EPHRAIM B. CHENOWETH, M. D.

The present age is essentially utilitarian and the life of every successful man carries a lesson which, told in contemporary narrative, is productive of much good in shaping the destiny of others. There is, therefore, a due measure of satisfaction in presenting, even in brief resume, the life and achievements of such men, and in preparing the following history of the scholarly physician whose name appears above, it is with the hope that it may prove not only interesting and instructive, but also serve as an incentive to those who contemplate making the medical profession their life work.

Ephraim B. Chenoweth was born January 18, 1875, in Eminence, Morgan county, Indiana, and is the son of Stephen and Verbenia (Gray) Chenoweth, natives of Pennsylvania and Kentucky respectively. On the paternal side the subject traces his back to John Chenoweth, an Englishman, who settled on the site of Baltimore in 1720. He was a Protestant in his religious faith. On the maternal side the family is traced in a direct line of descent from Oliver Cromwell. Stephen Chenoweth was born in 1838 in Pennsylvania. and was a of son Ephraim B. and Marie (Reisinger) Chenoweth, the father a native of Pennsylvania and of English descent, and the mother of German parentage. Ephraim B. Chenoweth was an early settler in Morgan county, Indiana, in the late twenties and attained to considerable prominence in the early life of the community, in the upbuilding and progress of which he took an important part. Stephen Chenoweth enlisted for service at the outbreak of the Civil war, becoming a private in the One Hundred and Fifty-ninth Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry, with which he rendered valiant service for three years. He has followed the vocation of blacksmithing during the greater part of his active life, but is now retired. His wife died in 1909. To them were born three children, Mrs. Lillian Stringer, Matthew, deceased, and Ephraim B., the subject of this sketch.

Ephraim B. Chenoweth received his elementary education in the common schools of Eminence and the high school at Martinsville, then pursued the scientific course at Danville Normal School, from which he graduated in 1898, with the degree of Bachelor of Science. He then matriculated in the Indiana Medical College at Indianapolis, where he pursued his technical studies four years, graduating in 1902 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He immediately located in the active practice of his profession at Quincy, Morgan county, Indiana, where he remained seven years, building up a good patronage and gaining an enviable reputation as a successful medical practitioner. He served as coroner of Owen county with efficiency during the years 1907–8–9, resigning in the latter year because of his removal from that county. He then located at Nineveh, where he has since been actively engaged in the practice, gaining a wide notoriety throughout the county as a competent, able and successful doctor. He has had remarkable success as a healer of diseases and has often been called into consultation by his professional brethren because of his ability as a diagnostician and his uniform success in the healing of diseases. In addition to splendid technical skill he possesses broad sympathies which enable him to at once gain the confidence of his patients, a point which all physicians will admit is a most important element of success in medical treatment. He is a member of the Johnson County Medical Association and the Indiana State Medical Society, in the proceedings of both of which he takes an interested part. He is now holding the position of township physician for the poor and indigent. He takes an intelligent interest in every phase of local life and all movements which promise to benefit the community educationally, morally, socially or materially enlist his warmest support and hearty co-operation. He is well and widely informed, a splendid conversationalist and a welcome visitor in any company which he chooses to enter.

Fraternally, Doctor Chenoweth is a member of Nineveh Lodge, Knights of Pythias, of which he is medical examiner; of Nineveh Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and the chapter of Royal Arch Masons at Edinburg. He is also a member of the Improved Order of Red Men at Quincy.

In 1903 Doctor Chenoweth was united in marriage to Mina Kennedy, the daughter of William Kennedy, of Martinsville, and to this union have been born three children, Morris Kennedy, Byron Elsworth and Robert Denslow. Doctor Chenoweth has always not only kept in close touch with the trend of medical thought, but is also a close student of all social, political and scientific subjects, being broad-minded, full of spirits and a leader in those matters relating to the advancement of his fellow men. He is a man of decided convictions on public questions, maintains his stand with resolute firmness and has made his usefulness felt in various trusts with which he has from time to time been honored. In every sphere of endeavor in which he has taken a part, his unpretending bearing and strict integrity have elevated him in the confidence of his fellow citizens, and his influence is always powerful and salutary in the community.