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 II, Part 25

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Cincinnati, Ohio : Western Biographical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1006

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 II > Part 25

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The father died April 7, 1870, at the age of sixty-nine, but the mother is still living, her temporary home being in Utica, Indiana. Like other Western boys of his time, Doctor Wells was forced to depend upon the com- mon schools of the period, crude and imperfect though they were, for his early education. Knowing, however, the advantage which a more thorough knowledge would give him in competing with the world, he entered As- bury University, at Greencastle, Indiana. In that admi- rable institution of learning, close study, a strong and vigorous mind, and natural energy won for him a posi- tion of recognized prominence in his classes. At the age of twenty-five he selected the pursuit which he has since followed, namely, that of dental surgery. He immediately proceeded to Cincinnati, Ohio, and entered upon a course in the Ohio College of Dental Surgery. With such earnestness did he apply himself to the labo- rious duties here imposed that he graduated with high honors in 1860, showing that untiring industry and faithfulness to purpose can not end in failure. Such proficiency did he show in his chosen profession that, after his graduation, the faculty appointed him to the responsible position of demonstrator in the mechanical and operative departments of the college. This act was not only a proof of the esteem in which he was held as an individual, but was also high evidence of ability. Being ambitious to succeed as a practitioner, he did not retain the position of demonstrator but for one year, at the end of which time he entered a dental office in Cin- cinnati. This transition period in the life of any man is always instructive and full of interest. Doctor Wells remained in Cincinnati for a short time, practicing the profession for which he had fitted himself by assiduous toil and a never-weakening perseverance. But in look- ing around for a field where he could, by his ability, close application to business, and an extended knowl- edge of his art, the better build up a reputation, he found Indianapolis suited to his purpose, and located in that city in 1862. Depending here upon the generous appreciation of the best citizens for patronage, a highly lucrative business was soon established. How well he has succeeded is best attested by the public demand for his services in the operative department of his office. During the years 1874 and 1875 the demand upon his personal attention in this department became so great that he was compelled to abandon totally that portion of dentistry termed "plate work," and devote his entire time to the chair. It is an interesting fact that Doctor Wells has occupied the same office rooms continuously from the date of his advent into the city until the pres- ent time, a period of seventeen years. During the War of the Rebellion, while patriots were going forth from all sections of the country to battle for the Union, Doc-

ELLS, MERRITT, D. D. S., of Indianapolis, was born in Jennings County, Indiana, January 18, 1833. His father, Lemuel Wells, was a native of Kentucky, where he was born September 11, 1801. His mother, who was before marriage Miss Polly Walton, was born in the Pine Tree State, April 7, 1807, | tor Wells voluntarily placed his name upon the enroll- C -- 16

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ment, but he was never called into actual duty as a soldier. While not actually engaged in the service, the government had his warmest sympathy and most ear- nest support, and received from him material aid in many ways. Doctor Wells is a member of the American Dental Association, also of the Mississippi Valley Dental Association, as well as a most useful and honorable member of the Indiana State Dental Association, of which latter organization he has been both president and treasurer, which latter position he now holds. It is needless to say that the duties thus incumbent upon him were faithfully administered. The Doctor is a true Christian, exemplary and upright in all his walks, and has been for years a strict member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, having united with it in 1851. He was married February 9, 1864, to Miss Morincie Rob- ertson, a kind, affectionate, and intelligent lady, and to her aid and encouragement much of the success which her husband has achieved is due. Six children have been the result of this union. Doctor Wells is a model husband and father and a useful citizen. In his career has been illustrated the truth that success is best and most surely achieved by arduous toil and an undeviating purpose.

HITE, JOHN H., teacher and farmer, Hancock County, was born in Preble County, Ohio, De- cember, 3, 1824. His parents were John and Mary White, who, at an early day, emigrated to Ohio from Virginia. His father became a soldier in the War of 1812 at the age of eighteen years. Mr. White was educated in the common schools of his native county. He was obliged to depend mainly upon his own exertions, as he was left an orphan when twelve years old, with no other fortune than a clear in- tellect, a brave heart, and an energetic will. During the summer months he labored for the neighboring farmers, and by attending school in the winter acquired a fair English education, to which he has added greatly in later life. Having relations in Indiana, he came to this state in 1843, and settled in Shelby County. He then served an apprenticeship as tanner and currier with John Johnson, near Laurel, Franklin County. At the close of this apprenticeship he began teaching school, and has followed this calling, in connection with farm- ing, ever since. In 1853 he moved to Hancock County and purchased a farm in Center Township, where he now resides. In 1860 he was elected trustee of Center Township; in 1864 he was chosen to represent Hancock County in the state Legislature, and was re-elected in 1866. He has filled numerous other positions of honor and trust, among which was that of president of the Han- cuck Agricultural Society. He was formerly a Whig, but joined the Democratic party in 1854, and has since

