OLIVER L. BELCHER, physician and surgeon at Monroe City, is a member of a family that has been in Indiana for considerably more than a century. The family for the most part has been substantial farmers. The two counties that have known members of the Belcher family have been Crawford and Knox.

Doctor Belcher was born in Harrison Township of Knox County, May 7, 1884, son of Joseph and Isabell (Helderman) Belcher, a grandson of Jeremiah Belcher and a great- grandson of the Belcher who came from Germany and settled in Crawford County in early pioneer times. Jeremiah Belcher was born in that county in 1820. Joseph Belcher was a native of Knox County, born in 1855, but spent the greater part of his active life on a farm in Knox County. He was a local leader in politics. His wife, Isabell Helderman, was descended from the Helderman family of North Carolina.

Doctor Belcher was the second in a family of nine children. He grew up on a farm, attended public schools in Knox County, spent two years in Vincennes University and one year in the State Normal College. His professional training was acquired in two institutions, the first two years at the University of Indiana and the second two years at the University of Louisville, Kentucky, medical department, where he was graduated M. D. in 1908. Doctor Belcher subsequently took post- graduate work in Rush Medical College of Chicago. He has practiced his profession at Monroe City since 1908, the only important interruption to his service among the people of that community being during the World war period.

He was with the colors a year and four months, connected with the Tenth Division at Camp Funston, Kansas, as first lieutenant, and was in the Hospital Ambulance Corps and Infirmary Division. He was ordered overseas but the order was cancelled. Doctor Belcher is a member of Monroe City Lodge No. 548, A. F. and A. M., is a Democrat in politics, and a member of the American Legion at Vincennes. He married on September 17, 1904, Gertrude Teverbaugh, of Knox County, daughter of Wesley and Sarah (Marsh) Teverbaugh. The Teverbaugh family is a pioneer family in Knox County, Indiana. Wesley Teverbaugh was a veteran of the Civil war serving with the Union Army, from Indiana. He followed farming all his life and died in 1901 and his widow survived until 1917. The two daughters born to Doctor and Mrs. Belcher are: Cecil Marie, a member of the class of 1932 of Indiana State Normal at Terre Haute in art and music, and Goldie Jewel, member of the class of 1933 in the same Terre Haute institution.

Doctor Belcher is a member of the Knox County, Indiana State and American Medical Associations. In 1927 the doctor visited Belgium, France and Switzerland and took a post-graduate course at Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.

Click here for photo.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


DALE JAMES FERGUSON, an Indiana school man, has shown a rare capacity both for teaching and for the administrative detail work connected with a career as an educator.

He is a native of Indiana, born in Lancaster Township, Wells County, December 23, 1891, son of Albert C. and Nellie (Dailey) Ferguson. His father was born at Holden, Missouri, a son of Gideon Ferguson, whose original home was in North Carolina. Mr. Ferguson's mother was born at Bluff ton, Indiana, daughter of James and Adeline (Niblick) Dailey. James Dailey was born at Paterson, New Jersey, in 1815, and his wife was a native of Marietta, Ohio, daughter of Robert Niblick, who came from County Claire, Ireland. Albert C. Ferguson is a retired plastering contractor now living at Ossian, Indiana.

Dale James Ferguson was educated in grade and high schools, attended Winona College and graduated from the Central Indiana Normal School at Danville. He has been teaching in public schools since 1912. The chief interruption to his career as an educator came during the World war, when he was with the colors. On May 1, 1918, he enlisted and was sent to Fort Thomas, Kentucky, later transferred to the Officers Training Camp at Camp Gordon, Georgia, as a bayonet instructor, and on October 15, 1918, was commissioned a. second lieutenant in the infantry. He was with the Sixth Replacement Regiment at Camp Gordon and later in the Eight Hundred and Seventeenth Pioneer Infantry at Camp Greene, North Carolina

He was discharged December 20,1918, and at once resumed his school work. For two years he was principal of the Aetna Township High School in Whitney County, for three years was principal of the high school at Galveston, two years principal of the high school at Quincy, Indiana, and since 1925 has been principal of the high school at Lynn in Randolph County. Mr. Ferguson is a member of the Indiana State Teachers Association and the National Education Association. He is a Democrat in politics, a Presbyterian and a member of the Masonic fraternity and Eastern Star, Knights of Pythias and the American Legion Post.

