Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes, Part 1

Author: Dunn, Jacob Piatt, 1855-1924. cn
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 972

USA > Indiana > Marion County > Indianapolis > Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes > Part 1

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.

GEN

Presented to the allen County Public Filerary- Genealogy Collection

ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY

3 1833 01715 7691

Gc 977.202 In3d v. 2 Dunn, Jacob Piatt, 1855-1924. Greater Indianapolis

in memory of Ryan Bowen Danach Died 24 Dec 1992 Indianapolis, IN

Ronald L. Darrah 8126 Bittern Ln Indianapolis, IN. 46256-1780

АР. Ании

GREATER INDIANAPOLIS

The History, the Industries, the Institutions, and the People of a City of Homes

JACOB PIATT DUNN

Secretary of the Indiana Historical Society

,22

Copy 2

VOLUME II

ILLUSTRATED

THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY CHICAGO

1910

PO Box 2270 Fort Wayne, IN 46801-2376

History of Greater Indianapolis.

. CALVIN FLETCHER was born in Ludlow, Ver- mont, on the. 4th of February, 1798. The town of Ludlow is in the County of Windsor, and is situated on the eastern slope of the Green Mountain range, midway between Rut- land and Bellows Falls. A ridge of highlands separates the counties of Windsor and Rutland, and forms the boundary between the towns of Ludlow and Mount Holly, the latter being in the County of Rutland. Mr. Fletcher was a descendant of Robert Fletcher, who was a na- tive of one of the northern counties of 'Eng- land, probably Yorkshire, and settled in Con- cord, Massachusetts, in 1630, where he died at the age of eighty-five on the 3rd of April, 1677, leaving four sons, Francis, Luke, Will- iam and Samuel. Calvin's father, Jesse Fletcher, a son of Timothy Fletcher, of West- ford, Massachusetts, was born in that town on the 9th of November, 1763, and was prepar- ing for college under his elder brother, the Rev. Elijah Fletcher, of Hopkinton, New Hampshire, when the troubles of the Revolu- tion arrested his progress. He joined the patriotic army and served in two campaigns of six or eight months each toward the close of the war. Jesse's brother Elijah was the pastor of the church in Hopkinton from the 23rd of January, 1773, until his death on the Sth of April, 1786. The second daughter of Rev. Elijah Fletcher was Grace, a most ac- complished and attractive person, who became the first wife of the great American states- man and orator, Daniel Webster. Col- onel Fletcher Webster (who fell at the head of his regiment in the second battle of Bull Run, August 30, 1862) received at his chris- tening the family name of his mother. Cal- vin Fletcher and his oldest son, Rev. J. C. Fletcher, more than once talked with Daniel Webster concerning this cherished first wife (Grace). The daughter of Grace's brother (Timothy Fletcher) became the wife of Dr. Brown-Sequard, the famous specialist of Paris, France. Jesse married in 1781, when about eighteen years old, Lucy Keyes of

Westford, who was born on the 15th of No- vember, 1765, being therefore hardly sixteen when she became the bride of Jesse. The young couple emigrated from Westford to Ludlow, Vermont, about the year 1783, and were among the first settlers of the place. From that time until the day of his death, in February, 1831, Jesse Fletcher lived on the same farm. He was the first town clerk of Ludlow; was a justice of the peace, and the second representative to the General Court from Ludlow. In that town all his fifteen children, except the eldest, were born. His widow died in 1846. Calvin was the eleventh of these fifteen children, most of whom lived to maturity. Under the teachings of an ex- cellent father and mother of more than or- dinary ability, Calvin early learned those habits of industry and self-reliance and those principles of uprightness which uniformly characterized him in after life. While per- forming all the duties exacted from a boy. on a New England farm in those early days, he soon manifested a strong desire for a classical education, which was stimulated both by his mother's advice and the success of his brother Elijah, who had, a few years before, com- pleted his college course at Darmouth Col- lege. In accordance with the prevailing cus- tom of the early New England families, his parents had selected Elijah as the one best fitted by natural endowments and bent of mind to receive a college education. Such selection of but one member of a large family was in- deed a matter of necessity in those days, when all were obliged to labor hard for the stern necessities of life. Through his own exertions Calvin earned money enough to pay the ex- penses of a brief course of instruction at the academies of Randolph and Royalton in Ver- mont, and afterwards at the rather famous classical academy of Westford, Massachusetts. His classical studies were interrupted by pe- cuniary difficulties at home. His father be- came financially embarrassed; the older sons and daughters had already gone out into the

