Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 1

Author: Rolland Lewis Whitson
Publication date: 1914
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1034

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INDIANA UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

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CENTENNIAL HISTORY -

GRANT COUNTY

INDIANA

1812 to 1912

Compiled from Records of the Grant County Historical Society, Archives of the County, Data of Per- sonal Interviews, and Other Authentic Sources of Local Information

Under the Editorial Supervision of ROLLAND LEWIS WHITSON

And Associate Editors EDGAR L. GOLDTHWAIT JOHN P. CAMPBELL

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ILLUSTRATED

Room 20

PUBLISHERS: THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY CHICAGO AND NEW YORK 1914

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History of Grant County

COLONEL JOHN L. MCCULLOCH. Valiant, self-reliant and endowed with great circumspection and constructive ability, Colonel McCulloch has proved one of the most influential and resourceful powers in the civic and industrial progress of the city of Marion, the beautiful and thriving capital and metropolis of Grant county. His character is the positive expression of a noble and loyal nature and he holds by just deserts an inviolable place in popular confidence and esteem. He is a native son of Indiana and a scion of a family whose name has been worthily linked with the history of this state for considerably more than half a century. Through energy, strong initiative and sterling integrity of purpose he has gained definite precedence as one of the prominent and influential men of affairs in his native state, and, further than this, he has been significantly prominent in connection with civic activities representing the higher ideals in the scheme of human thought and action. He is one of the most honored Indiana affiliates of the Masonic fraternity, in which he has the distinction of having received the thirty-third and maximum degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, and he has done much to foster the interests of the great fraternal order in his state, especially in his home city. He has served as a member of the military staff of the governor of Indiana, with the rank of Colonel; he is one of the representative bankers of the state, as president of the Marion National Bank; and he has been the liberal and progressive citizen to whom is mainly due the development and upbuilding of a number of the most important industrial enterprises that contribute to the commercial precedence and material and civic prosperity of Marion. The foregoing brief statements indicate fully that in any history of Grant county it is imperative to accord definite tribute to Colonel McCulloch, and thus a review of his career is given in this publication, with all of appreciation and with marked satisfaction. Of the staunchest of Scotch and Swiss lineage, Colonel John Lewis McCulloch has given evidence of possessing the sterling traits of char- acter that most significantly designate the races from which he is sprung, and he takes a due amount of pride in reverting to the fine old Hoosier commonwealth as the place of his nativity. He was born near Vevay, Switzerland county, Indiana, on the 14th of March, 1858, and is a son of George and Louisa (Weaver) McCulloch, the former of whom was born in Scotland and the latter in Switzerland county, Indiana, a representative of one of the fine families that early founded the Swiss colony in that county. The father devoted the greater part of his active career to mercantile pursuits and was long numbered among the representative and influential citizens of Switzerland county, both he and his wife having continued to reside at Vevay until their death. Of their ten children four sons and two daughters are now living.

Colonel McCulloch continued to attend the public schools of his native town until he had completed the curriculum of the high school,

