The birth of Mr. Hoeffle occurred in the City of Delaware, Ohio, June 16, 1885, and he is a son of William and Minnie (Houser) Hoeffle, both of whom continued their residence at Delaware until their death, William Hoeffle having there been for many years a representative plaster and cement contractor and his death having there occurred November 10, 1928. Both he and his wife, who died in 1891, were earnest members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and their mortal remains rest in beautiful Oak Hill Cemetery at Delaware. After the death of his first wife William Hoeffle eventually was united in marriage to Miss Lillian Yates, and she likewise preceded him to the life eternal, her death having occurred in 1910. Of the three children of the first marriage the eldest is Mrs. Mary Poppleton; George F., of this review; was next in order of birth; and Edgar is a resident of Seattle, Washington. The one child of the second marriage is Mrs. Ruth Farris, of Delaware, Ohio.

After completing his studies in the high school of his native city George F. Hoeffle passed four years at Allegheny, Pennsylvania, where he served an apprenticeship to the trade of machinist, in the works of the American Locomotive Company. As a journeyman at his trade he traveled about and followed the trade in various cities during a period of four years. He was employed two years by the Jeffies Manufacturing Company, of Columbus, Ohio; was next in service three years with the Buda Manufacturing Company of Harvey, Illinois; and in 1911 he established his residence at Gary, Indiana, where for the ensuing nine years he was in the employ of the Illinois Steel Company. In 1928 he here formed a partnership with John A. Hickey, and he has since continued senior member of the firm that here conducts a large and representative business under the title of Triple H Auto Parts Company.

Mr. Hoeffle is a Republican in politics, he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Mrs. Hoeffle is affiliated with a local chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star. The ancient craft Masonic affiliation of Mr. Hoeffle is with the Blue Lodge at Chesterton, Indiana, his maximum York Rite affiliation being with the Knights Templar Commandery at Valparaiso, this state, and he is also a Noble of the Mystic Shrine, as a member of Orak Temple in the City of Hammond. He is actively identified with the Gary Commercial Club and Chamber of Commerce. He finds recreation through the medium of golf and through periodical hunting and fishing trips.

At Harvey, Illinois, December 27, 1911, marked the marriage of Mr. Hoeffle to Miss Margaret Sanders, a daughter of the late William and Martha Sanders, her father having long been a representative farmer near Chesterton, Porter County, and the public schools of that little city, including the high school, having afforded Mrs. Hoeffle her youthful education. Mr. arid Mrs. Hoeffle have no children.

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

DR. D. W. MATTHEWS. Among the highly trained and naturally talented men who form the medical fraternity of Jennings County, there are to be found a few who by reason of their special attainments and notable accomplishments are entitled to special mention. Among these is Dr. D. W. Matthews, who has been engaged in the general practice of medicine and surgery for more than a quarter of a century. While he has been a resident of North Vernon only since 1927, he has a broad and remunerative practice, and stands high in his humane calling, being an ex-president of the Jennings County Medical Society and president of the Fourth District Medical Society.

Doctor Matthews was born in 1880, on a farm in Washington County, Indiana, and is a son of John J. and Sarah S. (Gray) Matthews. William Matthews, his paternal grandfather, was born in Ireland, and in young manhood immigrated to the United States, first settling in the East and then working his way westward to the virgin soil of Indiana, where he took up land about the year 1849. With the arrival of new settlers Mr. Matthews established a small store to supply their needs, and this he built up to a profitable enterprise. He was one of the substantial citizens of that early day and had the respect and esteem of those with whom he was associated.

John J. Matthews was born on his father’s farm in Washington County, Indiana, and in his boyhood received his education in the country schools. He took up farming as his life occupation upon reaching years of maturity, and through constant industry, good management and a study of his vocation became one of the well-to-do farmers and stock raisers of his locality and a citizen who inspired general confidence and esteem. Mrs. Matthews was also a native of Washington County and a member of an old and honored family.

