Photo: Indiana Supreme Court Justice Robert McBride.
BY TERRI GORNEY LEHMAN
Who was Indiana Audubon Society’s first president in 1898? His name was Robert Wesley McBride.
Born in Little Washington, Richland County, Ohio, on January 25, 1842, Robert moved to Iowa at the age of 13 to live with an uncle. There, he began a career in teaching.
He returned to his native Ohio in 1862 to enlist in the 7th Ohio Independent Squadron of Cavalry, more commonly known as the Union Light Guard. This squadron became the bodyguard for President Abraham Lincoln. They served as mounted escort for the president until his assassination. Later in life, Robert remembered seeing the president almost daily for sixteen months.
After the Civil War, he moved to Waterloo, Indiana, and resumed his teaching career in 1866. Around the same time, he began studying law and was admitted to the bar in April 1867.
Robert married Ida S. Chamberlain in Waterloo on September 27, 1868.
In 1882, he was elected Judge of the 35th Judicial Circuit, which comprised DeKalb, Noble, and Steuben counties. He remained in this position for six years. In 1890, he filled a seat on the Indiana Supreme Court until January 1893. He remained in Indianapolis and returned to his law practice.
An outdoors and nature enthusiast, Robert became vice president of the Wheelway League in 1896—an association that maintained a bicycle path (wheelway) on the canal towpath between Indianapolis and Broad Ripple.
In the spring of 1898, he attended the formation meeting of the Indiana Audubon Society, where he was elected the first president.
Robert McBride’s personal and professional legacy is preserved in Rare Books and Manuscript Division at the Indiana State Library.
This blog post was written by Hoosier historian and naturalist Terri Gorney Lehman as part of her Flight Paths Through History series, exploring the people, places, and moments that have shaped Indiana birding.
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