 1839 and with the help of his son Willaim and the other members of the family he succeeded in clearing a good sized farm. William A. was educated in the schools of Greene County and upon reaching manhood learned the carpenter's trade and aided in the building of the town of Worthington, in which place he made his home until coming to Indianapolis in 1882. He at first followed his calling by himself, then he and his son, Samuel R., formed a partnership, and later two other sons, George A. and W. P., entered the firm, and they took the name of William A. Scott & Sons. Since that time they have built a planing-mill and have made a specialty of of the manufacture of screens, of which they are the most extensive manufacturers in the city and probably in the State. While a resident of Worthington, Mr. Scott took an active part in politics and served several years as township assessor, and also held other positions of trust. Of late years he has been identified with the Prohibition party, and as he believes in practicing what he advocates, he is a total abstainer. During the great Civil War, although not an active participant in the service of his country, on the field of battle, he was none the less actively employed at home and through his influence induced many others to enlist who would not otherwise have done so. For his companion through life he chose Miss Nancy McLarren, of Greene County, and to their marriage a family of three sons and three daughters have been given, all of whom (except one daughter who died at the age of three months and twenty-two days) are intelligent and promising, and a credit to their parents. For many years Mr. Scott has been a member of the Methodist, Episcopal Church, and socially has been a member of the I. O. O. F., in which he has attained to the encampment. He and his sons control a liberal and profitable business, built up by their own energy and careful attention to the higher lines of their indispensable business. Their reputation is a sufficient guarantee of their honorable past record and they have made many friends among the business men of the city.
MR. GEORGE A. BŒCKLING was born in Michigan City, Ind., February 2, 1862, and is the son of Anton and Elizabeth (Smith) Bockling, both of whom were born in Germany and came to America in the fifties when they located at Michigan City Ind., where Anton Bock- ling in order to provide his family with the necessary means of sustenance followed the occupation of a cooper. At the present time he resides in Indianapolis retired from the act- ive duties of life. George A. Bockling was reared in the place where he was born and after attending the public schools for a time entered St. Ambrose Academy, in which in- stitution he finished his literary education. Immediately after this he became a clerk in a grocery store, then a traveling salesmen. a business which he followed for several years traveling through all the larger cities of the Union and Canada, after which he decided to embark in business for himself and engaged in the wholesale lumber business, locating in Indianapolis in the early part of 1890. Mr. Boeckling. is one of those enterprising and wide awake business men who believes in having more than one string to his bow. He is a most honorable, prudent and successful business man, and during the time he has been actively identified with the business in this city he has become connected with several large and flour- ishing companies. Being the president and executive officer of the following: The Berk- shire Investment Company, the G. A. Bockling Company, Marion Investment Company, Keystone Land & Improvement Company, Albany Land Company, and Kramer Bros. & Bœckling Company. Entering the field actively some years ago, upon wise investments, untiring labor and tact he has forged his way to the head of the successful business men in the State of Indiana, and his council in matters of public improvement is sought as being very valuable. Mr. Bockling has done much to build up this city having erected in the past three years over 400 houses and sold them on the monthly payment plan, of which he is the originator, and in this manner he has done untold good in inducing citi- zens to save their means and become property holders. Whilst Mr. Bœckling is a very busy man he is easy to approach, and to make his acquaintance is to be captivated with his capable, practical, honest methods of business and those interested regarding lots for dwellings or sites for factories etc., should call at his office, where all details are cheer- fully furnished.
