A biographical history of eminent and self-made men of the state of Indiana : with many portrait-illustrations on steel, engraved expressly for this work, Volume I, Part 108

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Cincinnati, Ohio : Western Biographical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1038

USA > Indiana > A biographical history of eminent and self-made men of the state of Indiana : with many portrait-illustrations on steel, engraved expressly for this work, Volume I > Part 108

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Episcopal Church at the age of fifteen, and has been connected with the organization ever since. He leans, however, toward Swedenborgian doctrines. Most mem- bers of the family are Democrats in politics, and Mr. Harlan inclines to the same views. The family for three generations have been active in public affairs. He is not a politician, but nevertheless has a strong natural inclination to politics. He is well informed on current political events, and watches the actions of the two great political parties of the country with untiring interest. He was married, on October 3, 1877, to Sarah Louisa, daughter of John F. and Caroline McVey. J. F. McVey was a wealthy farmer living near Indian- apolis. He died September, 1876. His wife happily combines beauty, intelligence, and gentleness of dispo- sition. He is regarded with a great deal of favor by a large circle of acquaintances. Mr. Harlan is six feet tall and weighs one hundred and eighty pounds. He is in robust health and is well proportioned. He has a full forehead, rather small head, brownish hair, fair complexion, blue eyes, prominent nose, firm-set lips, clear-cut features, an animated, pleasant countenance when in conversation, but when in thought or repose it takes a look of settled firmness which is indicative of great determination of purpose. He has a sensitive na- ture and is quick to anger, but has great control of his temper. He is social in business and domestic life. He is a close observer, and has a memory for faces and names which is not often excelled. He never forgets an acquaintance, and hence is highly respected by all who know or meet him. He is fond of out-door exer- cises and relishes all innocent amusements. He is re- garded with favor by all who know him.

ARRINGTON, HENRY W., was born near Coop- erstown, Otsego County, New York, September 12, 1825. His grandfather, Nathaniel Harrington, of Rhode Island, was a Revolutionary pensioner, having been a drummer-boy during the war for inde- pendence. He died at the ripe age of eighty-two, at Little Valley, Cattaraugus County, New York. The parents of the subject of this sketch were Miles and Sarah (Aikin) Harrington, and were in humble circum- stances. During Henry's infancy they moved to Catta- raugus County, New York. At the early age of nine he found employment on a farm, and devoted his leisure hours to reading and study. At thirteen he attended school in Ellicottsville, paying his board by attending garden. The little knowledge he had now acquired made him eager for more, and with bundle in hand he started on a journey of forty-eight miles among the hills and valleys of Western New York to Fredonia. This distance he accomplished in a single day. Here

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he entered the academy, in 1842, and began a classical course. Judge Harrington still holds in grateful remem- brance the kindness manifested toward him by Mr. Palmer, principal, and Mr. Reddington, professor of languages in the Fredonia Academy. Here, also, he was dependent on daily toil for board. He had taught school the preceding winter at Beaver Meadows, and secured means wherewith to pay for tuition and neces- sary books. The year following he attended the acad- emy at Westfield, Rev. Mr. Montgomery principal. Here he was prostrated by an attack of typhoid fever, losing much valuable time, and expending the means he had acquired by teaching. More than a third of a century has elapsed since then, but Judge Harrington frequently and feelingly refers with profound gratitude to the kindness of Rev. Mr. Montgomery and his excel- lent family during his affliction. Again he taught school, and in 1845 he became a student at Temple Hill Acad- emy, Livingston County, his former preceptor, Professor Palmer, having taken charge of that institution. Here, as usual with him, physical toil went hand in hand with intellectual pursuits. He swept the academy halls for his tuition, and attended garden and did chores for his board. In this position he remained three years, teaching during the winters at Groveland, near Geneseo. He had desired to enter college two years in advance, but now abandoned the idea, and turned his attention to the study of the law, in the office of A. A. Hendee, at Geneseo. He had previously read several elementary works with Mr. Willey while engaged in teaching at Geneseo. After leaving Mr. Hendee he went to Nunda, in 1848, and took charge of Mr. Bagley's office. In September of that year he underwent a rigid examina- tion in the law before the judges at Rochester, was admitted to the bar, and for a time made his home at Nunda. It will be observed that the young attorney had from early boyhood kept one object steadily in view-the attainment of an education that would fit him for the practical duties of life. He had swerved neither to the righ. nor left. Every step forward and upward was toilsome. His poverty had excluded him from refined society, but it only increased his determination to rise above his surroundings, and at the age of twenty he found himself a member of a learned profession, with competition disputing his every step. Strong induce- ments were offered tending to divert his talents and energies in other directions, but he had determined upon the law and abided by it. His first location looking to a permanent home was at Ellicottsville, and there he remained for seven years. But Kansas was

