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 96
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LAYTON, JOHN ROBERT, D. D. S., of Shelby- ville, though comparatively young, has already be- come one of the foremost men of the dental pro- fession in this state. His success has not been thrust upon him by caprice of fortune, but is the result of the steady development and use of superior faculties. He is the son of Samuel B. and Eliza Clayton, and he lived in Champaign County, Ohio, from his birth, January 23, 1842, until April, 1867, when he removed to Shelbyville, Indiana. His boyhood foreshadowed his later years, for on the farm and in the district school he displayed that faithful industry that has been so im- portant an element in his prosperity. A desire for
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scientific knowledge soon possessed him-a desire which the common schools of that day could not create, and hence it must have been inborn. Adopting the pro- fession of dentistry, he located, as above mentioned, in Shelbyville, where he has ever since practiced very suc- cessfully. Not content with the merely mechanical at- tainments of the ordinary dentist, Doctor Clayton de- voted much study to the science, and such became his acquirements that in June, 1876, he was elected presi- dlent of the Indiana State Dental Association. Two years later he was elected, and is now, professor of phys- iology in the Ohio Dental College at Cincinnati, hav- ing previously delivered lectures in that institution, and also in the Indiana Medical College. A thorough knowledge of his profession, and a happy faculty of im- parting that knowledge to others, render Doctor Clay- ton an able teacher; while his carefulness, accuracy, and enthusiastic love of the art, make him one of the best of practical dentists. When, in 1861, the notes of actual war rolled up from doomed Fort Sumter, re- buking the lethargy of the North, and rousing its indig- nant people to arms, Doctor Clayton at once responded. Laying aside the pen and the forceps for the musket, on the twenty-first day of April, when the echo of that first memorable conflict had scarcely died away, he became a private soldier in the 13th Ohio Infantry. Being dis- charged August 2Ist of the same year, he enlisted again, November 7th, in the 66th Ohio Infantry, and on De- cember 24, 1863, re-enlisted as a veteran volunteer. July 13, 1864, he was made quartermaster's sergeant, and in April, 1865, first lieutenant, and mustered as adjutant of the regiment. Soon afterward, July 5th of that year, he was advanced to the rank of captain. But the war was drawing to a close, and on the twenty- fourth day of the same month he was discharged, after an honorable service of more than four years, during which he participated in the following battles: Port Republic, Dumfries, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Kelly's Ford, Lookout Mountain, Resaca, Siege of At- lanta, and the engagements fought in Sherman's march to the sea, and thence through the Carolinas. The Doctor is a member of the Christian Church. He was married, December 28, 1868, to Miss Mary E. McIlvaine. He is, and has always been, a stanch Republican, but has never held nor sought office. In the two great secret societies, however, he holds important positions. In the Independent Order of Odd-fellows he is Past Grand; in the Free and Accepted Masons, Past Master ; Past High-priest of the Royal Arch Masons, and Past Eminent Commander of the Knights Templar. Doctor Clayton is of commanding stature, fine personal pres- ence, and genial manner. His more noted character- istics are strength of purpose, moral and physical cour- age, independence of thought and action, integrity, and love of truth and right. He takes great delight in I tion. His youth was spent on his father's farm in Ver-
microscopic research-a field in which he has been very successful. He is a member of the American Society of Microscopists, organized at Indianapolis in August, 1878, and has taken an active part in the various microscopical conventions which have been held in this state.
