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 99

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 99

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Name ! Name! Name!

It was his diadem ;

Nor ever tarnish-taint of shame Could dim its luster ; like a flame Reflected in a gem, He wears it blazing on his brow Within the courts of heaven now.

Tears! Tears! Tears! Like dews upon the leaf That bursts at last-from out the years The blossom of a trust appears That blooms above the grief ; And mother, brother, wife, and child Will see it and be reconciled.".

ATON, THOMAS JEFFERSON, M. D., was born at Boonville, Oneida County, New York, Sep- tember 16, 1824, of New England parentage. His father, Comfort Eaton, was a native of Massachu- setts, in which state he was born, in the year 1778. His mother, Mary (Ayres) Eaton, was also born in Mas- sachusetts, about one year later. Comfort Eaton was for many years a merchant in Herkimer County, New York. He died in 1827, when Doctor Eaton was but four years old, leaving his widow in limited circum- stances. Upon her devolved the education and mainte- nance of the family, and these duties called for great self-sacrifice and prudent management, but in every re- spect they were performed. She survived her husband forty-two years, dying at the age of eighty-seven, mourned by all who knew her for her many virtues. Her good deeds and words were not recorded with ink

and pen, " but in the fleshy tablets of the heart." Her mother's name was Perces Stuart, who was from a noble ancestry, having descended in a direct line from Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland. The mother's name, Ayres, is accounted for by this tradition. During one of his bat- tles with Harold, the Saxon king, William of Normandy fell from his horse, and, being old and fat, was rapidly suffocating. In this dilemma a Spanish knight-errant came to his rescue, unclasping the ungainly helmet, giving the king air. For this service he was given the title of the "Knight of Air." The education of Doc- tor Eaton began in Herkimer County, New York, in the common schools; but at the age of fourteen years he moved to Peru, Huron County, Ohio, where he contin- ued his studies. He attended the academy at Norwalk, and afterwards completed his education at Granville Col- lege. Having selected the profession of medicine, he commenced his studies with Doctor Moses C. Sanders, of Peru, Ohio, a pioneer of his profession in that part of the state, and a most worthy man, a profound thinker, and ready and successful practitioner. After a long course of close and thorough study under this experienced mentor, Doctor Eaton entered the Medical Department of the Western Reserve College, at Cleve- land, Ohio, from which institution he graduated in 1849 with marked honor. After his graduation he located at New Paris, Preble County, Ohio, where he began the general practice of medicine, in partnership with Doctor D. A. Cox, a gentleman of distinguished ability and prominence. While thus engaged in general practice, he developed a decided taste for surgery and the higher departments of his profession. Believing that he could achieve more than ordinary attainments in these depart- ments and their collateral sciences, after having been with Doctor Cox some years he spent several months with Doctor George B. Wood, of Alleghany City, Penn- sylvania, a man of extensive practice, possessing few, if any, superiors as an operator upon the eye. After- wards, at different times, he was in attendance at the eye and ear infirmary and hospitals of New York City. At the university of that city he took a post-graduate course, receiving the ad cundem degree. He now de- voted his entire time to the eye and ear, and to sur- gery. Possessing a clear judgment and a skillful hand, he performed with remarkable success many of the most delicate operations known to modern surgery. At the beginning of the Rebellion Doctor Eaton was in Mississippi. He had operated with success in several of the Southern States upon the eye and ear. He was at the Gayoso House, Memphis, when the news of the opening battle of Bull Run reached him, and, sacrific- ing all pecuniary interests, he returned to the North. In 1861-2 he engaged in mercantile pursuits in Newark, Ohio, with Mr. E. Seymour. This deviation from medi- cine was, however, but temporary. A call for surgeons

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being made by the Governor of Ohio, Doctor Eaton tendered his services, was commissioned by Governor Tod, and was assigned to hospital duty at Huntsville, Alabama. Subsequently, he was engaged in the hospital at Nashville for several months. In the spring of 1863 he located in Toledo, Ohio. Here, for twelve years, he devoted his time and attention to the eye and ear. While in Toledo he was for several years the ex- amining physician for the Guardian Mutual Life Insur- ance Company, of New York City. In the fall of 1875 he formed a partnership with Doctor John W. Culbert- son, a gentleman of varied attainments, in the same specialty, and together they have since conducted, with great success, the Central Surgical Infirmary of Indian- apolis, an institution bearing a wide and well-earned reputation. In a recent visit to the South he received the warmest testimonials of appreciation from those upon whom he had attended twenty years previously, and many applications for treatment, which facts are strong evidence of his ability and surgical skill. No man has displayed more unceasing industry for the benefit of the afflicted than Doctor Eaton, and few have equaled him in the satisfactory results of their la- bor. During his practice he has straightened more than one thousand cross-eyes, besides performing innumerable other operations of greater magnitude, requiring con- summate dexterity and knowledge of his art. The Doc- tor is a member of the Masonic Fraternity .. He has also, for a long time, been identified with the Baptist Church, and is a useful and honorable citizen, a ready conversationalist, and a cultured gentleman, of modest and retiring disposition, who in no manner parades his attainments.

