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 43

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 43

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cult to provide for their wants. His principal occupa- tion was that of a farmer, although, being a natural mechanic, he at times found recreation in working at the carpenter's trade. In those primitive days the facilities for education were very limited, and the sub- ject of this sketch was allowed only two weeks' school- ing after reaching the age of eight years. By careful training at home and his own eagerness to learn, he was prepared on reaching maturity to teach a small school, which employed his attention for one winter. When he had attained his majority he was intrusted with the settling up of his father's business in New York state, and proceeded by water to Pittsburgh, and thence on foot to his native town. After an absence of eighteen months he returned to Indiana, with four hundred dollars as the result of his trip. He was offered remuneration by his father, but it was refused. He had earned fifty dollars during his absence by working as a farm hand at six dollars and seventy-five cents per month, and, being anxious to possess a home of his own, he borrowed an additional fifty dollars and bought from the government eighty acres of land, sit- uated in Switzerland County. The land office was then located in Cincinnati, and to enter his purchase he had to proceed on foot to that city, a distance of thirty-five miles. He returned the same way, and was soon at work clearing his land and hewing timbers for a log house. He had made a vow in his early youth that he would never marry until he had a house of his own to which to take his wife. Accordingly, as soon as one room was completed, he was united in marriage to Miss Gertrude Scott. This was on the 5th of January, 1826. She proved a true helpmate to him, and with his strong physical powers and his willing hands he soon began to make visible inroads upon the forest. In about eight- een months he had cleared this farm and earned suffi- cient means to purchase an additional hundred acres. This, however, was but the commencement of his career as a farmer, for at one time he owned not less than one thousand acres, part of which was under cul- tivation. In 1837 he began in the mercantile business, which engaged his attention, in connection with his farm pursuits, for twelve years. He was elected Jus- tice of the Peace, and acted in that capacity for a long time, and was also county commissioner for nine years. He served for four years as one of the charter members of the State Board of Agriculture. He was initiated into the different temperance organizations at an early day, and has always been a stanch advocate of total abstinence. At the age of sixteen he united with the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which for sixty-two years he has been a consistent member. He is recognized throughout the community as an earnest Christian gentleman. In politics he was first an old- line Whig, but when the Republican party came into

power he united with them, and has ever since been a decided and influential member of that body. He and his estimable wife have lived together for fifty-four years, and have raised a family of eight children, all of whom have reached the estate of manhood and woman- hood, and with the aid rendered by their parents have pleasant homes, and are surrounded with happy families and the comforts and luxuries of life. Mr. Harris has reached his present position of usefulness without as- sistance, impelled by an innate force that no obstacles could resist. He is for the most self-educated, but is superior to many who have been trained by qualified in- structors. Through great industry, good judgment, and fine executive ability, he has accumulated a handsome fortune, which he has liberally used in his family, and for the advancement of public improvement. Although past the allotted age of man, he is still a type of splen- did physical and intellectual manhood, and bids fair to live many years of usefulness. He is a gentleman of fine social qualities; he is genial and affable, and is highly esteemed for his noble bearing and sterling in- tegrity.

ENDRICKS, GOVERNOR WILLIAM, LL. D., of Madison, was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, on the 12th of November, 1782, and died at Madison, Indiana, May 16, 1850. His parents were Abraham and Ann (Jamison) Hendricks. The Hendricks family in America are descended from a French Huguenot of that name, who fled to this coun- try from France, by way of Holland, during the perse- cution of the seventeenth century, and settled in New Jersey. Governor Hendricks was brought up on a farm. He educated himself; and taught school in order to obtain money with which to support himself during more advanced study. He attended college at Cannons- burg, Pennsylvania, and graduated in 1810. Immedi- ately after he went to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he studied law in the office of Mr. Corry, supporting him- self by teaching school. In 1812 he removed to Madi- son, Indiana, where he spent the remainder of his life. In 1813, in connection with William Cameron, he es- tablished a printing-office, and published a paper called the Western Eagle, which in 1815 he sold to Mr. Cameron. In the mean time, in 1813, he had commenced the practice of law. In the winter of 1812-13 he was made secretary of the territorial Legislature, at Vin- cennes, which was then the seat of government. In 1814 he was elected representative to the territorial Legislature. In June, 1816, he was appointed secretary of the Constitutional Convention, which was held at Cory- don, the capital of the new state. In August, 1816, he was elected as the first and sole Representative to Con- gress from the state, and served three successive terms,