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and this discipline was supplemented by a short course of study in Wabash College, at Crawfordsville. At the age of nineteen years he put his scholastic attainments to practical test and utilization, by turn- ing his attention to the pedagogic profession, in which he was a success> ful teacher in the district schools of his native county for two years. Thereafter he was employed as clerk in a hardware store at Frankfort, Clinton county, for one year, at the expiration of which he gained further and valuable business experience by assuming the position of bookkeeper for the Southern Glass Works, in the city of Louisville, Kentucky, where he remained four years. He then went to the city of Wheeling, West Virginia, where he became bookkeeper for the North Wheeling Glass Company, for which corporation he later became gen- eral salesman. After serving five years as one of the valued attaches of this company Mr. McCulloch returned to Indiana, and the spring of 1888 marked his arrival in the city of Marion, where he became the promoter and organizer of the Marion Fruit Jar & Bottle Com- pany. He individually held two-thirds of the stock of the new company and became its president and treasurer. Through his previous expe- rience in connection with the glass-manufacturing industry he had gained substantial knowledge of the details of this line of enterprise and thus was well fortified in the initiating of the new manufactory in Marion. Operations were instituted on a modest scale, with an invest- ment of only ten thousand dollars, and under his aggressive and resourceful administration the industry rapidly expanded in scope and importance, until the company became the second largest fruit-jar manufacturers in the entire United States, with branch factories at Converse and Fairmount, this state, and at Coffeyville, Kansas. The discovery of natural gas in Indiana greatly spurred manufacturing in this state, as history fully records, and in this connection the Marion Fruit Jar & Bottle Company effected large leases of gas and oil land in Indiana and other states. After the supply of gas began to wane these lands proved to be very valuable in the production of oil, and it is a matter of record that the Marion company mentioned drilled about one hundred oil wells which proved very profitable in their output. In 1904 the manufacturing business, which had grown to extensive proportions, was sold to the only other company which had been a large competitor. Colonel McCulloch had been indefatigable in his labors and other incidental activities in connection with the great industry built up under his direction, and the sale of the business was prompted largely by his desire to obtain relaxation from the mani- fold cares and exactions involved. He sought and found a much needed rest, and he found special pleasure and recreation through two years of extensive travel, in company with his wife and daughter. They not only visited the various sections of the United States but also sojourned in Mexico and made a trip around the world,-starting from San Francisco, and returning home by way of New York city. They visited all of the countries of the Old World and the pleasures and profits gained have proved of abiding order.

When, in 1905, the Marion National Bank was reorganized, Colonel McCulloch became a prominent figure in the institution, as the owner of one-fourth of its stock, and one year after its incorporation under the new regime he was elected its president. He has since continued as the chief executive of this strong and representative bank, and its interests have been signally advanced under his wise and conservative direction, the bank being now the most important in Grant county, in the matter of solidity and extent of business controlled, even as it is also one of the strongest and most popular in central Indiana. Colonel

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McCulloch has shown special predilection for and ability in the bank- ing business and is known as one of the representative figures in con- nection with financial affairs in his native state, the while he has a wide acquaintanceship among the leading capitalists and financiers of the country, especially those of Chicago and New York city. Never swerving in the least from the highest principles of integrity and honor, he is an exponent of the best element in financial circles, and his influ- ence in this connection has been both fruitful and benignant. He has held many positions of honor and trust in the Indiana Bankers' Asso- ciation, of which he is president at the time of this writing, in 1913, and he is also a valued member of the American Bankers' Association, in which he has served as vice-president for Indiana.

Deeply appreciative of the many attractions and superior advan- tages of his home city, Colonel McCulloch has been most aggressive and influential in the furthering of measures and enterprises tending to advance the civic and industrial progress and prosperity of Marion, and in this connection his fine initiative and executive powers have come into effective play. In the year 1900 he became one of the inter- ested principals in the Marion Paper Company, and for several years past he has been the owner of three-eighths interest in its capital stock, and vice president and secretary of the company. This corporation represents one of the most important and successful industrial enter- prises in this part of the state, as is shown by the fact that it is to-day the largest patron of the railroads entering Marion, where it ships in and out a greater freight tonnage than does any other manufacturing concern in Marion. The company manufactures paper-box board, and its trade is not only of the most substantial order but is also widely disseminated.

In politics Colonel McCulloch has been found arrayed as a staunch supporter of the cause of the Republican party, with well fortified opinions concerning matters of governmental and economic import, but he has been essentially a business man and had no desire to enter the turbulent stream of so-called practical politics, though one preferment of incidental order has been his, that of colonel on the military staff of Governor Hanley. He is a man of fine address and unvarying courtesy and consideration, is genial and tolerant, and is by nature and voluntary determination a distinct optimist. He is appreciative of his steward- ship and in an unassuming way has given ready aid to those in affliction and distress, so that there are ample reasons for his being held in unequivocal confidence and esteem by all who know him. He and his wife are active and liberal members of the Presbyterian church; he is affiliated with the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks, and not only holds membership in the Marion Country Club and the Marion Golf Club and has been president of both, but has also been for a number of years a valued member of the Commercial and Marion Clubs of Indianapolis, these being representative organizations of the capital of the state.