Vol. II-1

643

644

HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.

world, and Calvin obtained permission from his father to go also. His classical studies had proceeded as far as Virgil, and he had probably taken delight in reading of the wan- derings of the pious Eneas. He determined to be a sailor ; and in April, 1817, in his nine- teenth year, he went to Boston and tried to obtain a berth on board an East Indiaman. He failed to get an engagement as a sailor be- fore the mast, and thereupon turned his face toward the country west of the Alleghenies. He worked his way, mostly on foot, to Penn- sylvania, where he engaged himself for a short time as a laborer in a brickyard. He had left home in a spirit of adventure, and had by no means laid aside his literary tastes. While working as a laborer he always carried with him a small edition of Pope's poems, which he read (particularly the translations of Homer's Iliad and the Odyssey) at each mo- ment of leisure. But his brick-making came speedily to an end. His intelligence attracted the attention of a gentleman named Foote, by whom he was encouraged to travel further westward, to the State of Ohio. Mr. Fletcher has himself described this period of his life in a letter to Mr. John Ward Dean, corre- sponding secretary of the New England His- torical and Genealogical Society, dated March 25, 1861, in which he says:

"In two months I worked my way, mostly on foot, to the western part of Ohio, and stopped at Urbana, then the frontier settle- ment of state. and had no letters of introduc- tion. I obtained labor as a hired-hand for a short time, and then a school. In the fall of 1817 I obtained a position in the law office of Hon. James Cooley, a gentleman of talents and fine education, one of a large class which graduated at Yale under Dr. Dwight. He was sent to Peru (as U. S. charge d'affairs) under John Quincy Adams' administration, and died there."

During the interval between his school teach- ing and entering upon the study of law at Mr. Cooley's office, he was for a time private tutor in the family of a Mr. Gwin, whose fine library gave him an excellent opportunity for read- ing. In 1819 he went to Richmond, Virginia, and was licensed to practice by the supreme court of the Old Dominion. At one time he thought of settling in Virginia, but even then his strong love of freedom and respect for the right of man made him renounce his intention. He was an anti-slavery man from principle, and was one when it cost something to be one. No person who was not living thirty or forty years ago in the southern part of Ohio or In- diana can realize the hitter prejudice that then existed against the old-time abolitionist : he

was considered an enemy of his country, and was subjected to both social and political ostra- cism. But this did not deter Mr. Fletcher, nor cause him to alter his course. He once said to one of his sons, long after he had be- come celebrated as a lawyer in the new cap- ital of the State of Indiana: "When I am in the court house, engaged in an important case, if the governor of the state should send in word that he wished to speak to me, I would reply that I could not go; but if a Quaker should touch me on the shoulder and say 'a colored man is out here in distress and fear,' I would leave the court house in a minute to see the man, for I feel that I would have to account at that last day when He shall ask me if I have visited the sick and those in prison or bondage, and fed the poor. The great of this world can take care of them- seives, but God has made us stewards of the downtrodden, and we must account to Him." A man of this stamp could, of course, find no abiding at that time in Virginia, and Mr. Fletcher, renouncing his intention of settling there, returned to Urbana, where he became the law partner of Mr. Cooley in 1820. Quot- ing again from the autobiographical sketch em- bodied in his letter to Mr. Dean, we use Mr. Fletcher's own words in describing this period of his career:

"In the fall of 1820 I was admitted to the bar, and became the law partner of my worthy friend and patron, Mr. Cooley. In the sum- mer of 1821, the Delaware Indians left the central part of Indiana, then a total wilder- ness, and the new state selected and laid off Indianapolis as its future capital, but did not make it such until by removal of the state archives and the transfer of all state offices thither in November, 1824, and by the meeting of the legislature there on the 10th of Jan- uary, 1825. I had married, and on my re- quest, my worthy partner permitted me to leave him to take up my residence at the place designated as the seat of government of Indiana. In September of that year I left Urbana with a wagon, entered the wilderness, and after traveling fourteen days and camp- ing out the same number of nights, reached Indianapolis, where there were a few newly erected cabins. No counties had been laid off in the newly acquired territory; but in a few years civil divisions were made. I com- menced the practice of law, and traveled twice annually over nearly one-third of the north- western part of the state: at first without roads, bridges or ferries. In 1825 I was ap- pointed state's attorney for the Fifth Judicial Circuit, embracing some twelve or fifteen cou"- ties. This office I held about one vear, when

645

HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.

