COMPENDIUMOF BIOGRAPHY
Of Henry County Indiana
B.F.Bowen
1920
Page 346, 347
Surnames in this biography are: Boor, Pickering, Hess,
WALTER AXLINE BOOR, M. D.
One of the most talented physiciansand surgeons of New Castle,
Henry County, Indiana, whom the hand of ruthlessfate too untimely removed
from a most promising and useful career in professional life, was Dr.
Walter AxlineBoor, the eldest son of Dr. WilliamF. Boor, retired
president of the First National Bank of New Castle. Dr. Walter A.
Boor was born inMiddletown, this County, January 27, 1849, and died
May 24, 1897. He was principally educated in the oldseminary in New Castle,
and at the age of eighteen years began teaching schoolat Mechanicsburg, this
County, a profession he followed with the happiestresults for several years.
He was prepared for college in the study of medicine by his father,
andafter the usual medical examination was admitted to the proper department
ofthe University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, from which he was graduated with
thedegree of M. D. with the class of 1871. After graduating, young Dr. Boor
atonce began practice at Cadiz, in this County, and his success in that town
wasso encouraging that he felt justified in taking upon himself
theresponsibilities of matrimony, and there married. September 24 1872,
MissAngelia Hess, a daughter of Dr. Luther W and Phebe A. (Pickering) Hess,
andunder somewhat romantic circumstances, the father of the Doctor and the
motherof his bride having in their younger days kept company together. At
hermarriage Miss Hess was twenty years of age, a fact that indicated the
longacquaintanceship of the parents. Mrs. Boor was educated at Cadiz and
likewiseat the New Castle Seminary, and is one of the most accomplished
ladies thatadorn the social circles of the city at the present
hour. After his marriage Dr. Walter A.Boor entered into
partnership with his father-in- law, Dr. Hess, at Cadiz, and together
they met with thelucrative patronage that their mutual abilities fully
warranted. This connection was maintained for twoyears and during
that time hetook a course in the Bellevue Hospital at New York City.
Dr. Boor next passed two or three monthsin Indianapolis, then came to
New Castle, and in 1875 joined his father in practice, which
theycontinued together until the latter became president of the First
National Bank. Dr. W. A. Boor then followed his professionalone until his
health failed and would not permit him longer to attend to hisnumerous and
constantly increasing calls. In politics Dr. Boor was a Republican and tinder
the auspices of hisparty served as a member of the school board, of which he
was the treasurer; hewas likewise a member of the Henry County, State,
National and InternationalMedical Societies, to all of which he contributed
many masterly papers onsubjects apropos to the medical profession. Of the
county society he was for along time the president, and for eight years was
county physician, also servingon the city board of health. Fraternally he was
a Knight of Pythias. Dr. Boor was invalided for six years orover, suffering
at times from semi-paralytic strokes and nervous prostration.He
greatly enjoyed travel,especially by water, and made several trips on
the Great Lakes; but his greatest enjoyment was in the perusalof his
books. He did not, however, carry general literature into his office
normedical literature to his home. He erected a handsome dwelling in
which he dispensed a generous hospitality andin which his happiest
hours werepassed in the society of his family and in the
entertainment of his numerouscongenial friends. His children are three in
number, namely: Howard H. who isa clerk in a drug store; Frank0.,
deceased, was in the senior class at the high school, and Hazel A.
is in her first year ofthe high school of New Castle. Mrs. Boor is a member
of the Woman's ReliefCorps, auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic. Dr.
Luther W. Hess, Mrs. Boor's father, continued in activepractice until seized
with the illness that resulted in his death, March 8,1883. His widow has been
a resident of New Castle about sixteen years. She hadtwo children, Mrs. Dr.
Boor, and Dr. Frank C. Hess, who began practice with hisfather at Cadiz more
than twenty years ago and still continues in his chosenprofession at the same
place.