Mr. Ferguson married, October 31, 1917, at Ossian, Indiana, Miss Georgiana Hostetler. Mrs. Ferguson was born at Evansville, Indiana, daughter of Charles A. and Bessie (Holland) Hostetler. Her father was a native of Milltown, Indiana, son of Edmond and Clementine (Powers) Hostetler, while her mother was born at Paola, Indiana, daughter of William and Mary Holland. Mrs. Ferguson is a high school graduate. They have two children, Dale Eugene, born April 4, 1921, and Cair Elaine, born September 8, 1923.

LOUIS L. KING. The growth and development of Winchester,. Indiana, during the past half of the new century has been largely due to the enterprise and foresight of her real estate dealers, who are practically the best promoters of any growing and progressive town. The advantages which have made Winchester real estate desirable as an investment have been exploited in such a way by her realtors as to attract capital and additions to her citizenship. One of the foremost men engaged in this business is Louis L. King, who operates in partnership with Ulysses Grant Daly, the two also writing insurance and making collections, and having a very large connection. Mr. King was born in Randolph County, Ohio, October 17, 1879, a son of Benjamin and Hettie C. (Davis) King, he born in Preble County, Ohio, and she in Wayne County, Indiana. Benjamin King served in the Fifth Ohio Cavalry during the war between the, states, and, was so severely wounded with a sabre that he was rendered unfit for active business. He died in 1900. Mrs. King, who was a daughter of William H. Davis, died in 1924.

Louis L. King attended the public schools of Winchester until he was seventeen years old, and then learned the lathing trade, which he followed for four years. He then became an operator in a moving picture concern of Winchester, and traveled in its behalf until 1918. In that year he became connected with the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, and was its representative for three years. His next business venture was the operation of a music and. electrical appliance store for two years, but he sold it and entered his present field, in which he is accomplishing so much of constructive value.

In 1903 Mr. King was married Miss Ruiah Edwards, of Adams County, Indiana, a daughter of Ross and Arminda (Syphers) Edwards, also of Adams County. Mrs. King died December 3, 1921, having borne her husband the following children: Lester C., who is in his father's office; Florence Helen, who is taking the nurses' course in Reed Memorial Hospital, Richmond, Indiana; and Mary B., who is a bookkeeper for a concern at Dayton, Ohio. The Kings are Quakers. A very active Republican, Mr. King has long been precinct committeeman, and has served as delegate to the state conventions of his party upon numerous occasions. Fraternally he maintains membership with the Masonic Order, the Improved Order of Red Men and the Sons of Veterans. His office is on West Washington Street, and his residence at 235 Carl Street.

Mr. King represents the type of man who both thinks and does, and has a practical business head, which he uses to excellent advantage not only for himself but the public as well.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


CHARLES R. LENAHAN, member of the firm of Lenahan & Koken Company, of Vincennes, a prominent firm of road building contractors doing work on both side of the Wabash River, was born in Wabash County, Illinois, and for the greater part of his life his home has been in the historic City of Vincennes.

His father, Patrick W. Lenahan, was born at Hamilton in Butler County, Ohio, July 17, 1858, son of John and Mary (Hogan) Lenahan. John Lenahan was born in County Kildare, Ireland, and prior to the Civil war settled at Hamilton, Ohio. He and his wife had nine children. Of these Patrick W. grew up in Illinois, in the home of his uncle, John S. Garitson, until he was sixteen years of age, and then started out alone to earn his living and supplemented his educational opportunities. He worked after school hours, was a farm hand at thirteen dollars a month, and during the next seven or eight years she was attending school, working on farms in the summer and selling merchandise during the winter season. The next stage in his business experience was as a farm renter. He raised grain and live stock in Wabash County.