In the Masonic fraternity Colonel McCulloch has been specially prominent and influential in his native state, and he has been a close and appreciative student of the history and teachings of this time- honored fraternity. He is one of the seventy representatives in Indiana who have been distinguished in receiving the thirty-third and ultimate degree in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of Masonry, and he is most active in the work of the various Masonic bodies with which he is affiliated, including the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. The beautiful new Masonic Temple in Marion will reach completion about April, 1913, and the large and noble benefae

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tions of Colonel McCulloch in this connection demand special mention. From an article published in a Marion paper at the time when decisive action was being instituted in connection with the proposed Masonic building are taken the following extracts, which are well worthy of preservation in this article :

"The most prominent Mason in Marion and one of the best known in Indiana is Colonel John L. McCulloch, president of the Marion Na- tional Bank. It has been largely through the untiring efforts of this representative citizen and Mason that the local Masonic bodies will soon be housed in one of the finest Masonic homes in the state. When the movement for a new temple was launched, Colonel McCulloch, through his great business ability and Masonic enthusiasm, was made its leading spirit and was voted to the chairmanship of the building committee, on which he has admirably and successfully served.

"One of Colonel McCulloch's fondest hopes was to see a Masonic temple in Marion,-a temple that would be a credit to the city and the fraternity. To this end he contributed liberally and kept in close touch with the work of raising finances. When $16,000 was raised by the lodge for building purposes and it was realized that this would be insufficient to defray expenses and that the lodge would have to go in debt for the remainder, Colonel McCulloch came forward and sub- mitted a proposition which certainly attested his interest and enthu- siasm. Here is what he told his brethren of Samaritan Lodge, No. 105, Free & Accepted Masons, of which he is a trustee: 'We already have raised $16,000 by subscription and we figure that we shall need $28,000 more to construct the building as we want it. We can, of course, borrow the money to take care of the matter, but I would like to have the building dedicated without indebtedness. I want every penny of the indebtedness provided for before the last brick is laid. We yet need about $28,000. I will give half the amount if the lodge will take care of the remaining half. My money will be ready whenever the lodge raises its half.' This generous offer from Colonel McCulloch was warmly received by the lodge, and thus was assured the splendid Masonic temple for Marion."

When the thirty-third degree was conferred upon Colonel McCul- loch, at Saratoga, New York, the members of his home lodge showed their appreciation of the high honor conferred upon him by presenting to him a beautiful ring emblematic of the degree which he had received. He is a valued member of all the Masonic bodies in Marion and is influential in the affairs of each.

On the 5th of July, 1883, was solemnized the marriage of Colonel McCulloch to Miss Alice Rebecca Wilson, of Louisville, Kentucky, -- a young woman of gracious presence and distinctive culture and a representative of one of the old and distinguished families of Ken- tucky. She is a daughter of Wood and Elizabeth (Muir) Wilson, both of Scotch lineage and both members of families whose names have been prominently and worthily linked with the annals of the state of Kentucky. Mrs. McCulloch's parents are both dead, having died in Louisville, Kentucky, about the close of the Civil war. Her father was a prominent merchant of Louisville, and during the Civil war the Wilson home in Louisville was the headquarters for everything identified with the Union cause, as the family had two sons in the Union Army. Immediately after their marriage, which was celebrated in the city of Louisville, Colonel and Mrs. McCulloch removed to Wheel- ing, West Virginia, and there, in the year 1884, occurred the birth of their only child, Alice Rebecca, who is now the wife of George Alfred Bell, a prominent manufacturer of Marion, their marriage having been

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solemnized in 1910. Mrs. Bell has been a resident of Marion from her childhood days and is one of the leaders and most popular factors in the representative social activities of her home city, besides being well known in the social circles of other cities. She and her husband reside with her parents and the beautiful home is a center of gracious and refined hospitality.

DR. MARSHALL T. SHIVELY. One of the leading citizens of the city of Marion, Indiana, and a representative of one of the pioneer families of the state of Indiana, Dr. Marshall T. Shively is one of the most suc- cessful practitioners in Grant county. He has lived in Marion all of his life and his father was a physician in this city before him, and he has well sustained the reputation of his family for ability and strong character.

