Tipton County, Indiana - Biographical sketches, 1914 (part 11 of 11)

Lewis Vandevender attended the district/schools of his neighborhood and finished his education by taking a course in the normal school at Peru, Indi¬ ana. During his minority he worked on his father's farm during the summer seasons, attending school during the winter. In 1891 he came to Goldsmith and entered the employ of J. D. Smith, a merchant of this place. By close application to business and thrifty habits, he was finally enabled to start a new business with his partners. After continuing in this enterprise for some years, he, with a partner, purchased and has continued in the general mer¬ chandising business up to the present time. In addition to the regular stock of goods usually carried in general stores, they^also deal in cement and cement blocks, and handle coal and wood. In his business he has been very successful and has, in addition to his interests in the store, a large farm in Jefferson township, where he makes a specialty of raising live stock.

Mr. Vandevender was married in 1900 to Laura E. Hinkle, and to this union have been born three children, Keren, who married Carl Kritsch, and has one son, William L. ; Curtis and William, who are still under the parental roof. Mr. Vandevender' s first wife died September 16, 1900, and he after¬ wards married Mrs. Effie (Wiener) Cox, who was the mother of two children by a former marriage, Dorotha and Bonna Mae.

Mr. Vandevender has always affiliated with the Democratic party and, although he has taken an active interest in the welfare of his party, he has never sought any political office. Fraternally, he has been a valued member of the Free and Accepted Masons and of the Modern Woodmen of America, in both of which orders he takes a deep and active interest.

Mr. Vandevender has not confined his energies solely to the accumula¬ tion of material wealth, but has also been interested in all movements which have for their object the betterment of the community in which he lives.

John A. Swoveland

The record of the gentleman whose name introduces this article con¬ tains no exciting chapter of tragic events, but is replete with well-defined pur¬ poses which, carried to successful issue, have won for him an influential place in the ranks of his profession and high personal standing among his fellow citizens. His life work has been one of unceasing industry and perseverance, and the systematic and honorable methods which he has ever followed have resulted not only in gaining the confidence of those with whom he has had dealings, but also in the building up of a large and remunerative legal prac¬ tice. Well grounded in the principles of jurisprudence and by instinct and habit a constant reader and student, Mr. Swoveland commands the respect of his professional colleagues and his career has reflected honor upon himself and dignity upon the vocation to which he has devoted his efforts.

John A. Swoveland, a well-known citizen and successful attorney of Tipton, is a native of the old Buckeye state, having been bom in Richland county, Ohio, in the village of Mansfield, on July 22, 1843. He is descended from a long line of sterling ancestors, his maternal grandparents, Peter and they were reared, their marriage occurring in Bedford county, that state. Coining west, they became early settlers in Richland county, Ohio, where they followed farming. Mr. Swoveland also being a carpenter, which trade he had learned in youth, and at a time when everything was done by hand. He was a finished mechanic, and also was very successful as a farmer, which pursuit he made his principal life work. He died at the advanced age of ninety-three years, his wife being also quite old at the time of her death. They were the parents of eight children, all girls, as follows : Mary. Rebecca, Catherine. Barbara, Eve, Ann, Sarah and Louisa. Of these children, Sarah, the mother of the subject of this sketch, was born in Pennsylvania, and upon attaining mature years married Jacob Swoveland, also a native of Pennsylvania and also of German descent. To them were born ten children, five sons and five daughters, eight of whom lived to maturity, namely: Peter, who died in 1907; Susan, deceased, who was the wife of Louis Ballinger; Catherine, a twin sister of Susan, who died at the age of twenty-two years; John A., of Tipton, Indiana; Mary, deceased, who married a Mr. Beisel; Barbara, deceased, who married Joseph Carter; Sarah, who died at the age of nineteen years, unmarried; Aaron F., of Sims, Grant county, Indiana. Jacob Swoveland was reared to the life of a farmer, which pursuit he always followed. At the age of sixteen years he went to Richland county, Ohio, where he grew to manhood, and was married and farmed there until 1843, when he removed to the Wyandot Reserve in Ohio, living there until about sixty years of age. He then came to Indiana, and died here about three years later, in about 1878, at the age of sixtv-three years. He was twice married, his first wife having died in Ohio about 1865, at about forty-five years of age. For his second wife he married Abiah Farnham, and she died without issue. Mr. Swoveland held many township offices, and was a man of importance and influence in his community. The subject's paternal grandfather, John Swoveland. died in Pennsylvania, as did his wife, and they were the parents of six children, namely: John, Peter, Jacob. Polly, Sarah and Susan.

