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 9

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

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voted and acted with the Democrats. In 1852 he was elected to the office of Representative in the Legisla- ture from the county of Perry, and served as such dur- ing the session of 1853. In 1856 he was the Fillmore elector in the Second Congressional District, and in 1860 a candidate for the office of Representative of Spencer County. General J. C. Veatch was his oppo- nent and defeated him by thirteen votes. Shortly after- ward General Veatch was appointed colonel of the 25th Regiment Indiana Volunteers, creating a vacancy. Mr. Laird was again a candidate, and was elected to fill out his term. In 1862 Mr. Laird was elected Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in the Third Common Pleas District, composed of the counties of Spencer, Perry, Orange, Crawford, and Dubois, and was re- elected in 1864 and 1868. In 1870 he resigned the office of Judge of Common Pleas, and the same year was chosen Judge of the Circuit Court in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit. By an act of the Legislature in 1873, abolishing the Court of Common Pleas, redistricting the state for judicial purposes, and increasing the number of circuits, the Second Judicial Circuit, comprising the counties of Warrick, Spencer, Perry, and Crawford, was assigned to him, and held until the expiration of his term in 1876, since which he has enjoyed a lucra- tive practice in the law. Judge Laird is well known in Southern Indiana for his high legal attainments, his judicial integrity, and the respect which he enjoys from the members of the legal fraternity.

AND, WILLIAM M., attorney and counselor at law, of Princeton, Indiana, was born in Gibson County, Indiana, August 28, 1827. His father, Abraham Land, was a native of South Carolina, and his mother of North Carolina. They were married in Tennessee, and removed at once to Indiana, where they located on a farm. William M. Land received but a limited school education, such as was afforded by a country school in a newly settled region. When he was seventeen years old his father died, and the care and cultivation of the farm devolved upon him. He also devoted much of his leisure time to study and reading. At the age of twenty years, at the breaking out of the Mexican War, he volunteered as a private, and served during the campaign, a little more than a year. He then returned to the farm, which he culti- vated during the summer, and taught school for several winters. He was subsequently elected a county com- missioner for Gibson County, and while holding this office devoted his leisure time to the study of law, and was admitted to the bar at Princeton, in 1857. He at once entered upon the practice of law at that place, in which he has ever since been engaged, except when he

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was upon the bench. In due course of time he ac- quired a large and lucrative practice, and has obtained an excellent reputation as a lawyer, taking rank among the leading members of the bar in Southern Indiana. In 1872 he was appointed, by Governor Baker, Judge of the Common Pleas Court of the First Common Pleas District of Indiana, and held that office, to the eminent satisfaction of the bar and the community, until the court was abolished, in the following year. He then resumed the practice of law at Princeton, in which he is still engaged. In politics Mr. Land was, in his early years, a Democrat of the old Jackson school, but has been an ardent Republican since the organization of that party. Judge Land is the oldest practicing lawyer in Gibson County, and is called the " father" of the bar. Five of the practicing lawyers of Princeton are graduates from his office, and studied the profession under his direc- tion. Judge Land has long been an earnest and active worker and advocate in the temperance cause, and has been prominently identified with every organization and movement in behalf of temperance that has come within his reach. He is also an active worker in the Sabbath-school, and is superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal Church school at Princeton. He was married, November 14, 1850, to Miss Sarah E. Harmon, of Posey County, Indiana, and has six children born of this marriage.

ILLER, LEWIS J., of Boonville, president of the Boonville National Bank, was born in Hart Township, Warrick County, August 18, 1834. His father, David Miller, was born in 1810, in Virginia. When quite young his parents removed to Kentucky. There he remained until early manhood, and then located in Warrick County, Indiana, and mar- ried Miss Nancy Bloyd. He was one of the early set- tlers of the county. Being very poor, and in an unde- veloped country, they had many struggles with poverty to keep themselves fed and clothed. His wife's father had lived near Boonville from the first, there not being at that time a house nearer than fifteen miles north, with Indian paths taking the place of roadways. Flour was scarce, and corn-meal was made a substitute. For a while it was prepared by beating the shelled corn in a mortar, but later this primitive mode was abandoned, when Mr. Bloyd became the owner of a horse mill. He afterwards attached a cotton-gin, which became of gen- eral service to the people, who had to manufacture their own clothing. Neither were there any school buildings or places for religious worship. Mr. Bloyd also dug the first public well in Boonville. David Miller, when married, located on public lands, and had of this world's goods, fifty cents in money, one horse, one yoke of oxen, an ax, and a plow. At the age of fourteen

