Martin V. McGillard

FOUNDER OF FIRST BOYS CLUB AND MANY OTHER ENTERPRISES DIES.

Martin V. McGilliard, organizer of the first Boys' Club in Indianapolis, founder and promoter of many civic, religious, patriotic, charitable and traternal enterprises, died Tuesday night at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Edna M. Christian, 1630 North Delaware street.

His ninety years of life had been filled with activity and he took prominent part in varied groups.

He was widely known throughout the city and his memory will live in the many churches and other enterprises he fostered.

Funeral services will be held in the chapel of the First Presbyterian church, Sixteenth and Delaware streets, at 2 p. m., Thursday, with burial in Crown Hill cemetery. The Rev. M. L. Haines, pastor emeritus of the church, and the Rev. George Arthur Frantz, pastor, will officiate.

One of the early activities that brought Mr. McGilliard into prominence was his organization of company of Union soldiers in the civil war.

He was stricken with typhoid fever, and while lying in the army hospital, facing death, he took to be "faithful and active in the service of God" if his life were spared. When he recovered, he did not forget that vow but started a life-long program of work for others.

Mr. McGilliard conceived the idea of the Boys' Club by observing the lives of many of the less fortunate boys who at that time did not have the opportunity for education and development that they have today. The group he organized formed the nucleus for the Boys' Club movement that is now an integral part of Indianapolis life.

He was instrumental in the organization of five churches in the city. The Memorial Presbyterian church owes its being to mission Sunday school founded near the old Massachusetts avenue railroad station by Mr. McGilliard. For ten years he was an elder in the church.

A "hayseed mission" in East Washington street that he founded was the forerunner to the Westminster Presbyterian church.

He was active in organization also of Tabernacle Presbyterian church, the West Washington Street Presbyterian church and East Washington Presbyterian church.

The Grand Army of the Republic also was one of his interests and he assisted in forming the organization. He was among the founders of the Knights of Pythias. He was active in earlter days in the Commercial Club that later developed into the Chamber of Commerce.

For more than forty years he in the insurance business. The Indiana Fire Insurance Company was organized by him. He wis director in Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee for the Security Pire Insurance Company of New York. He also was first president of the Meridian Life Insurance Company.

Mr. McGillard's interests were not limited to the city of Indianapolis, however, for he, with group of men, started the development of the east shores of Lake Maxinkuckee As resort, and of Turkey Run as park. He also was one of those who promoted the development of the district north of Forty-sixth and Meridian streets, known as Meridian Hights.

He was born in Cincinnati March 3, 1842, of French Huguenot descent. John McGilliard, a great-grandfather, came to this country and settled in Cincinnati when it was only trontier town. When McGilliard was stx years old, his family moved to Liberty, and later went to Kewanee, Ill. While there, Mr. McGilliard met Abraham Lincoln, serving in his first campaign as an escort.

After the civil war, Mr. McGilltard lived in Terre Haute and married Miss Elizabeth Boyd, a school teacher.

In later life he became an enthusiastic fisherman and spent much time at Lake Maxinkuckee.

He had been deacon in the First Presbyterian church number of years. -- Indianapolis News Dec 21, 1932