John A. Swoveland was reared on his father's farm in Van Wert county, Ohio, and attended school three months in the year and also a term in an academy in Van Wert, and then engaged in teaching school for two term§ in Ohio, and was one term superintendent of the Windfall schools, establishing the first graded school in Tipton county, Indiana. At the breaking out of the Civil war, Mr. Swoveland enlisted as a private in Company H, Fourth Regi¬ ment Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, and served from September 15, 1861, until (40)

July 15, 1865, according to his muster papers, but in reality he had enlisted on August 10, 1861, as one of General Fremont's body-guard under Captain Carter. He was wounded in the spring of 1862 at the battle of Tullahoma, Tennessee, and on the 28th of October he was taken prisoner with others, and remained a prisoner until January 1, 1863, when he and his comrades were exchanged and returned to their command at Murfreesboro, when that battle was fought. Mr. Swoveland participated in nearly every battle of the Army of the Cumberland, save that of Murfreesboro, and proved a valiant and faithful soldier. He was a corporal and, according to the evi¬ dence of his comrades, he was a good soldier. An incident of his service in the Civil war is worthy of special mention. At the close of the war, when Jeff Davis made his escape from Richmond and was captured at Irwinville, Georgia, he was taken to Macon, where he was held as a prisoner at the LeNier hotel. J. A. Swoveland was a corporal and he had in charge a squad that was doing guard duty at the LaNier hotel. Mr. Swoveland was a member of Joe Wilson's cavalry corps and a member of the Second Bri¬ gade, composed of the Fourth Ohio, Fourth Regular, Fourth Michigan and Third Ohio Regiments. While Corporal Swoveland was guarding the hotel, he several times spoke to Jeff Davis, and one of his duties was to prevent some Union soldiers from shooting the ex-Confederate President, as it was to prevent the escape of his charge. Mrs. Davis so appreciated the kind¬ nesses shown her and her husband by Corporal Swoveland that she presented him with a bouquet of flowers, which he kept as souvenirs for many years. She was an intelligent woman and was very much of a lady, and Comrade Swoveland became very much attached to her, and he speaks reverently of her to this day.

After the war and the conclusion of peace Mr. Swoveland returned home and attended school one year, and also received some academical education. He then taught school until coming to Windfall, on March 20. 1867, where he bought a half interest in a general store of J. H. Zehner. This partnership had been maintained two years when they dis¬ solved and Mr. Swoveland went to Nevada, where he engaged in a business for himself, dealing largely in railroad ties and timber. In 1871, the year of the Chicago fire, he had the misfortune to lose six thousand dollars worth of ties by fire, which practically made him a bankrupt. He then returned to Windfall and took up the practice of law in the local courts, and in 1878 was elected prosecuting attorney of the thirty-sixth judicial circuit, moving to Tipton, where he has practiced his profession continuously since, having been admitted to the bar in 1873. As an attorney who has a comprehensive grasp of the principles of jurisprudence, he is easily the peer of his professional brethren and has brought honor and dignity to the bar. He is a master of his profession, a leader among men distinguished for their high order of legal ability, and his eminent attainments and right judgment have made him an authority in matters involving £ knowledge of jurisprudence.