been a steadfast adherent to the principles of that party. He was one of the first members of the Patrons of Husbandry, with which society he is still connected. Since 1862 he has been an honored member of the Christian Church. He married, December 23, 1845, Miss Sarah Potts, daughter of William Potts, senior, of Franklin County, Indiana. Mr. White is a solid and careful business man, full of energy, strictly honest in his dealings, and kind and courteous in his demeanor. By good management, thrift, and economy he has suc- ceeded in accumulating a handsome fortune. As a teacher, he has been very successful, having followed that profession for twenty-seven years in the same locality. He has also been an eminently successful farmer, manifesting both skill and taste in all depart- ments of agriculture. His wife, a refined and excellent lady, is still living, and has reared an interesting family of nine children, all of whom are useful members of society.

ISHARD, DOCTOR WILLIAM HENRY, was born in Nicholas County, Kentucky, January 17, 1816. His father, John Wishard, was a native of Pennsylvania, and a lineal descendant of the martyr George Wishard, who perished at the stake in the year 1546. His mother was a daughter of John Oliver, who removed westward from Virginia with the first body of emigrants that followed Daniel Boone to Kentucky. His paternal grandfather, who served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War, emigrated to Ken- lucky in 1793, where he died in 1813. When William was nine years of age his father removed to Indiana and located on the Bluff road, at a place nine miles south of the present city of Indianapolis. The country at that time was a howling wilderness, and the facilities for acquiring an education were meager in proportion to the surroundings. Having evinced early in life a taste for the medical profession, he began its study with Doctor Benjamin S. Noble, of Greenwood, Indiana. After graduating he formed a partnership with his pre- ceptor, which continued for ten years. At the begin- ning of the late war he took an active part in the en- listment of soldiers, and in February, 1862, he joined the army as a volunteer surgeon. While at Vicksburg he obtained information from a gentleman of high rank in the army, which was immediately furnished to Gov- ernor Morton, that called forth the famous order of President Lincoln to remove the sick and wounded to Northern hospitals, and he took charge of the first boat load for transportation up the Mississippi. He was in the siege of Vicksburg, and was one of the first to enter the city on its surrender. He afterward removed with the sanitary department in Virginia, and was at Wilmington, North Carolina, at the surrender of

Wwwwollen

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Johnston's army, not severing his connection with the [ forests, the orchard and the meadow, hill and dell, the army until the restoration of peace. Burning with the patriotic fire that inflamed the defenders of the colonies in 1776, he rendered services without pay or hope of reward, and never took a cent from the government more than paid his actual expenses. He was a true friend of the soldiers and their families, and made no charge for medical services rendered them. In 1864 he removed his family to Southport, where he has always commanded a large and lucrative practice. He was elected coroner of Marion County in 1876, and re-elected in 1878 by a largely increased majority. Mr. Wish- ard was a Whig for a number of years, but has affili- ated with the Republican party ever since its organiza- tion. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, in which denomination he has been an elder for thirty-four years. He was married, December 17, 1840, to Harriet N. Moreland, youngest daughter of the Rev. John R. Moreland, a native of Pennsylvania, who was one among the first pastors of the First Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis. He died in October, 1832. To this union were born nine children, the four eldest of whom died in infancy. Of those remaining, one son, Doctor W. N. Wishard, was appointed superintendent of the In- dianapolis city hospital by the city council ; Albert, the second son, is a lawyer in Indianapolis, with the firm of Test & Coburn; and George, the youngest, is a medical student.

