The gentleman whose name forms the caption of this article is an active, able and successful business man, and there is eminent consistency in according him mention with the representative citizens of Hancock county.
Elmer E. Stoner, of Greenfield, who holds the responsible position of insurance adjuster for the state of Indiana for the Home Insurance Company, of New York, was born in Mount Comfort, Hancock county, Indiana, October 20, 1861. He was one of a family of eight children, of whom we make brief mention as follows: Eliza, unmarried, lives at home; Nelson is married and is a farmer in Buck Creek township; Elmer E., the subject,; Olive married F. O. Welling, also of Buck Creek township; Alice is the wife of John S. Mc Cord, a merchant at McCordsville; Charles H., is an agriculturist of Buck Creek township; Theodocia is the wife of Hugh Johnson, superintendent of schools at Oaklandon, Indiana, and Walter B. is a graduate of Depauw University and is now with the Capital National Bank of Indianapolis. Elmer E. Stoner received his education in the common schools. At the early age of sixteen years he commenced teaching. He continued this work for ten terms, teaching both district and graded schools, and was also principal of the schools at Maxwell and New Palestine. In 1887 he entered the service of the Home Insurance Company of New York as a local agent. So pronounced was his success in this business that he was subsequently promoted to the position of district agent. Later he was appointed first assistant for Indiana in the farm department, and after two years in this position received still another promotion, being made insurance adjuster in the farm department for the entire state of Indiana, which position he now holds and is ably filling. The Home Insurance Company does the largest business in its line of any company in this state and from this fact it may be inferred that the position occupied by Mr. Stoner requires a high degree of efficiency and capability. Since the great tornado of June 25, 1902, he has settled one hundred and fifty tornado claims in Hancock and adjoining counties, aggregating many thousands of dollars, and making many friends for himself and for the company.
September 5, 1883, Elmer E. Stoner was united in marriage to Miss Irene Wilson, who also was a school teacher. She was born in Green township, this county, and is the daughter of Henry B. Wilson, of this county. They are the parents of two children, Nellie, now a student in the high school, and Karl.
Politically Mr. Stoner is a stanch and enthusiastic Republican and has been active in his party work. He was a delegate to the Republican national convention in 1896 and was the youngest member of the Indiana delegation. From 1896 to 1899 he was a member of the Greenfield board of education, during which time the new high school building was erected, and he has always taken a keen interest in the welfare of the educational interests of his community. Fraternally Mr. Stoner is a Mason, belonging to Hancock Lodge No. 101 and to the chapter. He is also a Knight Templar, a thirty-second degree Mason in the Scottish Rite, a Mystic Shriner, belonging to Murat Temple at Indianapolis. Religiously he is identified with the Methodist Episcopal church and has held many offices in that society, being one of the present board of trustees. He has always been active in his church affiliations and for fifteen years taught one class in the Sunday school.Throughout his life Mr. Stoner has been active and industrious and as a consequence has achieved a marked success. His home at No. 317 West Main Street, Greenfield, is the abode of a warm-hearted hospitality and he and his wife are popular members of a large social circle. His business interests extend to the line of farming, he having a fine farm in Wayne county of over two hundred acres.
Transcribed from Biographical Memoirs of Hancock County B. F. Bowen, Publisher, Logansport, Indiana, 1902 Pages 248-249.
Submitted by Sylvia (Rose) Duda, Laingsburg, MI June 5, 2002.
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