In August, 1892, he moved to Vincennes, and during the past thirty-five years has supervised from that city his growing interests as a land owner, farmer and business man. He acquired some land opposite Vincennes, in Illinois, and has been a dealer in real estate, figuring as a medium in many transactions involving large acreage tracts. He still owns about 500 acres of land, all in cultivation. For a number of years Patrick W. Lenahan was in the contracting business, building roads, doing work in Knox County, Indiana, and in Wabash and Lawrence counties, Illinois. As a road contractor he completed 150 miles of gravel road in those counties. When he retired from contracting work in 1922 he turned his business organization over to his two sons and a nephew, and they make up the Lenahan & Koken Comnany, of Vincennes.

Patrick W. Lenahan has been in a very important degree one of Vincennes' most useful citizens. For six years he was secretary and treasurer of the local school board, is secretary of the North Side Building & Loan Company, and is a director of the First National Bank. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus, the Harmony Society, is a Republican. He was a prime mover in bringing about the reclamation work carried on by the Bevort, Spangler and Lenahan Levee Association, and was president of the association for over ten years. He was the third man to sign the petition for construction of reclamation work and the levee has protected and brought under cultivation about 50,000 acres of land in Knox County, south of Vincennes.

Patrick W. Lenahan's two oldest brothers were in the Civil war, James and Edward, both in Company I of the Seventy-fourth Ohio Infantry, Fourteenth Army Corps, under General Thomas. Edward was a color sergeant and was in seventeen hard-fought battles, and James was wounded in one action.

Patrick W. Lenahan married Euretta Higgins, of Allendale, Wabash County, Illinois, daughter of William and Sarah (Crane) Higgins. Her father was a farmer and during the Civil war held the office of postmaster. Patrick W. Lenahan and wife had three children: John W., associated with his brother in the road contracting business, is married and has three living children; Charles R.; and Ethel, wife of J. B. McCarthy of Knox County, Indiana, who has five children.

Charles R. Lenahan was educated at Vincennes and as a boy was employed by his father, thus learning the contracting business from the ground up. Later he and his brother bought the business from their father, becoming equal partners, with Mr. John G. Koken, who is a nephew of Patrick W. Lenahan. This company employs about eighty-five persons during the high point of the season's work. They have fifty acres of gravel pits and have all the machinery and equipment for prompt and efficient work, including eighteen gravel motor trucks and many other types of power machinery, including grade scrapers and tractors. This firm since it has been in existence has completed fifty miles of concrete highway and 200 miles of gravel road in three counties of Indiana and Illinois, Knox, Wabash and Lawrence. The best equipped machine shop in Vincennes is owned by this organization and keeps the machinery in complete repair.

Mr. Charles R. Lenahan is a member of the Harmony Society, is affiliated with the B. P. O. Elks, Fraternal Order of Eagles and Knights of Columbus, and votes as a Republican. He married Marceline DeLisle, daughter of J. E. DeLisle and member of one of the old French families of Vincennes. They have six children: Charles Bernard, Mildred Katherine, John Pat, Harold Robert, Charles R., Jr., and James Kenneth.

John W. Lenahan, the other Lenahan represented in the firm of Lenahan & Koken, married Mary Fatchett also of old French ancestry. They have three living children, John Dewit, Paul Richard and William, Jr.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


HIRAM MCCORMICK. One of the veteran lawyers of the Indiana bar, Hiram McCormick, of Shoals, has been engaged in practice since 1871, and today is serving in the capacity of deputy prosecuting attorney of Martin County. Few are left of the men who were his contemporaries when he came to the bar, but he continues to carryon his private practice and fulfill his official duties with a clear mind and alert step that belie his years. The great confidence and esteem in which he has always been held by his fellow-citizens are evidenced by the number of offices to which he has been elected, and in which he has registered an honorable record for conscientious devotion to duty.

