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BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
History of Lawrence and Monroe Counties,
Indiana;
their people, industries and institutions.
Publ. Indianapolis, Ind. - B. F. Bowen & Co.,
1914
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JOSEPH
G. McPHEETERS. A representative of one of the old
families of this locality and himself a life-long resident of
Bloomington, no citizen of Monroe county enjoys to a higher
degree the genuine esteem and confidence of the people at
large than the subject of this sketch. For many years an
incumbent of public position, the duties of which he
discharged with eminent ability and honor to himself, he has
in his personal efforts met with eminent success and as a
business man and citizen of Bloomington he stands deservedly
high.
Mr. McPheeters was born in Bloomington, Indiana,
on August 26, 1839, and is the son of Joseph and Clara Ann
(Dunn) McPheeters. The father who was an eminent
physician and surgeon of Bloomington for fifty years, was
numbered among the leading citizens in the early days, when
men of strength and courage were required. He was the
father of four children: Lizzie M., Joseph G., Mattie
E. and Charles H. He was at one time the
candidate of his party for state senator, but was defeated by
four votes.
The subject of this sketch was educated in the common
schools and later became a student in the State University,
but on account of ill health was compelled to relinquish his
studies the year before he would have graduated. He
engaged as a clerk in the drug store, where he remained about
three years and then during the following three years was in
the United States mail service between Louisville and Chicago,
that being during the war of the Rebellion. Mr.
McPheeters was then appointed postmaster at Bloomington,
and in this position achieved a splendid record, for he was
retained in the office by continuous reappointment for the
long period of twenty-eight years, which, at the time he
retired from the office, was an unequaled record among
postmasters in the United States. His commission was
assigned by seven Presidents and the duties of the office were
discharged in a manner that never merited censure by his
superior officers. Upon retiring from the postmastership
Mr. McPheeters established his present book and
stationery store on the east side of the public square, where
he carries a stock valued at over five thousand dollars,
consisting of books, stationery, fancy goods and regular
college supplies. He is a man of good business
qualifications, courteous to all who have dealings with him
and because of his splendid official record and his high
character, as well as the success to which he is now
attaining, he enjoys to a marked degree the confidence and
good will of the entire community.
In 1872 Mr. McPheeters married Amelia R.
Collins, whose father was a prominent attorney at Terre
Haute. Politically, Mr. McPheeters is an ardent
supporter of the Republican party, and though he has never
been a seeker after public office, he was appointed United
States commissioner and held the office for fifteen years.
For twelve years he was treasurer of the Bloomington Building
Association, and in other ways has been a potential factor in
the building up and development of Bloomington.
Fraternally, he is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons
and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, maintaining a live
interest in the workings of these orders, in the membership of
which he holds a high standing. Mr. McPheeters'
life has been controlled by proper motives, and in his
relations with his fellow men he has been actuated by the
highest ideals, so that among those who know him best he is
numbered among the community's leading citizens. |
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