On December 26, 1867, Mr. Swoveland married Isabella Van Winkle, who was born in Crawford county, Indiana, on January 24, 1850, the daugh¬ ter of Joseph and Amelia (Scott) Van Winkle. Her father was a Ken¬ tuckian by birth and rearing and her mother a Canadian. They were early settlers of Crawford county and their deaths occurred at Windfall, this state, he at the age of nearly eighty-nine years. His first wife, mother of Mrs. Swoveland, died at Windfall in 1875. They had eight children: Sarah, Isabella M., Alpheus, Celeste, Alice and Webb ^ twins), Rovilla and Della. Her father married for his second wife Emma Legg, and to this union were born three children, Albert, Leota and Ernest. To Mr. and Mrs. Swoveland have been born six children. Joseph W., Jessie A., Cora I., Grace M., Sarah Gertrude and Alice Miriam. Joseph W. died when about sixteen months old. Cora I. died when about eighteen months old. Alice M. died when about two years old. Jessie became the wife of Omer Legg and they live in Tipton. They have two sons, John and Robert. Grace M. is the wife of Harry L. Odle, of Toledo, Ohio, and they have two children, Isabelle Ger¬ trude and Harry Van Winkle. Sarah Gertrude is the wife of Charles W. Winfield, who conducts a successful mercantile business in Sheldon, Illinois. They have two children, Nedlyn and William Swoveland.

Mr. and Mrs. Swoveland are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he is a trustee. Fraternally, he belongs to Tipton Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which order he has been a mem¬ ber for forty-one years. He is also a charter member of the Janies Price Post, Grand Army of the Republic, in which order he takes great interest, having held all the important offices of the local post. He is an interesting speaker and whenever there are any functions in which some one is expected to say something, he is always called upon. There have been very few mem¬ orial services on Decoration day that he has not delivered an address, not only at home and in his home state, but in other states. He also belongs to Tipton Lodge Xo. 151, Knights of Pythias, of which he is a charter member, while politically he is a Republican. He is the owner of a splendid farm of fifty-one acres in Cicero township, which is improved and which has proved for achievement, persistency coupled with fortitude, and as a result of such a life he has long been one of the best known, influential and highly esteemed citizens of this county and state.

Stephen Warne

To write the personal record of men who have raised themselves from humble circumstances to a position of responsibility and trust in a community is no ordinary pleasure. Self-made men, men who have achieved success by reason of their own persona! qualities and left the impress of their individu¬ ality upon their communities and affect for good such institutions as are em¬ braced in the sphere of their usefulness, unwittingly, perhaps, build monu¬ ments more enduring than marble obelisk or granite shaft. Of such men is the gentleman whose name forms the caption for this biographical review.

Stephen Warne, prosperous farmer and owner of seventy-one and a half acres of good land one-fourth mile south of Hobbs, Tipton county, Indiana, was born in 1841, in Franklin county, Indiana, the son of Elijah and Amelia Warne. Elijah Warne came to Indiana from New Jersey and was a promi¬ nent and highly respected man. He settled near Brookville, where he engaged in farming and spent the remainder of his life. He was the father of thirteen children, namely: Philip, John, William, Samuel and Elijah are deceased: Stephen ; Sarah, Mollie, Elizabeth, Anna and Catherine are deceased ; two others died young.

Stephen Warne attended the common schools in Franklin county and engaged in farm work in his spare time. Early deciding on agriculture as his life work, he devoted himself to a study of the best methods in that line, never being satisfied unless he was applying the most progressive and up-todate treatment to his land, being ever ready to adopt new modes of operation when they were proved best. As a consequence he has a highly developed and improved farm, which has provided him with a good competency and which has increased in value as a result of the care Mr. Warne has given to it.

and they became the parents of five children : John, Chafles, Ella, Carrie and Lola. His first wife died April 2, 1877, an<3 he was married on September 11, 1878 to Sarah Cole Scott, one child, George H., being born to the second marriage. Politically, the subject is a supporter of the Democratic party, while his affiliations in matters of religion are with the Presbyterian church. His life has been one of untiring activity and has been crowned with a degree of success commensurate with his efforts. He is of the highest type of progressive citizen and none more than he deserves a fitting recognition among those whose enterprise and ability have achieved results that have awakened the' admiration of those who knew them. His integrity and fidelity have been manifested in every relation of life, an example which has been an inspiration to others, and his influence has been felt in the community honored by his citizenship.

