My friends - Today, I am posting the biography of Dr. Hugh M. McElrath, as taken from the Sesquicentennial History of Kentucky, published ion 1945. The McElrath family is well known in Calloway County, and this biography seems to be a full and complete one. As I locate other biographies for JP individuals in these various histories, they will be posted here. -B +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ HUGH McCORKLE McELRATH, DDS, FACD HUGH MCCORKLE MCELRATH was born in Murray, Kentucky on May 21, 1888. His father was John Calvin McElrath, a merchant in Murray, and his mother was Fannie (Nold) McElrath. His maternal grandfather, Henry Nold was the first principal, and his mother Fannie Nold, was one of the first teachers of Murray Male and Female Institute. She is now in her ninety-fourth year and is still vitally interested in the community life. His father, John Calvin McElrath, was one of the original trustees of this institution and served in this capacity for many years. Dr. McElrath attended the Murray Male & Female Institute, and later, from 1905-1908, was a student at Bethel College, Russellville, Kentucky. During the school years of 1909-1911 he attended the Louisville Dental College, which is now the School of Dentistry of the University of Louisville, and then went to Northwestern University Dental School at Chicago, Illinois, where he received the degree of D.D.S. in 1912. After his graduation from Northwestern University, he entered the practice of dentistry in Murray in October, 1912. World War I interrupted a thriving practice; from July, 1918 until July, 1919, Dr. McElrath was in the service of the United States Army. He was a member of the American Expeditionary Forces, and was on overseas duty from September, 1918 until June, 1919, attached to Evacuation Hospital No. 18. Upon completion of his army service, he returned to Murray and resumed the practice of dentistry. On October 27, 1920, Dr. McElrath married Gladys M. Thomas, who was the daughter of M. A. and Mary S. Thomas. Her father was a farmer and real estate operator of Calloway County, Kentucky. Gladys (Thomas) McElrath is a graduate of Georgetown College, having been a member of the Class of 1920. Mrs. McElrath has been active in Woman's Club work, having served three years as chairman of the Alpha Department. She also does a great deal of church work, and is the teacher of a college class of girls in the Sunday School of the First Baptist Church, and is also the sponsor of a missionary study organization with the same group. Church work has also played an important part in the life work of Dr. McElrath. As a member of the First Baptist Church, he serves that body as a member of the Board of Deacons. For more than thirty years he has been a Sunday School teacher and served as Sunday School Superintendent for eleven years. During that same period he has been church chorister. Dr. and Mrs. McElrath are the parents of four children. Their first child, Hugh Thomas McElrath, was born on November 13, 1921. He was graduated from Murray State Teachers College in 1943, and is now a student in the School of Sacred Music at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary at Louisville, Kentucky. A daughter, Miriam, was born on July 25, 1923. Miriam McElrath is now a student at Murray State Teachers College. Mary Frances McElrath, who was born on August 4, 1924, is also a student at the same college. William Nold McElrath was born on March 1, 1932, and is now a student at the Junior High School of Murray, Kentucky. Dr. McElrath is active in the affairs of various associations and organizations, both professional and social. He is a member of the Kentucky State Dental Association, which elected him its president in April, 1924. He had previously served The Southwestern Kentucky Dental Society as its president. In 1925, he was chosen as chairman of the Kentucky representatives for the program of the International Dental Congress, which met at Philadelphia during the Sesqui-centennial. In 1926 he was appointed a member of the Kentucky State Board of Dental Examiners, and has been in continuous membership on that Board since that time. He is a member of. Sigma Alpha Epsilon, literary fraternity; Psi Omega, dental fraternity; and Kappa Tau Epsilon, honorary fraternity. He was made a Fellow of the American College of Dentists in 1931. In 1940 he was president of the Murray Rotary Club, and in June of that year represented the club at the Rotary International at Havana, Cuba. Dr. McElrath is firmly embedded in the soil of Calloway County, and his activities are so much a part of his home community that he recently declined the most attractive offer of a chair at the School of Dentistry of Baylor University, at Dallas, Texas, to remain in Murray. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++