LESTER E. HOLLOWAY, city comptroller of Muncie, has for several years had an active part in the business and civic affairs of that community.

Mr. Holloway was born at Pontiac, Illinois, March 19, 1904, son of Charles E. and Minnie C. (Unzicker) Holloway. His grandfather, Edward T. Holloway, was a pioneer Illinois farmer and stock man, and he and his wife are buried at Pontiac. Charles E. Holloway was born and reared in Illinois, had a high school education, supplemented by attending Valparaiso University, and for a number of years was in business as a grain dealer and elevator operator. He died July 15, 1917, and is buried at Pontiac. His wife, Minnie C. Unzicker, was born and reared near Pontiac, where she still resides and is an active member of the Presbyterian Church. There are four children: Erma, wife of Morris Veatch, of Chicago; Lester E.; Elden, of Pontiac; and Miss Agnes, of Pontiac.

Lester E. Holloway attended the grade and high schools of Pontiac, completing his high school work in 1922, and in 1926 was graduated from the University of Illinois. After a brief experience as a traveling salesman he came to Muncie and took a place with the Post-Democrat, and since 1927 has operated an automobile paint shop. He was appointed city comptroller November 11, 1929, and has held the office since January 6, 1930.

Mr. Holloway is a Royal Arch Mason, member of the Sigma Pi fraternity, is a Democrat and belongs to the First Presbyterian Church.

He married in Chicago, Illinois, September 30, 1928, Miss Elizabeth Dale, daughter of Mayor George R. and Lena (Mohler) Dale, of Muncie. Mrs. Holloway is a graduate of the Muncie High School and also attended the Ball State Teachers College. They have two sons, Charles Edward and Larry Eugene.

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


BENJAMIN J. PURLEE. Since the pioneers, pressing westward toward the setting sun, reached that part of the Mississippi Valley now known as Indiana, this region has been noted for its fertile soil, and for the crops it produces. Many of the most prosperous and influential of the residents of the state still till the land, and furnish the people with food and many of the industries with raw products necessary for their operation. Orange County has a number of these agriculturists, but few as progressive and scientific as Benjamin J. Purlee, whose finely cultivated farm of 300 acres lies one mile from Orangeville.

Benjamin J. Purlee was born in Washington County, Indiana, in July, 1888, a son of Orange G. and Mary E. Purlee, both of whom also were born in Washington County. He died May 5,1924, aged sixty-seven years, as he was born in 1857, and his wife died February 4, 1931, at the age of seventy-five years.

By occupation he was a farmer. The parents had three children born to them: Blanche, who married Elmo Zink, of Indianapolis, Indiana, and has three children; Benjamin J.; and Ethel, who died at the age of twenty-six years.

Growing up in his native state, Benjamin Purlee attended the district and high schools of Orange County, and was in high school at Orleans. His first employment was secured as a clerk in a hardware store, and he held it for three years, after which he purchased his present farm, and has continued to operate it ever since according to modern methods, and has today one of the best properties in this part of Indiana. He is a Republican, and served for some years as township trustee, and during the period he was on the board he secured the passage of the measure which provides school buses for the high school children. In this he has the honor of being the first trustee in Orange County to take such a stand, although his example has been followed all over this region, as its desirability has been recognized. For years he has been a member and pillar of the Christian Church. In fraternal affiliations he is a Blue Lodge Mason.

On January 10, 1914, Mr. Purlee married Miss Jessie Hall, a daughter of David and Lillian (Speer) Hall, and they have four children, namely: Evelyn L., who was born April 9, 1915, and Lela Mae, who was born January 12, 1917, both of whom graduated from Orleans High School in 1931, Lela being the youngest high school student in the state for 1931 and one of the youngest on record; Benjamin J., Junior, who was born December 30, 1920; and Mary E., who was born January 6, 1922. Mr. Purlee is known as a man of high character, who lives up to his promises, is full of enterprise and energy, and never relinquishes his efforts in any undertaking until he has pushed it through to success, so that he has been and is a great factor in the growth and development of his home neighborhood.

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


MANSON J. STALKER is owner of one of the flourishing mercantile enterprises of the City of Orangeville in Orange County. He took up a business career after having spent his early life as a farmer, and has made a more than ordinary success.

