BIO; PHINNEY 1894 GEAUGA COUNTY OHIO
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A  Portrait and Biographical Record of 
Delaware and Randolph Counties, Ind.
A.W. Bowen & Co., 1894

	DR. ARTHUR JOHN PHINNEY, physician, 
botanist and geologist, of Muncie, 
Ind., was born in Russell township, Geauga 
county, Ohio, August 7, 1850. He 
was reared on the home farm until of age, 
receiving in the meantime a good 
common school education, supplemented 
by an attendance at Geauga seminary 
and two terms at Oberlin college, and 
at Allegheny college, Meadville, Pa., 
until he reached the junior year, devoting 
special attention to the 
sciences and mathematics. During 
his collegiate course, also, he employed 
his spare time in teaching in the 
common schools of Geauga and adjoining 
counties for six terms. In 1875 he 
took his first course of medical 
lectures, beginning in the medical department 
of Wooster university; his 
second course was at Pulte Medical college, 
of Cincinnati, in 1876-77, from 
which he graduated in the last named year. 
For little over a year he 
practiced in Galion, Ohio, and in October, 
1878, came to Muncie, where he 
has had an excellent practice ever since. He 
turned his especial attention 
to botany at the time he left college, and his 
last work in this line ended 
with 1882, when he was employed to prepare a 
complete record of the flora 
of Delaware county, Ind., which was published 
in the report of the state 
geological survey of that year. In this record 
he classified 720 plants, 
including grasses, sedges, rushes and flowers, 
and the task occupied him 
several years. The doctor has been a student of 
geology for many years, but 
his first official recognition was in 1881, 
when he was employed to make a 
geological survey of Delaware county, which 
proved to be so satisfactory 
that he was subsequently employed to survey 
Randolph, Grant, Henry and the 
northern portion of Wayne, and the results 
were included in the state 
report of 1882, 1883 and 1885-86 (two in one). 
This was a labor of five or 
six years, taken in connection with the 
practice of his profession. On the 
discovery of natural gas, the doctor began 
the study of the phenomenon 
minutely and scientifically, keeping a record 
of all the data obtainable 
throughout the state of Indiana, including 
records of all the geological 
strata passed through in drilling -thickness, 
altitude, depth of Trenton 
limestone; whether gas, oil or water was found, 
total depth of well, and 
other minute facts, and securing and labeling 
samples of drillings. By 
these data he was enabled to determine the 
limits of the field, and was the 
first to accurately define it. These reports 
were made the base of a series 
of articles, by the doctor, published in the 
American Manufacturer and Iron 
World, in December, 1887, and afterward, in 
full, in the Indianapolis News, 
and in the Petroleum Age, at Bradford, Pa., 
and attracted profound 
attention throughout the country. Major 
J. W. Powell, director of the 
Untied States geological survey, impressed 
with the thoroughness of the 
work done, appointed the doctor United 
States geological surveyor for the 
continuation of the survey of the Indiana 
gas field and directed a complete 
report to be made theron. This was a labor 
of three years, and forms a part 
of the elevenh annual report of the United 
States geological survey. It is 
amply illustrated with maps and sectional 
views, and embraces everything of 
interest in relation to the gas field. 
The doctor has also been called to 
different parts of the Untied States at 
various times, in connection with 
his work. He has secured one of the most 
comprehensive working geological 
libraries in the state, and has collected 
an extensive variety of fossils, 
minerals and fresh water and land shells, 
embracing over 17, 000 species, 
all classified and labeled. In the fall 
of 1892, this collection was sold, 
and donated to Buchtel college, Akron, 
Ohio. The bulk of this immense 
research, study and labor has been 
accomplished within the past twelve 
years,and yet the doctor has assidiously 
attended to his daily professional 
duties, to which he now exclusively 
devotes himself, and in which he holds 
high rank. Music affords him his only pastime.
	The marriage of Dr. Phinney took 
place, October 16, 1879, to Miss Mary E. 
Little, daughter of John L. Little, of 
Muncie, and to this union one child, 
Louise, has been born.




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