His father was Thomas W. Gibson, a native of Philadelphia, and son of John Gibson, who was born at Dublin, Ireland, and came to this country and settled in Philadelphia a few years after the Revolutionary war. He married Sarah Clark. Thomas W. Gibson came to Lawrenceburg, Indiana, in 1821, and in 1837 located at Charlestown. He rose to distinction as a practicing attorney and for a number of years also practiced at Louisville, Kentucky. He served as a member of the Indiana Constitutional Convention, was in the State Senate in 1848-50. He was a graduate of West Point Military Academy, was a captain in the Mexican war, raising a company at Charlestown, and commanded a regiment as colonel of Kentucky troops in the Civil war, and for a time was provost marshal at Louisville. Col. Thomas W. Gibson married Mary W. Goodwin. Her father, Colonel Goodwin, was at the battle of Tippecanoe under General Harrison. One of the Goodwins had served under Gen. George Rogers Clark. The Goodwins were allotted land for their services, and George H, D. Gibson today has his home on it part of this original land grant.
George H. D. Gibson was the youngest of a family of six children and was born at Charlestown, Clark County, September 9, 1851. He attended schools at Charlestown, graduated in 1872 from the Kentucky Military Institute at Frankfort and completed his law course at the University of Louisville in 1874. He was admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1873 and to the Indiana bar in 1874. He practiced law for three years at Charlestown, 1874-77, and from 1877 to 1892 had his law offices in Louisville. In 1892 he was elected judge of the Fourth Judicial District of Indiana, serving six years. His judicial service constitutes one of the high points in his long professional service. For the past thirty years he has devoted his time and talents to a general law practice at Charlestown. He also supervises the operation of his farm, comprising a section of land.
Mr. Gibson was a member of the Indiana State Legislature in 1881-83 and was prosecuting attorney of the district comprising Floyd and Clark counties in 1875-76. For many years he was head of the County Council, and has attended as a delegate two notable national conventions of the Democratic party, that at Chicago in 1884, when Cleveland was nominated, and the memorable New York City convention of 1924. During the World war Mr. Gibson was chairman of the Liberty Bond committee. For several years he was president of the City Council. He is a member of the B. P. O. Elks and the Sigma Alpha Epsilon college fraternity. Judge Gibson married Virginia C. Van Hook. She was born at Charlestown and is now deceased. There were no children.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
MERTON L. HUGHBANKS is a native son of Scott County, was a merchant and banker in his home locality, and has become known all over the southwestern quarter of the state as the organizer and active head of the Farmers Investment & Loan Company of Scottsburg.
Mr. Hughbanks was born in Scott County July 2, 1883. His grandfather, William Hughbanks, was a native of Virginia, moved to Kentucky and from there came to Scott County, Indiana, about 1818. He was a pioneer, a large land owner and an early merchant at Austin, where he put up the first house, about 1820. David M. Hughbanks, father of Merton L., was born in Scott County, became a well-to-do farmer and for two terms was honored with the office of county treasurer and also served two terms as township trustee. He married Alice C. Whitson, a native of Scott County.
Merton L. Hughbanks was one of a family of eight children. He attended public schools in Scott County, and after completing a commercial course in Valparaiso University took up the work of teaching. He was in school work from 1902 to 1905, and in 1906 entered the mercantile business in his home town of Austin. He sold out in 1909 to assist in organizing the Austin State Bank, of which he was cashier until 1916.
Mr. Hughbanks in 1917 moved to Scottsburg and entered the general insurance business. In 1920 Mr. R. L. Whitson joined him and they organized the Farmers Investment & Loan Company, for the purpose of making farm loans and handling mortgages. The company was started with a capital of $37,500. The present capital is now $120,000, with total resources of $400,000, all built up within a period of nine years. The company is chartered under the laws of Indiana, with Mr. Hughbanks as president, J. G. Martin, vice president, and R. L. Whitson, secretary and treasurer. This company does much more than a local business, having clients allover the southeastern part of the state, in Scott, Clark, Floyd; Washington, Orange, Crawford, Lawrence, Jackson, Bartholomew, Jennings, Jefferson, Switzerland and Ohio counties.
Mr. Hughbanks' first wife was Avis Mann, who died in 1913, leaving two sons, Lester and Leland, both in school. In 1923 Mr. Hughbanks married Edna Killey, of Scott County.