Mr. McCormick was born on a farm in Martin County, Indiana, February 28, 1847, and is a son of William and Susannah (Faris) McCormick. His paternal grandfather, William McCormick, senior, a native of Scotland, immigrated to America in young manhood, espoused the cause of the patriots and entered the Revolutionary army, and eventually be- came a colonel in the army of General Washington. In his later years he secured a land grant from the Government for his military services and moved to Tennessee, where he rounded out his career. William McCormick, the father of Hiram McCormick, was born in Tennessee, and was a soldier during the War of 1812, serving under Andrew Jackson and fought in three engagements, Horse Shoe Bend, Alabama, Pensacola, and the Battle of New Orleans, also in a number of Indian engagements. The greater part of his life was spent in agricultural pursuits in Martin County, where his death occurred in March, 1876, when he was eighty-nine years of age. By his first marriage he had ten children, and after the death of his first wife he married Susannah Faris, a native of Kentucky, who survived him until 1892. They became the parents of twelve children, of whom Hiram is the youngest.

Hiram McCormick acquired his early education in a log schoolhouse in Martin County, and while the methods were crude and primitive he became sufficiently educated to secure a position as a teacher. He was thus engaged until being elected township assessor in Martin County in 1867, and in the following year was elected sheriff. of Martin County. While holding these offices he applied himself to the study of law, and in 1871, after successfully passing a strict examination, was admitted to the bar and at once settled at Shoals, where he has been engaged in active practice ever since. For many years Mr. McCormick has handled large interests, practiced actively at the bar and acted in behalf of prominent estates. He has not appeared so frequently in private cases recently, owing to his official duties, but still is numbered among the leading lawyers of Southern Indiana. For four years he served in the capacity of prosecuting attorney of Martin County, and for several years has acted as deputy prosecuting attorney, having obtained many convictions during his incumbency of these offices. He is a member of the Martin County Bar Association, the Indiana State Bar Association and the American Bar Association, and is a Democrat in politics. While a religious man by nature, he does not hold membership in any church. He has no fraternal connections.

In August, 1866, Mr. McCormick was united in marriage with Miss Rebecca Davess, and to this union there were born eight children: two who died in infancy; Nancy, the wife of Prof. Sherman Fortner, a college instructor, and has no children; Stella, the wife of Charles W. Slates, president of the Martin County Bank, who has one child, Louise Slates; Annie Myrtle, unmarried, engaged in teaching school; Grover, a well-known attorney of Shoals, whose wife died without issue; Leona, the wife of J. R. Roach, of Bedford, who has three children, Catherine, George Hiram and John Chester; and Ephraim, who died in October, 1929, married Stella Chattin and one child, William Malcolm, was born to that union. Mr. McCormick took for his second wife, September 7, 1899, Matilda Martin, widow of Henry Zum Felde, a member of one of the pioneer families of Martin County, and they have had no children.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


JAMES RUSSELL MARSHALL. Among the public officials of Southern Indiana who have contributed materially and substantially to the betterment and development of their respective communities, one whose official record is worthy of commendation and attention is James Russell Marshall, of Shoals, who since 1928 has been county treasurer of Martin County. Like many men who have risen to public office, Mr. Marshall began his career as a school teacher, subsequently became interested in mercantile affairs, and eventually attracted the interest and confidence of his fellow-citizens to such an extent as to warrant his election to a position of great trust and responsibility.

Mr. Marshall was born February 2, 1899, at Shoals, Martin County, Indiana, and is a son of James B. and Lillian (Luzadder) Marshall. James B. Marshall was born in Ohio in 1857, and in that state was reared on the home farm, receiving his early education in the rural schools. Later he received training for the law, embarked in practice, and served as county surveyor of Martin County and prosecuting attorney. Subsequently he moved to Shoals, where he practiced during the remainder of his career and was known as brilliant, reliable and successful member of his calling. He belonged to the Martin County Bar Association, the Indiana State Bar Association and the American Bar Association, and was universally esteemed because of his high character. His death occurred July 17, 1926, aged sixty-nine years, nine months. Mr. Marshall married Miss Lillian Luzadder, a native of Bloomington, Indiana, who still survives him, at the age of sixty-seven years, her home being at Shoals. Four children were born to this union: Gale, a resident of Indianapolis, who married O. H. Hershman; Lois, who is art supervisor of the high school at Bedford, Indiana; Ruth, a teacher in the public schools of Dana, Indiana; and James Russell, of this review.

