Loar, Dr. George W.

LOAR, FENNER, NELSON, APPLEGATE, ALIEN, CRIBBEN, BURNS, TEMPLETON, VANDERMAST, SHAW, HUMMEL, FUNK, RUTH

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 11/29/2008 at 17:36:52

LOAR, G. W.
He is an M.D. and druggist, Monroe. He was born in Greene Co PA in 1845. When about 20 years of age he entered the Physicians Medican Institute of Cincinnati, OH, from which he graduated in 1868, and then engaged in the practice of his profession until Oct 1869. he then went to Leavenworth, KS, thence to Tecumseh, NE, thence to Newton, this county, all in the Winter of 1869. He came to Monroe in 1873. He married Miss Sarah Fenner in Newton, in 1870, she was born in Highland Co., OH. They have two children living: Annie Myrtle, and Gertrude May. They lost two: Martin and Effie. Dr. Loar's drug store is on the south side of the public square. ~ Fairview Township Biographies "The History of Jasper County" (Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1878)
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Loar, George W.

Among the strong and influential citizens of Jasper County the record of whose lives have become an essential part of the history of this section, the gentleman whose name appears above occupies a prominent place and for years has exerted a beneficial influence in the community where he resides. For many years Doctor Loar was a leading physician, later a successful druggist, and now in his declining years he is living practically retired from the active duties of life, merely looking after his fine farming interests. His career has been fraught with good to those who have come into contact with him, for his example has ever been salutary and his bearing in society that of a man of proper ideals and a wholesome nature.

Dr. George W. Loar, living near Baxter, Jasper County, like many of the worthy pioneer citizens of the section of which this history treats, is a native of the old Keystone state, his birth having occurred in Greene County, Pennsylvania, December 27, 1845, and he is the son of Jacob and Maria (Nelson) Loar, both natives of Maryland where they spent their early lives. The elder Loar devoted his life to agricultural pursuits and when a young man he came to Pennsylvania and settled on a farm, which was heavily timbered. He was not a man to shrink from hard work or obstacles, so in due course of time he had a good home and a well improved, productive farm there on which he spent the rest of his life, dying at the age of seventy-one years. He became well known in his vicinity and took an active part in the up building of the same. An evidence of the confidence his neighbors reposed in his ability and integrity is shown by the fact that he held the position of justice of the peace for a period of twenty years. His wife died when forty-five years of age. Subsequently Jacob Loar was united in marriage with Sarah Applegate, a widow. John Loar, the paternal grandfather of the subject, was also a man of influence in his community and his wife had a local reputation as a midwife.

There were ten children in the family of Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Loar, George W., of this review, being the fifth in order of birth. The others are: John, a farmer in Ohio; Nelson, a physician of Bloomington, Illinois, where he has practiced forty years; Mrs. Margaret Alien, deceased; James, who spent his life on a farm, is deceased; Mrs. Henter Cribben was killed by a gas explosion; her son, Harvey Cribben, is deputy clerk of Jasper County, and formerly he was deputy auditor; Mrs. Ann Burns, who lived in Pennsylvania, is deceased; Mrs. Katharine Templeton, who also spent her life in that state, is deceased. By the second marriage there were two children in Jacob Loar's family: William C., a physician at Beloit, Wisconsin; he was formerly a lecturer in a Chicago medical school; Ora died when fifteen years old.

George W. Loar, of this review, grew up on the home farm in Greene County, Pennsylvania, and there became acquainted with hard work in the field when but a boy, and this training was not without its beneficial consequences. During the winter months he attended the common schools there. Being ambitious to secure a higher education and actuated by a laudable ambition to enter the medical profession, he took a course in Westmoreland College, at Mt. Pleasant, Pennsylvania, then entered the Physio-Medical Institute at Cincinnati, Ohio, from which he was graduated in 1869, after, a satisfactory three years' course. Soon afterwards he began the practice of his profession at Fairbury, Illinois, with his brother, Nelson, this partnership lasting a year and a half. In November 1869, he came to Hixon Grove, southeast of Newton, Jasper County, Iowa. He had but fifty cents when he reached there, but he soon had a good start. Seeking a wider field for his operations, he moved to Newton in 1871, where he continued successfully in the practice until 1873, when he moved to the town of Monroe, where there existed a good opening. Just as he was becoming one of the leading medical men of this locality misfortune overtook him, he having been thrown from a horse and his hip injured, which continued to trouble him, so he was forced to give up the active practice of medicine in 1875; and he then launched out in the drug business in Monroe, which he continued for a period of twenty-five years, enjoying a liberal patronage, retiring in 1903, when he traded his business for a farm of one hundred and ten acres of valuable land in Henry County. Missouri, which he still owns. He also owns a well-improved and very productive farm near Monroe in this County. He helped to organize the State Savings Bank of Monroe, and is a director in the same. He has been very successful in a business way, and is one of the substantial men of this part of the County.

Doctor Loar was married in 1870 to Sarah Fenner, who was born March 3, 1846, in Highland County, Ohio, the daughter of Adam and Susanna Fenner. Her family came to Iowa in the sixties and settled at Murphy. Their seven children are all deceased, including the Doctor's wife, who passed away many years ago.

Seven children were born to Doctor Loar and wife, namely: Martin D. died in infancy; Effie died in infancy; Myrtle was born December 25, 1873, married John Vandermast, son of the editor of the Monroe Mirror, and they live on a farm in Fairview Township; Gertrude, born August 30, 1875, married Fred W. Shaw, of Monroe, formerly in the drug business there; Harry, born in 1877, conducts a grocery store at DeSoto; Robert N., born October 13, 1881, died on April 6, 1911; Maybel married Virgil Hummel.

Doctor Loar married, on September 2, 1903, Emma Ruth, daughter of Hugh and Elizabeth (Funk) Ruth, the father born in Maryland about the year 1808, and the mother in Pennsylvania, on July 25, 1824. The father, who was a farmer, came to Iowa in May 1855, and retired many years ago, dying in January 1896. The mother's death occurred in March 1911. Mrs. Loar is a member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and the Ladies' Aid Society of the Baptist Church, and both the Doctor and Mrs. Loar are prominent socially in Monroe.

Fraternally, the Doctor is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Fairview Lodge No. 194, also of the chapter. He is a member of the Baptist Church at Monroe. Politically, he is a Democrat, and while he takes the interest of a good citizen in political and public affairs, he is not ambitious to be a leader in these matters. Past and Present of Jasper County Iowa B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, IN, 1912 Page 1360