The second in order of birth of his parents’ ten children, D. W. Matthews acquired his early education in the country schools of Washington County. He then applied himself to the study of his chosen profession and entered the Louisville (Kentucky) Hospital of Medicine, from which he was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine as a member of the class of 1903. He commenced practice at Hardinsburg, Indiana, but at the end of four months removed to Martinsburg, Indiana, where he was engaged in practice for six years, this being followed by his removal to Commiskey, Jennings County, where he was professionally engaged from May, 1909, until September, 1927. In the latter year he came to North Vernon, where he has been prominent in his profession and in public affairs. He maintains a commodious and well-appointed office on Walnut Street, where he has a large and comprehensive medical library and all modern appliances and equipment known to medical and surgical science. He is accounted an expert diagnostician, a capable practitioner and a learned and accurate surgeon, and his successful handling of a number of difficult and perplexing cases of long standing and obstinacy has given him much more than a local reputation. Doctor Matthews served one year as township trustee and was deputy health commissioner of Jennings County, and during the World war was medical examiner for the local health board. He is president of the Fourth District Medical Society, and a member of the Jennings County Medical Society, of which he was formerly president, the Indiana State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He has been very generous in the distribution of his services in times of need, and many of the people of Jennings County have reason to hold him in gratitude for his benevolence. Fraternally Doctor Matthews is identified with Paris Lodge No. 221, A. F. and A. M., of which he is a past master; Martinsburg Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and a member of the Grand Lodge; Dauntless Lodge, K. of P.; and the Modern Woodmen of America.

Doctor Matthews married Miss Effie Martin, of Pekin, Indiana, who died in 1917, leaving three children: Gladys, who married Lawrence Callaway, an educator, and has two children, Virginia Lee and Robert; Clyde, who is an educator of North Vernon; and Miss Geneva, who is still attending school. In 1917 Doctor Matthews married Miss May Hedges Bridges, of Jennings County.

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

JOHN M. PARIS, of New Albany, county seat of Floyd County, has entered upon his third consecutive term of service on the bench of the Circuit Court of the Fifty-second Judicial Circuit of Indiana, and as a jurist his record has been notable in its exemplification of his broad and exact knowledge of law and precedent as well as by decisions marked by deep appreciation of equity and justice. Judge Paris had previously gained prominence as one of the representative members of the Floyd County bar and had held other positions of public trust prior to assuming his present office.

Judge Paris is a member of a family of three children and was born at Leavenworth, Crawford County, Indiana, March 7, 1878. He is a son of Winfield S. and Mary J. (Wilkins) Paris. His father was born in Kentucky, where the family had been established for three generations, and the Paris family lineage traces back to French origin. Winfield S. Paris was a youth when he initiated his career in connection with navigation on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and on those water thoroughfares he rose from the position of raftsman to that of pilot, in which latter capacity he gave forty years of service, both he and his wife having long been residents of Indiana and having here passed the closing years of their lives, secure in the respect and high regard of all who knew them and had appreciation of their sterling qualities.

The public schools, including the high school, in Crawford County afforded Judge Paris his early education, and in preparing for his chosen profession he completed the prescribed curriculum of the law department of the University of Louisville, Kentucky, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1899. In the fall of the year in which he thus received his degree of Bachelor of Laws in shorthand and other business studies, and during the ensuing two and one-half years he was employed in the Louisville offices of the Southern Railroad. He then became a law clerk for the firm of Stotenburg & Weathers, of New Albany, Indiana, and in his two and one-half years' alliance with this representative law firm he gained practical experience in the work of his profession. January 1, 1905, he opened a law office in this city and initiated the independent practice of his profession. In the fall of that year he was elected judge of the City Court, an office that he retained four years. He then resumed the active practice of law, to which he here devoted his attention until 1912, when he was elected prosecuting attorney of Floyd County. He held this office for the term of two years, was then re-nominated, but resigned the nomination. In the special election of May, 1914, he was elected judge of the Circuit Court; and by successive reelection he is now serving his third term in this office, his present term having its expiration in 1932.