Lewis Miller, the immediate subject of this memoir, was permitted to attend school for the first time a few months in the winter. When twenty years of age he hired out as a farm hand for six months, and received thirteen dollars for a month's wages. For two years he was employed as a salesman in a dry-goods store at Lynnville, Indiana, receiving a salary of one hundred and fifty dollars, in addition to his board. He was mar- ried, in 1858, to Martha C. Ilart, daughter of Colonel Hart, of Hart Township. In 1859 he bought a piece of land, and farmed until 1863, when he again removed to Lynnville, acting as executor of his uncle's estate, and in charge of the store. In 1867 he was elected county treasurer, and served five years. In 1872, in company with some others, he established the Boonville Banking Company, and was made cashier of the bank. This was an experiment, as it was the first bank established in the county, but it proved successful, and the company continued in business until 1874, when it was changed to a national bank, and Mr. Miller was made its presi- dent. Since that time his efforts have been confined to banking. Mr. Miller is of medium height, well propor- tioned, has a pleasing address, and is a very clever, affable gentleman. Ile stands well in the community in which he resides, and is spoken of as one of the lead- ing representative citizens. He has been a member of the school board for three years, and treasurer of the board during that time, and has labored zealously for the cause of education. Such, in brief, is the history of a man who has been the architect of his own for- tunes, who has elevated himself from obscurity, and ranks now as one of the leading men of the county.

ARLETT, JOHN J., treasurer of the city of Ev- ansville, was born in that city June 14, 1841. He was the fifth child in a family of nine chil- dren. His father, John Jesse Marlett, was a native of New Jersey, subsequently removing to Brooke County, Virginia, and thence to Athens, Ohio, where he was married to Martha Jane Starr. In the year 1837 he came to Evansville, Indiana, and was one of its early settlers. He engaged in mercantile pursuits, which he followed up to within a few weeks of his death. Through his own exertions and indomitable perseverance he accumulated a fair competence, and died respected and beloved by all who knew him. The Starr family are numerous in this country, and are descended from Doc- tor Comfort Starr, of Ashford, county of Kent, England. This is a county noted in English history for its many important battles and stirring events. Dr. Starr was evi- dently a gentleman of considerable wealth and distinc- tion. In a work entitled "A History of the Starr Fam- ily," compiled by B. P. Starr, we find that there are

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six thousand seven hundred and sixty-six descendants of Doctor Comfort Starr, and the record and history of sev- enteen hundred and ninety-four families. From the same work we copy the following article of interest:

"Comfort Starr, of Ashford, chirurgeon, three chil- dren, and three servants, embarked themselves in the good ship called the 'Hercules,' of Sandwich, of the burthen of two hundred tons, John Witherly master; and therein transported from Sandwich to the plantation called New England, in America, with the certificates from the ministers where they last dwelt of the conver- sation and conformity to the orders and discipline of the Church, and that they had taken the oath of allegiance and supremacy. Certificates signed.

" EDM. HAYES, Vicar of Ashford.

"JOHN HONEYWOOD, Justices.

" THOMAS GODFREY,

" Dated March 21, 1634-5.'