I was elected to the state senate, served seven years, resigned, and gave up official positions, as 1 then supposed for life. But in 1834 I was appointed by the legislature one of four to organize a state bank, and to act as sink- ing-fund commissioner. I held this place also for seven years. From 1843 to 1859 I acted as president of the branch of the state bank at Indianapolis, until the charter ex- pired."

The simple and. unostentatious words in which Mr. Fletcher alludes to his connection with the state do not convey any idea of the struggle he had to go through in reference to its organization. As senator of the state of Indiana, he gave great offense to some of his constituents by opposing the first charter proposed for the organization of a state bank. He resigned the senatorship, and the next year another charter was prepared which ob- viated the objections. This charter passed through the legislature, and on the organiza- tion of the bank he became a director on the part of the state, and thenceforward gave banking and finance a large portion of his time and attention.' Mr. Fletcher was the first lawyer who practiced his profession in Indian- apolis. His sterling honesty and strict atten- tion to business soon gained for him a large and Incrative practice. Hon. Daniel D. Pratt, at one time United States Senator from In- diana, was a student in his office, and has con- tributed his recollections of Mr. Fletcher in a letter written after his old law preceptor's death, in which he says:

"In the fall of 1833 I entered his office. He was then about thirty-five years of age, possessed of a large practice, on the Circuit and in the Supreme Court, standing hy com- mon consent at the head of the profession in central Indiana, and commanding the un- qualified confidence of the community. He fully deserved that confidence. Scrupulously honest, fair in his dealings with his clients, untiring in their interests, I do not think I have ever met a man in the legal profession of greater activity, energy, earnestness, and application to business. He forgot nothing, neglected nothing necessary to be done. This was the great secret of his professional suc- cess. Mr. Fletcher was a strong man, physi- cally. morally, and intellectually. In the early stages of his pioneer life he had to meet men face to face, and at times, with bodily force he had to resist those who attempted to deprive him of his rights. There were no courts at first in the infant settlement of In- diana to take cognizance of breaches of the peace, but each man had to be as it were 'a law unto himself'."

He was equal to the emergency, and could defend himself. In the same spirit he stood ready also to befriend those who otherwise might have been injured. He had when young felt the pressure of poverty, and had learned life from actual contact with its difficulties, and while this gave additional force and edge to his good sense and acquainted him with the details of humble life, it also aroused his dis- position to take the part of the poor, the help- less, and the oppressed. To them his services were often gratuitous or for meagre com- pensation. His sympathies were always active, and he had the faculty of conferring great benefits, not so by direct aid as by teaching them how to help themselves. Among those whom he thus befriended were many of the colored race, who in his early years were still in bondage, and who were only admitted to citizenship in the closing years of his life. Several elements contributed to Mr. Fletcher's eminent success as a lawyer. One of his most serviceable powers was his remarkable mem- ory, which seemed to hold all that was com- mitted to it. In his law office it was he who kept in mind all the details and who watched all the points of danger. He was a shrewd and sagacious judge of men, and had the faculty of inferring character from circum- stances generally overlooked. A local chron- icler says : "When introduced to a stranger, he would for some minutes give him his ex- clusive attention. He would notice every re- mark and movement, every expression of fea- ture, and even the minutiae.of dress, yet he did all this without giving offense. He seemed to be ever under some controlling influence which led him to study character". He viewed his cases dramatically, and realized them in actual life, then the legal aspects of the case were examined, authorities consulted, and the question involved settled after cautious delib- eration. He was not oratorical in addressing juries, but was a clear and effective speaker. His most prominent talent was his insight into the motives of parties and witnesses, and he was especially strong in cross-examination. In one case a witness who was compelled by him on cross-examination to disclose facts which contradicted his evidence in chief, faint- ed, and his evidence was disregarded by the jury. During the process of making up his decisions on questions of law or policy he pre- served entire impartiality, and was ready at any moment to abandon an untenable theory or opinion. He discouraged all unnecessary litigation, and had great success in adjusting cases bv agreement of the parties. To this point in his character, many well-to-do resi- dents of Indianapolis have feelingly testified

646

HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.