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DR. FREDERIC CARROLL HEATH of Indianapolis is a native of Maine and was born in the old town of Gardiner, January 19, 1857. His grandfather, Asa Heath, was a physician of local prominence and his father, who was editor and publisher of the Gardiner Home Journal, lost his life at the battle of Fredericksburg, Va., in December, 1862. Dr. Heath prepared for college in the public schools of Gardiner and was graduated at Amherst College, Mass., in 1878, leading bis class in Greek and winning the first prize for the best oral and written examinations on all the work of the sophomore and junior years in that study. He was also appointed to the P. B. K. Society for high general rank at the end of the junior year. After teaching school a few years he began the study of medicine under Dr. A. Sawyer, of Gardiner, and graduated in 1884 at Bowdoin College (medical department) at the head of his class, delivering the valedictory address, which was published in full or in part in many of the leading journals of the State. In October, 1884, he was appointed steward and in January, 1885, acting assistant surgeon in the United States Marine Hospital service and stationed at Portland, Me. In April, 1886, he passed first among a large class before the examining board of Marine Hospital Surgeons at Washington and was made an assistant surgeon, serving nearly four years at Chicago, Mobile, Buffalo, Cleve- land and Detroit, and then resigning to enter upon the practice of his specialty (eye and ear) to which he had devoted considerable attention while in the Marine Hospital service. After a long course of study in the eye and ear hospitals and dispensaries of New York, which he supplemented with much instructive clinical work, he settled at Lafayette, Ind., where he was soon appointed oculist and aurist to St. Elizabeth's Hospital and St. Joseph's Orphan Asylum. December 20, 1889, he was married to Mary M. Anderson, daughter of T. H. Anderson, of Rockville, Ind., and moved to Indianapolis in October, 1891, but from Novem- ber, 1891, to May, 1892, was out of the city on account of the sickness and death of his wife from consumption. Since his return he has been gradually acquiring an increasing amount of the confidence and support of the profession and public, and has been appointed eye and ear surgeon to two dispensaries. He is an active worker in medical and literary societies, and is now, or has been connected with the following named associations : Alex- andria aud Hitchcock Society of Inquiry at Amherst (president of latter), Gardiner Debat- ing Club, East Machias Literary Club, Detroit Academy of Medicine (vice-president), American Academy of Medicine, Tippecanoe County Medical Society, Parlor Club of La Fayette, Marion County Medical Society, Indianapolis Young Men's Christian Association Literary Club, Mitchell District Medical Society, Delaware District Medical Society (honor- ary), and the American Medical Association (sections in ophthalmology and otology). Among his papers are the following: "Report of a Case of Aneurysm of the Pulmonary Artery," "Two Interesting Cases of Enteric Fever," "Heart Tonics," "The Physician's First Indi- cation," "Medical Harmony," "Oliver Wendell Holmes," "Nasal Reflexes," "The Patho- geny of Sympathetic Ophthalmia," "The Eye in Relation to General Disease," "Benefits and Evils of Glases," "Practical Suggestions to the General Practitioner in Ear Troubles," "A Case of Gonorrheal Ophthalmia," "Report of a Case Symblepharon with Successful Opera- tion," "Steel in the Iris Twenty-seven years, etc., etc.
ROBERT DENNY. There are many lawyers in Indianapolis but there are very few lawyers left who were members of the bar of Marion County a quarter of a century ago. One such is the old and highly respected gentleman whose name appears above. The American fam- ily of Denny is of English and Scotch-Irish descent, and Robert's ancestors were at first resi- dents of Pennsylvania. The branch of the family from which he descended is traceable from Pennsylvania to Virginia, from Virginia to Kentucky. and tbence into Indiana. His grand- father, also named Robert Denny, was a farmer and a blacksmith. He lived in Virginia, but about the year 1790 went with his young family to Kentucky where he was a pioneer. Two of his sons and a son-in-law were soldiers in the War of 1812-14. Eventually he came to Washington County, Ind., and there died. Elisha Denny, father of Robert Denny, of In- dianapolis, was during his earlier active life a tanner and a stone-mason, but the latter half of his years he devoted to farming. He was born in Frederick County, Va., and was about six years old when the family removed to Kentucky, In 1810 he married Miss Polly Hedger (a most worthy Christian lady of Scotch-English descent). and the same year came on horse- back to Washington County, Ind., and after selecting the beautiful and fertile tract of land