Doctor Comfort Starr died at Boston, Massachusetts, January 2, 1659-60. His wife, Elizabeth, died June 25, 1658. Captain George Starr, the maternal great-grand- father of the subject of this sketch, was prominent in the affairs of Church and state. He occupied the posi- tion of warden and vestryman in the Episcopal Church for thirteen years, and was selectman and auditor of the town, and during the Revolution held the position of state quartermaster. For his services the state of Con- necticut made him a large grant of land in Athens County, Ohio, dated January 28, 1820. John J. Marlett was educated in the public schools of his birthplace, and chose for his occupation a calling followed by his father for many years, and with great distinction-the dry-goods business. This engaged his attention for twelve years, and then he embarked as a real estate dealer and agent. This he faithfully followed until 1877, when he was appointed real estate appraiser. Two years later he was elected to the position of city treasurer. This office he filled with so much credit and distinction that the year following he was again a nominee, and was elected by an increased majority. He was one of the two can- didates that were elected on the Republican ticket. The bond that is required of Mr. Marlett, as city treas- urer, is six hundred thousand dollars, being the largest in the state excepting that of state Treasurer. As an officer his ambition has been, by earnest thought and untiring industry, to accomplish all within his power. Mr. Marlett is five feet ten inches in height, and weighs about one hundred and seventy pounds. He has a fair complexion, brown hair, and a keen eye. His head is large and well developed, and his chest broad. In politics he is a strong Republican, and was in 1880 elected a delegate to the state convention, which convened at Indianapolis the 17th of June, 1880. He was married, January 8, 1873, to Miss Anna M., daughter of J. G. Bartlett, a native of New Hampshire, and one of the early and successful business men of South Bend, Indiana, to which place he removed at a

very early day. Three children blessed the union of this estimable couple, but one only, a daughter, sur- vives. In disposition Mr. Marlett is gentlemanly and amiable, thus winning friends, and by his sincerity of behavior continuing to hold them. He has sound busi- ness qualifications and decision of character, and while yet in his prime takes position among the first business men of Evansville.

ASON, JUDGE CHARLES H., attorney-at-law, Cannelton, Perry County, was born at Walpole, Cheshire County, New Hampshire, August 9, 1827. He is the son of Joseph (and Harriet) Ma- son, a farmer, and is descended from an old, honored, and numerous family, who settled there in the early history of the country. Many of its members were in the Revolutionary War. After receiving a common school education he attended the literary and scientific institution at Hancock, New Hampshire, on leaving which, at the age of twenty, he for a while was private tutor in a family near Louisville, Kentucky. He after- ward read law with Hamilton Smith, of Louisville, and was there admitted to the bar in 1849. Almost imme- diately he removed to Cannelton, on the founding and settling of that town, where he established a newspaper, the Cannelton Economist, the first one published in the county ; it was begun in 1849, and at the same time he commenced the practice of law. In two and a half years his professional business had increased so much as to require his whole time and attention, which necessi- tated his relinquishing the publication of the paper; at the same time he was agent of the Cannel Coal Com- pany. He is a man who has always been an active worker in the interests of his town and county, and has served several years in the capacities of township trustee, treasurer, president of the town council, school examiner, etc. In 1861 he was commissioned by Gov- ernor Morton as colonel of the 5th Regiment of the Border Legion, of which he organized some fourteen companies, and rendered most efficient and able service. Later in the year, however, he was appointed by the Governor Judge of the Common Pleas of the Third District of the state of Indiana, and a resignation of the military com- mand was necessitated. In 1870 he again, under Gov- ernor Baker, received the appointment as Judge. He was also commissioned by Governor Baker as one of the five members of the "Ohio River Improvement Com- mission." He has taken an active part in all projects looking to railroad connection and facilities, but so far without any effect. He has received several nominations for prominent public offices, but although running ahead of his ticket has not been elected, owing to the fact of his being a Republican in an extremely Demo- cratic district. In 1872 he again entered the editorial

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field, taking charge of the Cannelton Reporter, his brother's paper, at his death, and changing its politics. A most able writer, he is a regular contributor to some of the best journals of the day. Among his political contributions there was one in the Indianapolis Sentinel, of November 20, 1879, on the subject and danger of centralization, which called forth the strongest applause, and an urgent request from seventeen of the leading public men of Indiana for a republication, which was granted, it being probably one of the ablest, if not the ablest, article ever written on the subject, and one which has subsequently been frequently quoted in debates in the House. It is strong, able, clear, and to the point. The Judge is a man who stands high in the estimation not only of his own party and fellow townsmen but of the state at large and both political parties. In religious views he is liberal. In politics he is a Republican, though independent. He was married, in 1852, to Mrs. Ra- chael L. Wright, a most estimable widow lady, daugh- ter of J. B. Huckeby, one of the first settlers of Perry County, now postmaster at Cannelton. He possesses a fine physique, is commanding in presence, and is an amiable, learned, and courteous gentleman.