in recent years, and have said that to the good advice of Calvin Fletcher they owed all they possessed. His calm, just and effective method of reasoning with clients who came to him in. the flush of heated controversy and thirsting for revenge for real or fancied wrongs, was like pouring oil on the troubled water. "Set- tle out of court and save costs", was a favor- ite maxim of his that will be remembered un- til all who knew him have passed away. Not- withstanding that his fees were moderate, his business was so extensive and his industry achieved so much, that his income was large. His judicious investments, and his plain and unostentatious mode of living, led to the rapid accumulation of wealth. He was an example of temperance, avoiding the use of either liquor or tobacco, and never played cards, although that was a great pastime among the lawyers in his early days. The bar, judge and people were then thrown much together at country inns, and social and conversational talents were of great advantage to a lawyer. Here Mr. Fletcher was remarkably well endowed, hos- pitable to his friends, amiable to those in his office, and popular with all. Mr. Fletcher, during his long career as a lawyer, had ser- eral partners and they were friends to whom he was deeply attached, and the attachment was reciprocal ; the prosperity of one was the pros- perity of all. The two partners with whom he was the longest associated were Ovid Butler and Simon Yandes. Mr. Butler, after a pros- perous career, founded what is now known as "Butler University", at Irvington, Indiana, which is one of the most flourishing educa- tional institutions of the Christian denomina- tion. Simon Yandes was a student with Messrs. Fletcher and Butler in 1837-38, after which he took a course at the law school of Harvard University. and became the partner of his old instructors-the firm of Fletcher, Butler & Yandes continuing until the senior partner retired in 1843. In his autobiograph- ical sketch from which we have already quoted, Mr. Fletcher says: "During the forty years I have resided in Indiana, I have de- voted much of my time to agriculture and societies for its promotion, and served seven years as trustee of our city schools. I have been favored with a large family; nine sons and two daughters. Three of the former have taken a regular course and graduated at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, and two a partial course at the same institu- tion. I have written no hooks, but have as- sisted in compiling a law book". In 1860 he hecame a corresponding member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, to the secretary of which this letter was written. He

was a great lover of nature, taking much in- terest in the study of ornithology, and making himself familiar with the habits, instincts, and characteristics of birds. The domestic animal found in him a sympathizing friend. The works of Audubon had a prominent place in his library, which included a well selected collection of general literature, and an accumu- lation of local newspapers (which he had neatly bound), books, and magazines of in- estimable value to the student of western his- tory, which at his death was deposited in one of the institutions of the City of Indianapolis. Simon Yandes, Esq., his former partner, in testifying to the character of Mr. Fletcher, states that what Allibone in his "Dictionary of Authors" says of Dr. Daniel Drake, of Cin- cinnati, is eminently true of Calvin Fletcher, viz .: "His habits were simple, temperate, ab- stemious; his labors incessant". There was much in common between the two men. Alli- bone's further description of Drake is that of Calvin Fletcher: "A philanthropist in the largest sense, he devoted himself freely and habitually to works of benevolence and meas- ures for the amelioration of distress, the ex- tension of religion and intelligence, the good of his fellow creatures, the honor and prosper- ity of his country". The fine tribute of Sen- ator Pratt, from which we have already made a brief extract, concludes as follows:

"He was a very simple man in his tastes. Though possessed of ample means no one could have inferred it from his manner of life. His family lived and dressed plainly. He was himself without a particle of ostentation; re- publican simplicity characterized every phase of his life. at home and abroad, in his dress, furniture, table and associations. He was fond of the society of plain, unpretentious peo- ple. The humblest man entered his house un- abashed. He took pleasure in the society of aspiring young men and in aiding them by his counsel. He never tired in advising them ; in setting before them motives for diligence and good conduct, and examples of excellence. He was fond of pointing to eminent men in the different walks of life, of tracing their history, and pointing out that the secret of their suc- cess lay in the virtues of diligence, continuous application to a specialty, strict integrity and temperance. Many young men of that period owe their information of character to these teachings of Mr. Fletcher. He taught them to be honest and honorable, to be just, exact, prompt, diligent and temperate. He was him- self a shining example of all these virtues. They formed the granite base of his charac- ter. Others will speak of the religious phase of his life. It was not common in those days

647

HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.

to find men of the legal profession of deep re- ligious convictions and illustrating those con- vietions in their every-day life and conversa- tion. Mr. Fletcher belonged to this exceptional class. Religious exercises in his family were habitual He was a constant attendant at church, and gave liberally to the support of the ministry. The success of his Master's Kingdom upon the earth lay very near his heart. He regarded religion as forming the only reliable basis for successful private and national life. In his death, the world has lost a good man, who contributed largely in laying the foundations not only of the city where he dwelt, but of the state itself. He was one of its pioneers and leading men. His voice and example were ever on the side of virtue, and he contributed largely in molding the public character."