James Russell Marshall attended the public schools of Shoals, following which he pursued a course at the Danville Central Normal College, at Danville, Indiana. For three terms he attended Indiana University, and then taught for one term in the public school at Trinity Springs. For the next three years he was a teacher in the high school at Petersburg, this state, but at the end of that period returned to Shoals and engaged in the lumber and automobile business, in which he still is interested. A Democrat in his political views, in 1928 Mr. Marshall was elected on that party’s ticket to the office of county treasurer, of Martin County, in which position he has since acted with commendable energy and ability. He belongs to the American Legion and the Lions Club and is one of the most popular citizens of Shoals. During the World he served in Student Army Training Corps, but the armistice was signed before he was called into active service.

On December 17, 1928, Mr. Marshall was united in marriage with Miss Laura Whitman, daughter of Calvin Whitman, a merchant of Petersburg, and to this union has been born one child, Patricia Ann, born October 29, 1929. Mr. and Mrs. Marshall occupy a pleasant residence at Shoals.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


DEXTER C. GARDNER is the present head of an institution that was founded in 1816, the year that Indiana ceased to be a territory and became one of the commonwealth of the Union. It is most appropriate that this institution, which has represented the work and service of five generations of the Gardner family, should be located in historic old Vincennes, about which so many of the historic associations of the state cluster.

The present head of the business bears the name of his grandfather, Dexter Gardner, whose name for many years has been retained in the title of Dexter Gardner & Son. The Gardners were the pioneer undertakers at Vincennes. A complete account of this family business would represent a consecutive history of the profession of embalming and undertaking from the time that the cabinet maker supplied the most important service in a funeral down to modern conditions when the service not only demands men and women of the highest degree of technical training and professional skill, but large and valuable equipment represented in funeral home and chapel, ambulances, motorized equipment, all of which is found in the present funeral directing business of the firm of Dexter Gardner & Son.

The founder of the business at Vincennes in 1816 was Andrew Gardner, the great-great-grandfather of Dexter C. Gardner. The pioneer home of the establishment was a small frame building. Andrew Gardner was a man held in high esteem in the Vincennes of a century ago. He passed on his skill and experience to his son Elbridge Gardner, one of his two sons. Elbridge Gardner owned and conducted the business for a number of years and when he, too, paid the final debt of nature, the establishment was taken up by his son Dexter, whose methods and equipment were far in advance of the simple standards maintained by the originator of the house. Dexter Gardner took his son George E. into partnership and since that date the firm title has remained Dexter Gardner & Son. Dexter Gardner, himself, was an outstanding citizen of Vincennes and continued to be the head of the business until his death in 1902. From 1902 until August, 1929, his son George E. Gardner was the sole owner and active manager. In 1916, on the centennial anniversary of the founding of the business, George E. Gardner admitted his son, Dexter Carl, into partnership, so that the continuity of the business was assured by this representative of the fifth generation of the family.

The location of the funeral establishment of Dexter Gardner & Son is at 505 Main Street. A number of years ago the firm acquired on that site one of the historic landmarks of Vincennes, the old Bonner Mansion. The building was erected as a home in 1795 by Jonathan Spinning. In the early half of the present century it became an inn, and among other noted guests who were entertained there was Abraham Lincoln when he visited Vincennes several times. Because of this association one room of the funeral home today has been fitted up and dedicated to the memory of .the great prairie president. Among other tributes to the great martyred president is a bronze tablet appropriately inscribed, and many other valuable .Lincoln relics and mementos. have been collected in the room. As the residence and former inn were transformed for the present purpose of a funeral home a portion is set aside for a beautiful funeral chapel. One feature of the chapel are the four memorial windows, dedicated respectively to Andrew Gardner, El bridge Gardner, Dexter Gardner and Fannie Gardner. Fannie Gardner was a daughter of the late Dexter Gardner.