During the World war and since Mr. Hughbanks has been active in various patriotic and charitable drives, having served as secretary of the Red Cross, as chairman of the County Red Cross and Charity Fund drives, has been president of the Commercial Club, was the first president of the Lions Club of Scottsburg. He is affiliated with Scott Lodge No. 120 A. F. and A. M., is a member of the Royal Arch Chapter, Council and Knights Templar Commandery, and Murat Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Indianapolis.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
JONAS GEORGE HOWARD, president of the Clark County Bar Association, has practiced since his admission to the Indiana bar at Jeffersonville, where his offices are in the Citizens Bank Building.
There have been four generations of the Howard family in Indiana, and in each one the name Jonas appears. The first Jonas Howard was a Vermonter who came to Indiana and settled in Floyd County about 1816. The second Jonas G. Howard was born in Vermont and became a brick manufacturer in Southern Indiana. Jonas G. Howard III was born in Floyd County and for many years practiced law and had a variety of business connections as well. He was chosen representative of this Indiana district to Congress during Cleveland's first administration. He was a graduate of DePauw University and of the law department of the University of Indiana. His wife, Elizabeth Roswell, was a member of an old family of Clark County, the Roswells coming from Pennsylvania to this state about 1820.
Mr. Jonas G. Howard IV, the Jeffersonville attorney, was one of three children and was born in Clark County February 2, 1886. He attended grade and high schools, for two years continued his studies in the University of Indiana, and in 1907 took his law degree at the University of Louisville, Kentucky. He was admitted to the Indiana bar in 1907 and from that date has been engaged in a general law practice at Jeffersonville. He has been admitted to practice in the Federal courts and is a lawyer of sound scholarship and with a reputation for thoroughness in everything he does.
For eight years he served as a member of the City Council and was appointed mayor for an unexpired term of eighteen months. He has been on various boards and during the World War was active in the Liberty Loan and Red Cross drives. He is a member of the board of directors of the library association, is a member of the Indiana State and American Bar Associations, was a director and second president of the Lions Club, and since early manhood has been a leader in the Democratic party, recognized as one of its ablest orators. He served two terms as city chairman, has also been district chairman and a member of the state Democratic committee. Mr. Howard is affiliated with the B. P. O. Elks. He married Helen Armstrong, of Clark County. Thev have one daughter, Janet.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
FRANK OSWELL HODSON. A resident of Gary for nearly a quarter of a century, Frank O. Hodson is now one of the leading contractors and civil engineers of the state. Commencing his career as a school teacher, eventually he turned his attention to the business in which he is now engaged, mastered its many details, until he has attained at length a commanding position among the enterprising men of Gary, and has been able to hold it amid the strong competition which increasing capital and trade have brought to the city. His success has been due alone to his enterprising character and business capacity, for he began life without pecuniary assistance or the aid of family or other favoring influences.
Mr. Hodson was born in Howard County, Indiana, April 8, 1871, and is a son of Samuel and Hannah (Coyle) Hodson, and a grandson of a native Virginian who was a pioneer of Howard County, where he located prior to the war between the states and spent the remainder of his life in agricultural operations. The grandparents are buried in the cemetery at Russiaville, this state.
Samuel Hodson was born in Union County, Indiana, where he received a country school education and was reared on the home farm, and during the Civil war enlisted in the Union army, but was not called upon for active service in the field. He devoted his entire life to the pursuits of farming and stock raising and became a man of substance, dying on his farm in 1912 and being buried in the cemetery at Russiaville. He was a lifelong Democrat, but had no aspiration for public office, although always a good and public-spirited citizen. Mr. Hodson married Hannah Coyle, who was born in Shelby County, Indiana, and was a product of the public schools of that locality. She was a daughter of Francis and Nancy Coyle, pioneers of Shelby County, where Mr. Coyle was engaged in the manufacture of brick and was also a large landholder. The Coyle family, originally from Virginia, is one of the leading families of Shelby County, and a number of its members are buried in the cemetery near Wilson. Mrs. Hodson was active in community life and in the work of the Christian Church. She died in 1900 and is buried at Russiaville. There were three children in the family: George E., a blacksmith and carriage manufacturer of Elwood, who died in 1910, leaving a widow, formerly Miss Mollie Martin, and a son, Harry, one other child having died in infancy; Frank O., of this review; and Ada, who died in 1904, as the wife of Ellsworth Adair, formerly of Russiaville, who is now engaged in the insurance business at Frankfort, this state.
