Democratic Sentinel, Volume 21, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 December 1897 — FIRST WOMAN CITIZEN [ARTICLE]

FIRST WOMAN CITIZEN

HER STURDY LADS AND CLEVER LASSES BECOME PROMINENT CITIZENS. , Known as the “Widow Ryan” Was a Clever Atasincss Woman Short Sketch of Her Life and What Some of Her Children Accomplished. From the News, Indianapolis. Ind. Hundreds of thousands of men of foreign birth have taken out papers declaring their citizenship in Indiana since that State was admitted into the Union in 1810 without creating remark or comment. It was a different matter, however, when nloug in the forties the first woman of foreign birth applied for and received papers of citizenship. The "first woman citizen” was an Irish widow who settled in southern Indiana with her progeny of sturdy lads and clever lasses upon a farm which she had bought. She had taken out naturalization papers in order to manage her property to better advantage, and for the further purpose of starting her family as true Americans with a full understanding of the advantages and responsibilities of American citizenship. “The Widow Ryan,” as she was known in Daviess County, Indiana, was a great woman with a clever business head and left behind her those who grew to be worthy men and worthy women, aud who have left their impress upon the State. One of these sons, Jaxnes B. Ryan, became Treasurer of the State of Indiana, and a son-iiAlaw, M. L. Brett, also held that high and honorable position. Another sou was the late Lieut. Col. Richard J. Ryan, who was probably the most brilliant and gifted orator that Indiana ever produced, and who during the war for the Union served his country in the Thir-ty-fifth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, better known as “the Irish Regiment.” Another son is Thomas F. Ryan, who is now 59 years old, and with a few intervals of absence has been a resident of Indianapolis for forty-two years. Mr. Ryan has been an active business man all bis life and has seen more than one fortune come and go in the vicissitudes of trade and sudden panic. In the early fifties, smitten by the gold fever, he went by way of the Isthmus of Panama to California, and he has always retained the free-hearted, open and trusting confidence that iiistinguished the gallant pioneers of the golden State. He has been engaged in mining and trade operations in Oregon. Arizona and Montana. From May, 1885, until August, 1887, he was the government agent at the Seal Islands off the Alaska coast, a highly responsible position. “For ten years or more,” said Mr. Ryan, in conversation with a group of gentlemen at the Indianapolis Board of Trade, “I have been sensitive in my lower limbs to weather changes. If my legs had been filled with quicksilver I do not think they could have responded more quickly or more disagreeably to climatic conditions. “During the past two years this infirmity became much worse, and I began to be alarmed, fearing paralysis. My leg* were cold and recently from my knees down were without sensation. I could walk only short distances and would even then experience great weariness. I became more and more alarmed. I naturally thought of paralysis «or locomotor ataxia. The prospect was not pleasing. “1 happened to meet my old friend Capt. C. F. Shepard, of this city. He was chanting the praises of Dr. Williams’ Pink Pills for Pale People and gave me his experience, telling me that he had been brought by using them from a bed where he lay helpless, his physician having declared him a hopeless victim of locomotor ataxia, and was now as active as any man of his age, not even requiring the use of a cane. Upon his recommendation I began the use of Dr. Williams’ Pink Pills. “I found positive relief, after taking a few doses. The numbness in my limbs disappeared as if by magic, and I can walk as far as I like at a good rapid gait and without weariness. This you may understand is a great boon to a man who has been of an active habit of life, and who still likes to depend to a great extent upon his legs to get around in the world. “The pills also drove the rheumatism out of my hip, for I have not been bothered with it since I began their use. I think I shall have to Join Captain Shepard in liis praises of Dr. Williams’ Pink Pills for Pale People.” Dr. Williams’ Pink Pills for Pale People contain, in a condensed form, nil the elements necessary to give new life and richness to the blood and restore shattered nerves. These pills are sold in boxes (never in loose bulk) at 50 cents a box or six boxes for $2.50, and mny be had of all druggists, or direct by mail from Dr. Williams’ Medicine Company, Schenectady, N. Y.