ATTISON, MAJOR HAMILTON ALLEN, of Evansville, attorney and counselor at law and register in bankruptcy, was born in South Berlin, New York, September 23, 1832, and is the son of Allen J. and Lucy Mattison. His grandfather, Allen Mattison, was a Rhode Island Quaker, who joined the Revolutionary army in 1775, under General Nathan- iel Greene, and fought at the battle of Bunker Hill. In consequence of his taking up arms, and thus vio- lating one of the strong principles of their faith, he was dismissed from the society of Friends. Some time after the close of the Revolutionary War, he removed with his family to South Berlin, Rensselaer County, New York, where he resided until his death, at the age of eighty-four years. Hamilton A. Mattison was reared upon a farm, and his early instruction was received in a common country school about three months in a year. His ambition as a boy was to obtain a good education, and, at the age of nineteen years, he left his father's home and entered the New York Conference Seminary, at Charlotteville, New York, at which there were from seven to eight hundred students. There he carried on his studies, while at the same time he earned by his own labor as assistant teacher the means necessary to sup- port himself and pay for his tuition. After a thorough preparatory course, he entered the sophomore class of Union College, from which, under the presidency of the distinguished educator Doctor Eliphalet Nott, he grad- uated in 1860. From the fall of that year until the

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summer of 1862 he was principal of the Bacon Semi- nary at Woodstown, New Jersey, which was under the charge of the society of Friends. In July, 1862, dur- ing the progress of the Civil War, after President Lincoln had issued his proclamation calling for three hundred thousand more troops to put down the rebellion, Mr. Mattison, convinced that it was his duty to respond to the call, enlisted, and raised a company of recruits, which became part of the 12th New Jersey Regiment. Before leaving the state he was commissioned second lieutenant, and received successive promotions as first lieutenant, captain, and major. After about a year's service he became a member of the staff of General Alexander Hayes, commanding the Third Division of the Second Army Corps, who was killed in the battle of the Wilderness. He was then transferred to the staff of General Nelson A. Miles, with whom he served, while able to do duty, until the close of the war. He was actively engaged in about twenty-five battles, re- ceived three wounds at Chancellorsville-from one of which he has never entirely recovered-was wounded twice afterwards, and had his horse shot under him at the battle of the Wilderness, at which time he was made a prisoner of war. He was taken before and introduced to the rebel chieftain, General Lee, on the battle-field, and held a conversation with him. Here began a chap- ter of hardships in the life of Major Mattison such as can be realized only by men who have been obliged to undergo similar sufferings in Southern prison-pens. He was first taken to Lynchburg, Virginia, and confined in an old hotel; thence to Macon, Georgia, and there con- fined and almost starved to death from the latter part of May until about the first of July, when he was taken to Savannah, Georgia. He was one of fifty Federal offi- cers taken from this place by the rebel authorities and placed under the fire of the Federal guns while they were shelling the city of Charleston from Folly Island. After remaining here for several weeks, he, with others, was taken to Columbia, South Carolina, and put in a pen exposed to all kinds of weather with- out shelter of any kind, and fed only on coarse corn- meal and sorghum. The sufferings here endured by these prisoners can more easily be imagined than de- scribed, and, after remaining there from September until the 28th of November, Major Mattison, in company with a fellow prisoner, Rev. John Schamahorn, now pastor of the Ingle Street Methodist Episcopal Church, of Evansville, made his escape. The two left Colum- bia without money or food, and with a scanty sup- ply of clothing took to the woods, and started out to meet General Sherman's army, which they believed to be coming to Augusta, Georgia. They traveled across the state of South Carolina, being obliged to to walk by night and conceal themselves in the woods and swamps during the day. Reaching the Savannah