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until 1822, when he was elected Governor. During the last winter of his term as Governor he was elected to the United States Senate, and resigned his position in order to take his seat in the Senate, March 4, 1825. He was re-elected to the Senate in 1830-31 ; and served altogether twelve years. His political opinions were truly Democratic. Party lines in those days were not so distinctly drawn as now; Governor Hendricks was never elected to any position as a partisan, and never gave a partisan vote; but voted for those measures which in his belief were best for his constituents and for the country. When he ran for Governor he had no opponent. No other man in the history of the state has been so honored. In 1840 he was one of the state electors on the Van Buren ticket; and it was during this campaign that he contracted bronchitis, from which he suffered all his subsequent life. This was his last polit- ical campaign, as the condition of his throat prevented public speaking; and he was afterwards engaged only in his personal business. May 19, 1816, at Madison, Indiana, Governor Hendricks married Miss Ann P. Paul, eldest daughter of Colonel John Paul, one of the original proprietors of the town of Madison, and one of George Roger Clarke's men in the campaign against the Indians in the states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, in the years 1778 and 1779. She is still living (1878), at the age of eighty. The eldest and youngest sons of Governor Hendricks fell while fighting for the preservation of their country; the eldest, Colonel John A., at Pea Ridge; the youngest, Thomas, sergeant-major, command- ing a company of the 67th Indiana Volunteers, at Icaria, Louisiana. Governor Hendricks was a man of imposing appearance. He was six feet in height, handsome in face and figure, and had a ruddy complexion. He was easy in manner, genial and kind in disposition ; and was a man who attracted the attention of all, and won the warm friendship of many. He was brought up in the Presbyterian faith, early united with that Church, and lived a consistent, earnest Christian life.

AZEN, ZACHARY T., attorney, of Versailles, was born in Ripley County, Indiana, March 15, 1848, and is the second son of Amasa and Eliza (Van Zile) Hazen. His father was a farmer and trader, and was prominent in politics in the county in which he lived. Zachary T. Hazen remained on his father's farm until he was eighteen years of age, and attended the common schools. In 1866 he entered Brookville Col- lege, where he spent two years. He then taught school for a time, after which he attended school at Lebanon, Ohio, for one term. In 1871 he entered Moore's Hill College, and in the following year the state university. Having been reading law for several years, he was en-

abled to graduate from the law department of this insti- tution in the spring of 1873. He immediately estab- lished himself at Versailles, and, being admitted to the bar in April, began the practice of his profession, which he has since continued. In politics he is a Republican. In 1878 he was the nominee of his party for prosecuting attorney, but, though he made a fine canvass, was de- feated through jealousy of local politicians. April 14, 1873, he married Eliza Martz, daughter of John Martz, a farmer of Ripley County. By close application Mr. Hazen has' built up a fine practice, and is regarded as a rising man. He is an honored citizen of the town and county.

ENRY, W. CRAWFORD, M. D., of Aurora, was born in Wayne County, Ohio, February 1, 1841. He is of Scotch-Irish extraction, and his ances- tors settled in the United States early in the his- tory of the country. During boyhood he attended the public schools of Ohio, where he acquired a knowledge of the usual English branches, including the higher mathematics, and also studied Greek and Latin, besides paying some attention to elementary anatomy, with a view to entering the medical profession. At the age of twenty-one he left school and enlisted for three years as a private in Company A, 120th Ohio Volunteer Infan- try. He was soon promoted to the rank of sergeant, and participated in Grant's campaign in the Chickasaw Swamps against Vicksburg and its approaches until after the fall of the place, in 1863. While in the army his health having become impaired, he was sent home on sick leave, at the expiration of which he reported at Indianapolis, and was detailed to hospital duty, in which he was engaged during the remainder of his term of service. While thus employed he gave spe- cial attention to his duties, with the view of making the profession of medicine his avocation in life; and, on leaving the service, immediately entered the Vermilion Institute, at Hayesville, Ohio. There he pursued a pre- paratory course for two years, after which he studied medicine with Doctors Baker and Barrett, of Wooster, Ohio. Subsequently, he attended two courses of lectures at the Miami Medical College, Cincinnati, where he graduated in 1870. He first practiced at Tipton, Mis- souri, about eighteen months, and then removed to Aurora, Indiana, where he has since been one of the most successful physicians. His course of study included special instruction on treatment of diseases of the eye and ear, under Doctor E. Williams, and he has since given much attention to this branch of the profession. During the prevalence of the epidemic in the state in 1874, Doctor Henry contributed a valuable paper on trichinæ to local journals, which attracted much atten- tion at the time, and was favorably commented on by