OOLLEN, WILLIAM WESLEY, of Indian- apolis, a native of Dorchester County, Maryland, was born June 21, 1828. He is the eldest son of Edward and Anna (Wheeler) Woollen, and received, until fourteen years of age, his training on a farm. During the summer months his employments were such as are common to farmer boys, and after the "harvest home " he attended school. To these early years, under the tutelage of parents whose high am- bition was to engraft upon the minds of their children such principles as would insure lives of honor and use- fulness, Mr. Woollen, like thousands of others, is largely indebted for that integrity of character and honorable ambition that pre-eminently distinguish him as a citizen in all the walks of life. The world is full of such examples, and the student of biography will have no difficulty in recalling instances in which farm life in youth left its indelible impress upon the most ex- alted characters known to history. In these early years, when the mind is taking its bent, when youthful am- bitions are shaping themselves for manhood achieve- ments, no influences have ever been found more potential for good than those which the farm has afforded. The frugalities of the farmer's home, the chaste purity of its teachings, the broad fields, the

songs of birds and the hum of bees, the laughing brook, the silent river-all the wealth of beauty that nature spreads out with a lavish hand-are teachers of youth whose lessons are never forgotten. It was amidst such scenes and surroundings that the early years of William Wesley Woollen were spent, and he is still a lover of nature and a student of its mys- teries. The monotony of farm life becoming irksome to young Woollen, at fourteen years of age he sought and obtained employment in a store, of which John Evitts was proprietor, in Denton, the capital of Caro- line County. In this employment young Woollen re- mained two years, and then entered the dry-goods house of Jacob Charles & Son, of Federalsburg, where he remained until October, 1844. At this date, though but sixteen years of age, the manhood life of Mr. Woollen began. It took the form of adventure. It evidenced a large share of self-reliance, poise, confi- dence in one's own powers to overcome obstacles and achieve success. The " great West " had attractions which excited the ambition of the boy, who resolved to break away from home associations and try his fortunes in the new and inviting field. In such instances of courage there is abundant food for philosophical reflec- tion. For a youth of sixteen summers, without the patronage of friends, and with limited means, to take upon himself all the chances of failure or success in a strange land and among strangers, must be accepted as proof positive of the possession of those sturdy qualities of head and heart upon which communities and states rely for growth and renown. Leaving his native state, the youth made Cincinnati his first stopping place, but he remained in that metropolis but a few weeks. Re- suming his journey, he arrived at Madison, Indiana, in December, 1844, with but one dollar and seventy-five cents in his possession, and has ever since that date been a citizen of the state. In addition to his poverty, he was an utter stranger in a strange land, but he soon found employment as a school-teacher, and from that day to this has never known the necessity of idleness. The school-room kept alive and intensified the desire for a more thorough education, and the young man in due time became a student in Hanover College. After leav- ing Hanover, he entered the recorder's office of Jeffer- son County, where his time was equally divided between its duties and studying law. Every hour was em- ployed. The foundations of a life of activity and use- fulness were being laid deep and strong. This fidelity to business brought its certain and substantial rewards- friends, remunerative employment, and the esteem of all. Leaving the recorder's office, young Woollen found em- ployment in the office of John H. Taylor, Esq., clerk of the Circuit Court, but the duties of the new position did not necessitate the abandonment of his legal studies,

