Joseph R whalen Dr. JOSEPH R. WHALEN, one of the most successful practitioners of Carlisle, is also a large land owner in Sullivan and Knox counties, has important banking and real estate interests in his home city, and, aside from his high professional standing, is a citizen of most substantial ability and character. Born near Bruceville, Knox county, Indiana, on the 30th of March, 1861, he is a son of Dr. Richard M. and Frances J. (Jenks) Whalen. He comes of distinguished ancestry on both sides of the family, the paternal branch originating in Ireland, where his great-great-grand- father was born. The heads of the three succeeding generations, with which the doctor is directly connected, are buried in Bethlehem cemetery, four miles southeast of Carlisle. On the other hand, his maternal grandmother, Jane Arnold, was the daughter of Major Arnold, of Culpeper county, Virginia, who fought with Washington at Yorktown, and now lies buried at Napoleon, Ripley county, Indiana.


John Whalen, the great-grandfather, was among the first school teachers in Sullivan county, and the grandfather, Richard J., was a farmer who took up government land in the county. The title to the property has never been changed, and Dr. Joseph R. is now the owner of forty acres of the original tract. Richard J. Whalen was born in Tennessee and died in Haddon township, this county. His son, Dr. Richard M. (father of Dr. Joseph R.) Whalen, was born in the township named, November 4, 1832, was reared on a farm, and was graduated in medicine from a Chicago college, being long engaged in honorable practice, chiefly in his native locality. He resided in Kansas in 1866 and 1867, and then moved to Haddon township, this county, practicing near Carlisle until his death. July 8, 1899. The deceased was an influential Democrat and a fine citizen, serving for two terms as trustee of Haddon township. He was also a Mason in high standing, having been master of the local lodge for a number of times and holding membership in Blue Lodge No. 3, at Carlisle. Both he and his wife (who died February 26, 1902) were faithful adherents to Methodism. Mrs. Richard M. Whalen was born at Napoleon, Ripley county, Indiana, on the 12th of February, 1839, daughter of Dr. Joseph Jenks. Her father was born in England; when eleven years of age came to America as one of five brothers; was educated in Cincinnati, Ohio; practiced his profession in Indiana, Illinois and Kansas, and died in California about 1890. In Kansas occurred the marriage of his daughter to Dr. Richard M. Whalen, on the 12th of May, 1859, and to that union were born the following children: Lewis T., who died in infancy; Joseph R.; Mary Annette, wife of D. J. Mathers, who is connected with the National Bank at Carlisle; Hattie F., deceased; Fannie S., now the wife of J. B. Latshaw, of Carlisle; Marion R. and Charles, deceased; and Nellie, who married W. J. Cole, of Sullivan.


Dr. Joseph R. Whalen, of this biography, obtained his early education at Carlisle, Indiana, and after pursuing the higher literary branches at Union College, Merom, taught for a year in Haddon township. He then was associated with his father in the drug business for four years, when he sold his interest and engaged in the buying and feeding of stock until 1891. In that year he was matriculated at the Louisville Medical College, from which he graduated in 1894 with unusual honors, receiving a gold medal as the leader in general scholarship of a class of one hundred and ninety-one students. After his graduation he served as demonstrator of anatomy in his alma mater for a year, spending the following three years in practice at Oakton, Indiana, and the four succeeding years at Bicknell, that state. Since that time he has been an active and successful member of the profession and a public-spirited citizen of Carlisle, following the example of other progressive physicians and surgeons of the country by taking post-graduate studies. In 1893 the doctor pursued such a course at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Chicago, specializing in anatomy.


Aside from his extensive medical practice, Dr. Whalen has large property interests, which include 810 acres of land in Sullivan and Knox counties and residence property in Carlisle. He was also one of the organizers of the People's Bank of that city, in which he is still a director. In politics, he is a Democrat, and his fraternal relations are with Masonry-more especially with Carlisle Lodge, No. 3, F. and A. M.; Vincennes Chapter, No. 7, R. A. M" and Vincennes Commandery, No. 20. He has served as master of the blue lodge in Carlisle, Oaktown and Bicknell, Indiana.


On January 1, 1883, Dr. Whalen married Miss Isabelle Gobin, who was born in Haddon township, November 3, 1864, and received her education at Evansville, Indiana, where the ceremony occurred. She was the daughter of John and Margaret (Hall) Gobin, natives of Carlisle, her great-grandmother, Dianna Melburne (Forrester) Hall, being an adopted daughter of Lord Melburne, prime minister of England, and was presented to the court of St. James. The Gobins were early settlers of Sullivan county. Mrs. Isabelle Whalen died June 14, 1907, leaving three daughters: Melburne, born October 7, 1883, now the wife of Manson G. Couch, the mother of two children, and a resident of Lawrenceville, Illinois; Marguerite, born March 5, 1885, and Gladys, born June 27, 1891, both unmarried and living at home. The first Mrs. Whalen was a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal church, as are her daughters. On November 4, 1908, the doctor wedded, as his second wife, Mrs. Ida Irene (Smith) Starner.