Frank O. Hodson attended the public schools of Howard County, after which he started his career as a teacher, teaching for three years in Howard County and for two years in Madison County. Giving up the profession of educator, he then turned his attention to contracting and civil engineering at Elwood, and in 1906 came to Gary as engineer for the Gary Land Company and assistant engineer to the chief engineer, Ralph E. Rowley, of the Illinois Steel Company and the Gary Land Company. Mr. Hodson continued in this position for one year and then entered the engineering department of the City of Gary, where he remained until 1910. That year saw his real entrance into the private field of contracting, in which he has attained a remarkable success, his offices being located at 128 West Ninth Avenue, corner of Adams. Mr. Hodson stands high in business circles and particularly so in his special line, being president of the American Asphalt Paving Association. He is a director in the Central Trust & Savings Bank and the Inland Bonding Company of South Bend; a past president of the Chamber of Commerce and a director in the Commercial Club and Chamber of Commerce of Gary; vice president and a director in the Lookout Mountain Cave Company, of Chattanooga, Tennessee; and secretary and treasurer of the Municipal Contracting Supply Company, of Gary, of which he is also a member of the directorate. He is a thirty-second degree Mason and Shriner, and a member of Gary Lodge No. 677, A. F. and A. M.; Gary Chapter, R. A. M.; Fort Wayne Consistory; and Orak Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Hammond. He belongs also to Elwood Lodge No. 368, B. P. O. Elks, and for years was active in the Knights of Pythias, the Improved Order of Red Men and the Rotary Club. He is active in civic affairs as a member of the various organizations which are developing the city's resources. He also belongs to the Gary Country Club. Mr. Hodson is a Democrat in his political allegiance, and is a member and trustee of the First Presbyterian Church.
At Elwood, Indiana, May 8, 1895, Mr. Hodson was united in marriage with Miss Gertrude Bassett, daughter of Charles and Mary (Keyger) Bassett, the former of whom was engaged in the tinning business for a number of years, but retired some years ago when he and Mrs. Bassett began to make their home with Mr. and Mrs. Hodson. Mr. Bassett died May 9, 1929, and Mrs. Bassett in the following July, and both are buried at Elwood. They had been early residents of Union County, where the family was widely known and highly respected. Mrs. Hodson received her education in the public schools of Union County, Indiana, and is a woman of superior attainments. She is active in the work of the First Presbyterian Church and treasurer of the local Young Women's Christian Association. A member of the finance board of Gary Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, she was selected as a delegate to the national convention at Washington, D. C., in 1930, but illness prevented her attendance. She is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star and of the Woman's Club of Gary. Mr. and Mrs. Hodson are the parents of one son, Ralph Lorenzo, born at Elwood, Indiana, April 29, 1899. He attended the public schools of Gary, graduating from Emerson High School in 1917, following which he entered Purdue University, where he was a student of civil engineering when the United States was drawn into the World war. In 1917 he enlisted in the United States Navy and after a few months of training at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station, Great Lakes, Illinois, was sent back to Purdue University to undergo Government training at the Officers Training Camp, in civil engineering. He was thus engaged at the time of the signing of the armistice and shortly thereafter received his honorable discharge, although for a time he was a member of the Naval Reserves. He graduated from Purdue with the class of 1922, degree of Civil Engineer, and since then has been associated with his father in business at Gary, where he is vice president and a director in the Municipal Contracting Supply Company. Ralph L. Hodson is a thirty-second degree Mason and Shriner, and a member of Gary Lodge of Elks, the Gary Country Club, the Kiwanis Club, and Gary Memorial Post No. 17, American Legion. In politics he is a Democrat and his religious connection is with the Forty-third Avenue Presbyterian Church. Mr. Hodson married Miss Margaret Murphey, of Lafayette, Indiana, daughter of William J. Murphey, who is engaged in the general office supply book and stationery business. Mrs. Hodson is a graduate of Lafayette High School and of Purdue University, class of 1921. She is active in the Forty-third Avenue Presbyterian Church and a member of the Kappa Kappa Kappa sorority and the Gary Garden Club. Mr. and Mrs. Hodson have two daughters: Nancy Jean and Patricia Ann.
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INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
ELWIN LOWELL HUGHBANKS, member of one of Scott County's oldest and most highly respected families, is the present county auditor of Scott County. For many years he was in the railroad service.