DSON, HANFORD A., D. D., of Indianapolis, was born in Scottsville, Monroe County, New York, March 14, 1837. His family, of English blood, was first represented in America by Samuel Edson, who became a citizen of Salem, Massachusetts, July 25, 1639. ("Felt's Annals of Salem," Appendix, page 531.) When the township of Marshfield became a separate corporation, Duxbury, from which Marshfield had been originally taken, applied to the Old Colony Court, at Plymouth, for a grant of common land, or, as they said, "an extension to the westward," to compen- sate them for the great loss of territory they had sus- tained. In March, 1642, an order of court was issued providing therefor. Two years after-August, 1644-a more explicit order fixed the boundaries of the addition to Duxbury, and in 1645 the transfer was formally ex- ecuted. Six persons, among them Captain Miles Stan- dish and John Alden, were named by the court as " feoffees" in trust, "for the equal dividing and laying forth the said lands to the inhabitants." The title. to

the property was not considered complete, however, until a deed was secured from the aborigines. Ousam- equin, sachem of the country of Pocanoket, was induced to make the transfer, the Indians receiving as compen- sation "seven coats (a yard and a half in a coat), nine hatchets, eight hoes, twenty knives, four moose skins, and ten and one half yards of cotton." There were at first fifty-four share-holders in this Duxbury extension, who soon admitted two others: Deacon Samuel Edson, who built the first mill in the town; and the Rev. James Keith, of Scotland, the first minister, who married Dea- con Edson's daughter Susanna. Bridgewater was the name selected for the new settlement. ("Records of Plymouth Colony," "New England Genealogical Regis- ter," "Mitchell's History of Bridgewater.") Samuel Edson died July 9, 1692, @t. 80; his wife, Susanna, died February 20, 1699, æt. 81 ; Samuel (second) died 1719; Samuel (third), 1771; Samuel (fourth), -; Jonah, born July 10, 1751, died July 21, 1831 ; and Betsey, his wife, born February 24, 1752, died August 21, 1850; Free- man, the twelfth of fourteen children of the preceding, and father of the subject of the present sketch, was born September 23, 1791, in Westmoreland, New Hampshire. He studied medicine with Doctor Twitchell, of Keene, and at Yale College. At the close of the second war with Great Britain, in 1814, he settled at Scottsville, New York, whither his uncle Scott had emigrated, and there has since been engaged in his profession. It is believed that he is now (1879) the oldest physician in actual practice in the United States. The subject of this notice received the name of his maternal grand- father, Abram Hanford, one of the earliest settlers of Western New York, which is perpetuated in Hanford's Landing, the starting-point of the present city of Roch- ester. Enjoying the advantage of early tuition at home, and in the district school presided over by N. A. Wood- ward, Esq., a graduate of Union College, Mr. Edson was prepared for the sophomore class, and entering Williams College, Massachusetts, graduated from that institution in 1855. For a large part of the three fol- lowing years he was instructor in Greek and mathe- matics at Geneseo Academy, New York. In September, 1858, he was admitted to the Union Theological Semi- nary, New York City, and for two years he prosecuted the study of divinity there. Having already become ac- quainted with the German language, in May, 1860, he went to Europe, and was matriculated in the University of Halle, where he gave attention especially to theology and philosophy, under the instruction of Tholuck, Julius Müller, and Erdmann. After extended tours in Ger- many, Switzerland, Italy, France, and England, hastened by the war, he returned home. Being licensed to preach by Niagara Presbytery, at Lyndonville, October 29, 1861, he took charge of the Presbyterian Church at Niagara Falls, where he remained until called to the pastorate

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of the Second Presbyterian Church, Indianapolis. His care of that parish began January 17, 1864. Steps were soon taken towards the erection of the edifice on the corner of Pennsylvania and Vermont Streets, and the enterprise was carried through to completion. To his Thanksgiving sermon, November 26, 1868, is ascribed the impulse which finally established the Indianapolis Public Library. April 1, 1873, he transferred his serv- ices to the Memorial Presbyterian Church, which so- ciety in six years has grown to be second in point of numbers to his former charge alone. The honorary de- gree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon Mr. Ed- son by Hanover College in 1873. The same year he represented the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the National Congregational Council in New Haven, Connecticut; and in 1878 he was commis- sioned to the same duty before the General Council of the Reformed Episcopal Church at Newark, New Jer- sey. He has written largely for the press, and is the author of various magazine articles and published ser- mons and addresses. On the 16th of July, 1867, he was united in marriage with Helen M., daughter of William O. Rockwood, Esq., of Indianapolis.

