from The History of Hendricks County (Indianapolis: B.F. Bowen & Co., 1914)--pages 749-750
There can be no more comprehensive history written of a city or county, or even of a state and its people, than that which deals with the life work of those who, by their own endeavor and indomitable energy, have place themselves where they may well deserve the title of “progressive”, and in this sketch will be found the record of one who has outstripped the less active and less able plodders along the pathway of life. Canady H. Downard is one who has not been subdued by the many obstacles and failures that come to every one, but has made them stepping stones to higher things and at the same time that he was winning his way in material things of life gained a reputation for uprightness and probity.
Canady H. Downard, the son of David M. and Cassandra (Morgan) Downard, was born in Marion Township, Hendricks County, Indiana, on December 23, 1862. His parents were both natives of this county, his father being a farmer and stock raiser and one of the substantial men of the township. The grandfather of Canady H. Downard was Judge James Downard, who was one of the first probate judges of the Hendricks County Court and had the honor of laying out the town of Danville in 1825. Judge Downard was a native of Pennsylvania, came to the Northwest Territory about 1811, removed to Kentucky a few years later and settled near Brooklyn, Indiana, in 1818. He afterwards moved to Indianapolis and shortly afterwards permanently located in Plainfield, where he lived until his death in 1846. To the subject's father were born ten children: James A., Mrs. Martha Hammond, of Danville; Mrs. Mary J. Anderson, of Anderson; Canady H.; William, of East St. Louis; Erie, deceased; Oliver, of Lynn, Indiana; Frank, of Danville, and two who died in infancy. Canady H. Downard was reared on the farm and received his common school education in the Marion Township schools. He then took a course in the Central Normal College at Danville, after which he returned to the farm, where he has continued to live until the present time. In 1889 he was married to Nettie Hamrick, the daughter of William F. and Dicy (Blackburn) Hamrick. Mr. Hamrick was born in Flemingsburg, Kentucky, and came to this county in his boyhood with his parents, who settled in Marion Township. He became one of the most successful farmers in the county and owned seventeen hundred acres at the time of his death. His wife was born in Madison County, Kentucky, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Blackburn. Mr. Hamrick was in the dry goods business for a time at Danville, but sold out and devoted his energies to the raising of Hambletonian horses and other fine stock. In his early life he was a Republican, but later in life he became a Prohibitionist. He and his wife were members of the Friends Church. She died in 1898.
After Mr. Downard was married he began farming in Marion Township and has always lived in that township with the exception of five months when he lived in Danville. He now has a fine farm of three hundred and twenty-five acres which he keeps in a high state of cultivation and in excellent repair at all times. He pays particular attention to stock raising and has made a success of it. He is a man of more than ordinary business ability and is able to grasp a proposition and determine its value very accurately. He is a quiet, sociable and pleasant man to meet and makes a stranger feel at home in a short time. His career has in every way been commendable and accounts for the high esteem in which he is held in the community in which he lives.