Judge Paris is a stalwart advocate and supporter of the cause of the Democratic party, and he has membership in the Floyd County Bar Association, the Indiana State Bar Association and the American Bar Association. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, the Knights of Pythias and the Improved Order of Red Men. His wife, whose maiden name was Lucille Denton, is a daughter of Boone Denton, whose mother was a member of the same family stock as the great frontiersman Daniel Boone. Judge and Mrs. Paris have four children: Mary Lucille, Sarah Denton, John M., Jr., and David Mason. All of the children are still students at the time of this writing, and the eldest, Mary L., is attending the Cincinnati College of Music.

Judge Paris was loyally active in furthering the varied patriotic movements and measures in Floyd County in the World war period, was a four-minute speaker in behalf of the various drives in the sale of Government war bonds, and was chairman of the legal board of the county.

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

WALTER ECKERT. History is repeating itself as it always does. Following the close of the war between the states it was found that those who had gone through the stern discipline of military training made the best citizens; and so it is now that the veterans of a much greater war are proving the worth of their months or patriotic service, in that, having learned to control themselves, they are well able to guide others in the right paths. Allover the country these veterans are carrying on both public and private affairs with ability and integrity, and one of them worthy of special mention, in connection with Ripley County is Walter Eckert, owner of the leading hardware store at Osgood.

Walter Eckert was born in Ripley County, Indiana, in 1892, a son of John and Rose (Wright) Eckert, the former of whom was born in Jennings County, Indiana, and the latter at Vincennes, Indiana. The family was established in Indiana by the paternal grandfather, a man of affairs, and its prestige was continued by the father, who from 1882, when he established it, until his death in June, 1918, a period of thirty-six years, conducted a hardware business. In addition to his commercial relationship to his community he was interested in civic affairs, and when he died the people with whom he had been associated mourned the passing of a fine man and a good citizen.

Walter Eckert went through the work of the local schools, and then took a commercial course in Eastman's Business College, Poughkeepsie, New York. Upon his return home he became associated with his father in the hardware business, and now owns the store, carrying a full and timely stock of heavy and staple hardware, his floor space amounting to 7,500 square feet. Around him he has gathered a selling force of experienced salesmen, and his customers receive good service at all times.

In August, 1918, Walter Eckert enlisted in the United States Marines, having, however, been in the Second Indiana Field Artillery, in which he had enlisted in June, 1917, his period of service in all covering twenty-two months, and he was stationed at Paris Island, South Carolina. Following his honorable discharge he returned to Osgood and entered the hardware business on his own account, his father having died in the meanwhile. He is a member of the Business Men's Club, and for eight years served Osgood as treasurer. A member of the local post of the American Legion, he was its commander for five years.

Mr. Eckert married Miss Gertrude Beldon, of Crothersville, Indiana, and they have two children: Mary N. and Janice. He, himself, is one of four children. Fraternally Mr, Eckert is a Mason and belongs to Osgood Lodge, A. F. and A. M. During his entire career he has taken an active and influential interest in movements of civic interest, and is enthusiastic with relation to the future of Ripley County, being willing to render assistance to it in any way that lies within his power. It is a source of pride to him that his family is one of the old-established ones of the locality, and here he proposes to continue to live.

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

EDWARD J. WELKER. The clerk of the court of Jennings County, Edward J. Welker, of Vernon, is one of the officials who have contributed to the advancement and betterment of this part of their state through conscientious, able and expeditious service. Mr. Welker is distinctively a self-made man, for he had none of the advantages, educational or otherwise, that are considered the prerogative of youth, and he started to make his own way in the world when still a lad. He has led a varied career, in which he has engaged in a number of pursuits and held various offices, and at present is assistant chief of the Vernon fire department.