LLIOTT, JOHN, president of the First National Bank of Shelbyville. In 1816, James Elliott, an industrious and worthy young man from Del- aware, and Miss Hannah Williamson, a Pennsyl- vania maiden, of Welsh descent, were married in Phil- adelphia, where, on the 13th of June, 1818, they became the parents of the subject of this memoir. Addison makes Cato say, "'Tis not in mortals to command suc- cess," but the lives of some men seem to refute the assertion. No difficulties long deter, no disasters over- whelm them. Though, with power akin to that of the fabled Midas, they have but to touch an enterprise to insure golden results, yet it is not through any magical gift, but is due to deliberate and unerring judgment, tireless energy, and the ability to create and control. Mr. Elliott is one of these. He went with the family to Ohio in 1826, when he was eight years old, and was educated in that state. After reaching majority he engaged in milling, and in 1843 removed to Shelbyville, Indiana, and purchased a half interest in the Shelby flouring-mill. May 14, 1844, he married Margaret Ann Stanton, of Waynesville, Ohio. Devoting now all his energies to business and managing wisely, he prospered steadily, and at length acquired sufficient capital to en- gage in banking, which he did in 1855, under the firm name of Elliott, Hill & Co. This partnership was sub- sequently dissolved, but he continued the business as one of the firm of Elliot & Major until 1864, when the First National Bank was organized, and he was elected

| its president. His first wife did not long survive, and in 1853 he was united in marriage to Miss Maria Peaslee, daughter of Judge Peaslee, of Shelbyville. (See sketch.) He has had three children by each wife, but only one is living. In 1871 Mr. Elliott was elected on the Republican ticket to the office of clerk of Shelby County, in which position he served four years, devoting him- self to public duties with the same faithfulness that characterized him in his own private business. He has enjoyed, to some extent, the advantages of foreign travel, having made four trips to Europe, the last one in 1878, when he visited the Paris Exposition. He is a member of the Masonic Fraternity, and has attained the degree of Knight Templar. With too little self-appre- ciation, and underestimating the worth of his example to aspiring young men, Mr. Elliott has unfortunately confined the biographer to very meager data. He is greatly esteemed by the citizens of Shelby County for his abilities in finance and general business, his unsul- lied character, and his genuine personal worth.

VERTS, ORPHEUS, M. D., was born near Salem (Friends) Meeting-house, in Union County, Indi- ana, December 18, 1826. He is the son of Doctor Sylvanus Everts and Elizabeth (Heywood) Everts. The Everts family is of Dutch origin, as the name in- dicates, and made its appearance in America long be- fore the Revolution, settling in Vermont, where Doctor Sylvanus Everts and his father, Ambrose Everts, were both born. Their genealogy embraces in its relation- ship some of the most distinguished families of New England, receiving blood in its descent from the Chit- tendens, Binghams, Wheelocks, and the celebrated Cap- tain Miles Standish, of colonial fame. Doctor Everts belongs to a family of physicians, his father, one uncle, and three brothers, all having pursued the same profes- sional calling. His school instruction as a boy was such as might be acquired in a country school in Indiana forty years ago. It was better, however than the ordi- nary district school of that time, as it was supported and conducted by the society of Friends, who employed good instructors. All subsequent education was the result of personal effort and application, outside of school- house or college edifice. He attributes an early taste for scientific knowledge to intimate and, for a year or more, almost continuous association and conversation with his father, who used the boy as eyes and hands in an active and laborious practice of his profession, while himself deprived of the use of his own. His choice of business, however, would have been mechanical or architectural, had he been left to choose for himself. He adopted the profession of medicine, as being already in the family, and more readily acquired, under the cir-