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which he afterward purchased from the Government, returned to Kentucky. In the autumn of 1811 he again came to his intended Indiana home, cleared a small patch in the dense forest and erected a cabin of unhewn logs, with a stick-and-mortar chimney, and the roof of clap-boards, riveted by hand and held in place by weight poles. In 1812 he brought out his family and a horse, a cow and a sheep. The mother and their son, Morris T. Denny, then eight months old, rode on the horse, which also carried a sack of provisions, and the husband and father walked and drove the cow and sheep, the bedding of the family being strapped to the cow. Upon their arival in Washington County, April 12, 1812, they entered Fleenor's Fort, where they remained several months for protection from hostile Indians. On leaving the fort they moved to their quarter section of land near the fort, three and a half miles northeast of Salem, the county seat, and he lived upon it until his death in October, 1855. His wife died ten years earlier in the same month. They had thirteen children, twelve of whom lived to maturity and five of whom are now living: Morris T., of Washington County, Ind., in his eighty-third year; William H., of Cumberland County, Ill., in his eightieth year; Thomas H., of Logan County, Ill., in his seventy-eighth year; Mrs. Mary Johnson, of Fre- mont County, Iowa, in her seventieth year, and Robert, now in his sixty-sixth year. Elisha Denny was a most conscientious man. He rarely had a misunderstanding about a business matter and never was a party to a law suit during his entire career. This is all the more remarkable in view of the fact that he was to some extent a public man. He was commis- sioner of Saline lands, by appointment under President William Henry Harrison, while gov- ernor of Indiana Territory, and made his final report to the first governor of the State of Indi- ana, Jonathan Jennings. He assisted in laying out the State road from Indianapolis to Leaven- worth, on the Ohio River, and performed various other public services under the Territorial and State Governments. Notwithstanding he thus received ample evidence of the place he occupied in the public estimation, and might have felt assured of election if nominated, he would never consent to be a candidate for any office. He was fond of books and was regarded as unusually well imformed, especially upon history and current topics. Robert Denny was reared on his father's farm, and availed himself of such limited educational advantages as were afforded by the district schools of the neighborhood, reading omnivorously in every spare hour, and without wearying, whatever he could find that promised to instruct and edify him. The variety, extent and accuracy of his learning is very surprising in view of the fact that he never, as a student, saw the inside of any college, lecture room or institution of learning, other than a backwoods, one-room school-house. In the best sense of the phrase he is self edu- cated. He left the farm at the age of twenty-three, and busied himself at whatever he found to do, dividing his time partially between merchandising, teaching school and reading law. He early espoused Christianity as a member of the Christian Church, and spent several years before the war, and the first two years of the war, in church and Sunday-school missionary work. He was noted for his anti-slavery principles, yet he held the postmastership of Camp- bellsburg, Ind., under three administrations. those of Presidents Fillmore, Pierce and Bu- chanan, until he voluntarily resigned. In 1863 Mr. Denny organized Company C, One Hun- dred and seventeenth Indiana Volunteers. He declined a captain's commission in favor of sol- diers of experience in the company, but was soon commissioned as second lieutenant and served with the company with that rank until he was discharged in May, 1864. While 80 serving he was offered the appointment of quartermaster of a division of the army of East Tennessee, but declined because he had promised the men of the company to remain with them during their term of service. Returning to Indiana, he located at Indianapolis and entered upon the practice of his profession. His career at the bar has been one of honor and success. and his high standing is but the legitimate reward of the earnest and sustained en- deavor to succeed, which has been the rule of his professional life. To him the law has been and is the science of justice and equal rights among men, and he abhors the course of those in the profession who use the law as a system of trickery, to defeat justice and establish wrong instead of right. In the preparation of bis cases he had been most careful, and to this fact he attributes much of his success. He never held the office of judge by election, but has at times been called to the bench as a substitute in the absence of regular judges, and upon such occasions he has acquitted himself more than creditably, so that he is universally known as "Judge" Denny. He possesses the most admirable social qualities and has, perhaps, as
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many warm personal friends as any man in the city. In politics he holds the Prohibition views, not because he considers all of politics embraced in the single proposition of Prohibi- bition, but because he believes Prohibition necessary and sees no way to bring it about except through a distinct political movement, and has been one of the main pillars of the Prohibi tion party ever since its first organization in Indiana. He is full of charitable good will toward those who differ from him in either religion or politics. He loves to associate with the veterans of the late war, and for many years has been continuously honored by his comrades by election to various positions of trust and responsibility, including the presidency of the Per- simmon Brigade Association. When about twenty-one years old he married Mrs. Mary M. Hitchcock. She possessed virtues and qualities of mind and heart which made her one of earth's noblest of Christian women. By her first husband she had four sons, all of whom entered the Union army at the outbreak of the late war, and two of whom sleep in unknown graves, having sacrificed their lives at Chickamauga and Atlanta, Ga. Mrs. Denny is de- ceased, leaving him an only daughter, Adaline, their other three children having died in infancy and childhood.
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