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River a short distance below Augusta, they took pos- session of a small boat, and ran the gauntlet of rebel guards and steamers until they reached the lines of General Sherman's army at Savannah, which city had been captured since they had escaped. They had trav- eled nearly fifteen hundred miles through a rebel coun- try, and were nearly prostrated with fatigue. General Sherman ordered Major Mattison to report to the Army of the Potomac as soon as he was able to return to duty. After visiting his home in New York he rejoined the Army of the Potomac about the Ist of March, 1865, and took part in all the battles in which that army was engaged until the surrender of Lee, some six weeks after. He was mustered out of service at the close of the war, and soon after entered the Albany law school, from which he graduated and received the degree of LL. B. in 1866. The same year he married the daughter of Hon. Marinus Fairchild, of Salem, New York, a distinguished member of the bar, of large legal attainments, ex-Judge of the Surrogate Court, and at present district attorney for Washington County, New York. He began the practice of law at Salem, New York, in partnership with his father-in-law. In Febru- ary, 1868, he removed to Evansville, Indiana, and in the following fall took an active part in the political campaign, advocating the election of General Grant for President of the United States. In 1870 he was ap- pointed county attorney, but resigned this office in the following year for the purpose of accepting the appoint- ment by the Governor to the office of prosecuting attor- ney of Vanderburg Criminal Circuit Court, to fill a vacancy. In the fall of 1872 he was elected by the people to the same office for a term of two years. In 1876 he was appointed, by United States Chief Justice Waite, register in bankruptcy, which office he now holds. Ever since his residence in Evansville, Major Mattison has taken an active part in city, county, and state politics, and has served for four years as chairman of the Republican executive committee of the county and city. He attended the National Republican Con- vention of 1876 as an alternate delegate at large from the state. Major Mattison became a member of the Masonic Fraternity at Troy, New York, in 1865; has been Master of Reed Lodge, No. 316, of Evansville, and has held the offices of junior warden, senior war- den, and is at present E. C. of Lavalette Command- ery of Knights Templar, No. 15. He joined Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church soon after moving to Evans- ville, and has been an active member of both Church and Sunday-school. His wife having died in 1873, he was married again February 7, 1878, to Miss Henrietta M. Bennett, of Evansville, formerly of Brooklyn, New York. He has one daughter, now eight years old, the fruit of his first marriage. Major Mattison bears the reputation of being one of the leading lawyers of

Evansville. He has been eminently successful since he took up his residence in that city, and in all the offices he has held he has performed his duties in a praise- Worthy manner. He is a genial, kind-hearted, and court- eous gentleman, and is esteemed as a man of honor and strict integrity in all business matters.

ATTHEWSON, DOCTOR REUBEN CLARK, de- ceased, of Boonville, was born October 16, 1804, in Steuben County, New York. His parents were Oliver and Agnes Matthewson, who were both large, healthy, and robust persons, and lived to be very old. The father died at the age of eighty-two, of apoplexy, very suddenly; the mother, whose maiden name was Clark, of heart disease, aged about seventy-five years. She was the descendant of a highly intellectual family, and was herself a lady of very superior intellect, and it is thought by the relatives that the subject of this sketch is indebted to her for most of that ability which he displayed through his career from boyhood to old age. The family moved from their home in New York in 1817 to the town of Princeton, Gibson County, In- diana, where they located, and where the father and mother ever after lived, and where they both died and lie buried. Young Reuben was thirteen years old at this time, and had been sent to school but little. He very early in life displayed a fondness for books and music, to which he ever clung with great tenacity, although the father wished him to be a carpenter, the trade which he himself followed. About this time young Reuben was sent to school to Doctor Ira Bost- wick, a gentleman of very excellent scholastic attain- ments and polished manners. Teacher and pupil soon became warmly attached to each other, and this relation was never broken until the death of Dr. Bostwick, many years after the manhood of the pupil. At a later period in life he received tuition in Princeton from William Chittenden, a gentleman of very high literary attain- ments, and in this school he may be said to have grad- uated, for he never attended afterwards. He was now about twenty years old, diffident, quiet, and very re- served ; evincing a marked passion for books, and reading much in solitude. He expressed to his father a desire to read medicine, but Mr. Matthewson tried to discour- age him, telling him that he did not possess the capacity or scholarship to engage in such high notions. He was, however, permitted to enter the office of Doctor Charles Fullerton, a practicing physician in Princeton of more than ordinary reading for that time and place. Doctor Fullerton was also a fine musician, and teacher of both vocal and instrumental music, and here the student of medicine spent some of his leisure time in learning melodies and harmonies which were of great use to him

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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 9

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