Ralph W. Imel

The demand for scientific, trained men along agricultural lines shows no signs of abating. Agricultural colleges are everywhere trying to meet the demand being made upon them for graduates to manage large ranches, to serve in various departments of the United States department of agriculture as experimental station workers, and irrigation experts. Many men are also being employed as county horticultural and farm advisors, and it is believed that this line of work will grow as fast as trained men are available. There are also many calls for graduates in forestry by the government and by lumbermen. Young men of Boone county who are choosing a life work might do well to consider the opportunities in this line of work which is not only pleasant, healthful and useful but remunerative. It is a field that is not overcrowded, in this respect being at least different from many other professions and trades.

Ralph W. Imel, the present able and popular agricultural agent of Boone county, with office at Lebanon, is one of the young men of Indiana who was wise in selecting a vocation, and, judging from his pronounced success so far and the industry and zeal he has displayed the future holds much of promise for him in this great arena of human endeavor.

Mr. Imel was born July 14, 1885, at Fairland, Shelby county, Indiana. He is a son of Peter H. and Carrie (Mather) Imel. Peter H. Imel was born at Rock Lane, Johnson county, Indiana, January 7. 1839, and is a son of George Imel, a pioneer of that section of the state, and there our subject's father grew to manhood, received such educational advantages as the early day schools afforded and he has devoted his life to farming in Indiana, with the exception of a short time spent in the state of Illinois. He has been very successful as a general agriculturist, and, having accumulated a competency, is now living in retirement at Fairland, although he still oversees the work on his fine eighty acre farm near that town. Politically, he is independent, and in religious matters is a Baptist. He and Carrie Mather were married January 1, 1868. She is a native of England, born March 17. 1850, and is a daughter of John and Anna (Conon) Mather, who emigrated to the United States in 1855, when their daughter was five years of age. The family located in Indianapolis, Indiana, where she grew to womanhood and was educated.

Ralph W. Imel grew to manhood on the home farm near Fairland and there learned the ins and outs of farming as known in those days, having an able preceptor in his father. He soon saw that this was his true bent and he sought to advance himself in the science of tilling the soil and has remained a close student to the present time. He attended the common schools at Fairland and was graduated from the high school there in 1904, then taught school very acceptably for three years, working on the farm during the summer months the meantime. In 1907 he entered Franklin College and the following year took up his studies in the agricultural department of Purdue University, LaFayette, Indiana, where his advancement was rapid and from which he was graduated in 1911. He then went to Minnesota and took a position as superintendent of the North Branch Agricultural High School, where he remained two years, giving satisfaction to all concerned. In 1913 he was appointed agricultural agent of Boone county, Indiana, consequently returned here to begin his new duties, which he is now discharging in a manner that reflects much credit upon his ability, fidelity and industry, and has done much to encourage better farming in this locality.

Mr. Imel has remained unmarried. He is independent in politics, in religious matters is a Baptist, and fraternally he belongs to the Masonic Order and the Knights of Pythias. He is also a member of the Agathon Fraternity of Purdue University. He is a young man of genial and courteous address and has made many friends since locating in Lebanon.

Source Citation: Boone County Biographies [database online] Boone County INGenWeb. 2008. <http://www.rootsweb.com/~inboone> Original data: Hon. L. M. Crist. "History of Boone County, Indiana : With biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of old families." Indianapolis, Ind.: A. W. Bowen, 1914. pp 604-606.

Transcribed by: T. Stover - October 5, 2008