He was born, of Scotch-Irish ancestry, near Salem in Washington County, Indiana, July 25, 1889. His father, John M. Stalker, was also born in Washington County, and was a highly respected farmer of that section of the state, where he died in 1926. John M. Stalker married Florence M. Floyd, who was born in 1865 and is now sixty-six years of age. She was the mother of five children, Clyde M., Manson J., Ethel I., Fred and Charles. Clyde, a resident of Orange County, married Sally Landrath, by whom he has five children. The daughter, Ethel, died in 1914. Fred, who lives near Bedford, married Elsie Smith and has two children. Charles is a resident of Bedford and married Alberta Sheeks and has one child.

Regarding the earlier ancestry of the family, the Stalker family came from Scotland to the United States in 1808, Manson Stalker's great-grandfather having settled in Washington County, Indiana, in that year. The Floyd family came from Ireland in the early nineteenth century, settling in North Carolina, and thence migrating to Floyd County, Indiana, which was named for them. Manson Stalker's grandmother on his father's side was a Clark, being a great-niece of George Rogers Clark of historic fame.

Manson J. Stalker grew up on a farm, attended schools in Washington and Orange counties, and followed farming as his vocation for fifteen years. In 1924 he located at Orangeville and has built up a very extensive trade as a general merchant. He owns a well stocked store. Mr. Stalker is a Republican in politics and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

He married January 6, 1910, Miss Neva A. Hughes, daughter of William and Jessie (Edwards) Hughes, of Lawrence County, Indiana. They have one daughter, Ethel Louise, born January 11, 1913, a graduate of the Orleans High School in 1930 and of the Bedford Business College in 1931.

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


EMMERT BROTHERS. JOHN A. EMMERT and PETER J. EMMERT, druggists, are among the old and honored business men of Haubstadt, Gibson County. Their father, Adam Emmert, was a native of Bavaria, Germany, and came to Indiana when seven years of age. He served in the Union army as a soldier in Company F of the Eightieth Indiana Volunteer Infantry and participated in several engagements, being present at the fall of Atlanta. He was one of the old time and substantial residents of Haubstadt. He married Mary Wolf, also a native of Bavaria, Germany, who come to Indiana when a year old. She died May 7, 1927. There were seven children in the family, John A. being the oldest, he having been born September 1, 1867. Magdalen, the second child, is the wife of John Adler, a farmer near Haubstadt, and has four children. Anna married Frank Brenner and has two children. Lonie married Adam N. Adler, of Evansville, and has three children. Mary is the wife of Henry Schiff and the mother of one child. Katherine married Ben E. Meny and has two children. Peter J. is the youngest.

John A. Emmert was in the drug business at Haubstadt for forty-eight years, finally, in 1913, selling his store to his brother continuing, however, to be active as a pharmacist. He is a member of the American and Indiana Pharmaceutical Association and of the Knights of Columbus. He has never married.

His brother, Peter J. Emmert, was born at Haubstadt January 5, 1887, and attended the public and parochial schools of that town. As a boy he worked in his brother's store, afterwards passed the state board and became a registered pharmacist, after thorough scholastic training. In 1913 he bought the business from his brother and is giving his close attention to its management. He is a member of the American and Indiana Pharmaceutical Association, is a Democrat, a Catholic and a fourth degree Knight of Columbus.

Peter J. Emmert married Elnora Schafer, daughter of Martin and Rose (Ziliak) Schafer, of Haubstadt. They were married November 6, 1912, and have an interesting family of nine children, the oldest being seventeen years of age. Their names are Mary Rose, who graduated in 1931 from Haubstadt High School, Rita, Paul, John, Roger, Norma, Ruth Lee, Robert and Edwin Bernard. Rita is attending Benedictine Convent at Ferdinand, Indiana, in preparation for taking the vows of a nun.

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


JOSEPH RODOLPHUS DILLINGER, M. D., of French Lick, is a specialist in eye, ear, nose and throat, a doctor of wide experience and attainments that have well earned him the splendid reputation he enjoys in this section of the state.