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cumstances surrounding his youth, than any other. He | dead, was a conscience-driven skeptic, seeking for rest received the degree of doctor of medicine from the through faith, but never finding it. Doctor Everts married, March 14, 1847, Mary, second daughter of George W. Richards, M. D., then of St. Charles, Illi- nois, with whom he is still living, surrounded by a fan- ily of five children, three sons and two daughters. Doctor Everts is a large man, standing six feet two and a half inches high, well proportioned, weighing two hundred and sixteen pounds. He is of the nervo-san- guine temperament, with dark brown eyes, and hair now changing to gray, and he wears a full beard. His social, business, and professional standing are sufficiently indi- cated by his history and his present relation to the public, which could not have been sustained for ten years, with but little adverse criticism, by any other than a man among men, "worthy and well qualified," Since the above sketch was written, Doctor Everts has been appointed superintendent of the Cincinnati Sanita- rium, an institution of the highest repute, situated seven miles from the center of the city. Indiana Medical College, class of 1845-46, and com- menced practice in the village of St. Charles, Illinois, thirty miles west of Chicago. He returned to Laporte, Indiana, in 1852, abandoning medical practice, and assumed the publication and editorship of a weekly Democratic partisan journal at Laporte. He was Dem- cratic elector from this state in 1856, and cast an elec- toral vote for James Buchanan for President. He was appointed register of a government land office by Mr. Buchanan, and became a resident of North-west Wis- consin in 1858. He returned to Indiana on the breaking out of the Rebellion, and was commissioned surgeon of the 20th Indiana Volunteers by Governor Morton, July, 1861. He served in the field with the Third and Second Corps of the Army of the Potomac, until mus- tered out of service with the troops, July, 1865, as sur- geon-in-chief of the brigades and divisions, and acting medical director of the corps, on the staffs of Generals Robinson, Ward, D. B. Birney, Mott, and Humphreys. He was present and on duty at every battle fought by the Army of the Potomac, excepting those of Bull Run and Antietam. Dr. Everts resumed medical practice ERGUSON, JAMES C., of Indianapolis, has been identified with the interests of the city of Indian- apolis for nearly forty years, and for nearly thirty years of that time has been engaged in a business which has contributed as much as any other to its growth and prosperity-that of pork-packing. A his- tory of what Indiana has produced in the way of self- made and successful men would be incomplete without his name on the list, and the state has few more worthy names upon her roll of honor. He was born in Bour- bon County, Kentucky, October 5, 1810, and is one of a family of eight children of Clemens and Sarah (Coch- ran) Ferguson. His father was a native of Ireland, and came to the United States in his boyhood with his wid- owed mother, who was of a noble family, and in her girlhood bore the title of Lady Clemens, but had in- curred the displeasure of her relatives by contracting a marriage with a young physician, the grandfather of James C. Ferguson. Upon her husband's death, with her son, Clemens, she sought a home in America, set- tling at first in Philadelphia, but after some time finally going to Kentucky. Her son Clemens, the father of James C., was educated under the eye of his mother, who was a lady of the highest accomplishments. He subsequently adopted the profession of medicine, and in the War of 1812 served in the American army, under General Harrison, as surgeon. The earliest recollection of James C. Ferguson extends back to the time when his father was greeted by his joyful family on his return from the field after peace was proclaimed. When James was about eight years old, or in 1818, his father moved from Kentucky to Preble County, Ohio, where after the war, locating at Michigan City, Indiana, and was tendered the position of superintendent of the In- diana Hospital for the Insane (unsolicited) in November, 1868, and assumed the duties of that important office immediately, holding it for ten years, having de- veloped the hospital from a capacity of three hundred to its present capacity of six hundred beds, and man- aged its affairs to the general satisfaction of the people of the state. He also drafted the law, furnished the plan, and became the superintendent of construction, of the new hospital for the insane, now approaching comple- tion, having a capacity of seven hundred beds, which, when opened, will constitute the department for women of the Indiana Hospital for the Insane, the old build- ing to be occupied thereafter by men exclusively-both hospitals coming under one supervision and board of control. This new building, presenting some original features, and many adaptations of the better ideas of all hospitals, the Doctor justly looks upon as his monument. The Doctor is a member of the State Medical Society ; of the Academy of Medicine, Indianapolis; of the Asso- ciation of American Superintendents of Insane Hospitals and Asylums ; of the Order of Free and Accepted Ma- sons; and is a director of the Industrial Life Insurance Company, of Indiana. He has no connection with any religious society, by profession or membership ; is a re- ceiver, to a limited degree, of the religious philosophy of Swedenborg, but does not recognize his revelations as infallible, or supersensuously inspired. His father, yet living, aged ninety-one, is a believer in Christianity, and a Universalist in faith. His mother, who is now

