LYNN CRAIG, president of the Citizens Security Company of New Albany, is descended from one of the oldest families of Scott County. His grandfather, James Craig, was a native of Kentucky, to which state the family had migrated from Virginia in pioneer times. James Craig came to Indiana and settled in Scott County about 1816, the year that Indiana entered the Union. He acquired a tract of Government land, part of which is included within the present City of Scottsburg.

Mr. Lynn Craig was born in Scott County, January 13, 1890, son of James B. and Anna (Gardner) Craig. His maternal grandfather, William Gardner, was another prominent early day resident of the county. He served with an Indiana regiment in the Union army during the Civil war and held offices as township trustee and county treasurer. James E. Craig was a lumber manufacturer and farmer.

Mr. Lynn Craig was one of the three children of his parents. He attended the city schools of Scottsburg, rounding out his education with three years in Wabash College, after which he taught in the Scottsburg High School for three years. He left school work to enter banking, as cashier of the Scottsburg Bank, in 1920, but in 1923 resigned to assist in organizing the Citizens Security Company. He was made vice president and since March, 1929, has been president of this organization, one of the substantial financial institutions of Floyd County. Mr. Craig is a member of the Indiana Bankers Association. During the World war he did his part in the Liberty Loan, War Stamp and Red Cross drives and was a volunteer in the Officers Training Camp. Mr. Craig is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, being a Royal Arch Mason, and was the third business man of Scottsburg elected to the office of president of the Commercial Club.

He married Miss Bess Hubbard, of Scott County, daughter of William T. Hubbard and descended from a Hubbard who took up land in Scott County about 1816.

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


JOHN FREDERICK BEGGS, building contractor, was born and grew up in Scott County, has always lived there, but his business relationships in his contract work have covered an increasingly wide territory over Southern and Southeastern Indiana.

Mr. Beggs was born in Scott County February 15, 1881. His father, J. H. Beggs, was a Virginian by birth, lived for some years in Alabama and about 1880 came to Scott County, Indiana. He was an iron moulder by trade. His wife was Rebecca Aldridge, and they had a family of two children, J. Frederick and Etta.

J. Frederick Beggs acquired his literary education in the schools of Scottsburg, attending high school there until he was about nineteen. The basis of his business career was laid as a journeyman carpenter. From that he branched out in 190'7 into building contracting. Scottsburg has been his headquarters in that work. Mr. Beggs has gained a reputation for prompt and reliable service, has been very successful in keeping together a fine organization and has repeatedly demonstrated his efficiency in handling large building enterprises. A few of his more notable contracts should be mentioned. They include the Harrison County courthouse, the Masonic Temple at Jeffersonville, the Baptist and Presbyterian churches at Lebanon, Kentucky, the high school and library at Scottsburg, grade school at Corydon, Methodist Church at Corydon, the Dubois County State Bank and the Greensburg National Bank buildings.

Mr. Beggs is an active member of the Scottsburg Commercial Club. He is a Democrat and a Baptist and is a past noble grand of the Scottsburg Lodge of Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

He married Miss Sarah Emma Bridgewater, a native of Scott County. They have two sons: Willard Maurice, a graduate of the University of Indiana, now associated with his father in the contracting business; and Lowell Frederick, a graduate of the Culver Military Academy, now a student of medicine at the Indiana University.

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


MARK HAYS, county clerk of Scott County, is one of the younger men in the political life of this section of the state. His people have been prominent in Scott County for several generations.

Mr. Hays' grandfather was Henry T. Hays, a native of Virginia and a first cousin of President Hayes, who spelled the family name somewhat differently. Henry T. Hays when a boy of fifteen ran away from home and went to Kentucky, and about 1847 settled in Clark County, Indiana. He was a river man in the lumber industry. In Indiana he married Tirzah Giltner, of a pioneer family of Bethlehem, this state.

The father of Mr. Mark Hays was Noble Jay Hays, a native of Scott County and a farmer and attorney by profession. He served as clerk of courts from 1897 to 1905, for two terms was prosecuting attorney of Jackson County, and was a member of the Seventy-second General Assembly as member of the Senate from the district comprising Scott, Clark and Jackson counties. Noble J. Hays married Susan Phillips, a native of Jefferson County, Indiana.

