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 34

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 34

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ing friends in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, he was sent there, and apprenticed to Mr. John Snodon, a machinist. After remaining there three years, he went to Pittsburgh, where he worked for a time, and then found employ- ment at New Albany, Indiana. In 1860, in partnership with Josiah Johnson, he commenced building steam-en- gines and mill machinery at New Albany, which they continued until 1877. In August, 1867, their shop was destroyed by fire, but the loss re arded their business but a short time. In 1877 Mr. Webster and Mr. H. Pitt purchased Mr. Johnson's interest, and have conducted the business under the firm name of Webster & Pitt to the present time. They have built some of the largest and best machinery in the city, and have shipped great quantities to nearly every state in the Union. They have now one of the best appointed shops in the state, and beautiful specimens of their work may be found at the New Albany woolen mills. Mr. Webster has been married twice; first, in 1850, to Miss Amy Elizabeth Payne, who died about six years after. She left two children, John H. and Anna, the latter of whom died at the age of seven years. He afterward married Miss Sarah C. Smith, who has borne him five children- George T., Elizabeth M., Carrie B., Frank, and Ira G. Mr. Webster and his family are members of the Method- ist Episcopal Church. Few men are more happily situ- ated, or more highly esteemed in the community.

INSTANDLEY JOHN B., of New Albany, is to-day one of the best known and most popular citizens of Southern Indiana, where his life from early boyhood to the mature years of nearly three- score and ten has been spent. Starting in life without means, and without the aid of influential or wealthy friends, he is the architect of his own fortune; and his life furnishes a model worthy of imitation by the young men of the present day. It is particularly remarkable that with scarcely any school training he gained the prominent and responsible positions that he has occu- pied for the past half century. He is of English de- scent; his grandfather, Henry Winstandley, having emi- grated to this country and settled near Baltimore, Maryland, about the close of the Revolutionary War. In that city John B. Winstandley was born, in 1812, and went with his father when six years old to New Albany, where he remained about four years. When only eight years old he worked in a cotton-factory in New Albany. In 1822 he removed to Louisville, Ken- tucky, where he attended school for a short time. Three years later he accepted the offer of a clerkship in the drug- store of Robert Downey in New Albany, his salary for the first two and a half years being three dollars and fifty cents a month and board. Upon attaining his ma-

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jority he formed a copartnership with his employer, and the business was continued, under the firm name of Downey & Winstandley, until 1843, when he purchased his partner's interest. W. J. Newkirk was then associ- ated with him in the same business until 1854, and then bought the entire stock, Mr. Winstandley retiring from business altogether for a few years. On the Ist of January, 1857, he was elected assistant cashier of the Bank of Salem, and afterward cashier, which latter po- sition he held continuously until the expiration of the charter. In connection with others he then organized the New Albany Banking House, of which he is presi- dent, and his son, Isaac S. Winstandley, cashier. In the mean time, however, in the summer of 1847, Mr. Winstandley, who has always been a Democrat, was elected by that party to the Legislature from Floyd County, defeating William Underhill, a Whig, by two votes. He was re-elected, over Blaine Marshall, by a majority of one hundred and thirty-six votes the suc- ceeding year, and in 1849 was elected to the Senate by a majority of one hundred and twenty-two, over Doctor P. S. Shields, and served in that capacity three years. He was elected to the city council of New Albany in 1856, 1868, 1870, and 1875, having had in all eight years' experience in that body. As school trustee in 1850 he purchased the Main Street property at a bargain, and was instrumental in having the present fine build- ing erected thereon. It is something remarkable to have lived in the same ward for fifty years; never to have been confined to the bed from sickness for a sin- gle day in sixty-five years ; never to have had occasion to sue or be sued ; and, rearing a family of four chil- dren, to have incurred a doctor's bill not exceeding fifty dollars in a period of over forty years. Many interest- ing incidents of Mr. Winstandley's life are related by old Democrats who associated with him over a quarter of a century ago, at his drug-store known as Tammany Hall, or Democratic headquarters, but the limits of a biographical sketch preclude our indulging in details. Mr. Winstandley was married, in October, 1834, to Miss Penina B. Stewart, daughter of the late Major Isaac Stewart, one of the first settlers in Southern In- diana. Mrs. Winstandley is still living and enjoying excellent health. They have had four children, two daughters and two sons. Isaac S. Winstandley has oc- cupied the position of teller and bookkeeper in the Bank of Salem for the past seventeen years, and is a member of the board of school trustees. William C., the other son, was appointed cashier of the Bank of Salem when only eighteen years of age, and held the position until he was twenty-one, after which he was engaged in the Branch Bank of the State at Bed- ford till it was closed. Then, with some others, he established the Bedford National Bank, and was ap- pointed cashier, which position he now holds. He has

