258                HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY

site in 1869, and where he lived until after the death of his wife, August
10, 1878. On the 13th of July, 1879, he married Mrs. Elizabeth Babbitt,
of Brazil, where he then located, engaging in a life and fire insurance
agency. In the fall of 1859 he was elected a member of the board of
county commissioners, representing the second district, serving the full
term of three years; In 1864 he enlisted in the One Hundred and Thirty-
third Indiana Infantry, for the term of one hundred days, was chosen
First Lieutenant of Company K, and honorably discharged at the expira-
tion of the time. He was an early truant officer of the county, For nearly
fifty years he was an ardent member of the M. E. church, holding posi-
tions of trust and responsibility in the same. He was largely instrumental
in the building of Mt. Olivet M. E. church, having donated the ground
and otherwise aided and encouraged the movement.

    John C. McGregor, native of Ohio, born in Jefferson county,
February 25, 1821, where his youth was spent on the farm until fifteen
years of age, when he entered Cove Academy, in Virginia, where he
studied three years, then taught in the common schools of his native state
four years. At the age of twenty-two years he began the study of medi-
cine under Dr. J. E. Charles, of New Cumberland, Tuscarawas county,
Ohio, where he staid three years, then entered the office of Dr. E. Swift,
Cincinnati, and attended the Ohio Medical College, where he graduated
in the spring of 1845, and began the practice of medicine the same year in
the neighborhood of his old home. On the 2d day of April, 1846, he
married Miss Caroline Scott, a native of Washington county, Pennsyl-
vania, born February 14, 1828. A year later he moved to Holmes county,
Ohio, then to Flora, Clay county, Illinois, where he built up a large prac-
tice and remained until 1866, when he came to Clay county, locating at
Poland, where he continued the practice of his profession. In 1868 he
was nominated by the Democratic party for member of the General
Assembly and elected, serving at the session of 1869, memorable in the
history of the state for the reason of the submission of the Fifteenth
Amendment to the Constitution of the United States for ratification, in
disapproval of which he, with many other Democratic members, resigned
his seat and returned home to his constituency. At the special election
held on 23d day of March to fill the vacant seat, Mr. McGregor was
returned by almost an unanimous vote, his competitor in the race, George
W. James, receiving but 126 votes. At some time in the year 1871 he
engaged in the mercantile business at Center Point, where he continued
until the first of March, 1873, when he moved his stock of goods to
Bowling Green, where he did business in the Mozart Hall building. Sub-
sequently, having retired from business pursuits and the practice of his
profession, because of declining health, he located on the farm in Posey
township, near the city of Brazil. Dr. McGregor was well informed, a
reader and thinker, a ready and entertaining conversationalist on all
current topics.

    Wilkins B. Brown, native of Guilford county, North Carolina, born
July 10, 1821. The father having died, the family came to Indiana, locat-
ing first in Owen county, then at Poland, and later in Harrison township.
At the age of twenty-one years he began the study of medicine and was
one of the earliest practitioners in the south end of the county. In the
spring of 1840 he married Selab Wilson, and after her death married Eva