Lake-Carroll County IN Archives Biographies.....McMahan, W. C. 1858 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/in/infiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 17, 2006, 7:00 pm Author: T. H. Ball (1904) JUDGE W. C. McMAHAN. Judge W. C. McMahan, in 1902 elected to his present office of circuit judge, has been one of the leading members of the bar at Crown Point for the past twenty years, and his legal talent and learning, his wholesome and genial personality, and his loyalty to the public welfare have been recognized in an extensive law practice and a large personal and party following who have honored him with various public offices, the. last being the circuit judgeship. Since taking his seat on the bench he has fully preserved the judicial dignity of the office and has made a most commendable record by his expeditious yet thorough handling of the numerous cases on his docket. His career has been typical of those of many successful lawyers, he having entered upon the law after a period of experience in school teaching and having passed the usual novitiate of hard study and early trials in gaining recognition from the people. His past record proves his success, and he has reached his present prominence at the bar and bench while in the prime of manhood, being a man of forty-six and with many years of useful work before him. Judge McMahan was born in Carroll county, Indiana, August 2, 1858, being of Scotch-Irish lineage. His grandfather, Robert McMahan, was an Indian trader, and served as aide-de-camp to General Washington. He was later one of the first settlers in the old town of Chillicothe, Ohio, where he located during the Indian wars. During the pioneer epoch of Ohio history and throughout the remainder of his life he was actively identified with the development and upbuilding of that state and of Indiana. Judge McMahan's father is Robert McMahan, who was born in Darke county, Ohio, and when a small boy went with his parents to Tippecanoe county, Indiana, where he was reared to the occupation of farming, passing his youth among frontier scenes. He became a farmer of Carroll county, where he has devoted his energies to agricultural pursuits to the present time, although he is now seventy-nine years old and one of the honored patriarchs of his community. By his first wife he had one son. He was afterward married in Carroll county to Miss Martha White, who was born in Ohio and is still living. Her father, Zenas White, was a native of Ohio, and settled in Carroll county, Indiana, in 1832. Of this second union six children were born, four sons and two daughters. Judge McMahan, the eldest of his brothers and sisters, was reared in Carroll county, Indiana, obtaining his early education in the country and village schools. He later attended the normal school at Ladoga, Indiana, and for four years engaged in teaching school. With his ambition set for the profession of law, he entered the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and studied there one year. He spent another year in reading law with a firm in Logansport, and in 1883 was admitted to the bar at Delphi Carroll county, Indiana. In April of the following year he located in Crown Point and began the practice which he has continued with so much success during the last twenty years. He has almost continuously been in some office demanding his professional services. He was town attorney for sixteen years. was prosecuting attorney of the county from 1890 to 1894, and in January, 1902. was appointed to the position of circuit judge and in the fall of the same year was elected to that office. He has for a number of years been one of the influential Republicans of this part of the state, and as far as his duties permit he takes an active part in politics. His only fraternal affiliations are with the Knights of Pythias. In 1888 Jude [sic] McMahan married Miss Irene Allman, a daughter of Amos and Mary (Luther) Allman. She was born in Crown Point, and by her marriage became the mother of three children: Claudia, Mary and Maurine. Additional Comments: Extracted from: ENCYCLOPEDIA OF Genealogy and Biography OF LAKE COUNTY, INDIANA, WITH A COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY 1834—1904 A Record of the Achievements of Its People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation. REV. T. H. BALL OF CROWN POINT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ILLUSTRATED CHICAGO NEW YORK THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY 1904 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/in/lake/bios/mcmahan461gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/infiles/ File size: 4.8 Kb