Mark Hays is one of six children. He was educated in Scott County, graduating from the Scottsburg High School in 1920. He learned the trade of baker and for several years was in the employ of Doctor Walker. In 1928 he was elected county clerk of Scott County for a four year term. He has been through the chairs of the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias and improved Order of Red Men, and is a member of Scottsburg Lodge No. 572 of the Masonic fraternity.

On June 29, 1930, he was united in marriage with Lucille Whitlock, of Scottsburg.

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


JOEL ATKINS HUNT. Prominent among the officials of Clark County who through energetic and capable discharge of duty are contributing to their community's welfare and prestige is Joel Atkins Hunt, of Jeffersonville, who occupies the post of county recorder. Although still a young man, his life has been a full and varied one, in which he has gained broad experience and ripened judgment, and at present is the proprietor of a prosperous real estate and insurance business.

Mr. Hunt was born in Clark County, Indiana, January 30, 1893, and is a son of Thomas Jefferson and Maggie Elizabeth Hunt, natives of Kentucky, his father being a painting contractor. The second in order of birth in a family of seven children, at the age of eight years he was contributing to the family support by working a newspaper route, although he continued his education, which was commenced in the public schools of Jeffersonville, by courses at the Jeffersonville College in 1915 and the Indiana University Extension course. When he entered jis regular career it was as an inspector for iron manufacturing companies in Ohio, and in 1917 was appointed an honorary member of the United States Shipping Board, at Hoboken, New Jersey. He was employed by the United States Government Quartermaster's Depot at Jeffersonville for six years as superintendent of the warehousing department, and was active as chairman of committees on Liberty Loans, Red Cross and War, Savings Stamps. In 1921 Mr. Hunt embarked in the real estate and insurance business at Jeffersonville, in which he has been engaged to the present, with much success. He has placed many large and important risks with the old-line companies, and has also been the medium through which large realty negotiations have been transacted, and in all of his dealings has maintained a reputation for straightforward and honorable dealings. A Democrat in his political views, he has been the incumbent of several public positions, having served as deputy assessor in 1922, 1923, 1924 and 1295. In 1926 he was made attendance officer of the Clark County school board, and in 1927 was elected to the office of county recorder and in 1930 he was reelected for a second term. He has established a splendid record in this office. He is a Mason and a past master of Jeffersonville Lodge No. 340, A. F. and A. M., and is also an active member of the Knights of Pythias, in which he has passed through the majority of the chairs.

On February 16, 1921, at Jeffersonville, Mr. Hunt was united in marriage with Miss Carrie Varble Wyatt, of that city, a member of a pioneer family of Clark County which traces its ancestry in this country back to Colonial Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Hunt have no children.

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


ODA L. PYLE held the office of deputy sheriff of his native county, with official headquarters in the City of New Albany, judicial center of Floyd County, and he proved a valued assistant to Sheriff William R. Helm, of whom individual mention is made on other pages of this publication. On January 6, 1929, he was appointed captain of police of New Albany.

Mr. Pyle was born on his father's farm in Floyd County and the date of his nativity was May 31, 1894. He is the sixth in a family of seven children and is a son of George and Eliza (Veron) Pyle, the former of whom was born in Kentucky and the latter in Indiana. George Pyle was reared and educated in his native state and was a young man when he came to Indiana, where he has long been actively engaged in farm enterprise in Floyd County.

Oda L. Pyle received the advantages of the district school of the home neighborhood and also those of the New Albany public schools. At the age of nineteen years he began his apprenticeship in an iron foundry at New Albany, and he continued to follow his trade sixteen years. In the early part of the year 1929 he was appointed to the office of deputy sheriff of Floyd County, and, as above noted, he is now captain of police.