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the profession generally. Immediately after his gradu- ation, in 1870, he married Miss Kate Lindsay, daughter of John F. Lindsay, contractor and builder, of Cincin- nati. Doctor Henry's reputation as a skillful and pains- taking physician is well known. He is an active mem- ber of the Dearborn County Medical Society, and of the Indiana State Medical Society, having been for the past five years secretary of the former body. He is also city physician of Aurora, surgeon by appointment of the eastern division of the Ohio and Mississippi Rail- road, and has been for two years a member of the city council, in which he takes an active and prominent place. His politics are those of the Democratic party. Doctor Henry is a member of the Masonic Order, in which he has reached the Blue Lodge; and is also iden- tified with the Knights of Honor, holding the position of dictator in his lodge. He is an active member and elder in the Presbyterian Church, at Aurora. From this brief outline it will be gathered that he occupies a prominent place not only in his profession, but in the Church, in society, and in local politics. He is now in the prime of his manhood, and is highly esteemed for his agreeable social qualities.

OLMAN, JESSE L., was born October 24, 1784, at Danville, Boyle County, Kentucky. During his early infancy his father, in seeking to relieve a block-house beleaguered by hostile Indians, in which his wife and children had taken shelter, was killed, leaving his family in poverty. Judge Holman's early opportunities for instruction were extremely lim- ited, but by persistent efforts and unfaltering determina- tion he, almost unaided, obtained the benefits of a common school education, and in later life became ac- complished in the higher branches of mathematics and general literature. Before he reached his majority, under the encouragement and auspices of Henry Clay, who was several years older than himself, he published a novel entitled "The Errors of Education," in two volumes, which obtained a large circulation for that period, and a few copies of which are still extant, al- though at a later period, impressed with the belief that the morals of his work of fiction were not sound, he bought up and destroyed the edition, as far as he was able. Some of the first scholars of that day, however, have expressed the belief that the moral tone of "The Errors of Education" was at least as elevated as the better class of fictitious literature of the early part of this century, and that the author pronounced too severe a judgment on his work. Judge Holman studied law in the office of Mr. Clay, at Lexington, Kentucky, where Mr. Clay had settled a few years before, and commenced its practice when scarcely of age at Port William, now

Carrollton, Kentucky, where he married Elizabeth Masterson, a most estimable lady of superior accom- plishments, and of tastes similar to his own, who sur- vived him five years. And soon after he determined to remove to the Indiana Territory. In 1810 he built a cabin on the range of hills that rise abruptly from the Ohio River south of the city of Aurora, in Dearborn County, and to this new home, remote from other set- tlers, he removed his family, wife and daughter, in the same year. They brought with them and emancipated a large family of negro slaves, which had descended to the wife from her father. He called his place, with the taste of a poet, "Veraestan," a name it has ever since borne. It commands one of the finest landscapes on the Ohio River, overlooking a magnificent valley on either shore, with an extended view of the Great Miami, as it approaches the Ohio. Here he cleared up a farm, and the embellishment of this rural home was a labor of love, and occupied the leisure hours of his life. From the time he settled in the Indiana Territory his life was almost uninterruptedly devoted to public employments. In 1811 he was appointed by General Harrison, then Governor of Indiana Territory, prosecuting attorney for Dearborn County. In 1814 he represented that county in the territorial Legislature, and was elected president of the legislative council; and in the same year was appointed by Governor Posey Judge of the Second Judicial Circuit of the territory. In 1816, on the ad- mission of the state into the Union, he was appointed one of the three Supreme Judges of Indiana by Gov- ernor Jennings, the first Governor of the state, and re- mained on the Supreme Bench for fourteen years. In 1831 he was defeated by General Tipton, before the Legislature of Indiana, by only one vote, for United States Senator, although the Legislature was strongly against him politically. In 1832 he was elected super- intendent of common schools of Dearborn County. In 1834 he was appointed by President Jackson, and con- firmed by the Senate, United States Judge for the Dis- trict of Indiana, and held the office until the time of his death, March 28, 1842. After the death of Judge Holman, the members of the bar of Indiana presented to the Circuit Court of the United States, then in ses- sion at Indianapolis, resolutions expressive of their sentiments in relation to his death, Judge John McLean, of the Supreme Court of the United States, presiding. Judge McLean said :