then attracting public attention, and Mr. Harrington

was on his way thither in 1856 when a fit of sickness detained him in Indiana, and he was induced to open an office in Madison, where he pursued his profession until 1872. He then moved to St. Louis, Missouri, but

the ill-health of his wife and self led to his return to Indiana two years after, and in March, 1874, he re- møved to Indianapolis, where he still resides, in the enjoyment of a lucrative and steadily increasing practice. Politically, Judge Harrington inclines to Democracy, and the party has not failed to recognize in him one of its ablest advocates, his reputation as a speaker certainly being second to that of no one in the state. As a lawyer, his practice has, at times, brought him in con- tact with the foremost legal talent of Indiana and Ken- tucky, and he has coped successfully with such legal lights as Humphrey Marshall, Rodman, De Haven, and others of equal note. He was a delegate to the Na- tional Democratic Convention in 1860, at Charleston, South Carolina; at New York in 1868; and again at Baltimore in 1872. While on his way to the conven- tion in 1868 he dislocated his hip by an accident, which crippled him for life. In 1864 he was at the National Convention in Chicago as one of the national Democratic executive committee. In 1866 he was made collector of internal revenue for his district, and he handled over a million of dollars while in the office, and his accounts with the government balanced to the fraction of a cent. In 1872, after a laborious and hotly contested campaign, involving public addresses in every township in the dis- trict, Judge Harrington was elected to Congress from the Third Congressional District, comprising the counties of Jefferson, Jennings, Switzerland, Bartholomew, Brown, Monroe, Jackson, and Lawrence, defeating William McKee Dunn. During the last presidential campaign, on the declination of Hon. Anson Wolcott as candidate for Governor on the National ticket, Judge Harrington was induced to accept the unenviable position, and lead the forlorn hope to an honorable defeat. He has re- cently allied himself to the Protestant Episcopal Church, .and has ever been a firm believer in the central truths of the religion of Christ. His family are connected with Christ's Church (Episcopalian), of Indianapolis. He was, while in New York, Senior Warden of a Ma- sonic Lodge, but has not affiliated in the West. For twenty years he indulged more or less in intoxicating drinks, and felt that the habit was gradually becoming stronger and more persistent in its demands, and in May, 1878, he formed a resolution to abandon their use, and, without stating his intention, went to a temperance meeting, quietly walked to the desk in the presence of the assembled audience, signed the pledge, put on the little ribbon of blue, and wears it still. He at once began to devise ways and means by which others might be induced to form and keep a similar resolution, and the result was the lease and fitting up of the room at No. 75 East Market Street for reformed men, the or- ganization of the General Temperance Ribbon Associ- ation, incorporated, and of which he was at once chosen president, and a great work for good was inaugurated