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he was engaged in the practice of medicine until his death, which occurred in 1831. During his life-time he assisted in laying out and naming the village of New Paris, Preble County, which he christened in honor of Paris, Kentucky, which was his old place of residence. He had enjoyed a large practice, extending over three counties, and had the reputation of being a skillful and accomplished physician. While in Kentucky he at one time tried his hand at farming, but he soon discovered that youth and inexperience were of little advantage in clearing land in a new country, and abandoned the farm for a more congenial occupation. James C. Ferguson was given all the opportunities for an early education that the public schools of Preble County afforded until he reached the age of sixteen years. At this age his parents decided to fit him for the more practical duties of life, and he was sent to Cincinnati to learn the trade of watch-maker and jeweler. He worked at this trade for five years in that city, and, as he says, the experience and training obtained in that time have ever been a source of pleasure and profit to him in after life. It made him an expert judge of various metals, and, having a natural mechanical genius, it has helped him wonder- fully in his comprehension of various kinds of ma- chinery, with which his long business experience has made him familiar. In 1831, or the year of his father's death, he left Cincinnati and came to Richmond, Indi- ana, where he opened a jeweler's store and started in business for himself. It was the second one of its kind in the city, and he did a very good trade for those days, working at the bench himself part of the time, as well as attending to his customers. Here he made the ac- quaintance of his future wife, then Miss Clarissa Man- sur, daughter of Jeremy Mansur, and a member of a family widely and favorably known in Indiana. They were married on the 5th of September, 1837, and still live together, enjoying the inestimable privilege of being able to look back upon nearly half a century of wedded happiness, surrounded by children and friends as well as by all that makes life enjoyable. After his marriage Mr. Ferguson continued his business at Rich- mond for about seven years, and in 1844 removed to Indianapolis and engaged in general mercantile affairs. His brother-in-law, Mr. William Mansur, had been previ- ously conducting the establishment in that city, and Mr. Ferguson bought out his stock, and carried on the trade with success for about seven years. Mercantile business was not altogether to Mr. Ferguson's liking, as in those days a system of credit and barter was indulged in to a large extent, and this did not suit his ideas. He wished it more pushing and profitable. In 1851 Mr. Ferguson first entered in the business with which his name is now almost entirely identified. He engaged in pork-packing with his father-in-law, Mr. Jeremy Mansur, and car- ried on a highly successful trade with him for ten years,

until the outbreak of the war in 1861. In the latter year he was alone, and so carried it on until 1868, when he associated with him his sons-in-law, Nathan M. Neeld and Edward B. Howard, with whom he has since con- ducted the business, under the firm name of J. C. Fer- guson & Co. He also holds a large interest in the firm of Barnes, McMurty & Co., in the same line. Mr. Fer- guson was for several years president of the board of trade of Indianapolis. From a comparatively small be- ginning his business has assumed immense proportions, and, with but a single exception, his establishment is the largest of its kind in Indianapolis, the great cen- ter of the pork trade of Indiana. Some idea of his house can be formed from the fact that the average number of hogs slaughtered by it for the past few years has been about one hundred thousand, and this present year (1880) the number slaughtered by both houses will not fall short of two hundred thousand. The handling of this enormous quantity of meat gives employment to about two hundred hands. The brands of J. C. Fergu- son & Co. are considered the finest in the market, and immense quantities are shipped to Europe by the firm, aggregating over one-half the entire killing. For about five years, from 1869 to 1874, Mr. Ferguson had also a large establishment at Kansas City, Missouri, where he combined the slaughter of hogs with that of cattle, killing one year fifteen thousand of the latter and forty thousand of the former. These gigantic enterprises have made constant and unremitting claims on the time and attention of Mr. Ferguson, and he still puts his shoulder to the wheel and personally participates in the management of his establishment, although long since placed above the necessity of active work. In 1878 he spent a few months in Europe, principally on business, although the element of pleasure largely entered into the trip, on which he was accompanied by Mrs. Fergu- son. Out of seven children born to them, four survive: Mary, wife of Mr. Nathan N. Neeld; Clara, wife of Mr. Edward B. Howard, both well known in Indianapolis society ; and John Q. and Edward W., who are now engaged with their father. Their second daughter, Isabella, a young lady of more than ordinary accom- plishments and sweetness of disposition, died in 1861, while attending school at Georgetown, Kentucky, where she had just graduated, at a little more than sixteen years of age. A son, James, an invalid for years, died in his twenty-third year, and another son died in infancy. Mr. Ferguson belongs to no secret society, and, while he is a member of no particular religious denomination, he contributes liberally to all Churches and similar worthy enterprises. Himself and family are worshipers at the First Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis. In politics Mr. Ferguson was a Whig of the old school and voted for Henry Clay. He is now, of course, a Republican. His home in Indianapolis, which was designed by himself,

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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 99

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