"The court will direct that the proceedings of the bar on this mournful occasion shall be spread upon its records. It is fit and proper that it should be done. For years past the name of Judge Holman has been intimately connected with the proceedings of this court. That connection is now broken by death, but the mem- ory of his labors here remains of record ; and it is appro- priate that those who so long and so often mingled in ardent discussion before him, and in the exhibition of professional skill, should express their opinion of the

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deceased, and their sorrow for his loss. None had a better opportunity than the members of this bar of knowing the qualities of his mind, and the purity of his motives. It was not until 1837, when my official rela- tions with Judge Holman commenced, that I became acquainted with him. My acquaintance with him was not long, but it was long enough to impress me deeply with his high merit as a man and a public officer. His mind was sound and discriminating. Of his legal re- search and acumen, he has left enduring evidence; but what most excited my admiration was his singleness of heart. He had no motive but to discharge his public duty uprightly. Most truly and deeply do I sympathize with the members of this bar in the loss we have sus- tained-a loss which is felt by the community at large. But this has been infinite gain to him. He has left be- hind him the influence of a high moral example. This will be widely felt, and its salutary effects can not be lost on society."

Judge Holman was not ambitious of public employ- ments, but loved the quiet of country life. His tastes were eminently domestic and social, and, although so long on the bench, he was more devoted to literary em- ployments and to the society of friends than to the pro- fession of the law. He read the poets with the ardor of one, and wrote many short poems, which were pub- lished in his life-time, and two extended ones, which still await publication, both legends of Indian life. Judge Holman was a Baptist preacher, and connected with that Church from boyhood; and he was; for years, the pastor of the Aurora Baptist Church, preaching regu- larly when not away on public duty. He organized a union Sunday-school, believed to be the first in the state, and was its superintendent up to his death. As trustee for an association composed of himself and several other gentlemen of Ohio and Kentucky, he laid out the pres- . ent prosperous city of Aurora, making provisions for the Churches of all denominations, and ample appropriations for education and a public library. His charity and af- fectionate interest in the unfortunate knew no limits, and he earnestly supported every measure which prom- ised the elevation and improvement of mankind. He was active in the establishment of Indiana College, now the state university, and was one of the earliest and most devoted friends of Franklin College, Indiana, the leading institution of learning of the Baptist denomina- tion of the state. He left surviving him his widow and a large family of children, most of whom are still living ; and his beloved " Veraestan " is still occupied by members of his family.

OLMAN, WILLIAM S., is a native of Indiana. He was born at a pioneer homestead called Verae- stan, on the Ohio River hills, near the city of Au- rora, in Dearborn County, Indiana, on the sixth day of September, 1822. Here his father, Judge Jesse L. Holman, had settled in 1810. He obtained the ben-