No interest of Calvin Fletcher's life was greater than that which he showed towards the public school of Indianapolis. He was one of three who constituted the first board of school trustees. In recognition of this fact and because he labored for years in the inter- est of a system excelled by none in this county, the school on Virginia avenue, No. 8, near his old home was named "The Calvin Fletcher School".

Mr. Fletcher's death, which occurred on the 26th of May. 1866, the result of a fall from his horse a few weeks previous, caused much public sorrow. He had long made for him- self an honorable record as a banker after his retirement from the practice of law, and the bankers of Indianapolis passed resolutions on the day after his death, in which they said:

"His devotion to every patriotic impulse ; his vigilant and generous attention to every call of benevolence: his patient care of all wholesome means of public improvement ; his interest in the imperial claims of religion, morale, and education, and his admirable suc- cess in securing the happiness and promoting the culture of a large family, show conclusively that whatever importance he attached to the acquisition of wealth, he never lost sight of the responsibility to that Great Being who smiled so generously on his life and whose approbation made his closing hours serene and hopeful."

Among those who attended his funeral were a large number of colored people, whose friend he had always been, and who now testified their deep affection and veneration for him. His remains were interred in the cemetery at Crown Hill. Indianapolis.

Mr. Fletcher was twice married. His first wife. Sarah Hill. a descendant of the Ran- dolphs of Virginia, was born near Maysville,

Kentucky, in 1801, but her father, Joseph Hill, moved to Urbana, Ohio, when she was very young. This marriage, which took place in May, 1821, was a happy one in every respect. Mrs. Fletcher was a very quiet, lady-like per- son, and one would judge from her delicate appearance that she would be the last to en- dure the rigors of a pioneer life; but she proved equal to the situation and not only made a happy home for her husband and eleven children, but her industry, economy and gen- eral good management aided her husband very greatly in laying the foundation of his for- tune. He cherished her memory and her chil- dren all held her in most grateful remembrance. The names of the children of Calvin and Sarah Hill Fletcher are here noted in the order of their birth: James Cooley, Elijah Timothy, Calvin Miles Johnson, Stoughton Alphonso, Maria Antoinette Crawford, Ingram, William Baldwin, Stephen Keyes, Lucy Keyes and Al- bert Elliott. For his second wife Mr. Fletcher married Mrs. Keziah Price Lister. No chil- dren were born of this union.

STOUGHTON A. FLETCHER, JUNIOR, was one of the eleven children and the fifth of nine sons born to Calvin and Sarah (Hill) Fletcher. He was born at Indianapolis, Octo- ber 25, 1831, lived in the city continuously more than sixty-three years, and died in his beautiful home on Clifford avenue, March 28, 1895. The simple record of his noble, un- ostentatious life is the most fitting eulogy that could be pronounced. In youth he enjoyed the benefit of wholesome discipline instituted by a broad-minded, practical Christian father to qualify his sons for self-support and useful citizenship. He had the educational advan- tage afforded by the best schools of Indiana and a partial course in Brown University at Providence. He was trained on his father's farm in the actual work of husbandry, and manifested unusual aptitude for agricultural pursuits in boyhood. He studied telegraphy and became a practical operator at the age of nineteen. This was supplemented by a study of the operating department of railroads at an early day, and he was placed in charge as conductor of the first train that ran out of the Union Station at Indianapolis, on the old Bellefontaine railroad, in June, 1853. He ap- plied himself with such assiduity as to become conversant with the machinery employed and the methods of conducting railroad business. He could run a locomotive and understand its parts as well as the process of construction. His thoroughness naturally led to promotion and in two years he was superintendent of the road. After a valuable and successful expe- rience of five years in railroad service he re-

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes, Part 1

Author: Dunn, Jacob Piatt, 1855-1924. cn Publication date: 1910 Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 972

Author: Dunn, Jacob Piatt, 1855-1924. cn
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 972