Source: Clarkson W. Weesner, History of Wabash County Indiana (1914), Vol. II, pp. 826-827.

DAVID GINTHER, M.D.  For more than forty years Dr. Ginther has quietly performed his round of professional services and duties at North Manchester and vicinity, and is not only one of the oldest but one of the most highly esteemed practitioners in Wabash county. A physician cannot live and practice his calling for so many years in one locality, without possessing a faithful character, and a certain high ability and skill in his profession, and no one would deny Dr. Ginther the possession of the best qualifications of the faithful and efficient physician. Dr. Ginther is also well known for his relations with business affairs in that community.

A native of Wabash county, born on a farm in Waltz township, Dr. Ginther's parents were Benjamin and Anna Marie (Keller) Ginther, both of whom were natives of Tuscarawas county, Ohio, and were among the pioneers of Wabash county. In 1847 they located at the county seat, then a small village deriving its principal importance from its location on the old Wabash and Erie canal, and also from the possession of the county government offices. For a time after their arrival the Ginther family lived in a sheep stable owned by Col. Hugh Hanna, who laid out the first plat of the city, and whose name has always been esteemed as the founder of this thriving commercial center. Later Benjamin Ginther, having found time to erect a log cabin about eight miles southwest of Wabash, moved his family to that place. there his activities were those of a general farmer and stock raiser, until illness rendered further work impossible. Having acquired some property near the south tollgate on the canal at Wabash, he moved there and up to 1870 acted as gateman. In that year the family residence was moved to North Manchester, and there he had his home until overtaken by death in 1885. His wife survived him until 1888, and both now rest in the cemetery at North Manchester. To their marriage, which occurred about 1838, the following children were born: Henry, Catherine, Anna, Benjamin Jr., Eva, and David.

Dr. David Ginther was born May 27, 1848. His career has been one in which self-reliance and individual initiative have played a more important part than any fortune that comes from inheritance, or as the result of chance or circumstance. Until he was thirteen years old he lived at home, getting some education in the district schools, and assisting his father. He then started out for himself, and after working for a farmer in the neighborhood found a job in a sawmill. In this way he earned his own living, and when about seventeen years old, in 1865, took up the study of medicine, with an older brother at Hagerstown, Indiana, where he remained until 1871. In the meantime he had attended lectures in the Eclectic Medical Institute at Cincinnati. In June, 1871, Dr. Ginther came to North Manchester, walking to that village from Wabash, and such were his financial circumstances that during his first six months of his practice he attended all his patients even when they lived a a considerable distance in the country on foot. The best years of his life have been spent in administering to the ills of the people around North Manchester, and by hard and conscientious labor he long ago built up a splendid practice.

Aside from his medical activities, the doctor has interested himself in various commercial enterprises, owning stock in two local banks, and several times has conducted drug stores in the city. He also has the honor of being president of the new Union Trust company. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Masonic Order, is a republican in politics, and espouses the doctrines of the Lutheran church denomination. He has served several terms as a member of the school board and the city council, and at an earlier date had an influential part in local politics. In December, 1877, Dr. Ginther married Miss Laura Whitlow, a daughter of H.C. Whitlow, of North Manchester, Indiana.