OLLETT, JOHN, chief of the Bureau of Statistics and Geology, was born at Eugene, Vermillion County, Indiana, January 6, 1828. He is the son of Stephen S. and Sarah (Groenendyke) Collett. He is descended from an old English family, many of whose members were noted in the world of letters. An ancestral John Collett, whose life and character are set forth in a quaint manner in an old volume still in the Professor's library, was dean of St. Paul's in the reign of Henry VII and Henry VIII, and founder of St. Paul's School for Boys; his father, Sir Henry Collett, was twice Lord Mayor of London in the reign of Henry VII. As Lord Mayor he was treaty bondsman with the Dutch Republic for his monarch. His ancestors left England on the restoration of Charles II, sought safety at first in Ireland, and afterwards, about the year 1765, came from that country to America and settled at Wilmington, Delaware. His grandfather, John Collett, was a soldier under Washington, and moved from Delaware to Penn- sylvania about the year 1780, where, in Huntington County, Stephen S., the father of John, was born. In 1800 the grandfather moved to Chillicothe, and in 1806 to Columbus, Ohio, then inhabited principally by In- dians. The first wagon road from Lime Rock, on the Ohio River, to Chillicothe was " blazed out " by John Collett's grandfather, and was long known as " Collett's Trace." He also built the first house of any preten- sions at Columbus. Stephen S., the father of our sub- ject, occupied various positions of public trust during his life-time. He was for several years United States deputy surveyor in Ohio and Indiana, and in that ca- pacity surveyed parts of the counties of Parke, Hen- dricks, Boone, Montgomery, and other counties in In- diana. He moved to Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1818. and ten years later to Vermillion. He was Repre- sentative or Senator for several years from the counties of Parke, Vermillion, and Warren, and died in Indian- apolis, in 1842, while attending a session of the Legis- lature in which he was Senator. He had been success- ful in business and left quite a large property to his children. John, the oldest son, who was in his fif- teenth year at the time of his father's death, was thus early brought face to face with the practical issues of life. He assumed charge. of the estate and a large family, and displayed high administrative ability, con- ducting and managing the affairs with tact and discre- ?
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million County, and his early school training was received in the traditional log-cabin school-house, which is associated with the childhood experiences of so many of our eminent public men in the West, and which really seems to have laid the foundation of more worth than the much more pretentious institutions of recent growth. At the age of ten years he entered the pre- paratory department of Wabash College, from which he graduated in July, 1847, with the degree of A. B. Five years later his Alma Mater conferred upon him the honorary degree of A. M., and in 1879 the degree of Ph. D. The greater part of Mr. Collett's business life has been devoted to farming and kindred occupations, in which he has always been highly successful, still own- ing and managing one of the finest farms in the state, containing about thirteen hundred acres of improved land, in Vermillion County. He has also been in every sense of the word a public-spirited citizen, taking an active, personal, and pecuniary interest in all the public improvements, school and railroad interests in his county, and in this connection has filled various local offices of more or less importance. In 1870 he was elected to the state Senate from the counties of Parke and Vermillion, and served two regular and one called session of the Legislature. His fearless, outspoken ex- pression of his convictions, and the tenacity with which he struggled for what he believed to be right and just, won for him the respect of all with whom he came in contact. But while in business and political life Mr. Collett takes a rank second to none, it is not as a busi- ness man or a legislator that his name is best known, not only in Indiana, but through the United States and in the old world. Among men of science his name is familiar as a geologist of acknowledged eminence. In his case, as in most others, the "twig " showed in what direction the "tree" was to bend. When still a child of eight years he displayed a very decided taste for the collection of specimens, fossils, etc., with which the soil of his native farm abounded, and among his earliest studies were works on geology and kindred subjects. As time passed his tastes became still more marked, his scope of observation was enlarged, and his enthusiastic researches in his favorite science resulted in discoveries which attracted the attention of savants. His home be- came a favorite rendezvous for geologists from all parts of the country, and he was in almost daily communica- tion with kindred spirits from all sections. Perhaps no one living man has worked more earnestly to unearth and proclaim to the world the secrets which Indiana long jealously guarded beneath her surface crust. In 1870 Mr. Collett was called upon to assist Professor Cox, then state geologist, to make detailed examinations of the geological formation of the state, and from 1870 to 1878, during from two to cight months of the year, he devoted himself to this task. The results of his labors