James K. Shook

It cannot be other than gratifying to note that within the pages of this compilation will be found mention of many prominent and successful citizens of the county who stand representative of the sturdy pioneer element which instituted the herculean task of reclaiming the state from the wilderness, carrying the work valiantly forward and leaving it to their sons and daugh¬ ters to rear the superstructure upon the foundations thus firmly laid. Those who have been the founders and builders of the great Hoosier state are the ones who chiefly find place in this work, and in this number should not be omitted mention of the personal career of the gentleman whose name ap¬ pears at the head of this article, who has passed a great part of his life in Tipton county and contributed no little to the prosperity of this favored section.

James K. Shook was born in Ripley county, Indiana, October 29, 1844, the son of Lorenzo D. and Maria (Ludwick) Sh6ok, the father a native of Baltimore county, Maryland, and the mother of Dearborn county, Indiana, they being very early pioneers in Dearborn county. The father was born June 24, 1808, and came to the Hoosier state with his parents in 1811, when he was but three years old. He spent his early youth in the Miami bottoms of Dearborn county and then removed to Ripley county, where he engaged in farming, cleared and improved a place and reared his family there. Tl^ subject's father was engaged in flat-boating on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, taking his produce to New Orleans in this way and then walking back. He died in Ripley county on February 5, 1886, and his wife, who was born September 6, 1814, died December 27, 1899. Lorenzo D. Shook came to Ripley county in 1825. He was buried in the Versailles cemetery, having been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church for many years, as was also his wife, she having been of that faith since her early childhood. To the subject's parents were born eleven children, namely: Calvin, Margaret Ann, David W., Abraham (deceased), America (now Mrs. William M. Grishaw), Errena, James K., Harriet, Luther V., Joseph V., and Ellen, the last named dying in infancy.

The paternal grandparents of the subject were John and Dorcas (Ball) Shook, natives of Maryland and farmers, who settled in Dearborn county, Indiana, in 1811, and died in Ripley county, this state. They had fourteen children: Charles, John, Peter, Frances, David, Hezekiah, Harriet, Jabez, Lorenzo D., Lydia, Sarah, Amon, Reason and Margaret.

Mr. Shook's maternal grandparents were named Ludwick and were natives of Pennsylvania, of German descent and were among the pioneers of Dearborn county, even before the Shook family, arrived. They lived to an old age and had a large family of children: Joseph, Jacob, Ellen, Rebecca, Maria, Peggy and three others.

James K. Shook was reared in Ripley county on his fathers farm and attended the old-fashioned subscription school in a log school house. He lived at home until he reached the age of twenty-two, having begun teaching school at the age of eighteen. Coming to Tipton county in 1868. he located at Sharpsville, where he taught for two terms, then forming a partnership with George V. Haynes and William M. Grishaw and opening a general store at Sharpsville, under the firm name of Haynes, Grishaw & Shook, con¬ tinuing at this business until 1888, when they moved a part of their stock to Tipton and the subject was in business here until 1905. His business career in the county covered a span of thirty-five years and one day. Since 1905 the subject has been retired, overseeing the operation of his three hundred and twenty acres of farm land in Liberty township, a highly improved tract of some of the best land in the community. In 1889 Mr. Shook built his beautiful residence in Tipton at No. 240 North West street.

On May 26, 1875, James K. Shook was united in marriage to Rebecca A. Kirkpatrick, daughter of James and Mary (Oldham) Kirkpatrick, natives of Kentucky who came to Indiana at an early date. The father died in Howard county and the mother in Sharpsville, both being buried in Howard county. They had five children, Sophronia, Cynthia, Mrs. Shook, John W. and Nancy. Mrs. James K. Shook died March 4, 1909, at the age of sixty years. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, as is also Mr. Shook. The Kirkpatrick family dates back to the ninth century or earlier, but the records begin in the twelfth century. In the old documents the Kirkpatricks are called "a principal family of Great Britain," and are allied to the royal Stewarts, Sinclairs, Maxwells, Seatons, the Marquis of Lothian and James XI of Scotland.

