Michael David Fansler (born 1857 in Wyandotte County, Ohio), the son of one of Logansport's early physicians, was of Scots-Irish, German, and French descent.
From 1906 to 1910, he served as Assistant Prosecuting Attorney of the 29th Judicial Circuit, working under prosecutor George C. Custer.
Fansler helped to organize a liberty loan drive in Cass County during the First World War.
In 1941, Fansler delivered a speech titled "Some Public Reactions to Procedural Methods" at a meeting of the Indiana State Bar Association.
Fansler wrote a letter to Governor Paul V. McNutt to thank him for leading the Democrats to a landslide victory in the 1932 elections.