have been a succession of reports, aggregating nearly a thousand pages, as follows: In 1870, geological re- port of Sullivan County (31 pages) ; in 1872, Dubois (47 pages) and Pike (51 pages), with reconnoissance of Jasper, White, Carroll, Miami, and Wabash (45 pages) ; in 1873, Warren (70 pages), Lawrence (55 pages), Knox (68 pages), Gibson (46 pages) ; in 1874, Brown (35 pages) ; in 1875, Vanderburg (61 pages), Owen (60 pages), Montgomery (62 pages) ; coal measures of Clay and Put- nam (46 pages) ; in 1878, Harrison (133 pages), and Craw- ford (99 pages). These reports are not only interesting contributions to the scientific knowledge of the day, but contain an amount of information in regard to the hid- den wealth of the state, the value of which can hardly be computed. Professor Collett's reputation as a strata- graphical geologist has reached wherever is studied the noble science which finds the footprints of the Creator in the solid rock, and unveils his wonders in the very depths of the earth which he has made. The scope of a short sketch will permit only a passing mention of a few of the many interesting discoveries made by Pro- fessor Collett in his researches, which will remain in- scribed on the tablet of historical science long after the author has passed away. Among the most important may be classed the discovery of strong evidences of a pre-glacial river from north to south, through Harrison County, crossing the present valley of the Ohio at an elevation of about three hundred and fifty feet above the existing water-bed, thence through the central part of Western Kentucky by the valley of Green River, and back to the Ohio, near Evansville. In nearly all his reports, Professor Collett has observations on the Loess deposits, which indicate two great central basins, one of which is coincident with the present lake basin of the North, and the other with South-western Indiana and the regions adjacent. Facts observed in Vander- burg and other south-western counties of the state showed the great depth of the valleys which existed during previous ages, and discovered the prevalence of a climate of tropical warmth, accompanied by animals of the Torrid Zone, such as the elephant, sloth, etc. Careful observations and reports are also made as to the coal and mineral resources of the regions examined, as well as of the limestone and building material, which can not fail to be a great source of wealth to the state; and of no less importance are the reports of advantages and productive value of the soils and crops of each locality ; in short, giving a readable and clear exhibit of the economic wealth of the regions examined. Professor Collett brings to his work the most intense personal enthusiasm, pursuing his researches with all the ardor of a first love. In some respects, his movements as chief of the Bureau of Statistics and Geology, to which position he was appointed in 1879, are hampered by insufficient appropriations. In other states, geological
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reports and statistics are collected and scattered broad- cast for the information of the people. The fossils of Indiana are very numerous, and of the highest interest, from a scientific stand-point, as the keys by which are unlocked the secrets of the identification of strata. Reports of their number, with description and illustra- tions, are of the highest importance, and the duty of publishing facts and figures relating to these subjects is incumbent upon the state of Indiana, for the advance- ment of science and the benefit of her people; but under the present law there is no money appropriated for such a purpose. January 23, 1878, Professor Collett was appointed state-house commissioner by Governor Williams. This responsible and arduous position he filled with the greatest satisfaction to the people and to his colleagues, who united in a most graceful tribute to his capacity and worth in a series of resolutions, on his resignation of that position, April 29, 1879. He resigned in order to take his place at the head of the new Bureau of Statistics and Geology, the law creating which was passed March 29, 1879. This department provides for the collection of statistics on agriculture, manufactures, commerce, education, labor, social and sanitary subjects, and makes the chief of the bureau the curator of the State Geological Cabinet. The operation of the law is too recent to speak authoritatively of its results, but it can not fail to prove of incalculable benefit to the state. Doctor Collett is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, with which he has been connected since 1868. He affiliated with the Whig party until its absorption into the Republican, since which time he has acted with the latter body. " In personal appearance Doctor Collett is very striking. He measures six feet two inches in stature, and weighs nearly two hundred pounds. His mien is commanding, and his hair and whiskers are quite gray, giving him a venerable appearance beyond his years.