efits of a common school education in the schools of his neighborhood, and studied at Franklin College, Indi- ana-an institution in which his father took a lively in- terest-for two years. He taught school for some time, but the early death of his father terminated his oppor- tunities for completing his education. Before reaching his majority he married Miss Abigail Knapp, a young lady of excellent education and refinement. He studied law, and when of age was admitted to the profes- sion, at once engaging in its practice in his native county, and the same year (1843) was elected Probate Judge of the county. In 1849 he was chosen prosecut- ing attorney, and in 1850 he was elected the senatorial delegate from Dearborn County to the Constitutional Convention. In 1851 he was elected to the House of Representatives of the state Legislature, the first held under the new Constitution. Although one of the younger members, he was appointed chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the House. He supported most of the measures of reform which were incorporated into the revised statutes of 1852, and among other acts introduced and secured the passage of the bill which extended the township system to the several counties of the state-a system modified since by providing for one instead of three trustees. In 1852 he was elected a Common Pleas Judge. During his incumbency he re- ceived a commission as Circuit Judge of his circuit, but held the office of Common Pleas Judge until the end of the term. In 1858 he was elected to the United States House of Representatives from the Fourth District, and entered the Thirty-sixth Congress. He introduced in the House, on the 16th of December, 1860, the resolu- tions condemning the doctrine of secession, and declar- ing it the duty of the Federal government to maintain the union of the states by the employment of all its powers- the first introduced in either House. He was re-elected to the Thirty-seventh Congress in 1860, to the Thirty- eighth Congress in 1862, and to the Fortieth Congress in 1866, from the same district. Under the redistricting of the state, in 1867-68, he was elected to the Forty- first Congress in 1868, from the Third District; and re- elected to the Forty-second and Forty-third Congresses in 1870 and 1872; and under the redistricting of the state, in 1872-73, he was chosen to the Forty-fourth Congress, from the Fifth District of the state, in 1874. During a large portion of the time he was in Congress Mr. Holman served on the Committee on Claims, and on that of War Claims after its organization, and on Commerce. He was a member of the Select Committee on Government Contracts during the war, of which Hon. E. B. Washburne was chairman, and which held sessions in all sections of the country; also of the special com- mittee to inquire into the cause of the decline of our commerce, which held sessions in the leading cities. In the Forty-fourth Congress he was chairman of the Com-

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mittee on Public Buildings and Grounds, and the second member of the Committee on Appropriations; and during the last session of the Forty-fourth Congress he was chairman of both committees. It is claimed by his friends that the expenses of the government for that year were reduced something more than ten millions lower than for any year before or since during the last nineteen years, with no deficiencies. During the war Mr. Holman was classed as a Union Democrat. He has always acted with the Democratic party. He supported the war measures of Mr. Lincoln's administration, and all the appropriations made for the conduct of the war. He brought forward many of the measures which became laws, touching the increase of pay and the bounties of the Union soldiers. He was an earnest advocate of the homestead policy, and was opposed to any other method of disposing of the public lands except as bounties to the soldiers of the Union army. Mr. Holman earnestly opposed the subsidy system from the public resources, either in bonds, lands, or money, to promote private en- terprises; and it is claimed by his friends that the series of resolutions on that subject which he succeeded in car- rying through the House broke down-for the time, at least-the entire system of subsidies. He opposed all . forms of class legislation. He introduced and carried through the measures which relieved the commerce of the Ohio River from the oppressive tax imposed upon it at the Louisville and Portland Canal. Mr. Holman, since the close of the Forty-fourth Congress, has been actively engaged in his profession, and, with strong local attachments, still lives at the old homestead on the Ohio River hills.

UNTER, W. D. H., of Lawrenceburg, was born on the 8th of January, 1830, in that city, and is the only surviving son of James W. and Harriet Hunter. His father, who was prominent and in- fluential among the early citizens of Lawrenceburg, died in 1835. His mother was afterwards married to Judge Isaac Dunn, of the same place, a wealthy and eminent citizen, who died in 1870, leaving her for the second time a widow. She is still living, at the ad- vanced age of seventy-seven years, and is greatly re- spected by all who know her. Doctor Hunter received his primary education in the best schools of his native city, and at the age of eighteen years entered Asbury University, at Greencastle, Indiana, where he took a scientific course. . In the spring of 1851 he removed to Mexico, Missouri, where he read medicine with an elder brother. Later, he attended lectures at the Ohio Medical College, Cincinnati. Returning to Missouri, he entered upon the practice of his profession, but, ow- ing to the exposure incident upon the discharge of his duties in that part of the country, and a predisposition

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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 43

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