Doctor Dillinger was born at Chambersburg in Orange County, Indiana, October 11, 1875. His grandfather, Nicholas Dillinger, came from Virginia to Indiana with his parents as a young man and served in the Black Hawk war. He was engaged in farming in Harrison County, and he married Margaret Mayall, of Harrison County. They had seven children. The Dillinger family is of German origin. The Doctor's great-great-grandfather immigrated from Germany to England and his great-grandfather came from England to Virginia in Colonial days. Doctor Dillinger's father, Rodolphus S. Dillinger, was born in Harrison County, Indiana, and was a soldier in the Union army at the time of the Civil war. He was with the Thirty-eighth Indiana Volunteers and was under the command of Generals Sherman and Hooker. He was slightly wounded in one battle. After the war, until a few years before his death, he followed the business and trade of blacksmith and machinist. He passed away December 17, 1901. Rodolphus S. Dillinger married Nancy Jane Osborn, member of a pioneer family of Orange County. She died in 1883. Of her ten children two died in infancy and those to grow up were Theresa, Amy, Ida, Emma, Allie, Stella, Mary and Joseph Rodolphus. Doctor Dillinger has only three living sisters, Amy, Stella and Allie. Amy is the wife of John M. Boyd, of Indianapolis, and has four children. Stella is the wife of Q. W. Lomax, of Cherryvale, Kansas, and Allie married William Carson, of Irvington, New Jersey, and is the mother of three children. In 1885 R. S. Dillinger married Esther Ann Moorman, and she died in August, 1901, leaving no children by this marriage.

Joseph Rodolphus Dillinger attended the grade and high schools of Orange County at Paoli, took work in the State Normal School and as a young man devoted eight years to teaching. Teaching was the stepping stone to his professional work. He pursued the course of preparation in the Louisville Medical College and Medical Hospital, from which he was graduated M. D. in 1903. Doctor Dillinger for a number of years engaged in general practice, and that experience has furnished the background for his specialty. During 1921 he was a post-graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania and in 1922 took special work in the Knapp Eye Hospital of New York City. Doctor Dillinger is a member of the Orange County, Indiana State and American Medical Associations and is a member of the Association of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology. During the World war he enlisted and was commissioned a first lieutenant in the Army Medical Corps and was discharged with the rank of captain. He is a member of the American Legion, of which he was the organizer and first commander of W. W. Benson Post No. 76 at French Lick, Indiana. He is also a member of the Kiwanis Club at French Lick, is a Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias and Modern Woodmen of America. Politically he has always supported the candidates of the Republican party. He served six years as county coroner. He is railway surgeon for the Monon Railroad and the Southern Railroad.

Doctor Dillinger married, December 25, 1901, Miss Lula Charles, daughter of George A. and Sarah (Dalton) Charles, members of old and respected families of Orange County. Doctor and Mrs. Dillinger have three children. Their son, Dr. George R., born September 30, 1902, graduated in medicine from the University of Indiana in 1929, and took post-graduate work in the City Hospital of Indianapolis, receiving his Cum Laude in 1930 and is now practicing in French Lick. He married, in September, 1928, Margaret Kosht, of Butler; Indiana, also a graduate of Indiana University Nurses' Training School and who died April 2, 1931, leaving one son, David R., born February 27, 1930. The two daughters are Marcia M., born December 21, 1907, a graduate of the University of Indiana, who is now taking nurse's training at the University Hospitals at Indianapolis; and Amy Irene, born December 12, 1909, who is taking the regular liberal arts course at the State University at Bloomington, Indiana, in the class of 1933.

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


CHESTER A. THOMAS, county clerk of Madison County, has a wide experience in business and was still a boy, several years under his majority, when his interest in politics and public affairs was aroused and many have looked upon him as one of the most efficient leaders of the Republican party in the county.

Mr. Thomas was born at Anderson. He represents the third generation of the Thomas family in Madison County. His grandfather, Benjamin Thomas, was a native of Seven Acres, Wales. After completing his apprenticeship at the trade of stone cutter he came to the United States, located in Anderson and subsequently engaged in contracting work and built up a profitable business. After some years he made preparations to go back to his old home in Wales, and while on the journey he died. He left children named Andrew, Carrie and Minnie.

Andrew Thomas was born at Anderson, was twelve years of age when his father died, and he went on with his education in the public schools and then learned the trade of cutter. He likewise entered the contracting business and continued active therein until his death in 1908. He married Alice Robinette, who was born on a farm in Jackson Township, Madison County, where her parents, Cornelius and Emeline (Cannon) were early settlers. Mrs. Alice Thomas was educated in rural schools and taught in a one-room school house for a time. She now lives at Anderson. Her five children Chester A., Frank, Emma, Hallie and Benjamin.