To the lasting honor of Mr. Pyle will be the loyal and patriotic service that he accorded in the period of the nation's participation in the great World war. At Camp Taylor, Kentucky, he became a member of the Fifty- ninth Battalion of Light Artillery, from which he was subsequently transferred to the Six Hundred and Fifth Engineers and sent to Camp Forrest, Georgia. With his command he entered overseas service with the American Expeditionary Forces in France, where he remained eight months and where he was on active duty when the armistice brought the great world conflict to a close. After his return to his native land he received his honorable discharge, with the rank of sergeant. He is affiliated with the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Junior Order United American Mechanics, and the Masons. He has membership in the union of iron, tin and steel workers and served five years as treasurer of the local union at New Albany. In a fundamental way he is a Republican, but in local affairs, where no national issues are involved, he supports men and measures meeting his approval, regardless of party lines. His name is still enrolled on the roster of eligible young bachelors in his native county.

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


REV. FRANCIS XAVIER GUERRE during the six years of his labors in the Gary district has demonstrated the abilities of the organizer and builder and is also a very popular churchman, with a large following of admiring friends throughout this industrial region of Northern Indiana.

Father Guerre was born at Saint Die, France, July 3, 1898, son of Alexander and Elizabeth (Jehlen) Guerre, who left France and came to America in 1907, when the son, Francis X., was nine years of age. Alexander Guerre was a weaver by trade. He located at Kokomo, Indiana, and there became connected with the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Plant. He died May 20, 1929. He was active in church and a member of the Holy Name Society and Knights of Columbus. There were four sons in the family: William and Charles, both residents of Kokomo; Francis X. and George, who with their mother constitute the family circle in the priest's home at Miller, Indiana.

Francis X. Guerre attended public and parochial schools in Kokomo, and from boyhood his training was directed toward the priesthood. In 1918 he graduated from Saint Francis Seminary and in 1924 completed his theological training in Mt. St. Mary's Seminary. He was ordained a priest June 14, 1924, by Bishop Alerding, of Fort Wayne. For a short time he was assistant pastor in Saint Vincent's Church at Elkhart and on July 24, 1924, was assigned to Gary as assistant pastor of the Holy Angel's Church. On July 21, 1929, the bishop directed him to the pastorate of a new parish, called Saint Mary of the Lake, located at Miller. Here his tasks are those of building up a new congregation and parish, and in addition to his congregation at Miller he is assigned as a missionary at East Gary. Father Guerre is active in the Knights of Columbus and Catholic Order of Forresters, and while at Gary was for a time identified with the Kiwanis organization.

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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


CHARLES F. C. HANCOCK, M. D. The Clark County medical fraternity is composed perhaps of as fine a body of members of their science as can be found anywhere. All are not as well equipped for the duties of their calling, however, as is Dr. Charles F. C. Hancock, of Jeffersonville, who has been engaged in active practice for more than forty years, and who has won a distinguished place in his profession. It is not only as a physician and surgeon that he has attained prominence and honors, but also as a participant in public affairs, to which he has given much attention during a long and successful career. He has been the incumbent of a number of offices and in 1904 was elected to the State Senate, serving with energy and ability for a term of four years in that body.

Doctor Hancock was born on a farm in Clark County, Indiana, February 3, 1867, and is a son of William and Catherine (Smith) Hancock. He belongs to one of this country's distinguished families and is a descendant of John Hancock, the Revolutionary patriot and president of Congress. John Hancock was born at Quincy, Massachusetts, January 12, 1737, and was a leading spirit in the inception of the Revolution. The attempt to arrest Hancock and Samuel Adams led to the battle of Lexington. Hancock was a member of the Continental Congress from 1775 to 1780, and from 1785 to 1786, serving as president of the body from 1775 to 1777. The Declaration of Independence as first published bore only his name. He served as governor of Massachusetts twelve years. As an orator he was eloquent, and as a presiding officer dignified and impartial. He died at Quincy, Massachusetts, October 8, 1793.

From the New England states members of the Hancock family moved to Pennsylvania, and later to Kentucky, from which state came Hardin Hancock, the paternal grandfather of Doctor Hancock. He penetrated the wilderness of Clark County, Indiana, some time during the late '40s, hewed himself a farm from the forests, and became one of that locality's early citizens in the development and progress of what was to become, in later years, one of the most productive sections of the state. His son, William Hancock, was born in Kentucky and was brought as a child to Clark County, where he was educated in the rural schools and reared to the pursuits of farming. A man of high character and sound intelligence, he took his natural place as a leader in public affairs and served many times in the offices of county commissioner and township trustee, as well as in other capacities. Mr. Hancock married Miss Catherine Smith, who was a native of Plymouth, England, and they became the parents of six children.

