Past and present of Fountain and Warren Counties, Indiana. Indianapolis, Indiana: BF
Bowen, 1913 p. 346 -- The prominence of Elvis Scott Booe, the widely known and popular
president of the Bank of Kingman, Indiana is such that he is regarded as one of Fountain
County's leading business men and most influential financiers, having for several
decades taken a prominent part in the upbuilding of the locality in a material and civic
way, ever wielding a wide and potent influence for the general good of the same, and ever
showing by his fealty to high principles that he merits the high esteem in which he is
universally held. He is a man of keen business discernment, wise foresight and seldom
makes a mistake. He has been the principal motive force behind the strong, conservative
and popular insitution of which he is the head, and at the smae time is a plain,
straightforward, unassuming gentleman whom it is a pleasure to meet. Mr. Booe was born in
Fountain County, Indiana Oct 2, 1853. He is a son of Lorenzo Dow Booe and Eleanor Moffatt
Booe, natives of NC and Tenn, respectively, each representing fine old Southern families.
These parents grew up in the South, were educated and married there and they devoted their
lives to general agricultural pursuits. They came to Fountain County Indiana as early as
1827 and here became well known among the pioneers. The paternal grandfather, Joseph
Booe, was one of the prominent men of the early period of the county's history. Many
of his sterling traits seem to have descended to his son, Lorenzo Dow and thence to the
subject, Elvis S. Booe. The father of the subject settled on Scott's Prairie, where he
developed an excellent farm and spent the rest of his life, successfully engaged in
general farming and stock raising. HIs death occurred on his home place in April 1878 at
age 75. His widow survived a number of years, passing away in 1884, age 79. They were
the parents of the following children: James M. is a retired farmer of Veedersburg;
Josephine died in 1899 at age 67; Thomas M. is a practicing physician at Loda, Illinois;
John A. is a druggist at Crawfordsville, indiana; Simpson M. died in 1890; Elvis Scott,
subject of this sketch, the youngest of the children. The father of the above named
children was active in the affairs of the Democratic party, and for years he was a deacon
in the Christian Church. Elvis S. Booe grew to manhood on the home farm and there he made
himself generally useful during the summer months. He received his primary education in
the common schools, then spent two years in Howard College, Kokomo, Indiana and two years
at the old Northwestern University at Indianapolis, also two years at Wabash College,
Crawfordsville, this state, making an excellent record in all these institutions and he
was graduated from the last with the class of 1877. He then read law one year, but not
finding the calling espoused by Blackstone & Kent entirely to his liking he returned
home and managed the farm, remaining there until the death of his mother and gaining a
secure foothold as an agriculturist. In May 1900 he came to Kingman and, with the
exception of the year 1910, when he was a member of the state board of accounts, he has
been engaged in the banking business, being at this writing president of the Bank of
Kingman whose large success has been due principally to his able management. He is also
interested in the grain business, and he has been very successful in a business way. Mr.
Booe was married Nov 5, 1888, to ida Philpott, a lady of many estimable characteristics
and daughter of Harris Philpott, a highly esteemed old family of Scott's Prarie. This
union has been blessed by the birth of one daughter, Genevieve, now a student at the
Univeristy of Illinois, where she is making a fine record. Mr. Booe is a member and
liberal supporter of the Christian Church and he belongs to the Phi Delta Theta
fraternity. Politically, he is a Democrat, and has long been active and influential in the
ranks. He was a member of the town board of Kingman for six years, and in 1885 was
elected to the state legislature, serving one term in a manner that reflected much credit
upon himself and to the eminent satisfaction of his constituents and to the people in
general.