Chester A. Thomas was reared and educated at Anderson, graduated from high school in 1912, after which he entered upon a business career. He was for a time in the factory of the Rotary Valve Company, then with the Remy works, and .left that to go on the road as a traveling salesman. He was on the road until elected county clerk.

Mr. Thomas cast his first vote for the Republican party and has been a staunch upholder the principles of the party and has contributed a great deal of valuable work to the party organization in Madison County. In 1921 he was chosen chairman of the Anderson City Republican committee. By reelection he has been kept at his duties as county clerk and is one of the most popular men in the courthouse at Anderson.

Mr. Thomas married Miss Georgia Gustin, daughter of Hallie Gustin. They are members of the Central Christian Church. He belongs to the Y. M. C. A., Lodge No. 187 of the United Commercial Travelers, Mount Moriah Lodge No. 177, A. F. and A. M., and has membership in several other branches of Masonry, including 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


JOHN ALVIN BRUMFIELD, Doctor of Dental Surgery, has been practicing that profession in Gibson County for the past thirty years. Doctor Brumfield is a native of Gibson County and his home is at Fort Branch.

He was born in February, 1875. His father, Richard Brumfield, was a native of Kentucky, where the name is associated with the early period of settlement. Richard Brumfield came to Indiana when a young man and spent his life a farmer in Gibson County, where he died in 1909. He married Matilda Knowles, a native of Indiana, who died in 1922. They reared a large family of children, named Henry, Laura, Ella, Rosina, John Alvin, Victor, Mary P., Melvin, Wilford, Florence and Clara.

John Alvin Brumfield was educated in public schools at Haubstadt, grew up on his father's farm, and completed his literary education in the Indiana Normal School at Terre Haute. After leaving there he taught for three years and completed his professional preparation in the Ohio Dental College at Cincinnati, where he was graduated with the degree D. D. S. in 1900. Doctor Brumfield for eighteen years practiced his profession at Princeton and since 1919 has been located at Fort Branch, where he is the leading representative of his profession. He is a member of the District, Indiana State and National Dental Associations. During the World war he was enrolled six months, on duty as a Y. M. C. A. secretary at Camp Dodge, Iowa. Doctor Brumfield is a Democrat, a Methodist, is a Scottish Rite Mason and member of the Knights of Pythias.

He married, June 27, 1900, soon after graduating from dental college, Miss Myrtle D. Smith, a daughter of Noah and Martha (Emerson) Smith. They have two sons, Paul E., born in 1903, and Richard M., born in 1910; Paul is a graduate in the class of 1924, from DePauw University with the A. B. degree and in the class of 1930 from the Carnegie Institute of Technology at Pittsburgh, and is now teaching at Utica, New York. Richard is a graduate, in the class of 1931, from Purdue University at Lafayette, Indiana.

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


CHARLES F. O'NEALL was one of Tippecanoe County's best known farmers and stock men. His home was in Lauramie Township, where he lived all his life. He was born there September 28, 1856, and died February 24,1914, at the age of fifty-eight.

Mr. O'Neall was a son of Kelly and Margaret (Ritchie) O'Neall. His grandfather, Abijah O'Neall, came from Virginia to Ohio and then to Indiana, locating in Wea Township of Tippecanoe County, where he lived out his life. Kelly O'Neall was born in Wea Township, being the oldest child of his parents. He was a man of prominence in business and politics. His business was farming and stock buying and he bought and shipped thousands of mules. At one time he represented the county in the State Legislature. There were four children: Charles; Mrs. Alice Backus; Anna, who married Nate Sefton; and Robert, deceased.

Charles F. O'Neall was educated in the Gladden School and in school at Stockwell and was brought up and trained from boyhood to the routine of farm duties. He began his career as a renter on some of his father's land, and he also had the trading genius of his father. For many years he was engaged in the business of buying cattle, mules and hogs. Mr. O'Neall had a taste for politics, and would willingly work for any community cause and for the election of his friends for office.