also been school trustee at Bedford for several years. One daughter is unmarried; the other is the wife of Doctor W. L. Breyfogle, well known in New Albany and Louisville as a successful physician. In conversa- tion with a prominent citizen of New Albany, a few months ago, Hon. Thomas A. Hendricks stated that when he was a Representative from the county of Shelly in the state Legislature, being a young man, he natu- rally cast his mind about that body to discover a safe, sensible, and discreet leader. He watched the course of many, and in the person of John B. Winstandley found his ideal in point of dignity, habits, sound judg- ment, and the elements of a trusty leader. "From that day on," said Mr. Hendricks, "he was my guiding star, and my future course was shaped from the im- pressions then received." Mr. Winstandley is known for his firmness, his conscientious love of justice, duty, and real, not sham, morality. He is hopeful, and, with enough self-esteem to give him dignity and self-reliance, is not tremulous in view of responsibility. He has force of character sufficient to make his efforts effective, fine social qualities, and is deeply interested, not only in his own home, but in his neighborhood, his state, and his nation. He has an excellent memory, and such com- mand of language as to be an easy and effective speaker. His sharp perception and keen analytical power enable him to condense a great deal of truth into crisp sentences. and his style is terse and pointed and without ornamental verbiage. In politics, as in every thing else, he has maintained the reputation of an honest man; and, although never an office-seeker, has always taken a lively interest in political affairs. Now, in his mature years, Mr. Winstandley, after a long, busy, and eventful life, passes his days as much as possible in the quiet re- treat of his suburban home, just beyond the city limits of New Albany. At a cost of about twenty thousand dollars, he has recently made the " McDonald place" in fact and in truth what he now calls it, "Sunnyside." Upon the premises is a magnificent mansion, designed after the latest and most approved style of architecture. The place is provided with convenient out-buildings, and superbly set with fruit and shade trees, rich and rare plants, and is one of the most delightful residences in the state. His inclinations are towards the Methodist faith, in which he was reared, but Mr. Winstandley is not a member of any Church, bestowing his bounty alike upon all.

OLFE, HARVEY S., M. D., physician and sur- geon, of Corydon, Harrison County, was born in Floyd County, Indiana, June 22, 1832. He is the son of George I. Wolfe and Elizabeth Wolfe. His father followed the occupation of a shoemaker, and was a prominent political man of his day. He was twice

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elected to the state Legislature, overcoming great ob- stacles. In politics he was an ardent and thorough- going Whig, following the leadership of Henry Clay, the idol of the West; but the district in which he lived was overwhelmingly Democratic, and his success was a fine tribute to his character as a man. His children received the best education it was possible for him to afford, and all became professional men. Three of them became physicians, and one a lawyer. The latter, S. K. Wolfe, has represented his district in Congress. Harvey S. Wolfe attended school each winter until the age of twenty. In the summer he worked at his father's busi- ness of shoemaker, and acquired in it a high degree of proficiency. In school he was always at the head of his class. His nature was diligent and studious. He was prompt in his attendance, quick in comprehension, and never flinched from a difficulty. In the sports of the play-ground he was the foremost of the boys. None could play ball, run a race, jump ditches, or climb fences better than he. Among other things he learned at this time was to handle a gun, and he is now one of the crack shots of the county. His na- ture was ambitious, and when he left school he deter- mined to study medicine. He had already acquired a good English education, and he was admitted to the office of one of the leading physicians of that region, his brother, Dr. S. C. Wolfe, at Georgetown. There he continued studying and practicing until 1856, contin- uing the same course with another brother, Dr. H. Wolfe, at Washington, Indiana, until 1859, when he graduated at the Kentucky School of Medicine at Lou- isville. He chose as a place of residence Corydon, in Harrison County, formerly the capital of Indiana Terri- tory, which retains many of the descendants of the res- idents of that period. There he still remains, enjoying a large and successful practice, while his reputation has been steadily growing. He is now regarded as the leading physician of the county. When the war broke out he did not fail to answer to the call of his country. In the summer of 1862 he was commissioned assistant surgeon to the 8Ist Indiana Regiment. On the 8th of October the battle of Perryville was fought, in which he bore a part. He took charge of the hospital after- wards, and for his valuable services was promoted to be surgeon of the regiment. He was also in charge of a hospital after the battle of Stone River, shortly after which his health failed, and he was compelled to resign, much against his own wish and that of his comrades. Returning to Corydon, he began practic- ing again. After being engaged in the medical pro- fession for a few years longer, in which he had ac- quired much knowledge of disease, he went back to the Medical University at Louisville, to gain a fuller and more scientific insight. There he gradu- ated with honors in the year 1867. In politics he has