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Here he presides at the weekly meetings, and hundreds of men are being saved from lives of drunkenness by the agencies set in motion by Judge Harrington. It was a fitting tribute to one who has proved himself a prac- tical worker in the cause, that he was elected, in May, 1879, president of the Indiana State Christian Temper- ance Union, successor of Colonel John W. Ray, of In- dianapolis. Reverting to the ancestry of Judge Harring- ton, there are facts in their history deserving more than a passing notice. The family annals embrace a larger proportion than usual of physicians, ministers, jurists, and students in the various walks of literature. Trust- worthy data show that at the tifne of Cromwell, who, in the name of God, drenched the land in blood, the Harringtons were stanch adherents of King Charles during his life, and after his death they hallowed his memory. It is a singular evidence of the persistence with which families will cling through successive gen- erations to the traditions handed down from father to son, that, so far as known, there is not a Harrington living whose religious connections do not take their bias from the fact of his ancestry having incurred the enmity of the Cromwellian hordes by their loyalty to their sovereign. Almost uniformly they are Episcopa- lian, seldom Congregationalist, never Puritan. As in- timated above, the Harrington family are purely En- glish, and on their arrival settled in Smithfield, Rhode Island. The administration of Cromwell com- bated all their notions of civil and religious government, and they fled from England, and sought " the heretical state of Rhode Island, the land of infidels and unbe- lievers," as it was derisively termed. A writer in speaking of them says, "They are not the most pol- ished people in the world, but generally honest, and possess good, hard common sense; always noted for their physical courage and pluck." Lossing's " Field Notes of the American Revolution " speaks of Jonathan, Caleb, and Abijah Harrington as being in the battle of Lexington, and the two last-named as being among the killed. It is a matter of history that Theophilus Har- rington, afterwards Judge of the Supreme Court of Vermont, while a young man, walked barefoot. pack on shoulder, from Rhode Island to Vermont. From the road-side he saw in a farm-house near by a young girl engaged in spinning, and, drawn by some strange im- pulse, he entered, and abruptly announced that he had come to make her his wife, and in due time he did. He was a man of marked traits of character, signal ability, and very eccentric. On one memorable occa- sion a fugitive slave was brought before him. The case excited intense interest. The owner employed the ablest counsel, and every inch of ground was hotly con- tested on both sides, every point being urged that legal acumen could devise or critical search suggest. The slave-owner's counsel held that their right was clear

and unquestionable, but Judge Harrington did not seem satisfied. " Will your Honor please indicate," impa- tiently exclaimed the counsel, " what proof would be satisfactory." "A bill of sale from Almighty God!" thundered the judge, in stentorian tones, a reply that will rank with Ethan Allen's exclamation at Ticonde- roga. Caleb Harrington, a grandson of the old judge, is now an eminent lawyer in Burlington, Iowa. Judge H. W. Harrington, the subject of this sketch, is a man of fine presence, has a commanding figure, a well-bal- anced head; is incisive in conversation and manner; a most earnest and impressive public speaker, of a strong, sympathetic temperament; generous in his impulses; very quick to resent, but willing to forgive; has at all times the courage of his convictions; makes friends by commanding respect rather than winning it; is affable without undue familiarity, and dignified without dis- play. He stands high in his profession, and is de- servedly esteemed by his fellow-citizens.

ARRIS, LEE O., teacher, poet, and journalist, of Greenfield, Hancock County, was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, January 30, 1839. His parents were Samuel and Mary Harris, the former of English and the latter of Scotch descent. His father was for thirty years a minister in the Methodist Epis- copal Church. When Lee was very young his parents moved to the western part of Pennsylvania, in Wash- ington County, where they resided until 1852, when they removed to Indiana, settling at Andersonville, in Franklin County. During his youth he attended such schools and seminaries as were accessible to him, and, under various instructors, managed to acquire an excel- lent scientific and literary education, and a fair knowl- edge of the classics. In this gaining of knowledge he was greatly aided by extensive travel in various parts of the United States and Canada, and in 1856-57 he made the overland journey to Oregon and Washington Terri- tory. His inclinations were for the profession of medi- cine, and he studied for a time to that end, but ulti- mately concluded that the practice would not be congenial to him, and abandoned the idea. In 1858 he adopted the profession of teaching, and has continued it, in connection with his literary work, for twenty-one years. At a very early age he developed a decided talent for literary pursuits, especially for poetical com- position, in which he acquired considerable local repu- tation before he had reached the age of fifteen, and at the age of twenty he was a regular contributor to the columns of the New York Mercury. It is only within the last ten years, however, that Mr. IIarris has de- voted much leisure to literary composition, but in this time he has risen rapidly in reputation, both as a writer