He was born in Scott County, March 4, 1866. His grandfather was William Hughbanks and his great-grandfather was David Hughbanks. William Hughbanks was born in Virginia, went to Kentucky in early life and about 1818 came to Indiana and settled in Scott County. He acquired land from the Government and built the first house at Austin in Scott County, about 1820. He was a merchant at Austin for many years. Elwin L. Hughbanks is a son of Thomas and Eliza (Montgomery) Hughbanks. His father was a merchant at Austin and was a brother of David M. Hughbanks, who served for two terms as county treasurer.
Elwin L. Hughbanks, one of a family of five children, grew up at Austin, attended public school there, and at the age of twenty was working in his father's business. When he was twenty-three years of age he began his service record with the Pennsylvania Railway Company. The first year he was baggage master at Seymour, then in the freight office there fourteen years, and in 1906 was transferred to Scottsburg as station agent. He continued this work until he resigned in 1921, and as a token of his more than thirty years of faithful service with the company was given an honor button. Mr. Hughbanks in 1922 was elected for his first term as county auditor and was reelected in 1926. During the World war he was in the railway service, an essential line of work, and participated in all the war loan drives during that period. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Scottsburg Lodge No. 572, A. F. and A. M., Royal Arch Chapter No. 144, and is a member of the Commercial Club.
Mr. Hughbanks married Nora Buxton, a native of Scott County, daughter of Frank Buxton and descended from pioneers of Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Hughbanks have one daughter, Halcy, who is the wife of W. L. Craig. Mr. Craig, now superintendent of the Scottsburg city schools, is a graduate of Wabash College and also attended Columbia University in New York.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
LAWRENCE WINFIELD PAYNTER as a physician and surgeon has been numbered among Indiana's leading professional men for over thirty-nine years. The locality that has known him best both as a professional man and citizen is Washington County, and he was born in that county October 30, 1871.
His father, Jacob L. Paynter, was born in Washington County, son of John Paynter, who came from Virginia and settled in Washington County about 1822. He was a pioneer farmer. Jacob L. Paynter was one of a family of eleven children. Two of his brothers, George and Harry Paynter, were members of the Indiana Legislature. Jacob L. Paynter was a graduate of the University of Indiana, was a qualified attorney, but all his life lived on a farm and for ten years conducted a mercantile business. He married Sarah E. Barnett of Washington County, and they were the parents of seven children. There were four sons, two of whom, Lawrence W. and Claude B., became physicians, while Asa Lea is a pharmacist and Harry W. has followed business lines.
Lawrence W. Paynter was educated in public schools at Salem, and was graduated M. D. in 1893 from the medical department of the University of Louisville. For twenty-seven years he made his home and practiced medicine at Campbellsburg, and since May, 1920, has lived at Salem. Doctor Paynter was a member of the Medical Advisory Board during the World war and at different times has filled the office of county coroner, aggregating a service of fifteen years. He has been honored with the offices of president, secretary and treasurer of the Washington County Medical Society, is a member of the Third District and Indiana State Medical Associations. Doctor Paynter is a Scottish Rite Mason, member of the Knights of Pythias, Modern Woodmen of America, and the Methodist Episcopal Church.
He married Margaret Maude Strattan, who was born in Washington County and is of Colonial ancestry. The Strattans came from England to America about 1622. In the different generations for three centuries the family has been represented by soldiers in practically every war, including the Revolution. Doctor and Mrs. Paynter were the parents of four children: Marie, wife of William A. Finley, a business man, is a graduate of the Thomas Normal Training School at Detroit, Michigan; Leslie W., who died in 1922; Harry Stratten, a graduate of the New Albany Business College, now in business; and John J., a graduate of the Louisville School of Pharmancy.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
JOHN MILLER MONTGOMERY, owner and president of the J. M. Montgomery Motor Company, is in point of continuous service the oldest automobile dealer in Scottsburg. He was trained as a machinist, and had a shop for general repair work at Scottsburg when the automobile made its appearance as a promising vehicle of transportation. Mr. Montgomery has probably repaired every make of car that has been on the road during the last twenty years.