taken an active part. He has not been chosen to office, for he has steadily refused to allow his name to be used in that way, but he attends all the political meetings of his party, the Democratic, and labors zealously in their councils. He is a ready and effective speaker. When younger, he was a member of the Sons of Temperance, and for the past two years has been ac- tively engaged in the temperance cause as a lecturer in the Blue Ribbon movement. In this he has met with the most flattering success. He shows the useless- ness and wickedness of the custom of drinking, its dim- inution of the public wealth, the wretchedness of the families in which the father is a partaker of the cup, the bad example set to others, the poverty and crime engendered, the cost to the community of the jails, poor-houses, and officers of the law, the destruction of the usefulness of men, and the sure retribution that will follow from divine justice. He is himself a living ex- ponent of the doctrine he advocates, being strictly tem- perate in all things, and enjoying most excellent health. He became a member of the Odd-fellows in 1853, taking all the degrees, and also belongs to the Har- rison County Medical Society, of which he is vice- president. The last seven years he has been a member of the Presbyterian Church, and for three years super- intendent of its Sunday-school. He displays, in the labors of the Church, the same earnestness that he does in his own affairs. He has recently bought a large farm, and is now devoting much of his leisure time to its cultivation. He has a natural love for the country, its fields, orchards, and woods, and is now gratify- ing a taste he has had since childhood. On his land he is raising some fine, choice stock. Doctor Wolfe married, September 30, 1858, Annie E. Bence, daugh- ter of John (and Elizabeth) Bence, a farmer of Harri- son County. They have had four children-two sons, whom they have lost, and two daughters, who remain to them. The Doctor is a man of fine personal appear- ance. He is a thorough physician, an educated, court- eous, and genial gentleman, and is highly respected by all who know him.

OLFE, SIMEON K., presidential elector, me- chanic, farmer, lawyer, state Senator, editor, and member of Congress, the subject of this biog- raphy, while eminently a self-made man, is no less remarkable for his versatility of talent than for his energy in the pursuit of his calling and profession. The use of biography is well exemplified in his case. His life may be regarded as a lesson for encouragement to the American youth, who, in starting in life's race, has none, or but few, of what are called worldly advan- tages to aid him. While it is not true that his early | life was passed in poverty, it is a truth of which he is