URTISS, REV. GEORGE LEWIS, A. M., M. D., D. D., of Shelbyville, is one of the most scholarly and efficient clergymen in the state. His studies have embraced a wide range, including not only those indicated by his titles, but also the fundamental prin- ciples of law. He possesses high natural as well as ac- quired qualifications, and, being fully consecrated to his work, his sermons are powerful efforts, both in matter and delivery. He is the son of Lewis and Mary Curtiss, natives respectively of Massachusetts and Connecticut, whose ancestors fought in the Revolution. More re- motely, he is descended from that noble band who for- sook their homes, and braved the dangers of the deep and the wilderness of New England, rather than com- promise their religious convictions, or make any conces-
sions to bigotry and despotism; and who through their posterity have made a lasting impress on the political and religious institutions of America. George L. Cur- tiss was born in Columbia, Lorain County, Ohio, No- vember 21, 1835, was educated in Berea, Ohio, at what is now Baldwin University, where he received his liter- ary degrees, and graduated in 1854. Desiring to study law, he went to Sandusky City for that purpose, but, believing that a higher power was calling him to the ministry, he abandoned the law, though not until he had made considerable progress in it, and turned his attention to theology. Before entering fully upon his life work, he engaged in teaching, as professor of mathematics, in Moore's Hill College, Indiana. While there, in 1855, he was licensed to preach, and on the 28th of September, 1857, he was admitted to the South- east Indiana Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Ever since the close of his first year as a pro- fessor in Moore's Hill College, where he remained two years, Mr. Curtiss has been in charge of some Church in this state. He was retained by the Church at Charlestown three years; at Madison two years; Greens- burg, Connersville, Fletcher Place, Indianapolis, and Shelbyville, each three years. In all these places he has drawn large congregations, and been the means of increasing the zeal and devotion of their members, and of adding to their numbers. He is the only member of his conference who has been appointed five times the third year-the constitutional limit of appointment- a fact that attests his popularity and usefulness. Equally esteemed by the conference, he has been elected its sec- retary fourteen times in succession, and for several years has been, also by their election, a trustee of Asbury University. In 1877 and 1878 Mr. Curtiss, aside from his ministerial labors, lectured in the Indiana Medical College, on the "Physiology of Reproduction," having graduated from that institution in February, 1876. In June of that year the degree of D. D. was conferred upon him by the Indiana Asbury University. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd-fellows, and has served in the Grand Lodge of Indiana as Grand Chaplain, and in the Grand Encampment as Grand High-priest of the jurisdiction of Indiana. He is also a member of the Masonic Fraternity, and has attained in it the degree of Knight Templar. He is connected with a third secret order, the Independent Order of Good Templars, and has been Grand Worthy Chief Templar of the Grand Lodge of Indiana. His varied learning and versatile talent enable him to succeed in whatever kind of literary work he undertakes, whether in the pulpit, the class-room, on the lecture platform, or in the editor's sanctum. While pastor of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church in Madison, he served one year as editor of the Madison daily Evening Courier. For years Mr. Curtiss has been a frequent contributor to
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Church and to secular papers. In preparing his ser- mons, all is done that industry, capacity, learning, and devotion can accomplish. His manner of speaking is natural, forcible, and impressive, and he aims rather to convince the reason, than to excite the imagination. Perfectly fearless, he unflinchingly defends what he re- gards as truth, and strongly denounces the follies and sins of the age, however popular. Refined, genial, and warm-hearted, he gains such a degree of personal influ- ence among his people that he is able in pastoral duties to fully supplement the work of the pulpit. Mr. Curtiss was married, September 8, 1858, to Miss Matilda J. Smith, daughter of Rev. Giles C. Smith, formerly presiding elder of Lawrenceburg District.
ULBERTSON, JOHN W., M. D., was born in Troy, Miami County, Ohio, December I, A. D. 1827. His father was a native of Pennsylvania, and his mother, Miss Mary B. Hidges, was of Maryland, in which latter state they were married, in 1823. The subsequent year (1824) they removed to Ohio, settling in Troy, where, with other of the earlier class of settlers, he contributed his influence toward the development of the village and the advancement of the interests of the community. About 1837, as a result of the fluctuations of business, he removed to a farm, whither the subject of this sketch, then a lad of ten years, accompanied him, and where he remained for four years in the healthful, invigorating, muscle-expand- ing activities of the farm. At the age of fourteen he terminated his relations with rustic life, and, returning to Troy, entered McMurdy's Academy, which he at- tended for several years. The circumstances, we may reasonably conclude, which led to the exchange of the pursuits of the farm for those of the school-room, con- tributed largely to stamp the character of the boy with those primal elements of success and self-reliance which his natural industry and far-measuring enterprise have subsequently so fully and fairly illustrated. Having qualified himself for the vocation of teacher, he entered upon its duties, making it a means of money-getting, while it was nevertheless a source of improvement to himself. In this way, by teaching when his funds were exhausted, or by earning a random dollar in any other legitimate way, Doctor Culbertson consummated and perfected his education. He subordinated every thing- pleasure, amusement, all-to study, acquiring consid- erable proficiency in the departments of science and philosophy. He studied the profession of medicine with Doctor R. Sabin, of Troy, Ohio, a worthy and respect- able practitioner of the healing art; attended the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, and subsequently went South, with a view to locating, but after spending