Charles F. C. Hancock attended the graded schools of Clark County, the high school at Seymour, Indiana, and Eikosi Academy, at Salem, Indiana, from which institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1883. He completed his medical education at the Ohio Medical College, class of 1887, when he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and his first location was at Jasper, Indiana, where he remained in practice for fourteen months. In 1888 Doctor Hancock settled permanently at Jeffersonville, where he has become one of the leading physicians and surgeons of this part of the state. He is equally proficient in all branches of his calling and has a practice that is prominent and gratifyingly remunerative. He has been local surgeon for the Pennsylvania Railway for thirty-five years, and for many years has occupied a like position for the New York Central Railway Company, and has served at various times as a member of the Jeffersonville Board of Health. He is a member of the Clark County Medical Society, the Indiana State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. Since young manhood he has been an active member of the Republican party, occupying various offices, and in 1904 was sent to the State Senate, where he served in a constructive and energetic manner for four years. Fraternally he is a Mason and a member of the Knights Templar.

Doctor Hancock was united in marriage with Miss Nora Duffy, daughter of James T. Duffy, a native of Clark County, where for many years Mr. Duffy was engaged in agricultural operations, and to this union there have been born the following: James Duffy, a graduate Doctor of Medicine, University of Louisville, Kentucky, who spent his interneship at the Post-Graduate Hospital, New York City, and is now enjoying a large medical and surgical practice at Louisville; James Reynolds, a graduate of Boston Technical College, degree of Mechanical Engineer, who is now identified in an important capacity with the Murphy Construction Company, of Louisville, Kentucky; Catherine Virginia, the wife of Norman Guernsey; William, a business man of Jeffersonville, Indiana; and Charles F. C. Jr., a student at the University of Louisville. Doctor Hancock occupies splendidly appointed offices and a modern operating room at 329 Spring Street, where he also has a large and comprehensive medical library, to the perusal of which he has given much of his time, having always been an indefatigable student and tireless investigator in the realms of his science. It has been his fortune to surround himself with many congenial friends, who always meet with a warm welcome at the pleasant home of Doctor Hancock at 131 West Chestnut Street.

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


RALPH WALDO BRUNER, M. D. An old and professionally prominent family of Indiana, founded here in 1830, bears the name of Bruner, one that is familiar in both Jefferson and Clark counties as ably representing the medical profession. Almost a century ago Dr. Jacob Bruner came to Clark County from Tennessee, not only as a medical practitioner but also as an accredited minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in both beneficent capacities he spent a long and useful life. No less prominent was his son, the late Dr. E. W. Bruner, a native of Indiana. During the war between the states he served as a commissioned officer and later, for five years, was employed by the Government as visiting physician to the surviving Creek and Cherokee Indians in the South. He returned then to Clark County, where he passed away after sixty years of medical practice.

Succeeding his father and grandfather and preserving their high ideals of medical service and ethical principles is Dr. Ralph W. Bruner, physician and surgeon at Jeffersonville, Indiana, member of the staff of the Clark County Memorial Hospital, former health officer and an ex-president and ex-secretary of the Clark County Medical Society. Doctor Bruner was born in the State of Arkansas, February 10, 1890, and is a son of Dr. E. W. and Joetta (Brentlinger) Bruner. His grandfather, as before noted, came to Indiana about 1830, and spent the rest of his life in practicing medicine and serving as a minister of the Methodist churches at Bedford and Utica. His son, the late Dr. E. W. Bruner, married Joetta Brentlinger, and they became the parents of six children.

