Biography of Warren McNabb, pages 422/423/424.  History of 
DeKalb County, Indiana; B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc., 
Indianapolis, 1914.



The gentleman to brief review of whose life and 
characteristics the reader’s attention is herewith directed 
was among the foremost business men of DeKalb county, and 
by his enterprise and progressive methods contributed in a 
material way to the industrial an commercial advancement of 
the city and county. He was in the course of an honorable 
career most successful in the business enterprises of which 
he was the head, and is well deserving of mention in the 
biographical memoirs of DeKalb county. Among the prominent 
citizens of DeKalb county who have been well known because 
of the part they have taken in public affairs was he whose 
name appears at the head of this memoir, and who until 
recently was recorder of DeKalb county. Warren McNabb is a 
native of DeKalb county, in which he spent his entire live, 
his birth having occurred there on July 26, 1857. His 
parents, David and Sophia (Dunfee) McNabb, were among the 
early settlers of the county. David was a native of Center 
county, Pennsylvania, born December 9, 1819, and was a son 
of John and Mary (Young) McNabb, also a native of that 
state, the father being of Scotch descent and the mother of 
Swiss and English ancestry. When David McNabb was but 
thirteen years of age the family moved to Ashland county, 
Ohio, where they remained until 1843, when they came to 
DeKalb county, Indiana, and entered eighty aces of wild 
land in section 35, Fairfield township.  There he built a 
cabin home in which he resided for twenty years and then 
sold that place and bought one hundred and twenty acres in 
section 32. When he first came to Fairfield township there 
were but five other families there, and in the early 
affairs of the county he took a prominent and leading part. 
The land was covered with a dense forest, not a stick of 
timber having been cut on the land which he secured, and 
the family lived with a neighbor, Mr. Powell, about a mile 
distant, until their log house could be raised, which was 
done with the assistance of the neighbors. On October 18, 
1842, David McNabb married Sophia Dunfee, the daughter of 
James and Sophia (Hazlett) Dunfee, who removed from Adams 
county, Pennsylvania to Ohio in 1833. To David and Sophia 
McNabb were born eight children, namely: James, George, 
John, Francelia (Mrs. Harris), Warren, Ella (died at the 
age of five years), Martha (Mrs. F. M. Dellenbach), and 
Frank.  Warren McNabb was reared on the home farm and his 
education was received in the public schools of the 
neighborhood. At the age of twenty years he learned the 
trade of house painter and shortly afterwards secured a 
position in the Baltimore & Ohio railroad shops at Garrett 
as foreman of the painters, holding the position from 
March, 1881, until 1912. In the fall of the later year he 
was elected to the position of county recorder after an 
active but clean campaign, and discharged the duties of 
this office until April 18, 1913, when he died after a 
brief illness, being succeeded in the office by his son-in-
law, Harvey O. Williams. He had retained his residence in 
Garrett until about ten days before his death, when he 
moved to Auburn. He stood high in the general esteem of all 
who knew him and his death was considered a distinct loss 
to the community,  for he had always stood for the best 
things of life and had ever given his support to all 
movements having for their object the advancement of the 
best interest of the community. Fraternally, Mr. McNabb was 
an enthusiastic member of the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows, having been the first person initiated in the 
Garrett Lodge of that order after its institution, the 
event taking place August 29, 1883. Politically, he had 
been for many years a prominent supporter of and worker in 
the Democratic party, and had served efficiently as a 
member of the school board at Garrett.  Shortly after 
accepting his employment at Garrett, Mr. McNabb was married 
to Laura McCague, of Elkhart, Indiana, who was born east  
of Corunna, this county, the daughter of George and Jane 
(Harper) McCague. Both parents were natives of Ohio, the 
mother having been born in Wood county, and they were 
married in that state, coming to DeKalb county in an early 
day and settling near Corunna. They had been preceded there 
many years by George McCague’s parents, who settled in the 
same locality. Mrs. McNabb parents moved to South Bend when 
she was a small child, and there she was reared until her 
marriage, first meeting Mr. McNabb while on a visit to 
Corunna. To Mr. and Mrs. McNabb were born four children, 
namely: Harry, deceased; Frank, who resides in the west; 
Maude, the wife of Lee Hunt, of Kendallville; and Edith, 
the wife of Harvey O. Williams, who succeeded his father-
in-law as county recorder. Of Mr. McNabb it may be said 
that his was a positive character, and he possessed the 
qualities that command attention and assure success in any 
calling, He was the scion of sterling ancestry who played 
well their parts in the early settlement of northeast 
Indiana, and he proved to be a worthy descendant of his 
forebears. Throughout an active and interesting career, 
duty was ever his motive for action and helpfulness to this 
fellowmen not by any means a secondary consideration. Thus 
because of his high standing and genuine worth he is 
eminently entitled to representation in a history of his 
county.

Submitted by:

Arlene Goodwin

Auburn, Indiana

Agoodwin@ctlnet.com