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not ashamed that his boyhood and early manhood were alike free from the stifling influence of wealth and opu- lence. He was born in a log-cabin-a sample of the rude architecture of the early settler-on a farm about nine miles west of New Albany, Floyd County, Indiana, on the fourteenth day of February, 1824; and there his boyhood was spent at manual labor on his father's farm and in his workshop, and at intervals of three months during the winter attending the common district schools of that period, which were generally poorly conducted, and yet affording the boys or girls of an apt literary bent of mind the opportunity of making themselves practical scholars in after life. And such was the result with the subject of this sketch, who, as in other matters, only required the rudiments to be im- parted by a teacher to enable him to master the whole subject. IIis education, though not classic, became thorough and practical in nearly all the departments of useful knowledge, in which he always regarded the better class of romance and fiction, as well as poetry, as not a non-essential; in all of which, amidst his diver- sified labors, he took time to embellish his well-gar- nered store of useful and scientific knowledge. His an- cestors were of the robust Pennsylvania German stock. George Wolfe, his grandfather, was a resident of North- umberland County, in that state, and for many years was a lumberman and raftsman on the Susquehanna River. He was a man of splendid physique, about six feet two inches tall, of full proportions, fair, ruddy face, with hair originally of a sandy or auburn color, but which, later in life, became white as wool, giving to the old gentle- man a marked appearance. He was a man of great strength, as were also his brothers, who, in the rude period of their younger days, might have been noted prize-fighters. A traditional anecdote is related of one of these brothers, whose reputation as a fighter became noted, illustrating the quality of these old-time men. At one time a stranger called at his house and informed him that he had traveled ninety miles to see him ; "and," said the stranger, " I have heard that you are a great fighter, and, if that is so, I came to whip you!" "Very well," said Wolfe, " I am the man you are hunt- ing ; come in and get a dram of whisky and I will satisfy you." The stranger accepted the offer, and after passing a few rude compliments the combat commenced, and was not ended until the stranger was badly pun- ished for his pains, receiving, amongst other injuries, a broken jaw. After the combat, Wolfe took him in, and nursed and cared for him until he was able to travel, when he left with many praises for the kindness with which he was entertained. George Wolfe was the father of ten children, all of whom lived to an old age as good citizens, and most of whom had the marks of the blood of their ancestors pretty strongly in them, being of robust constitutions of body and mind. In 1795

he, with his family, emigrated to Kentucky, settling on the waters of Bear Grass Creek, ten miles above Louisville, where he resided until the year 1811, when he removed to Indiana and settled in the forest, and opened a farm about ten miles west of the present city of New Albany, but which at the time was a village of only a few huts. He died there January 1, 1848, in the eighty-second year of his age, leaving a widow, who died several years after at the age of eighty- nine. George I. Wolfe was the eldest son of the latter, and the father of Simeon K. He was born near the town of Sunbury, Northumberland County, Pennsylva- nia, on the 6th of November, 1787, and died at George- town, Floyd County, Indiana, May, 1872, in the eighty- fifth year of his age. George I. was a boy eight or nine years old when he was brought by his father to Ken- tucky, where he was raised, and had instilled into him to a large degree the traits of independence and manhood and high principles of integrity and honor which distin- guished and marked the character of the old-time Ken- tuckian. He emigrated to Floyd County, to the forest nine miles west of New Albany, where he opened a farm and resided for over half a century. He was a man of fine proportions and build, over six feet high, and much above the average in intellect and information, which enabled him always to command a controlling influence in neighborhood and county affairs. By occu- pation he was a farmer, shoemaker, and tanner, which callings he taught to all of his boys, four of whom now are living, but none of whom continued to follow in the occupations that he taught them. Samuel C. Wolfe, the eldest, born January 15, 1815, resides at Elizabeth, Harrison County, Indiana, and is by occupation a phy- sician. Hamilton, the next eldest, born March 30, 1819, is also a physician, residing at Washington, Daviess County, Indiana. Harvey S., the youngest, also a phy- sician, born June 22, 1832, resides at Corydon, Harrison County, Indiana. These three have all become honored and useful members of society, but have not occupied their time in public affairs and become so well known as the subject of this memoir. George I. Wolfe in pol- itics was a Whig until 1854, when that party became extinct, and from that period to the day of his death he was a Democrat. He was twice elected as a Repre- sentative in the Indiana Legislature, serving in that body from 1843 to 1845. In religious faith he was a firm believer in the doctrines of Universalism, and in that faith he died, always averring that the older he became the more firmly he believed in the truth of that doctrine. He was a man of noted neighborly kindness, liberality. and tolerance. The subject of this sketch, Simeon K., was married on the 24th of August, 1843, then in his twentieth year, to Penelope, daughter of John Bence, a well-to-do farmer of Harrison County, by whom he has had eight children, two of whom, Mrs.

