Mack Warrum, sheriff of Hancock county, is a native son of this county and a member of one of the first families to settle in this section of the state. He was born on a farm in Jackson township, December 7, 1870, son of Noble and Maria (Wood) Warrum, the former a native of Indiana and the latter of Virginia.

Noble Warrum was born on a pioneer farm near the then village of Richmond, in Wayne county, this state, on July 8, 1818, and was but a lad when his parents came over into Hancock county, where his father entered for settlement the first bit of "Congress land" ever homesteaded in this county and established his home in the then wilderness of Jackson township. Grandfather Harmon Warrum was an energetic pioneer and prospered in his land ventures, as did his son, Noble, the latter eventually becoming the owner of thirteen hundred acres of land in this county. Harmon Warrum entered claim to the last bit of government land open in Hancock county. Noble Warrum maintained his home in Jackson township until his retirement from the active duties of the farm, when he moved to Greenfield, where he spent his last days, his death occurring on February 9, 1899. Noble Warrum was thrice married, his first wife, who was Rosanna Williams, daughter of Richard Williams, and whom he married on February 16, 1842, dying on August 27, 1862, leaving one son, Richard, who is living in Greenfield. On April 18, 1863, he married, secondly, Maria A. Wood, who was born in Virginia, daughter of Wyttee Wood, and who died on December 27, 1873, leaving three sons and one daughter, Noble, Henry, Mack and Roseann, the latter of whom, born in 1868, died at the age of nineteen years. On December 19, 1877, the senior Noble Warrum married Mary Jane Cory, daughter of Adam Cory, of Madison county, this state, who died in 1903 without issue. The sons of Nobel and Maria (Wood) Warrum have all done well and have made their mark in public life. The junior Noble Warrum, born in 1865, is now postmaster of Salt Lake City, Utah. Henry Warrum, born in 1867, is one of the best-known lawyers in Indianapolis and Mack is sheriff of Hancock county. Their father was a Democrat of the true Jefferson-Jackson school and they were reared in the political faith. Even before he was "of age" the elder Noble Warrum was appointed, in 1839, assessor of Hancock county and had to wait until he had attained his majority before he could enter upon the duties of the office. Four years later he was elected to succeed himself as assessor and during his long incumbency in that office did a good work in this county. In 1860 he was elected to represent his district in the lower house of the Indiana General Assembly and was afterward thrice re-elected to a seat in the House, his long legislative service proving of great value to his constituents and to the sate at large. In 1856 he became a Mason and ever thereafter took a warm interest in Masonic affairs. He was a Universalist in his religious faith.

Mack Warrum grew up on the old home in Jackson township, receiving his early education in the district school in the neighborhood of his home, supplementing the same by a course in the Greenfield high school, after which he went West to "grow up with the county" and traveled for a year, gaining a rather comprehensive acquaintance with the Western conditions. He then returned home and in 1889, he then being nineteen years of age, enlisted in the United States regular army, in which he served for three years, seeing service first at Columbus, Ohio and the with Battery I, Fifth Artillery, at Alcatraz, near San Francisco. Upon the termination of his term of service in September, 1891, he returned home and for some time was variously engaged, including a few years spent as a "lumber jack" in the Michigan woods. In 1897 Mr. Warrum was united in marriage in Greenfield to Annie Farrell, who was born in New York City on March 13, 1880, and who had accompanied her father, William Farrell, to Greenfield when he arrived there to take charge of the work of constructing the court house. The next year the Spanish-American War broke out and Mack Warrum enlisted for service in Company F, One Hundred and Fifty-eighth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, with which he served, as a part of the Second Brigade, until the regiment was mustered out at Indianapolis on November 4, following. Upon the conclusion of his military service Mr. Warrum moved onto a farm he had meantime acquired in Blue River township, this county, where he lived until 1909, in which year he bought another place over in Sugar Creek township, to which he moved, and there he remained until the time of his election to the office of sheriff of Hancock county in 1913, when he moved to Greenfield and occupied the sheriff's residence. Sheriff Warrum was re-elected in 1914 and is now serving his second term. Sheriff Warrum is a Democrat and is a member of the Elks, the Eagles, the Red Men and the Haymakers. He and his wife are attendants at the Christian church.

Transcribed from History of Hancock County, Indiana, Its People, Industries and Institutions by George J. Richman, B. L., Federal Publishing Co., Indianapolis, Indiana, 1916. Page 1100-1103.

Submitted by Sylvia (Rose) Duda, Laingsburg, MI November 17, 2001.

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