All the members of the four generations of the family who have successively carried on the undertaking business since the time of the pioneer Andrew Gardner were born in Vincennes. George E. Gardner grew up in that city, attended the grammar and high schools, and accepted the opportunities for thorough training in the business, and then carried it on until his death in August, 1929. He was one of the liberal and pubic spirited citizens of the community, was a member of the Vincennes Chamber of Commerce, a Democrat in politics, and, like his father, was affiliated with historic Vincennes Lodge No. 1, A. F. and A. M. He was also a member of the Vincennes Commandery of Knights Templar and of the Mystic Shrine.

George E. Gardner married Miss Ella Whittic. She was a native of Pennsylvania. Her father was an artist and author and also a very successful man of affairs, having large interests in steamship companies, forge industries and other enterprises. Mr. and Mrs. George E. Gardner had two children, Ruth and Dexter Carl.

Ruth Gardner was graduated from Saint Rose Academy at Vincennes. She is the wife of Mr. Alfred Badolett. Mr. Badolett was born and reared in Vincennes and is a descendant of one of the distinguished old French families who were in Vincennes from the time of its founding. His ancestor Jean Louis Badolett was the first United States land registrar of the Northwest Territory after Indiana was transferred by the treaty of 1783 to the independent American colonies. Jean Louis Badolett was also the first president of Vincennes University and was a close friend of that eminent Indiana patriot, Colonel Vigo. Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Badolett reside in Vincennes. He is a member of Vincennes Lodge No.1, A. F. and A. M., the Royal Arch Masons, the Council of Royal and Select Masters, and Vincennes Commandery No. 20, Knights Templar.

Dexter C. Gardner, now the active head of Dexter Gardner & Son, is one of the very popular young business men of his native city, where he was born May 4, 1901. He was educated in public schools, attended Vincennes University, and was only fifteen years of age when, as a mark of the centennial celebration of the family business, he was taken into .partnership. He acquired a thorough technical training and was his father's able assistant until the death of George E. Gardner in August, 1929, when he succeeded to the active management.

Mr. Dexter C. Gardner is a member of Vincennes Lodge No.1, A. F. and A. M., the Scottish Rite Consistory and Shrine at Evansville, the B. P. O. Elks at Vincennes, and the Methodist Episcopal Church. He married, October 15, 1928, at Vincennes, Miss Hellen Tracy, daughter of O. H. Tracy, of Bridgeport, Illinois. They have one daughter, Edwina Gardner.

Click here for photo.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


GLEN W. TURNER, whose people for several generations have been Indiana farmers, was born on a farm, but his active life has been devoted to the banking business. For a number of years he has been a resident of Farmland, Randolph County, where he is cashier of the First National Bank.

He was born at Muncie in Delaware County, February 10, 1891. His grandparents, Robert and Rebecca (Ogle) Turner, and Breckenridge and Euphemia (Gibson) Reynolds, were natives of Virginia and early settlers in Eastern Indiana, becoming farmers in Delaware County . Mr. Turner's parents, Philip E. and Indiana F. (Reynolds) Turner, were both born in Delaware County and live on a farm near Muncie.

Glen W. Turner received his early education in the grade and high schools at Cowan, Indiana, and after completing a course in the Muncie Business College came to Farmland, where for nine years he was assistant cashier of the Farmland State Bank. He left there to become cashier of the First National Bank, an institution capitalized at $25,000, with surplus of $6,500, total resources aggregating $275,000. The average deposits are $250,000.

Mr. Turner in 1917 married Myrtle Rinker, also a native of Delaware County, and her parents, Jacob E. and Alberta M. (Neff) Rinker, were also born there. Mr. and Mrs. Turner have four children, Robert E., Dorothy M., James H. and Charles E. Mr. Turner is a trustee of the Christian Church. For six years he held the office of town clerk, is a trustee of the Chamber of Commerce, is a Republican and a member of the Masonic fraternity and Knights of Pythias.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


Deb Murray