Ralph W. Bruner attended the public schools of Jeffersonville, and, following the tendency of the family, early took a deep interest in the science of medicine. He received careful and comprehensive training under the able preceptorship of his father, and then entered the University of Indiana, from which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1919, receiving the degree of Doctor of Medicine. During the year 1920 Doctor Bruner was an interne in the University of Louisville, Kentucky, and to prepare himself further spent about a year as a country physician near Maysville, Kentucky. During the latter part of 1921 and the year 1922 he was engaged in practice at Sellersburg, and in the latter year settled permanently at Jeffersonville, where he has since been engaged in practice. He has shown himself to be a capable diagnostician, able practitioner and skillful surgeon, and has built up a large and lucrative practice, with modernly-equipped offices at 437 Spring Street. During the World war Doctor Bruner rendered highly valuable services at the civilian hospital at Camp Knox, Kentucky. From 1926 until 1929 he served as city health officer, and at present is a member of the staff of the Clark County Memorial Hospital. He belongs also to the Clark County Medical Society, of which he formerly served as president and secretary on separate occasions; the Indiana State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. Fraternally he is a Mason and Knight Templar. Doctor Bruner is a man of public spirit and civic pride and has identified himself with many civic movements for the public welfare.

Doctor Bruner married Miss Ruth Ann Sagebiel, of Indiana, and they have three children: Ralph Waldo, Jr., John Jacob and Ruth Ann.

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


JULIUS CHARLES MOSER, vice president of the George Moser Leather Company, one of the substantial business concerns that give industrial and commercial precedence to his native City of New Albany, is known and valued as one of the progressive and alert business men of the younger generation in this vital city of Southern Indiana.

Mr. Moser was born at New Albany on the 24th of June, 1893, and is one of the five children born to George and Josephine (Buche) Moser, the former of whom was born in Germany and the latter in Indianapolis, Indiana. George Moser was reared and educated in his native land and was a young man when he came to the United States, after the close of the Civil war, and made settlement in Floyd County, Indiana. Here he was employed several years in a tannery, and about the year 1879 he organized the George Moser Leather Company of New Albany. The business had a modest inception, as his financial resources were limited at the time, but his careful and able direction of the enterprise in the passing years brought to it consecutive expansion in scope and importance. With the result that at the time of his death, in 1914, the company had gained rank as one of the leading industrial and commercial concerns of New Albany - a rank that it continues to maintain. George Moser was not only a successful man of affairs but also a loyal and public-spirited citizen. While he had no desire for political preferment, his civic loyalty was shown in his constructive service as a member of the local board of education, of which he was chosen the president. He was president of the George Moser Leather Company, a wholesale and jobbing concern, at the time of his death, and his sons proved worthy successors in ordering the affairs of the business. His widow still resides in New Albany. Julius C. Moser, whose public-school advantages in his native city included those of the high school and who later completed a course in the New Albany Business College, became associated with his father's business when he was eighteen years of age, and with same his brothers George, Jr., and Karl F. likewise became actively allied, the latter when he was twenty years of age. George, Jr., is now deceased; Karl F. is secretary and treasurer of the company; Julius C., as previously noted. is its vice president, and Charles E., eldest of the brothers, is the president. Karl F. married Miss Margaret Marquette, who likewise was born and reared in Indiana, and Julius C. married Miss Irma T. Morgan, who was born and reared in this state, the one child of this union being a winsome daughter, Miriam Juel.

The George Moser Leather Company controls a substantial general leather and saddlery business, with the best of modern facilities for the curing and tanning of hides, and the wholesale trade of the concern has been extended into various states of the Union aside from Indiana. The manufacturing plant of the company utilizes an area of about seven acres, the corps of employes averages about seventy, and about 100,000 hides are handled annually. The late George Moser, Sr., was president of the New Albany Trust Company at the time of his death, and had much of leadership in both civic and business affairs in the city that long represented his home and to the advancement of which he contributed in generous measure. His only daughter, Anna, is the wife of Charles P. Tighe, of New Albany.

Julius C. Moser, like his parents and other members of the family, is a communicant of the Catholic Church, and he is affiliated with the local council of the Knights of Columbus. He is a loyal and valued member of the New Albany Chamber of Commerce. When the nation became involved in the World war he enlisted for service in the United States Army and was assigned to an infantry regiment. He continued in service six months, during which he was stationed in turn at Camp Taylor, Kentucky, and Camp Pike, Arkansas.

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


Deb Murray