James K. Shook and wife became the parents of two children, Fronda and Ralph K. The former is the wife of G. C. Goss and lives in Indianapolis, while the latter is at home.

Prof. Charles F. Patterson

The position of superintendent of schools is an important and exacting one, and to fill it efficiently requires not only strong mentality, broad scholar¬ ship and especial training, but also executive ability of a high order, all of which qualities are happily blended in Prof. Charles F. Patterson, the present superintendent of the city schools of Tipton. Professor Patterson is a native of Tipton county, and was born near Windfall, June 6, 1863. His parents, Benjamin F. and Lydia Ellen (Plummer) Patterson, were both natives of Indiana. Benjamin F. was reared in Fayette county* and came to Tipton county with his father, John M., about 1867, and settled on a seven-hundredacre farm. After his father's death, Benjamin bought a farm of one hun¬ dred and sixty acres in Wild Cat township, which he operated until his death in 1880. His widow married some years later, her second husband being James H. Fear, who is now deceased. She is still living. Charles F. is the only living child of both marriages, the only other child, Clinton, dying at the age of two years.

Charles F. Patterson received his first education in the district schools and then entered Wabash College, where he started to take the regular classic course leading to the degree of Bachelor of Arts. However, he did not finish the course at Wabash, but transferred his credits to Franklin College, where he graduated in 1893. He taught several terms of school between the time he first matriculated in Wabash until he finally finished at Franklin College in order to get money to carry on his work in college. Before his graduation he was superintendent of the Greenwood schools for six years. He was elected superintendent of the Johnson county schools and resigned to take charge of the Edinburg schools, where he remained for the next twelve years. In the fall of 1905 he became head of the city schools of Tipton and is still holding that position. He has brought the schools up to their present high standing of excellence and is recognized as one of the leading educators of the state.

Professor Patterson was married on October 10, 1884, to Melva Avis, the daughter of James and Lavina (Lineback) Avis. Professor Patterson and wife are both members of the Christian church and he has been an elder in the denomination for many years. He has been very much interested in Masonry and has taken all the degrees up to and including the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite; he also belongs to the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, Murat Temple, Indianapolis. He is also a member of the Indianapolis Commercial Club, the University Club and the American Historical Association.

J. Frank Barlow

Among the worthy citizens of Sharpsville, whose residence here has con¬ tributed in a marked degree to the prestige of the community, is J. Frank Barlow, who, while* living for his individual advancement, has never for¬ gotten his obligations to the public and has invariably given his support to those measures which have for their object the general good. Although his life has been a btisy one and his private affairs have made heavy demands upon his time, yet he has found time to serve his fellow citizens in a public capacity as township trustee and county auditor, and he made a record in these respective offices for honesty and efficient service which stamps him as a man of much more than ordinary ability. Through the long years of his residence in this locality he has ever been true to the trusts reposed in him, whether of a public or private nature, and his reputation in a business way has been unassailable

J. Frank Barlow, ex-county auditor and member of the firm of Batchelor, Barlow & Batchelor, of Sharpsville, was torn in Liberty township, Tipton county, July 27. 1857. He is the son of William and Lavina Barlow, toth of whom were also natives of the old Hoosier state. William Barlow came to Tipton county with his parents when he was a young man and worked with his father, Cornelius Barlow, on a farm west of Sharpsville until his marriage, after which time he moved to Sharpsville and engaged in the flour business with his father. Some years later he and his father* engaged in the flouring business in Tipton and continued their mill in that town for five years, when they moved to Shelby county, Indiana, and operated a flouring mill for some time. William Barlow then came back to Tipton county, and engaged in the grocery business, following that occupation for about twenty years. During most of the time that he was engaged in the grocery business he was also a gravel road contractor and built a great many of the gravel roads in Tipton county. Some years ago he retired from active participation in business on account of ill health and is now living a retired citizen in the city of Tipton. William Barlow was married to Lavina McGee, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John McGee, and their union was blessed with four children, J. Frank, subject of this sketch; C. N., now living in Kokomo; Mary and William, deceased. Mr. Barlow's first wife died at the age of twenty-six years and some years later Mr. Barlow married Hannah E. Brown, and to this union were born six children, three of whom are still living, Rosa, Jessie and Lula. Of the children named, C. N. married Hattie Free; Rosa is the wife of John McCreary ; Lula is the wife of Roy Cavlor and Jesse is the hus¬ band of Alma Thompson.

