Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens
Lawrence County Pennsylvania 1897
[p. 641] the able editor and proprietor of the Ellwood Motor, an eight-page, six-column weekly paper of Ellwood City, and one of the most popular of the excellent body of citizens, who have made that thriving little city what it is to-day, was born in Caldwell, Marion Co., Ohio, July 21, 1856. Versatility and readiness to adapt himself to the most trying situations seem to be leading characteristics in the make-up of our subject. In him may be found the representative of three leading professions—law, medicine and journalism—in each of which he has achieved a reputation for thorough, earnest and reliable work. As a journalist his history since coming to Ellwood City in 1895 is inseparably linked with the city of his choice.
His father, James Cain, was a schoolteacher in Marion County for forty years, and then engaged in mercantile life for ten years in Enoch, Ohio, after which he bought a farm and spent the remainder of his years near to Nature's heart, dying at the age of seventy-four.
The subject of this writing attended the common schools until he was prepared for college, and finished his collegiate course in 1879. He taught school for a while, but did not inherit his father's taste for instructing the young, so he entered the law office of Semtis & Grubbs in Indiana, where he studied law until his admittance to the bar in 1881. He practiced in his profession, and met with some difficult cases, which he handled with credit to himself, but more and more he felt impelled to study medicine, so he became a student in the Medical College at Louisville, Kentucky, from which institution he was graduated as a physician and surgeon in 1885. For six years previous to his coming to Ellwood City, he was practicing law in Hutchinson, Kansas; upon becoming a citizen of Wayne township's metropolis, he purchased the Motor, a weekly paper, that was established in 1893 by A. L. Weighe, who was succeeded as editor and proprietor by John Mellon, the immediate predecessor of Dr. Cain. The present proprietor has made it his aim to give the people of the vicinity and of neighboring counties a readable, newsy sheet, which will outline the daily occurrences of the preceding week, furnish local items of interest, and provide bright, clean literature for the home and fireside. The circulation of the paper has shown the effect that his stimulus had upon it by mounting in two years from 475 to 1,000 copies; the size of the paper has been enlarged to meet the demands from a five-column sheet to a six-column paper. The Motor advocates the best of Republican doctrines, and is conducted in a spirited manner, as Dr. Cain had considerable experience in political life, and needs no instruction how to wield his lance, or where to direct the attack. He is a fluent, ready speaker, a gift that was perfected by his experience at the bar, and stumped Western Pennsylvania and Ohio in the exciting campaign of 1896, proving of great assistance to the party.
Dr. Cain has an extensive membership in fraternal brotherhoods. He belongs to the Legion of Honor, Protected Home Circle, and the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. In Indiana he became a Mason. He is a member of the I. O. O. F., and of the Knights of Pythias, in each of which orders he is a Past Grand. Dr. Cain was united in the holy bonds of matrimony with Quintella J. Wiley, daughter of Samuel Wiley of Sharon, Ohio, and Dr. and Mrs. Cain are the proud and happy parents of five children. Carl D. is his father's assistant in the Motor office; Wiley M. lived for the brief space of nineteen months to gladden the home; James C. is a clerk in the office of the Hartman Manufacturing Co. of Ellwood City; Wilbur G. passed away at the age of nine months; and Josephine B., who is cherished as the only daughter.
Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens Lawrence County Pennsylvania
Biographical Publishing Company, Buffalo, N.Y., 1897
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Updated: 27 Jul 2001