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which were pursued during the evenings. Every pre- | Co. In 1873 Mr. Woollen was elected president of the liminary step to success had now been taken, and a Indianapolis Board of Trade, and in the summer of 1874 delivered an address on the occasion of laying the corner-stone of the present Board of Trade building. On the establishment of the Masonic Mutual Benefit Society, in 1869, he was elected vice-president of the society, and the year following was elected president, and re-elected president for eight consecutive years, and now holds the position of director. On the re- organization of the Franklin Insurance Company, in 1871, and its removal to Indianapolis, Mr. Woollen was elected its vice-president, and was annually re-elected until 1876, when he was made secretary, which office he now holds. Mr. Woollen is a Royal Arch Mason, and a member of the Presbyterian Church. He was married, in 1848, to Miss Sarah E. Young, of Hanover, daughter of Thomas D. Young, Esq. She still lives to bless and beautify his home. There have been born to them six children, two boys and four daughters. The first-born son died in infancy. The other children are living. William Wesley Woollen may be properly regarded as a fair type of a class of citizens who unobtrusively carry forward all of those grand enterprises which in the ag- gregate mark the progress of society. In such lives there are no startling incidents, no eccentricities of character. Such men in their walk and conversation, in their ambitions and aspirations, seek the table-lands of life, where, if there are no dizzy elevations of thought and fancy, there are, as a compensation, no depressions of infidelity and deceit. They live in an atmosphere free from the malaria which breeds intellectual distem- pers, and, pursuing the even tenor of their ways, are to society what the fixed stars are to navigators. To such men as William Wesley Woollen society is largely in- debted, not only for material progress, but for those ideas of order and security which form its chief guaran- tees of prosperity and progress. Taking an active part in politics, they are recognized as leaders in shaping policies; and, deeply interested in the success of the gov- ernment, municipal, state, and federal, they seek, from the most patriotic motives, the enactment of laws which will advance the general welfare. Mr. Woollen is a Democrat, not more in a partisan sense than in that higher and broader view of Democracy which embodies faith in man's capacity for self-government, and in sym- pathy with Burns, whose poetical philosophy touched the marrow of the subject when he sang, in words that will live while time lasts : firm foot-hold had been secured. The one dollar and seventy-five cents had been prudently invested, and with hard work, fidelity, and integrity, the dividends were large and steadily increasing. From the clerk's office, where Mr. Woollen served two years, he found employ- ment in the auditor's office, and soon after, by virtue of the resignation of the auditor, John M. Bramwell, Esq., Mr. Woollen was appointed to fill the place. The follow- ing year Mr. Woollen was nominated by the Whig party for treasurer of Jefferson County, one of the most re- sponsible offices in the gift of the people, and was tri- umphantly elected. During his term of office as treasurer, Mr. Woollen purchased a half-interest in the Madison Banner, the leading Whig organ in the state, and took charge of it as editor. After occupying this position for two years he sold his interest, and retired from the bustle of official and editorial life to the quiet of a farm. No official career was ever more honorable, none freer from the taint of suspicion ; and no man ever took into retirement a larger share of the esteem of the people. As a writer, Mr. Woollen is polished and trenchant; thoroughly informed in the political history of parties, he brings to his aid a mind thoroughly dis- ciplined, a memory of men and measures seldom at fault; and, though ordinarily genial in the use of his pen, he is at no loss when the subject requires those keener thrusts which tell upon the vitality of an antag- onist. Had journalism been the chosen field for Mr. Woollen's labors, there are few men in the county who would have acquired a larger or more influential celeb- rity. Mr. Woollen did not remain long on his farm. The busy associations of other years had attractions which he could not shake off, and in 1856 he became the candidate of the Democratic party for clerk of Jef- ferson County, and, though defeated, he ran largely ahead of his ticket, an evidence that his old-time pop- ularity was maintained, notwithstanding the fact that, in 1854, on the dissolution of the old Whig party, he cast in his lot with the Democracy of the state. In 1857 Mr. Woollen opened a banking house in Madison with Captain John Marsh, under the firm name of John Marsh & Co., and since that date he has been identified with the financial enterprises of the state. In 1860 Mr. Woollen removed to Franklin and entered the banking house of Willis S. Webb & Co., as manager. In 1862 the house was merged into the First National Bank of Franklin, and Mr. Woollen was made cashier. In 1865 " What though on homely fare we dine, Wear hodden gray, and a' that ; Gi'e fools their silks and knaves their wines- A man's a man for a' that ! he removed from Franklin to Indianapolis, and with several other gentlemen founded the Indiana Banking Company, of which bank he was made cashier. In March, 1870, Mr. Woollen withdrew from the Indiana " For a' that, and a' that, Their tinsel show, and a' that, Banking Company, and with Mr. Willis S. Webb estab- The honest man, though e'er sae poor, Is king o' men for a' that !" lished the present banking house of Woollen, Webb &

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'OOLLEN, THOMAS W., Attorney-general of In- diana, was born in Dorchester County, Maryland, April 26, 1830. He is the second son of Edward and Anna Woollen, whose name before marriage was Wheeler, and spent the early part of his life in working on his father's farm. The Woollen family sprang from John Woollen, an Indian interpreter, who lived on the Delaware River in the first half of the sev- enteenth century. In 1642 Captain Lamberton came to Delaware with a company of colonists from New Ha- ven, Connecticut, and located there. He employed Woollen as an interpreter, and the latter remained with him until the English colony was destroyed by the Swedes. How long Woollen had been there when Lamberton came to Delaware is unknown, but it must have been several years, for he was evidently well ac- quainted with the language of the aborigines who in- habited the peninsula between the Delaware and Chesa- peake Bays. Vincent, the historian of Delaware, thus speaks of John Woollen, the progenitor of the Woollen family, a man who transmitted his integrity to his de- scendants :