J. Frank Barlow received his elementary education in the public schools of Tipton, and spent all of his time when not in school in his father s grocery store. He continued to assist his father until he became of age, when he re¬ moved to Sharpsville and worked for his uncle, G. W. McGee. He showed such ability that within four years after his connection with the flouring busi¬ ness in Sharpsville he assumed a half interest in the business and has become one of the most successful business men of Sharpsville. Recognizing in him those qualities which would make a good public official, the Republicans of Liberty township nominated and elected him as township trustee and for five years he filled that office to the satisfaction of the citizens of his township. The Republican party again recognizing in him a man of greater ability as an administrative officer, nominated and elected him as county auditor of Tipton county, and in this capacity he served his county for four years. In addition to his flouring mill interests, he has been very much interested in the canning business and at the present time is president of the Sharpsville Canning Com¬ pany, a concern wrhich does a big business every year. His natural industry has enabled him to be more than ordinarily successful and, with his mental and physical capacities, he has made for himself a very comfortable com¬ petence.

J. Frank Barlow was married to Elizabeth Siler, and this marriage has been blessed with five children, Mae, Susie, Bessie, Harriett and Raymond. Mae is the wife of A. C. McCoy, assistant cashier of the Sharpsville Bank ; Susie is the wife of J. J. Batchelor, of the firm of Batchelor, Barlow & Batchelor; Bessie graduated at Indiana University in June, 1913, and is now teaching English in the high school at Sharpsville. She took a prominent part in the various college activities while she was an under-graduate, and was a member of the Greek-letter sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta ; Harriett is now taking a course in the Indianapolis Conservatory of Music ; Raymond is single and still lives under the parental roof; the two older daughters, Mae and Susie, attended the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. It can be readily seen that Mr. Barlow has given his children every educational advantage which could be afforded them and it is to their credit that they have taken advantage of every opportunity which has been given them. The parents of Mrs. Barlow were both natives of Kentucky.

An interesting fact which may be recorded in the history of Mr. Barlow is the yearly hunting trips which he takes in the great woods of the North¬ west. For the past nineteen years he has made a trip annually in the month of November for the purpose of hunting deer, moose and other wild game in the mountains of the Northwest, and every year he has brought back with him some trophies of his chase. He is an ardent lover of out-door life and attributes his splendid physical condition to this fact.

Fraternally, Mr. Barlow is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Older of Elks at Tipton, and is also a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, and has been a trustee of Lodge No. 363 for the past twenty-five years. He is a devoted and earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Sharpsville, and while he actively supports all the enterprises of his own church, his broad humanity has not confined itself to his own particular denomination. He has contributed to almost every other church in Tipton county and more than a score of denominations within the county have been the recipients of his generosity. It is unnecessary to state that Mr. Barlow is a man of broad intelligence and a man of genuine public spirit, for these facts have been shadowed forth between the lines of this review. As a man who is strong in his individuality, he never lacks the courage of his convictions, for they are dominant elements in his personality. He possesses a loyal human sympathy and abiding charity which, as taken in connection with his sterling qualities of character, has gained for him the respect and confidence of all his fellow citizens.