one winter there he returned to nis native town and flung to the breeze his professional banner. He was not permitted to remain long in obscurity, or without an occasion to demonstrate his professional skill and adapt- ability to technical mechanical execution, and the manip- ulation of delicate instruments. His first operation, in a case of cataract and restoration to sight of an old lady of seventy who had been blind for several years, was pronounced something of a marvel, and achieved for the young practitioner an enviable local reputation. This circumstance aided materially in influencing the decision of Doctor Culbertson towards making a specialty of the eye and ear, a sphere of practice in which he stands unrivaled. To familiarize himself more thoroughly with this department of delicate and scientific surgery, he availed himself of the public and private clinics of Doctor G. B. Wood, of Alleghany City, Pennsylvania, a distingu- ished aurist, oculist, orthopedist, and surgeon. Being his private student, he enjoyed numerous advantages in prac- tical surgery in special and intricate cases, frequently as- sisting in the performance of the most delicate operations. Practicing physicians as a rule content themselves with simply an observance of the analysis and pathology of disease and stereotyped modes of treatment as defined by the leading authorities. There is usually a remark- able disinclination to deviate from old systems of prac- tice, or explore untraveled fields of investigation, or administer remedies or perform surgical operations not approved by established schools and colleges. In this respect Doctor Culbertson occupies aa independent and original position. He has originated an entirely pain- less treatment for granulated eyelids, which of itself is a blessing to the human family. The old and excru- ciating tortures of cauterization and scarification are entirely dispensed with, and the new treatment is em- ployed upon strictly scientific principles. Benefits accru- ing from the cure begin at once, there being no relapses in the treatment but a steady improvement in the pa- tient until the case reaches a successful termination. He has likewise originated and invented an artificial fluid ear-drum (a bulb filled with fluid), easily adjusting itself to the opening in the tympanic membrane. Being an excellent conductor, it renders sounds perfectly audi- ble that heretofore could not be heard. Few profes- sional men of the age of Doctor Culbertson have had so extensive and varied a career. He has performed over two thousand operations in cases of strabismus, besides a proportionate number of other operations. He has recently had an honorary degree conferred on him by a college of New York City. He is a resident of Rich- mond, where he has dwelt for a considerable time. He established an infirmary in Indianapolis eight or ten years ago, and is doing a successful business. Doctor Eaton is now a partner. Cases come from all sources and from all the states. He was married in April, 1861, in Indian-
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apolis, to Eliza Ashwin, a native of Bath, England, a | He participated in the siege of Corinth, and after the lady of rare refinement and marked mental endow- ments, the issue of which union is one child, a daugh- ter of bright promise, and heir to a handsome legacy from her godfather, Mr. Thomas Blake, a literary gen- tleman of fortune, of London, and a member of the Carlton club of that city. He has published a book of poems, and several of his songs have been set to music by excellent composers. Some of these are dedicated to Mrs. Culbertson. Doctor Culbertson may now be said to be in the prime of life; at the very zenith of his powers. He stands nearly six feet high; his form is graceful and he is erect in carriage; he is stoutly built, and in physical contour might be taken as a model. He has a sharply defined and expressive face, intelli- gently illuminated, and suggestive of sterling qualities of heart and soul. His manner is affable, plain, and republican, and he is readily accessible to strangers as well as to acquaintances. He has the advantages of a commanding person and address ; is clear and sagacious, with acute faculties of discrimination, dexterity, and fertility in expedients and the utilization of situations, combined with an indomitable self-reliance, which has distinguished him from boyhood. Financially, his life has been a success, and none are more willing than his friends that he should enjoy his prosperity. He is some- what reserved in his disposition, talks easily and read- ily, to the point, without the use of superlatives or adjectives. He possesses signal mental and physical equilibrium ; does not allow himself to become excited, or have either his aims or anxieties uncovered. He is proverbial for his honesty, firmness, integrity, and stead- fastness to friends. Honor is the substratum which underlies his action.
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