He was born in Scott County, October 20, 1878, a son of W. D. and Hannah (Wardell) Montgomery. His father was born in Kentucky, and was brought to Indiana by his parents after the Civil war. He was a carriage maker by trade. John M. Montgomery was one of a family of ten children. His education was that supplied by the public schools, and when seventeen years of age he began working in a blacksmith shop. He has always been interested in everything mechanical, and he was the first man of Scottsburg to purchase an automobile. Soon after automobiles became something more than an object of curiosity he started doing general repair work for cars, and later began selling them. In the course of his experience he has handled the Hudson, the Overland, the Dodge, the Studebaker, and is now the Scottsburg selling agent for the Chevrolet, conducting the business as the J. M. Montgomery Motor Company. Mr. Montgomery's first repair shop was a log room fourteen by fourteen feet. His business has demanded steadily increased facilities, and he now has sales room, and service shop affording 20,000 square feet of floor space. His business establishment is well equipped and has a force of expert workers to handle every class of repair job, and he also carries a large line of accessories. His company places about 250 new cars annually. In addition to the Chevrolet agency the company acts as agent for the Indian Refining Company. His business employs about fifteen persons.
Mr. Montgomery married Miss Carrie E. Yount, of Scott County. They have three children: J. Max, who was educated at the University of Indiana, married Alice G. McKinsey; Russell L., a graduate mechanical engineer of Purdue University; and J. Willard, who also attended Purdue University, is working for his father and is a member of the Citizens Military Training Camp.
Mr. Montgomery is a member of the Scottsburg Lions Club, the Commercial Club, and is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity. He has served as a city trustee and was president of the board from 1920 to 1924. During the World war he did his part in promoting the success of the loan and other drives for the Government.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
GEORGE THEODORE HEMPEL. An impressive illustration of what may be accomplished within a score of years by industry, sobriety and persistent endeavor is furnished in the career of George Theodore Hempel, president and general manager of the Hempel Machine Company, Inc., of Jeffersonville. Without aid from adventitious sources and relying solely upon his own inherent energy, perseverance and sound judgment, he has built up a business that is highly creditable to himself and the community of which he is a worthy member.
Mr. Hempel was born at Louisville, Kentucky, March 9, 1887, and is a son of Theodore and Miranda (Francis) Hempel. He is of German descent, the family having established itself in Kentucky during the nineteenth century, and his father was born and educated at Louisville, where for many years he was an important figure in industrial circles. There were two children in the family: George Theodore, of this review; and Theodore, Jr.
George Theodore Hempel attended the public schools of Louisville until he was fourteen years of age, at which time he began to learn the trade of machinist. He proved an apt and retentive pupil, and after mastering his vocation worked as a journeyman machinist for some years, until becoming employed by the Bauer Machine Company, of Jeffersonville, in the capacity of manager. In 1921 Mr. Hempel bought this plant, changed the name of the company to the Hempel Machine Company, and moved the machinery into a new building, at Market and Broadway, where he has since replaced the former machines with the most modern to be secured. The firm is now incorporated as the Hempel Machine Company, Inc., with Mr. Hempel as president and general manager; Walter L. Eckhouse, vice president; and C. L. Kalmbach, secretary and treasurer. Among other articles this company manufactures lockstitch harness, sewing machines, automobile piston pins, axle and drive shafts and automobile wheel pullers. The plant is located on a lot of 7,000 square feet, and eighteen skilled mechanics are given employment. The concern manufactures for jobbers, and its products find a ready market in Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, Minnesota and Texas. Its plant is capable of producing a daily capacity of 600 wrist pins, 100 wheel pullers and 300 axles, and other articles in proportion. During the World war the factory was running 100 per cent day and night in the production of war materials. Mr. Hempel has been exceptionally busy with his business interests, but has always been cognizant of the duties and responsibilities of citizenship, and from 1920 until 1924 served as a member and treasurer of the Clarksville School Board. His name has been connected with all civic enterprises tending toward progress and enlightened views, and he can be counted upon to support worth-while measures of all kinds. As a fraternalist he belongs to Jeffersonville Lodge No. 340, A. F. and A. M., and is a York Rite Mason and a Knight Templar.
In 1907, at Jeffersonville, Mr. Hempel was united in marriage with Miss Lula A. Bartle, a native of Indiana and a granddaughter of a pioneer of this state. To Mr. and Mrs. Hempel there have been born two children: Theodore Franklin, a graduate of the Jeffersonville High School, who is now attending the University of Louisville; and Ida May, a student at Jeffersonville. The family reside in an attractive home at 510 Montgomery Street.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