Dr. Marshall T. Shively was born in Marion, Indiana, on the 10th of July, 1849, the son of Dr. James S. and Harriet O. (Marshall) Shively. The latter was a daughter of Riley Marshall, who was the grandfather of Vice-president Thomas R. Marshall. Riley Marshall came to Grant county and settled in 1829, one of the early pioneers of this section. Dr. James S. Shively was a native of West Virginia, having been born on the 8th of April, 1813, at Morgantown, West Virginia, which at that time was part of Virginia. He came to Grant county, Indiana, in 1836, his father having preceded him and settled in Rush county, Indiana. James S. Shively first taught school and then read medicine at Newcastle, Indiana. After his preparation was complete he began the practice of his profession in Muncie, Indiana, remaining there for about a year. In April, 1836, he came to Marion and here began to practice medicine. For fifty-four years he was engaged in the practice of his profession in Marion and he became a prominent physician and one of the influential citizens of the town. He was well known for his charity and for the broad mindedness of his views in the days when this was a rare virtue. In politics he was a member of the Democratic party and was always an active member of his party. He served several terms in the lower house of the Indiana Legislature and in 1886 was elected to the State Senate. He was the father of the Shively Medical Bill, the first practical medical bill passed in the state of Indiana. He spent a long and useful life in Marion, dying in 1893, at the age of eighty years. His wife was also over eighty years old when she died on May 28, 1889. Six children were born to this couple, one of whom died in infancy. Those yet living are Mrs. Terrie E. Johnson of Marion and Mrs. Mary C. Motter, of Marion, in addition to Dr. Shively.

Dr. Marshall T. Shively was educated as a boy in the city of his birth, attending the public schools and taking private courses. In 1872 he entered the Ohio Medical College, at Cincinnati, from which institution he was graduated in 1874. He began to practice in Marion in partner- ship with his father and he has been in active practice here ever since. He was in partnership with his father for ten years.

Dr. Shively is an active Democrat but he has never cared to fill office, although he has served as a member of the state central committee. He is a member of the Grant County Medical Society and of the Indiana State Medical Society, and represented this district at the Democratic National Convention at Baltimore in 1912.

On the 17th of May, 1876, Dr. Shively was married to Miss Zamora Bobbs, a daughter of Dr. A. J. and Mary Bobbs, of Marion. The doctor and his wife have become the parents of seven children, as follows: James H. Shively of Houston, Texas; Mary L., who has become the wife of Elmer De Poy, of San Antonio, Texas; Senator Bernard B. Shively, of

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Marion, a sketch of whose life is included in this work; Thisbe, who is the wife of Raymond E. Page, of Hornell, New York; Miss Lile Zamora Shively, Miss Dorothea Shively and Miss Naedeine Shively, all of whom are living at home. Mrs. Shively died on the 9th of January, 1910.

ZAMORA BOBBS SHIVELY was born June 7, 1858, in Phillipsburg, Montgomery county, Ohio. She was the eldest of two daughters of Doctor and Mrs. A. J. Bobbs. On the seventeenth day of May, 1876, she married Doctor Marshall T. Shively of Marion, Indiana, and the couple lived happily together until the death of Mrs. Shively, January 9th, 1910.

There are many elements in human nature that go to the molding of a genuine lady, a womanly woman. And of course every individual has his or her conception of just what these elements are or what they should be. To say that Mrs. Shively was a talented woman is putting it mildly, since she was in fact in many respects a remarkable woman. And one of the most complete proofs of this fact was, that she was at all times a strong defender of her sex. She believed that the sphere of woman offered abundant opportunities for the making of her position one of importance in the world.

Mrs. Shively's philosophy of life was not drawn from what the public or society thought or suggested, although she was one who ever respected public opinion. She believed that the rule which guided society was too frequently the rule deduced from a false vanity that did not admit the broader, humanitarian view. True, Mrs. Shively was in all respects an individual. She was a character to those by whom she was well known. A woman of active mind, of marked originality and talent. These God given powers which were so much a part of her nature she did not get to pursue during her marriage life with her ardour that she might had she not had the care of a large and ambitious family to look after. But she did manage in her resourceful way, when her time was not occupied with looking after the interests of her children, for she was essentially at all times the mother, faithful, devoted and kind, dur- ing her early married life to pursue her love for art and wood carving. And she has left her family some lasting legacies in oil and water color and specially designed furniture.