Archibald W. Ramsay

The subject of this sketch is a native of Tipton, having been born in this city on August 4, 1865, and all of his life has been spent in Tipton. His father was Archibald Ramsay, a native of Ohio, and who was the pioneer printer of Tipton, he having come to Tipton to take charge of the first news¬ paper published in the county, this paper passing through a number of evolu¬ tions and is now the Tipton Times. The elder Ramsay was the son of Alex¬ ander Ramsay, also a printer and publisher and founder of the Shelby Demo - crat , published at Sidney, Ohio. It was in this office that Archibald Ramsay, Sr., mastered the printer's trade and his father was his tutor. During the pioneer existence of the newspaper published in Tipton, Archibald Ramsay, Sr., was printer, editor and publisher and did all the work connected with the publication. He was regarded as a forceful and fluent writer. He died in 1879.

The mother of Archibald Ramsay, Jr., was Josephine Decker, daughter of Samuel Decker, Tipton's pioneer tavern keeper who for a number of years conducted a tavern in a frame building that stood at the corner of Jefferson and Independence streets, where the Kleyla theatre now stands. He came from Virginia, locating in the county in the late forties. Archibald Ramsay, Sr., was the father of nine children: Ida, Benjamin Franklin and Grace, are deceased, and those surviving are Samuel, of Indianapolis; A. W., Charles W., Caleb B., George and Mrs. Mary Bolden, all of Tipton. Mrs. Archibald Ramsay, Sr., survives her husband.

The subject of this sketch attended the public schools of this city until he was fourteen years of age. His father dying at that time, he entered the office of the Tipton Advocate , published by M. W. Pershing, now associate editor of the Daily Tribune , and learned the printer's trade. He has been identified with the printing business in this city since that time with the excep¬ tion of a brief period when he was employed on the old Indianapolis Journal , working as a compositor. He has worked in most of the printing offices of this city during the past thirty-five years. For a number of years he was city editor of the Tipton Times and in 1895, in company with John E. Ander¬ son, established the Daily Tribune. This was a modest undertaking and it started out in the face of many misgivings, as the local field was thought to be pretty well covered at that time, there being two weekly newspapers, but the young men were of the opinion that Tipton was large enough and ripe enough for a daily newspaper and their surmises were correct.

The Tribune has prospered through all these years and has grown from a four-page paper to an eight-page publication, all printed at home, and being regarded as one of the best newspapers in the state, having a well equipped office and a circulation that is quite flattering. Two years after the paper was established, Mr. Anderson retired from the business, I. M. O'Banion buying his interest and since that time, Ramsay & O'Banion have been the publishers.

Mr. Ramsay was united in marriage, on November 4, 1898, to Florence Nicholson, daughter of Charles and Nellie Nicholson. Three children were born to them, a'son, the first born, dying in infancy. The remaining two chil¬ dren are Floyd and Edith, the former twenty-four and the latter nineteen years of age. Floyd is a graduate of Indiana University and Edith is in her third year at DePauw University.

Mr. Ramsay served six years as a member of the school board, being a member of the board at the time of the building of the new high school build¬ ing and took an active part in the preliminaries that resulted in this handsome edifice. It was during this time that the Tribune took a leading part and aided in no small way in bringing public sentiment around to the point where the proposition to construct the building received the sanction of every voting precinct in the city at a special election. It was one of the most warmly contested elections ever fought out in this city. Time has proven the wisdom of the Tribune's contentions. A building less commodious, as some people insisted upon, would have outgrown its usefulness several years ago.

The Tribune , under the direction of the present publishers, has waged a number of battles for the best interests of the city, among them being munici¬ pal ownership of public utilities, the light plant being one of {hem. The pub¬ lic library is another institution that had the support of the Tribune . also the public park, recently acquired.

Mr. Ramsay is a member of several secret orders, being a Mason, a mem¬ ber of the Eastern Star, the Knights of Pythias, the Maccabees and Woodmen. He is one of the trustees of the Greenlawn cemetery, being appointed at the time that the old city of the dead was taken over by the city, this move being urged by the Tribune in order that some means might be employed that would insure the cemetery having care in the years to come.

Mr. Ramsay is a forceful newspaper writer, he being recognized in the fraternity as one of the able editors in this state. He has a keen eye and a natural instinct for news and there is very little of a news character that escapes his notice. He has a wide and extensive acquaintance in the countv and state.