"Either shortly afterwards or previous to building this fort, Printz succeeded in expelling the English, who were settled on Varkenkill, under Lamberton. He attacked them, burned down their trading-house, and by surreptitious means succeeded in making Lamberton a prisoner. Lamberton was in his pinnace, named the ' Cock,' at anchor about three miles above Fort Elfs- berg, when a letter was brought by two Swedes from Printz ('Tim, the barber, and Godfrey, the merchant's man'), stating that the Indians had that day stolen a gold chain from his wife, and that those Indians were about trading with Lamberton, and that he desired his good offices to get it back. He also desired Lamber- ton to stay on board until the next morning, affirming that 'he would know the Indian that stole it by a mark that he had on his face.' No Indians, however, came on board. Lamberton, afterwards calling at the Swedish fort, where, it is supposed, he went in obedi- ence to a request from a second letter from Printz, was arrested, in company with John Woollen, his Indian interpreter, and John Thickpenny, and placed in prison. Woollen was put in irons, Printz himself fastening them on his legs. It is asserted that Printz's wife and Tim- othy, the barber (surgeon), endeavored to get Woollen intoxicated by giving him a quantity of wine and beer to drink, and that, immediately after drinking the liquors, he was conveyed to Printz, who, 'with professions of a great deal of love to him, making him many large prom- ises to do him good,' endeavored to get him to say 'that George Lamberton had hired the Indians to cut off the Swedes.' Woollen denied that Lamberton had any such intention. The Governor then 'drunk to him again,' and said he would make him a man, give him a plantation, and build him a house, and that he should not want for gold and silver, provided he made the ac- cusation against Lamberton. But, Woollen still refusing to accuse Lamberton, the Governor was much enraged, and stamped with his feet, and, calling for irons, 'he put them upon Woollen with his own hands, and sent him down to prison.'" (Vincent's " History of Dela- ware," pp. 184, 185, and 186 )

It will thus be seen that John Woollen, from whose loins sprang the Woollen family, resisted the two great- est temptations of mankind ; namely, wine and money. It can truthfully be said of his descendants that no one of them ever proved false to a friend or sacrificed his manhood for money. These traits of old John Woollen have come down to the present generation of those who bear his name, and in none of them are they more marked than in the present Attorney-general of the state. The children of Edward and Anna Woollen are William Wesley, the head of the banking house of Woollen, Webb & Co., Indianapolis; Thomas Wheeler, the Attorney-general of Indiana; Levin James, Senator from the counties of Ripley, Ohio, and Switzerland, and an eminent doctor of medicine; Edward Newton, late auditor of Johnson County ; Francis Pinkney, cash- ier of the Meridian National Bank, of Indianapolis; and a married daughter. The subject of this sketch removed with his father's family to Baltimore in 1845, and in 1848 emigrated to Indiana and located at Mad- ison. His brother, William Wesley, had come to Indiana four years previously, and had served as deputy recorder and deputy clerk of Jefferson County. Being called to take charge of the auditor's office, he arranged with John H. Taylor, the clerk, for his brother Thomas to take his place in the clerk's office. This was done, and Thomas continued in the clerk's office until the spring of 1852, when he became the deputy of his brother, William Wesley, who was treasurer of the county. In the fall of that year Colonel John Cham- bers was elected county treasurer, who continued Thomas in his office as deputy treasurer. For two years, or during Colonel Chambers's whole official term, he had entire charge of the treasurer's office. In the fall of 1854 he was the Democratic candidate for county treasurer, but was defeated by James H. Smith, the Know-Nothing candidate. In 1856 Mr. Woollen left Madison and entered the clerk's office of Jennings County, at Vernon. Previous to this time he had stud- ied law, and after remaining a short time at Vernon he removed to Franklin, and, in connection with Hon. J. D. New, now in Congress from the Fourth District, opened a law office in that city. In 1862 he was elected to the Legislature from Johnson County, and was ap- pointed chairman of the Committee on Benevolent Institutions by the late Samuel H. Buskirk, who was then speaker of the House. He at once became a lead- ing member of the House, and did as much, probably, as any member to shape the legislation of that session. In 1866 he was the Democratic candidate for judge of his judicial circuit, but was defeated at the polls by the Hon. Cyrus C. Hines, of Indianapolis. In 1868 he was nominated and elected Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of his district. He held the office about two years and resigned it to take charge of the First National

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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 II, Part 25

Author: Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Cincinnati, Ohio : Western Biographical Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1006

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Cincinnati, Ohio : Western Biographical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1006