Lawrence R. Cartwright,
county attorney for Jay County, former chairman of the Republican County
Central Committee and for years a member of the bar of the Jay Circuit
Court, practicing law at Portland, is a member of one of this communities
pioneer families.
Mr. Cartwright was born
at Portland on October 7, 1876, and is a son of William C. and Mary J.
(Coulson) Cartwright, both of whom also were born in this county and the
former of whom died at Indianapolis in the fall of 1921. William C.
Cartwright was for years engaged in the mercantile business in Portland, a
clerk in the Cartwright && Headington Store, and was thus occupied until
1912, when he went to Indianapolis as the secretary-treasurer of the Midwest
Crushed Stone and Quarry Company and in city spent his last days, his death
occurring there on October 17, 1921. To him and his wife were born three
sons, the subject of this sketch having two brothers, Forest S. and W. Dale
Cartwright.
Reared at Portland,
Lawrence R. Cartwright was graduated from the high school in that city in
1896 and then entered DePauw University, from which he was graduated in 1900
with the degree of Ph. B. He then accepted a position as instructor in
Washburn College at Topeka, Kan., and was thus occupied for two years, at
the end of which time he entered the law school of Columbia University and
in due time received his A. M. degree from that institution. For about three
years thereafter Mr. Cartwright served as law clerk to Judge Monks of the
Indiana State Supreme Court and then, in 1911, returned to Portland and has
since been engaged there in the general practice of law. For the past three
years or more Mr. Cartwright has been serving as county attorney. He is a
Republican, long having been recognized as one of the leaders of that party
in this district, and has rendered service as chairman of the Republican
county central committee.
Mr. Cartwright is a
Freemason, is affiliated with the college fraternity. Phi Delta Theta, and
he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1907,
Lawrence R. Cartwright was united in marriage to Vida Wood, of Topeka, Kan.,
daughter of 0. J. and Anna Wood, and to this union have been born three
children, Jane, Wood and Rachel. During the time of this country’s
participation in the World War, Mr. Cartwright was one of the leaders in the
local work of the Red Cross.
Biographical && Historical Record of Jay County, Indiana
Lewis Publishing Company, 1887