Howard-Marion County IN Archives Biographies.....Hatfield, W. A. 1867 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com April 16, 2006, 2:59 am

Author: Jackson Morrow

W. A. HATFIELD. M. D.

   Success in what are popularly termed the learned professions. is the
legitimate result of merit and painstaking endeavor. In commercial life one may
come into possession of a lucrative business through inheritance or gift, but
professional advancement is gained only by critical study and consecutive
research long continued. Proper intellectual discipline, thorough professional
knowledge and the possession and utilization of the qualities and attributes
essential to success have made the subject of this review eminent in his chosen
calling and he stands today among the scholarly and enterprising physicians and
surgeons in a community long distinguished for the high order of its medical
talent.

   Dr. W. A. Hatfield, one of the native sons of which Howard county may well
feel proud, was born on the 12th day of July, 1867, his parents, William and
Mary E. (Jones) Hatfield, moving to this part of Indiana from Ohio in an early
day and located in Union township, where the father engaged in farming but later
devoted his attention principally to the buying and shipping of live stock, a
business in which he was quite successful. Mr. and Mrs. Hatfield were married in
Ohio, but spent the greater part of their domestic life in Howard county, where
in due time their respective deaths occurred. The early years of Dr. Hatfield
amid the bracing airs and wholesome discipline of rural life were conducive to
sturdy physical growth, while the rugged duties of the farm with which he early
became familiar enabled him to form a proper conception of the dignity of labor
and to learn the value of individual effort as a means to an end in every
laudable undertaking.

   While pursuing his work in the fields or his studies in the district schools
young Hatfield decided to make the most of his opportunities with the object in
view of fitting himself for some definite sphere of usefulness. After acquiring
a sound practical education he obtained a teacher's license, but the labors and
responsibilities of the school room not being to his taste, he decided to make
the medical profession his life work, in pursuance of which he entered in due
time a college of medicine and surgery in Chicago, where he prosecuted his
studies until being well founded in the principles of his profession, after
which he attended other institutions of like character until well fitted for the
active duties of his profession.

   Dr. Hatfield began his professional career in Marion, Indiana, where he
practiced with encouraging success until removing to Kokomo in 1898, since which
time he has been actively engaged in the duties of his calling in this city,
where he has built up a large and lucrative professional business and won for
himself commendable standing among the leading physicians and surgeons of Howard
county. A close student, keeping abreast of the times in all matters relating to
his noble work, he has never permitted his interest to fag. nor his efforts to
abate, consequently he avails himself of every laudable discovery in the domain
of medical science and keeps in close touch with the recognized authorities by
whom, in the main, his course is guided.

   In politics he is a stanch advocate of the principles and policies for which
the Republican party stands sponsor and while active and influential in
advancing the interests of the party and promoting the success of its
candidates, he has never sought nor held public office of any description. As a
citizen he stands high in the esteem of his fellow men, being public-spirited
and progressive, and at all times willing to lend his aid and influence in
behalf of enterprises for the material advancement of his city and county, and
for the intellectual, social and moral good of the people.

   The doctor has never permitted himself to become narrow or intolerant, as the
manner of many professional men is, but being of broad and liberal tendencies he
takes wide views of matters and things and is essentially a man of the times and
in harmony with the progressive spirit of the age. He manifests a lively
interest in things other than his calling, being a great lover of fine live
stock, especially the horse, of which he keeps a number of the standard breeds
and in the raising of which he is a recognized authority among the horsemen of
his city.

   Dr. Hatfield was married in 1886 to Mattie Lemon, of Grant county, whose
lamented death occurred after a comparatively brief but happy domestic
experience, during which she bore him two children, the older a son by the name
of Artie, is a young man twenty-one years of age in 1908, the second being a
daughter by the name of Emma, who is the wife of Bert Kink, of Kokomo. Dr.
Hatfield is identified with secret fraternal and benevolent work in Kokomo,
belonging to several different organizations and taking a prominent and
influential part in their deliberations. He has been especially active in
advancing the interests of the Red Men and the Odd Fellows orders, in both of
which he has been complimented at various times with positions of honor and
trust and the success of which is largely due to the efforts he has put forth in
their behalf. The doctor has spent the greater part of his life in the county of
his birth, and is today one of its successful professional men and wide-awake,
public-spirited citizens. He is also an honorable representation of one of its
oldest and most highly esteemed families, his father moving to this part of the
state as early as 1838 and locating in Union township, when the few scattering
settlements were but niches in the surrounding forests. He has lived to see the
county developed from a wilderness to its present proud position among the
leading counties of Indiana and is justly proud of his nativity and citizenship
in a section so greatly blessed by nature and so signally favored in all that
relates to a high and progressive spirit of advancement and civilization.


Additional Comments:
From:

HISTORY OF HOWARD COUNTY INDIANA
BY
JACKSON MORROW, B. A.
ILLUSTRATED
VOL. II
B. F. BOWEN & COMPANY
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA

(circa 1909)

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