Howard-Pulaski County IN Archives Biographies.....Malaby, Thomas C. 1849 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com April 5, 2006, 11:12 pm

Author: Jackson Morrow

THOMAS C. MALABY.

   Holding distinctive prestige among the enterprising citizens of Howard county
is Thomas C. Malaby, whose record here briefly outlined is that of a self-made
man who by the exercise of the talents with which nature endowed him
successfully surmounted an unfavorable environment and rose to the position he
now occupies as one of the influential and well-to-do men of the city honored by
his residence. He is a creditable representative of one of the old and highly
esteemed pioneer families of Indiana, and possesses many of the admirable
qualities and characteristics of the sturdy Pennsylvania ancestors, who migrated
to Indiana in a very early day and figured in the history of different sections
of the state. His father, William Malaby, was born August 15, 1826, in Fayette
county, Pennsylvania, and when a child was brought to Tippecanoe county,
Indiana, from which the family removed in 1828 to the county of Clinton. After
remaining in that part of the state until the spring of 1845 he came to Howard
county and for some time thereafter taught in the district schools during the
winter months, devoting the rest of the year to farm work or any kind of
honorable employment he could find to do. On November 2, 1848, he was united in
marriage to Mary J. Kidder, who bore him ten children, of which large family
only three survive, namely: Thomas C, of this review; Elmira E., widow of Henry
C. Gordon: and Martha J., who married Robert Merrill.

   William Malaby was a Republican in politics, an influential member of his
party in the community in which he lived and cast his first presidential ballot
for Zachary Taylor. He was an ardent supporter of the Union during the exciting
and trying period immediately preceding the great Rebellion, and when the war
broke out he enlisted in Company G, One Hundred and Forty-seventh Indiana
Infantry, and served with an honorable record until the close of the conflict. A
farmer by occupation and a most exemplary and praiseworthy citizen, he did his
full share in promoting the growth and development of his part of the county,
and his death, which occurred on the 4th day of June, 1878, was deeply lamented
by the people among whom he had so long lived and by whom he was held in such
high esteem. His wife, who is remembered as a true helpmeet and a lady of
excellent character and good social standing, departed this life on March 20th
of the year following.

   Thomas C. Malaby was born September 4, 1849. in Howard county, Indiana, and
spent his childhood and youth on the home farm in Ervin township, attending at
intervals the district schools until obtaining a good English education. Being
the oldest of the family, he early assumed much of the labor and responsibility
of the farm, and for this reason was not permitted to prosecute his studies to
the extent which he desired. Endowed with a studious nature, however, and when a
mere child evincing a fondness for books, he devoted his leisure hours to the
perusal of such literature as he could procure, and by this and other means of
self-improvement became in time the possessor of a large fund of valuable
knowledge and earned the reputation of one of the best informed and most
intelligent men of the community. Meanwhile he devoted his attention to the
pursuit of agriculture, but not as a landowner, the condition of the family and
the necessity under which he was placed of contributing to its support
precluding the possibility of purchasing real estate of his own. His somewhat
straightened financial circumstances did not. however, prevent him from taking
that most important step in a young man's life, the choosing of a wife and
helpmeet and the setting up of a domestic establishment, which event was duly
solemnized on August 16, 1874, when he was united in marriage to Mary E.
Beckett, whose birth occurred in Marion county, Indiana, on the 16th day of
April, 1857. Mrs. Malaby's paternal ancestors were Virginians, her mother's
people being among the early settlers of Ohio. The father came from near
Blacksburg, Virginia, was married in Marion county, Indiana, and died when his
daughter Mary was about fifteen months old. The mother was reared in that county
and died at the home of her daughter in Kokomo. After the death of her father
Mary E. Beckett became an inmate of the home of her grandmother, Mrs. Rhoda
White, who sent her to school and otherwise looked after her interest and
comfort until her seventeenth year, at which time the marriage, as above
recorded, took place.

   Mr. Malaby began his domestic life poor in this world's goods, the sum total
of his possessions at that time being a team of mules, a few farming implements
and barely sufficient household goods to furnish very modestly a small and
humble domicile of a single room. Endowed with energy and an inborn
determination to succeed, he addressed himself manfully to his labors and in due
time was on the rugged but sure highway to ultimate prosperity. For some time he
tilled the soil as a renter, but subsequently was able to purchase ten acres of
land, the cultivation of which sufficed for his needs until the death of his
father, when he fell heir to real estate to the value of about sixteen hundred
dollars. Still later, after selling the paternal estate, his holdings were
increased to one hundred and sixty acres, from which time dates his success as
one of the leading farmers and representative citizens of Ervin township, and he
continued to add to his possessions until becoming a large landowner also.

   At the present time Mr. Malaby ranks among the solid men of his county,
owning in addition to his real estate and city property here a valuable tract of
two hundred and forty acres in Pulaski county, which, with his various private
interests, represent a fortune considerably in excess of twenty-five thousand
dollars, every penny the result of his own labor and excellent business
management. Some years ago he gave up rural life and removed to Kokomo, since
which time he has been one of the enterprising, wide-awake men of the city,
manifesting a lively interest in its progress and advancement and taking an
active part in forwarding movements and measures to these ends. He keeps abreast
of the age in all matters of public import, is well read on the political
history of the country, and although a Republican and interested in the success
of the party, he is not as prominent a worker in political affairs as in his
younger days, being content to vote the ticket, defend the soundness of his
principles and to be known by the simple title of citizen rather than to aspire
to official station or strive for leadership.

   Mr. and Mrs. Malaby have a pleasant and attractive home at No. 535 West
Jefferson street, where in peace and quietude they are enjoying the well earned
fruits of their many years of struggle and success, their social standing being
such as to win many friends among, the best society people of the city, and
their hospitality and generosity endearing them to all with whom they mingle.
They are the parents of two children, both grown and doing for themselves, the
older, a daughter by the name of Daisy B., who was born February 27, 1876, being
the wife of William Snyder, Jr., of Kokomo, while Carl A., the son, whose birth
occurred on the 16th day of August, 1880, is engaged in the grocery and meat
trade at No. 708 West Jefferson street, and is doing a very satisfactory
business. The religious faith of Mr. and Mrs. Malaby is embodied in the
Methodist creed and since moving to Kokomo they have been identified with the
Grace church and are classed with its most active and consistent members. The
subject's career has indeed been an honorable one. and though strenuous there is
nothing in it savoring in the slightest degree of disrepute, his relations with
his fellow men having ever been above reproach and his good name beyond
criticism. As already indicated, he wears the proud American title of self-made
man, and being in the most liberal sense of the term the architect of his own
fortune he may well feel a sense of pride in his achievements and the honorable
position to which he has attained among the enterprising and successful citizens
of the county in which the busy years of his active life have been passed.


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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