In later years prior to her death Mrs. Shively devoted her time more closely to reading and studying current questions and literature, biog- raphy and ancient and modern history. The writer can so well recall the rapture with which she almost devoured the works of Swedenborg, Lamartine, Josephus and her constant companion, the Bible, besides scores of other ancient masters of philosophy and literature.

While not a club woman in the common conception of society, yet she did belong to several but took the deepest interest in her literary club work, in which capacity she read several papers on the "Philosophy of Life and the Bible as Applied to Life," that revealed to her auditors masterful attainments. Other and more elaborate papers on the same subjects were in the course of preparation at her death and it is to be hoped that some of the family will in the near future put them in pub- lication for the use of the public.

Mrs. Shively never sought to be the leader of any social set, although she had her friends and admired genius and culture wherever found. In her entertainments she was an original and a genial hostess. Her resourceful mind, ready wit and charming personality won for her the love and admiration of many friends. And while it is true that she loved life, and loved her friends, yet she was not devoted to the narrow

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confines and limitations of society. Her's was a broader field. She lived in a world, in part within herself, because she ever sought the ideal. A woman of keen perception, she wanted humanity to also see the broader view. She wanted humanity to know and understand more fully the handiwork of the great Maker. She believed that life was the best worth living that contributed something to life, however small it might be. She ever believed that man was too much depending on self, that he was seeking to solve his own destinies when those destinies were not his to control but belonged to the God of Life.

Aside from her family, her husband and her books she loved most the charms of the external world, from which she gleaned so much joy and inspiration. Her love of life sprung from what life had to her revealed. The sighing forests, the meandering streams, hills, mountains 'and valleys in their draperies of green, these she would have humanity know for in them she saw God, to her they were the green pastures, beside the silent waters over which the Master held sway.

JOHN M. WALLACE, SR. From the date of its organization down to the present time Grant county has been continuously honored and bene- fited by the presence within her borders of the Wallace family. In the character of its individual members and in their public services no family in the county probably has been more distinguished and it is impossible to estimate the strength and diversity of the influences which emanate from such a family and affect the social and business affairs of the county even to its most remote bounds.

A representative in the present generation of this well known old family, John M. Wallace, Sr., has been for many years a prominent business man of Marion, in which city he was born May 9, 1853. His parents were John M. and Mariam C. (Weeks) Wallace, the father a native of Connersville, Indiana, and the mother of Rutland, Vermont. The date of the family settlement in Grant county was either 1829 or 1831, so that the family was here in ample time to become charter mem- bers of the newly organized Grant county. Their location was in Marion, and the elder John M. Wallace grew up in that city, and entered the profession of law, in which he acquired distinction and success. He was at one time judge of the common pleas court of this county. During the Mexican war he saw service as captain of his company, and during the Civil war he served as adjutant general of Indiana under Governor Oliver P. Morton, Indiana's famous war governor. At the close of the war he was given the rank of colonel. He was then appointed and served for a time as paymaster in the United States Army, with head- quarters at Washington, D. C. Col. Wallace was an uncle of General Lew Wallace, the eminent soldier, statesman and author of Indiana. He was a brother of David Wallace who was one time governor of Indiana. Another brother was governor of Washington territory, and secretary of the state of Iowa. Probably no better citizen ever lived in Marion than the late Col. John M. Wallace. He was first in every enterprise that had for its object the advancement of the community, and by his achievements and character earned the lasting esteem of all who came within the circle of his acquaintance. His death occurred in Marion in 1866. Of the four children born to himself and wife two are living, one being L. A. Wallace of Marion, and the other John M., whose name heads this article. John M. Wallace attained his early education in the public schools of Marion, and on entering into active relations with the business of the city, he became one of the owners and publishers of the Marion Democrat, a newspaper with which his name was associated for a number of years. He was then clerk in the gov-

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Centennial History of Grant County Indiana, Part 1

Author: Rolland Lewis Whitson Publication date: 1914 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1034

Author: Rolland Lewis Whitson
Publication date: 1914
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1034