Edward J. Welker was born at Vernon, Indiana, in 1877, and is a son of William F. and Maria L. (Wagner) Welker. His paternal grandfather, a native of Ohio, enlisted as a private in an Ohio infantry regiment during the war between the states, from which he did not return home, and it was believed that he was one of that great number who were killed and buried without being identified. The grandmother was left without means and with four small children, who were left orphans at her death a short time later.

William F. Welker was born at Cincinnati, and after the death of his mother was taken into the home of a druggist at Vernon, by whom he was reared and educated. He had no inclination for the drug business, however, and instead learned the moulder's trade, which he followed throughout his life. He was a man of good character and citizenship. He served as sheriff of Jennings County from 1888 until 1892 and discharged the duties of his office competently.

The only child of his parents, Edward J. Welker, attended the public schools of Vernon. As a boy he worked in a printing office, where he learned the trade and followed it until after his marriage, at which time he and his father started a transportation line between Vernon and North Vernon, transporting passengers, freight, mail, express, etc. The business proved a success and was continued until 1909, when it was sold. During this time Mr. Welker also served in the capacity of mail carrier, and bought the Vernon Hotel, which he and his wife managed for some years, in connection with a restaurant, but later sold the hotel and opened a new restaurant, which was operated until October, 1927, when it was sold. In the meantime Mr. Welker had been for some years interested in politics and had been repeatedly elected to office. He served as town clerk of Vernon for one term, and after serving as deputy sheriff in 1917 and 1918 was appointed deputy county clerk, an office in which he served from 1919 until 1923. He was then elected clerk of the Circuit Court for four years and at the expiration of this period was reelected to the same office, and in which he has established a splendid reputation. As noted, he is assistant chief of the Vernon fire department, and in this connection is a member of a well-drilled and highly efficient organization. He is secretary of the Vernon Cemetery Association, a member of the Jennings County Historical Society and a director of the Jennings Building & Loan Association. Fraternally he belongs to North Vernon Lodge No. 59, A. F. and A. M.; North Vernon Chapter No. 68, R. A. M, and the Order of the Eastern Star; the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he has been a member of the Grand Lodge; the Rebekahs; and the Knights of Pythias, in which he has passed through all the chairs.

In 1899 Mr. Welker was united in marriage with Miss Almeda O'Hair, who was born, reared and educated at Vernon, whence her parents had come from Illinois. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Welker: Bernadine, who attended the State Normal Teachers Training School, at Charleston, Illinois, and is now the wife of James F. Boggs, a business man of Vernon, and has three children, Edward O., Bertha Ann and Carlos; Charles C., who graduated from Purdue University as an electrical engineer, was second lieutenant in the Officers Reserve Training Corps, and is now identified with the Michigan Bell Telephone Company, married Sylvia Mooney, and has one son, Richard; and Frances, who attended Mrs. Blake's School, and is now a business woman of Indianapolis.

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

CHARLES MONEYHON, president of the Connersville Lumber Company, has always kept pretty close to the line of work which first engaged his attention as a boy. He is a native of Kentucky, a member of families that before the war were business men, planters and slave-holders. His grandfather was in the lumber industry and it was as assistant to this ancestor that Charles Moneyhon got his start.

He was born at Augusta, Bracken County, Kentucky, October 6, 1871, son of Alfred and Christianna (Weimer) Moneyhon.

His father was also born at Augusta and spent his active life as a farmer. The paternal grandparents were Patterson and Elizabeth (Cabler) Moneyhon, the former a native of Ohio County, Kentucky, and the latter of the State of Ohio. Patterson Moneyhon was a lumber manufacturer in Kentucky. The maternal grandparents were Louis F. and Elizabeth (Nichols) Weimer. Louis Weimer was born in Germany and his wife in Bracken County, Kentucky. Louis Weimer before the war owned a flour mill, a pork packing establishment, a distillery, and most of the labor in these plants was performed by slaves. When the war came on he found it difficult to secure help and therefore gave up his manufacturing activities, though he continued to own and operate a large acreage of farming land.