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of elegant verse and as a sketch writer and novelist. He is now one among the best known of Indiana writers, and there are perhaps few persons of literary tastes in the country who have not read and admired his work, which has been widely circulated through the various journals both of the West and East. In the winter of 1860-61 Mr. Harris located at Greenfield, Hancock County, Indiana, and began the publication of a paper called the Constitution and Union, in the inter- ests of the Republican party. This venture continued but a short time, however, for, the War of the Rebellion breaking out in the spring, he disposed of his journal and entered the army in the Sth Regiment of Indiana Volunteers, and served, first as orderly sergeant and aft- erwards as second lieutenant, during the campaign in Western Virginia. At the close of the period of en- listment, which was for three months, he remained at home for a time, but on the organization of the 5th Indiana Cavalry he re-entered the service, as second lieutenant, in Captain R. A. Riley's company, of that regiment. He served with this regiment less than a year, when sickness compelled him to resign, and he resumed his vocation of teaching. In 1864, during his stay at home, he was commissioned by Governor Mor- ton as major of the Hancock battalion of the state troops, but shortly after, on the organization of the 148th Regiment, he recruited a number of men and again entered the service, as first lieutenant of Company C of that regiment, with which he served to the close of the war; after which he returned to teaching. IIe was faithful as a soldier, and skillful as an officer, and has an honorable army record. As an instructor, he has been eminently successful, as those whom he has served in that capacity freely attest, but it is as a poet, jour- nalist, and novelist that he is best known throughout the state. While in pursuit of his literary calling he became interested in the omnipresent "tramp ques- tion," and devoted much time to investigating its causes and the various phases it has assumed in this country, and in 1878 he published a book entitled, "The Man Who Tramps," in which, in the guise of an interesting story, he wove together the information and ideas he had obtained regarding this nuisance. This work has had an almost universally favorable reception at the hands of the various papers and literary critics, and has added much to Mr. Harris's already high reputation as a graceful and logical writer. Within the last year he has abandoned the teaching profession, and now de- votes his time principally to literary work. In 1872 he joined the Knights of Pythias, and in 1875 the Free and Accepted Masons, in both of which he has held honorable positions, having served as Worshipful Mas- ter in the latter order. He was educated in the Meth- odist faith, but is not a member of any Church, al- though contributing as liberally as his means will allow

to the support of all. He has always been a Republi- can, but takes no part in political contentions further than his newspaper work requires. He was married, March 14, 1861, to Miss America Foster, daughter of Hon. John Foster; one of the pioneers of the county, and for several years a member of the state Legislature. Like most persons of literary tastes and pursuits, Mr. Harris has no strong political prejudices, always avoid- ing controversies and bickerings. His poetical produc- tions teem with fertile imagination, and excel in their harmonious blending of thought and expression, and thus touch the heart and charm the senses. In metri- cal structure they are perfect, his versification always being symmetrical and elegant in finish, never evidenc- ing crudity or lack of harmony. Socially, Mr. Harris is a genial, pleasant companion, being firm and stead- fast in his friendships, frank and candid in his expres- sions, courteous and affable in his demeanor; a scholar, a poet, and a gentleman.

ARRISON, GENERAL BENJAMIN, lawyer, etc., Indianapolis, was born August 20, 1833, at the house of his grandfather, President Harrison, at ,North Bend, Ohio. His early education was re- ceived at home, from a tutor employed in the family, and at the age of fourteen he was sent to Cary's Academy, near Cincinnati, where he remained about two years. In the summer of 1850 he suffered the loss of his mother, and in the fall of the same year went to Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, then under the presi- dency of Rev. W. C. Anderson. Here he entered as a junior, and in June, 1852, graduated fourth in a class of sixteen. After a few months' vacation he com- menced the study of law in the office of Storer & Gwynne, of Cincinnati, where he remained two years. In October, 1853, he married Miss Carrie L. Scott, daughter of Rev. J. W. Scott, D. D., of Oxford, Ohio. Two children of this marriage survive-Russell B. and Mamie S. Harrison. In March, 1854, Mr. Harrison settled in Indianapolis, with a fortune of eight hundred dollars, inherited from the estate of a deceased aunt, Mrs. General Findley, of Cincinnati. Here he first entered the office of John H. Rea, clerk of the District Court of the United States, and while there was in- vited by Major Jonathan W. Gordon to assist in the prosecution of the "Point Lookout" burglary case. This was his first jury trial. Governor David Wallace represented the defense. When Mr. Harrison sat down, after making his argument, and the Governor prepared to reply, he paid the young lawyer a graceful and well-merited compliment. Soon afterward he was invited to form a partnership with William Wallace, and accepted. This connection proved very pleasant,