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Addie Stephens, wife of Alanson Stephens, Esq., and James H., are dead. Five sons and a daughter are still living. The names of the surviving children are: Albert G., Charles D., Robert P., Ella, Edward W., and Thomas F. After his marriage he began life as a shoemaker, at Corydon, the county seat of Harrison County, Indiana, with a capital of forty-two dollars. This was in 1844, April 10. Times then were hard for a poor man who had nothing but his hands with which to earn a living; but with industry and econ- omy he succeeded in two years in amassing a fortune of two hundred and fifty dollars. This he invested in a stock of dry-goods and groceries, and carried on that business two years, when he commanded his first thousand dollars, which to him seemed a great fortune. In 1846 he was elected to the office of Justice of the Peace, and while in that position he felt compelled to learn a little law to enable him to discharge its duties. This was the beginning of his career as a lawyer. He soon fell in love with the profession, and in the interims of his labor he became master of Blackstone's Commentaries. Believing in the right which belongs to every working man to change his vocation whenever it suits his inclination or interest, he at this time conceived the idea that he would adopt the law as his profession. He thereupon, in the month of January, 1849, entered the law office of Judge Will- iam A. Porter, then one of the foremost lawyers in Southern Indiana, as a student, with a determination, not unlike his old fighting great-uncle in Pennsylvania, to fight for victory in that hardly and hotly contested field, where failure is the rule and success the exception. How well he carried his determination into effect, the judicial records of the various courts in which he prac- ticed can well attest. After remaining in Judge Porter's law office ten months, he entered the Law Department of the University of Indiana, then under the joint pro- fessorship of Judges David McDonald, afterwards Judge of the United States District Court of Indiana, and William T. Otto, since Assistant Secretary of the Inte- rior, and now reporter of the United States Supreme Court decisions. Entering both junior and senior classes of that institution at the same time (November, 1849), he succeeded in graduating, contrary to the general practice, at the end of the first session, in March, 1850, and had conferred on him the degree of Bachelor of Laws. After that he entered with vigor into the prac- tice, and almost from the beginning has commanded a large and remunerative business. He remained at Cory- don until September 10, 1870, when he removed to New Albany, his present residence. The public events in Mr. Wolfe's life began in 1851, when he became a can- clidate for the office of state Senator for Harrison County. In politics he began life as a Whig, and then still ad- hered nominally to the Whig party; but, having given

the question of the Mexican War his warm support, he did not stand well with all the members of that party, who said he had Democratic proclivities; and being op- posed by the eccentric William M. Saffer, a Democrat, who was a farmer, and a man of great popularity with that class, the young Whig lawyer, with such proclivities, was defeated by a majority of seventeen votes. At the election of 1852 Mr. Wolfe supported General Franklin Pierce for President. In 1854 he was the first in his county to take the stump against Know-Nothingism, which he did with so much vigor, and so acceptably to the Democratic party, that the Democratic State Con- vention in 1856 placed him on the ticket as a candidate for district elector for Buchanan; and in that capacity he canvassed the entire Second Indiana District, in dis- cussion with David T. Laird, the Fillmore elector -- the Fremont elector declining to accompany them. In De- cember following, Mr. Wolfe was a member of the Elec- toral College which cast the vote of Indiana for James Buchanan and John C. Breckinridge. On the tenth day of February, 1857, Mr. Wolfe began the publication of the Corydon weekly Democrat, of which he was sole owner and editor, and which, with great labor and by the burning of much midnight oil, he succeeded in at- tending to, in connection with his large legal practice, for nearly nine years, and until August 29, 1865, when he sold the paper to A. W. Brewster, the present pro- prietor. Mr. Wolfe made his paper a rare exception of success, as he has, in fact, every thing he has ever un- dertaken, which, if nothing else, would be sufficient to mark him as an exceptional personage. The Indiana State Democratic Convention which met on the 8th of January, 1860, showed its confidence in Mr. Wolfe by appointing him as one of the delegates for the Second District to the Charleston National Convention. The other delegate, his colleague, was the lamented John B. Norman, at that time chief editor of the New Albany Ledger newspaper. Mr. Norman was one of the ablest of the editorial corps of Indiana, and one of the purest and best men of his times. To be associated with such a man was itself a great honor. While attending that convention, Mr. Wolfe became fully impressed with the fearful condition of the country. It was perfectly apparent that the desire of the controll- ing element in that body was for disunion, and not for Democratic success ; and when Mr. Wolfe returned home and reported that as a fact, his friends could not doubt the correctness of the statement. At the adjourned meeting of the convention at Baltimore, Mr. Wolfe, in connection with his friend, Mr. Norman, conceived and set on foot a scheme which, if it had succeeded, would most probably have prevented the final disruption of that body, and averted all the terrible consequences which followed that result in 1861. The scheme was to get the Indiana delegation to sign a paper requesting the Illi-

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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 34

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