Charles Moneyhon grew up on a farm until he was twenty years of age, attended public schools and an academy and for two years clerked in a dry goods store. He was stationary engineer in his grandfather's lumber plant and later joined an uncle in the lumber business at Augusta, Kentucky, remaining with him from 1894 until 1903. Mr. Moneyhon in the latter year became a resident of Connersville, Indiana, and acted as manager of the Connersville Lumber Company. In 1904 he bought stock and became president and general manager, and for a quarter of a century the destiny of that business has been guided by him. It has become much more than a local plant during that time. The company takes pride in a service that enables them to provide promptly everything that enters into building construction. The company operates the largest planing mill outside of Indianapolis. At Connersville they have about a half a block of land for their plant and yards, and another branch yard in the north part of the city, known as the Consumers Coal and Supply Company. They have branches at College Corner and Oxford, Ohio, and at Glenwood, Indiana.

Mr. Moneyhon married, in 1897, Miss Anna Hanson, who was born in Bracken County, Kentucky, daughter of Frank and Alice (Weldon) Hanson, natives of the same county. Mrs. Moneyhon died May 7, 1929, leaving two sons, Stanley and Charles, Jr. Stanley, who married Margaret Edwards, is in the building and loan business, associated with the Fayette Savings & Loan Association, of which his father is president and a director, James R. Carter, vice president, Alton G. Trusler, secretary, and C. I. Showalter, treasurer. Charles Moneyhon, Jr., is an active associate in his father's business, the Connersville Lumber Company. He married Aurelia Burkle.

Mr. Moneyhon is a member and financial secretary of the Christian Church, is a Republican, was one of the organizers and has served as a director of the Kiwanis Club and is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity; Knights of Pythias and B. P. O. Elks.

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

JAMES FRANK KELLEY, M. D., has practiced medicine in Washington County, Indiana, for over thirty-five years. His name is well known in local citizenship, for his influence has been broad and constructive both in and out of his profession.

Doctor Kelley was born in Newton County, Missouri, September 2, 1869, and was five years of age when his family moved back to Indiana and settled in Orange County. His father was Isaac L. Kelley, a farmer, and Doctor Kelley was one of four children. Doctor Kelley attended the Central Indiana Normal College at Danville and while he had settled upon the choice of a medical profession in early life, he had to make his own way and for six years he taught school in Orange and Washington counties, in this way getting the money to put him through medical college. The Kelley family came from Kentucky and first settled at Madison, Indiana.

Doctor Kelley was graduated from the Hospital College of Medicine in 1893, and since that year has practiced in Washington County. For nineteen years his home was at Livonia and since 1912 he has practiced at Salem. He is a member of the Washington County, Indiana State and American Medical Associations and was president of the county society from 1926 to 1928. For twenty years he has been county coroner. He is a member of the Washington County Historical Society and during the World war was medical member of the examining board of the county. He is a Scottish Rite Mason, member of the Consistory at Evansville, and is also affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Improved Order of Red Men.

Doctor Kelley married Miss Carrie Best, of Washington County. They have four children: Audrey L., Frank H., Morris D. and Margaret E. Audrey spent two years in the Indiana State Normal School in Terre Haute, one year in the University of Indiana at Bloomington, and taught school for fourteen years in Washington County and at Indianapolis. She is the wife of H. T. Hottel, now head of the real estate department of the Washington Bond & Trust Company, Incorporated. Frank H. Kelley is with the Magnolia Petroleum Company in Texas. He, at the age of twenty, taught in a high school at Las Cruces, New Mexico, subsequently attended the Indiana State Normal at Terre Haute, and for one year was a student in the University at Bloomington. Morris D. Kelley is sales manager for a radio concern at Salem. The daughter Margaret is a graduate of Butler University at Indianapolis.

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