Notes for: Henry ("Harry") Ellis Bodine
His name came from Ancestry.com and later WorldConnect.
Here is some info taken from "The History of Tioga County, Pa., Volume #2", found in the Green Free Library, Wellsboro, Pa.; dated 1897. My appreciation to Catherine (Bodine) Shumway and Janet (Murtland) Bodine for this information.
Henry Ellis Bodine, August 31st, 1878
Henry Ellis Bodine was the youngest son of Abram (now spelled Abraham L.) Bodine and Julia Tillotson Bodine. He graduated from Wellsboro high school, class of 1897, and later graduated from the college preparatory department of the Mansfield State Normal School taking one year's special course in Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg;. For a short time he taught in the public schools of Tioga county. In the summer of 1901 he registered as a law student in Tioga county and took up his legal studies in the office of Merrick and Young. He was admitted to practice in the Tioga county courts on October 14, 1903. He also had a law office in Lawrenceville, Pa. for three years. In 1907 Mr. Bodine removed to Harrisburg to engage in work for the department of internal affairs. Mr. Bodine was appointed special investigator for the bureau of industrial statistics of the department of internal affairs. His work in this direction is widely known, his articles having been published by the department and by the press of the cities investigated. On March 13, 1911 he was admitted to practice in the superior court of the state and on May 22nd of that year he was admitted to the supreme court. In June, 1911. The chamber of commerce of Clearfield, Pa., employed him a manager of their organization; soon afterward electing him to the office of secretary and reelecting him to the secretaryship for another term. Upon moving to Clearfield he was admitted to the bar, December 2nd, 1912. Following his time in Clearfield, Mr. Bodine became the secretary and manager of the Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce since it's organization in 1918. (This information is taken from the 1926 Edition of “Builders of Greater Fort Wayne”.
Mr Bodine married, March 23rd, 1904, to Mable Craine Smith, in Holy Trinitiy Church, Philadelphia, the ceremony being performed by Rev. Floyd W. Tomkins. She is the daughter of George H. and Minnie J. Smith (Mima Drury Craine, of the Isle of Man, England) , now of WilkesBarre, Pa; (Pittson, Pa.). the family being early identified with the development of the anthracite coal fields in the vicinity of WilkesBarre, and brick manufacturing in Pittson. There were two children born to Mr. and Mrs. Bodine:
Ellis Tillotson Bodine, born January 16, 1905; died at age 14 following a tragic auto accident in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
George Smith Bodine, born April 3rd, 1907; died June 1st, 1996.
From Ronny Bodine:
Henry Bodine married, March 23rd, 1904, to Mable Craine Smith, in Holy Trinitiy Church, Philadelphia, the ceremony being performed by Rev. Floyd W. Tomkins. She is the daughter of George H. and Minnie J. Smith (Mima Drury Craine, of the Isle of Man, England) , now of WilkesBarre, Pa; (Pittson, Pa.). Henry and Mabel Bodine were buried in Wellsboro Cemetery, Tioga County.
Obituary, the Williamsport Gazette and Bulletin of 21 Dec 1954.
WELLSBORO-Mrs. Mabel Constance Bodine, 76, wife of Henry Ellis Bodine, West Avenue, died Sunday night, Dec. 15, 1951, in the Blossburg State Hospital where she had been a patient for the past two weeks.
Born at West Pittston, Dec. 12, 1878, she was a daughter of George H. and Mima J. Looms Smith. She spent most of her life ________ England, beginning her education there and finishing it at St. Cecilie's Academy, Scranton.
Mrs. Bodine was a lecturer on English gardens and judge for flower shows at Altoona, Reading, Clearfield, and Corning. She was President of the Wellsboro Garden Club in the early ___. She was a member of the Presbyterian Church.
In addition to her husband, she is survived by a son, George; a brother, Henry Ellsmore Smith, of Woodbury, N.J., five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Services will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday from the funeral home, 106 Main Street, with Rev. Robert Mark, her pastor, and the Rev. _____________ St. Paul's Episcopal Church, officiating. Interment will be at Wellsboro Cemetery.
Friends may call at the funeral home from 7 to 9 p.m. today.
Editorial, The Wellsboro Agitator of 29 Sept 1960.
Henry Ellis Bodine died at the age of 82 at the Parsell Home of West Avenue last Friday night. He was one of a number of men of a former generation who were influential in making Wellsboro a wholesome community. Like them he was quiet, unobtrusive, uncritical but always in favor of the best interests of the town.
He was well trained in the law, with wide social and economic knowledge and with high ideals. These qualities he used in supporting the interests of Wellsboro Draft Board during World War II; the Bar Association; the American Red Cross; the Community Chest; the Wellsboro Cemetery Association; the Presbyterian Church; the Green Free Library and similar groups.
Mr. Bodine came of a family long associated with Wellsboro. His grandfather, Ellis Bodine came to, Tioga County in 1824 and settled in Wellsboro in 1828. Henry graduated from the High School in due course-slid later attended the Old Mansfield Normal School and the former Pennsylvania College at Gettysburg.
In March 1904 he was married to Mabel Crane Smith of Wilkes Barre.
His training in civic affairs led him to become associated with the Chambers of Commerce of Corning, N.Y.; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Altoona and Reading. When Mr. Bodine returned to Wellsboro in 1932 he resumed his practice as a lawyer and was associated with Andrew B. Dunsmore with qualifications to appear before both the United States Supreme Courts.
He was a life-long Republican and took a keen interest in the choice of political leaders both in the County and Country. As an attorney he was closely associated,with the members of the Bar and became the associate of Judge Howard Marsh after the death of Mr. Dunsmore.
Wellsboro can ill afford to lose such a fine and influential citizen. He ranks with Leonard Harrison, Frank Teans, George Williams, Francis Sheffer, Horace Packer, Bev. Matthew Blair and Rock Butler as benefactors.