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and the firm did a prosperous and successful business. Shortly after entering this partnership, Mr. Harrison was appointed by Judge Major to prosecute a case against a negro who was accused of putting poison in some coffee at the Ray House. He had but one night for preparation, and no previous knowledge on the sub- ject of poisons, but he sat up the greater part of the night, and, with the assistance of Doctor Parvin, acquired considerable information on toxicology, from several ex- periments for the detection of arsenic in the coffee, ex- hibited by Doctor Parvin. The result was the convic- tion of the criminal. In 1860 his partner, Mr. Wallace, was elected clerk of Marion County, and Mr. Harrison formed a law partnership with Mr. W. P. Fishback, which continued until he entered the army. In the fall of 1860 Mr. Harrison was elected reporter of the Su- preme Court of Indiana. During his term of office he published two volumes of reports (XV and XVI) and had nearly completed a third (XVII), when he en- tered the military service. A notable event in con- nection with the political canvass was his joint meeting with Governor Hendricks at Rockville, Parke County, which was quite accidental, but in which the youthful orator acquitted himself in the most creditable manner. The joint debate is still remembered by all who heard it, and showed General Harrison to be an orator second in debate to none in the country. In July, 1862, Mr. Harrison felt it his duty to take the field, although a young man, holding a comfortable civil office, just starting in life, and with a young wife and two little children. Governor Morton asked him to raise a regi- ment, and some one else could be found to lead it to the field ; but Mr. Harrison refused, saying that if he per- suaded a man to go to the field he would be found there with him. The Governor immediately offered him the command of a regiment. He obtained a second lieuten- ant's recruiting commission, and raised and took the first company (A) of the 70th Indiana Regiment into camp, and in less than thirty days from the date of the first recruiting commission was in Kentucky with one thousand and ten men. This was the first regiment in the field under that call. General Harrison continued in the army until the close of the war, when he was mustered out as a brevet brigadier-general. His regi- ment served in Kentucky and Tennessee in the Army of the Cumberland, and was connected with a brigade commanded for a long time by General W. T. Ward, of Kentucky. On the Atlanta campaign the brigade was attached, as the First Brigade, to the Third Division of the Twentieth Army Corps, commanded by General Joe Hooker. After General Butterfield left the divis- ion, Colonel Harrison was assigned to the command of the brigade, and continued in command until after the surrender of Atlanta. Being then temporarily detached for other duty, he was, after Sherman's army marched

.from Atlanta, assigned to command a provisional bri- gade, and with that took part in the battle of Nash- ville, and the subsequent pursuit of Hood to Tuscum- bia, Alabama. Being relieved at his own request, and ordered to join his brigade at Savannah, he would have joined them there, but on the way was prostrated by a severe fever, which confined him to his bed for several weeks. Before he was fully recovered he started for Savannah, and, the army having moved, was assigned to command a camp in which the recruits and convales- cents were gathered. When Sherman reached Raleigh, Colonel Harrison joined his brigade and accompanied them to Washington. Meanwhile, in the fall of 1864, he was re-elected reporter of the Supreme Court, and was offered a place in the law firm of Porter & Fish- back, which then became Porter, Harrison & Fishback. After Mr. Fishback assumed the editorship of the Journal, General Harrison remained with Mr. Porter in company with Judge Hines, the firm being Porter, Har- rison & Hines. This firm was dissolved, and W. H. H. Miller became a member of the new partnership, under the firm name of Harrison, Hines & Miller, in which the General still continues. In 1876 General Harrison was the unanimous choice of the Republicans of Indiana for Governor, on the withdrawal of Godlove S. Orth. After a most exciting canvass he was defeated. Prior to the nominating convention he had declined, but, on the withdrawal of Mr. Orth, felt it to be his duty to respond to the imperious call of the people from all parts of the state. General Harrison united with the Presbyterian Church at Oxford in 1850, and since 1860 has been a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis. General Harrison's military and civil record are of the very best. His practice as a lawyer has been brilliant and successful. As a speaker, he is convincing and effective, taking a place in the front rank of oratory; while his reputation as a citizen and a gentleman is without a blemish.

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A biographical history of eminent and self-made men of the state of Indiana : with many portrait-illustrations on steel, engraved expressly for this work, Volume I, Part 108

Author: Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Cincinnati, Ohio : Western Biographical Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1038

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Cincinnati, Ohio : Western Biographical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1038