He married, January 1, 1883, Miss Mabel Kirkpatrick. Mrs. O'Neall is a daughter of Porter and Rozilla (McLean) Kirkpatrick and a granddaughter of George and Catherine (Porter) Kirkpatrick. George Kirkpatrick was one of the first settlers in Wea Township, Tippecanoe County, locating there in 1825. Porter Kirkpatrick was born in Pickaway County, Ohio. He was a prominent farmer, served as justice of the peace, was a charter member of the Lodge of Odd Fellows and always keenly interested in politics and a thorough Bible student. Mr. and Mrs. O'Neall had no children. Mrs. O'Neall was the oldest of four children. Her sister Lilly became the wife of C. W. Landis. Her other sister was Ida Adella. Her brother, Fairfax, now deceased, married and had two children, named Ruth and Porter.

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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 J. CLAXTON made pharmacy his business and profession until 1930. He was proprietor of one of the best appointed drug stores in Orange County, at West Baden, and is one of the prosperous younger business men of that locality.

He was born at French Lick, Indiana, December 15, 1900. His father, Edward L. Claxton, is a French Lick Business man, an ice and coal dealer, and has been prominently identified with local politics and public affairs, serving on the town board eleven years, and is chairman of the Orange County Republican committee. The grandfather of Charles J. Claxton was a soldier in the Civil war, serving under General. Sheridan. Edward L. Claxton married Ora Newton, who was born at French Lick. Of their family of seven children two died in infancy and those to grow up are Louis, Charles J., Chapell, Cora and Edward, all of French Lick.

Charles J. Claxton was educated in public schools, graduating from the high school at French Lick in 1919. He then entered the .Indianapolis College of Pharmacy, and received the degree of Graduate Pharmacist in 1922. While attending school he worked in drug houses at Indianapolis and remained there altogether for four years. At West Baden he was with the Moore Drug Company until 1927, when he used his capital and experience to establish himself in business.

Mr. Claxton married in March, 1926, Miss Madge Ballard, of West Baden, daughter of Harry Ballard, a cousin of Edward Ballard, owner of the famous West Baden Springs Hotel. Mr. Claxton is a Republican, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is affiliated with the Masonic Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows 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


WILLIAM W. CAVE. During all the years that French Lick has enjoyed its world-wide reputation as a great watering resort, William W. Cave has been one of the most active of the local business men of the community. Mr. Cave is president of the French Lick Bank and one of the very generous and public spirited citizens of the town.

He was born in Dubois County, Indiana, January 25, 1873. His father was born in Indiana and his grandparents came from South Carolina. His father, Thomas Cave, now living retired at French Lick, at the age of eighty-seven, is one of the last survivors of the Army in Blue. He was for four years, two months, in the Union army, a member of the Eighteenth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He saw active service under General Grant and later under Sherman. His life since the war has been spent as a farmer. He married Mary C. Kirkland, who was born in Hawkins County, Tennessee. She is now eighty-five years of age. Her parents moved to Indiana in 1850. Thomas Cave and wife had four children: William W., Stella, Bell and Isis. Stella married Albert Kirby and had children. She died in 1915 and Mr. Kirby lives at French Lick. Bell married Arthur Wells, of French Lick, and they have two children. Isis is the wife of Clark Hill, of French Lick, and they have one son.

William W. Cave attended public schools in Orange County, completed a normal course at Paoli, and six years of his early manhood were devoted to teaching. For a time he was a student in the University of Indiana, and is a man of liberal education. After giving up school work he entered the mercantile business at French Lick, and later conducted the Wells Hotel. He still has mercantile interests and is one of the large real estate owners of the town. Mr. Cave has been engaged in banking since 1905 and is president of one of the most substantial financial institutions of Orange County, the French Lick Bank.

For eight years he was a member of the local school board and he held the office of postmaster four years during the Taft administration. Mr. Cave for two terms, 1920-27, was a trustee of the Indiana State Reformatory.

He married, October 10, 1899, Miss Cora Wells, daughter of Hiram E. and Mary J. (Hill) Wells. Her people were an old and respected family of French Lick. Her father served in the Twenty-fifth Indiana Infantry during the Civil war, and was wounded and never completely recovered from his injuries. Mrs. Cave passed away June 6, 1929.

Mr. Cave is a Republican, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is affiliated with the Masonic Lodge. During the World war he was chairman of the local chapter of the Red Cross.

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


Deb Murray