Betty Bartley grew up on a dairy farm near Hadley. Her mother’s family were Quakers who settled in the county in the 1830s.

Her early education was at New Winchester before it consolidated with Danville. Her high school English teacher spoke highly of her and often used her paper as a standard to grade those of other students.

 A lifelong student of history and she has worked in the Indiana Room at  the Plainfield and Danville libraries, as well as the Hendricks County Museum. 

 She has been devoted to The Republican newspaper since 2004, learning from editor Betty Weesner, who said “A good  story is like a woman’s skirt: long enough to cover the subject, but short enough to be interesting.”  

 From years of researching the pages of past issues of The Republican, she also became a student of Julian D. Hogate, editor from the 1890 to 1931, who said, “In all the world there is nothing of such absorbing interest as the study of humanity, of people such as our neighbors and ourselves.”

 She believes a local newspaper is not the voice of the people, but a place where the people can find their own voice and realize their place in history.