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 38
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REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF INDIANA.
The new Constitution made the judiciary elective by the people. Mr. Gookins, co-operating with prom- inent members of the legal profession belonging to the two leading political parties of that time, made a vigor- ous effort to keep the choice of judges, especially those of the Supreme Court, out of the field of politics. In this they were unsuccessful. The politicians took the matter in hand, and the Democrats first, and then the Whigs, in state convention, nominated each a full ticket for Judges of the Supreme Court, instead of two from each party, as had been proposed. On the Whig ticket the nominees were Charles Dewey, David McDonald, John B. Howe, and Samuel B. Gookins. They were beaten by a majority of over fifteen thousand. Two years later, a vacancy having occurred by the resigna- tion of Hon. A. L. Roach, and a political revolution having also occurred, consequent upon the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, Mr. Gookins was again a candi- date, and was elected by a majority as large as that of his opponent two years before. In the securing of neither of these nominations did he take any part, be- lieving that the judiciary should be kept free from party power and influence, a principle excellent in the- ory, but unavailing in practice under the workings of our present system. Mr. Gookins held the position of Judge of the Supreme Court for three years, and then resigned. Two causes led to this : first, the insufficiency of the salary to support a family and pay current ex- penses, the Legislature having fixed it at twelve hundred dollars per annum; second, the imperative necessity of a change of climate, consequent upon a serious impair- ment of his physical constitution, resulting from a vi- olent attack of pneumonia while in the Legislature, from which he had never been able fully to rally. He went to Chicago, where he engaged in his profession from 1858 to 1875. By this change his health was fully re- stored, and he has a constitution strong and vigorous. He now resides at Terre Haute, and is actively in prac- tice. Mr. Gookins retains the interest in literary affairs acquired in his earlier days. He has been a not unfre- quent contributor to the press and an occasional one to the magazines, among which were the Knickerbocker and the Continental, both popular in their day. In the latter will be found a political satire entitled "Tom John- son's Bear," written and sent to that magazine in June, 1862. It was addressed to Mr. Lincoln, and its object was to show the absurdity of holding the negroes in slavery while their masters were seeking to destroy the government. It had been read at a public meeting in Chicago. After it was sent to the Continental, and be- fore its publication, the emancipation proclamation was issued. It then seemed to its author inappropriate, and he endeavored to recall it, but the editors would not consent, and it came out in October of that year. This was supplemented by another, following the proclama-
tion of emancipation, entitled " How Mr. Lincoln Be- came an Abolitionist," published in the same magazine in June, 1863, to which any persons interested can refer. Two other productions of his pen have been given to the public, one entitled "Tippletonia," and the other "The White House," a national drama, in which the President's wife and the Secretary of State are the dramatis persona. They are designed to exhibit some of the features of social life in their true colors. Some have said that literature, especially the poetic, is" incompatible with law. This is a mistake. Moses, David, and Solomon were legislators, judges, and poets. John Quincy Adams and Daniel Webster wrote poetry, and none stood higher in the legal fraternity than the latter. But if the assumption were true, there was not, probably, in the case under consideration, enough of the literary or poetic inspiration to seriously interfere with the labors of a life-time at the bar or on the bench. The subject of this sketch is also the Jimner. It is furnished at the request of the publisher. Whether the ego perceptible in it is too retiring or too demon- strative he leaves to the discriminating judgment of the careful reader. We can not refrain from mak- ing an addition to the sketch as given by him. As indicated above, Judge Gookins has been in the habit of contributing to the public press in verse. In his poetry the author evidently writes from the inmost feel- ings of his heart, so that in his verse we see the truest phases of his character and the leading impulses of his life delineated. In them he has unconsciously, but, nevertheless, most truly, given to the world the motives which have actuated his long life of usefulness, and the high aims which have gained for him the honored posi- tion of a citizen whom all respect, and of a Christian whose shining light has led his fellow-men to glorify the Father of all. In a word his character may be summed up in a single sentence-that of a Christian gentleman. A true humanity, rounded and molded and beautified by the graces reflected in the example and teachings of the Divine Humanity, is seen in the life and character of the subject of this sketch. Below I we give a poem written by Judge Gookins in 1862, which well illustrates all that we have said :
"PURITY.
""" Unto the pure all things are pure, but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure.'-Paul to Titus.
" In the lone silence of the woodland dell, Unseen by man, by busy feet untrod, Where the deep fountains of the forest dwell (Like pearls in amber set) in mossy sod, The timid fallow comes to slake his thirst. Reflected from the tiny lake he sees A form of beauty's own-' the clear, dark eye,' The taper ears, the graceful, curved neck, Incipient antlers, promise of his power. Stooping to taste the moss-enameled fount,
The mirrored image, from the crystal depth,
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Hastens to incet him at the flowery brink, And there salutes him with a dainty kiss. (Hist ! Drop no pebble ! lest it fright the deer, And circling wavelets wash the picture out.)
But if some monster of the forest wild, The shaggy bison or the vengeful boar, With filthy wallowings hath fouled the spring, No form of beauty meets the deer's soft eye, And from the noisome pool he turns away.
So when the Lord of Life with loving gaze Explores the deep recesses of the soul, If purified by his all-cleansing grace ; If charity has purged it of its mire ; If faith, through which the unseen is beheld, Hath wrought by love and purified the heart- Then all the lineaments of the Form Divine Are seen reflected from the pearly depths, And he rejoiceth, like as doth the groom When soul-lit grace adorns the new-found bride.
" But, if within the precincts of the soul Its great malignant enemy hath crept; If divers gods have got possession there; If hateful lust and covetous desire, If vain contempt for that atoning blood Which cancels sin and clarifies the soul, Have fouled it with their vile imaginings, No form of heavenly grace is mirrored forth To meet his tender, sweet, and loving gaze ; Sadly he turns, and with divine disgust Leaves the foul spirit to its chosen lust."
REENE, REV. JAMES W., pastor of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, Crawfordsville, was born in Greene County, Ohio, February 1, 1829. There GG are traditions in the family of their grandsires having served in the war for independence. The father was John Greene, who emigrated to Ohio from Del- aware at an early day, and afterwards to St. Joseph County, Indiana. Here James enjoyed such advantages of education as were furnished by the common schools of that day, and at the age of seventeen entered an academy presided over by Daniel Witter, related by marriage to the Colfax family. Here he devoted two years to the study of the higher English branches, then taught one year, and for three years after was engaged in the lumber trade. At the age of twenty-four he joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, and began pre- paring himself to preach the Gospel, the work of which he entered upon in 1855. He was first located at Rens- selaer, Jasper County, Indiana, but was shortly called upon by the presiding elder of his district to fill a va- cancy at Michigan City, where he remained during the rest of the conference year. He then filled successively appointments at Dormine, Laporte County, one year; Michigan City, one year; Crown Point, two years; Indianapolis, Strange Chapel, three years ; Greencastle, Roberts Chapel, three years; Centenary Church, Terre
Haute, three years ; after which he was appointed pre- siding elder of the Terre Haute District for four years. In 1877 he was located at Crawfordsville, where he is serving his second year very acceptably to a large and intelligent congregation. During the Civil War Mr. Greene took a deep interest in the welfare, tempo- ral and spiritual, of our citizen soldiery, and, under the auspices of the Indiana Sanitary Commission, he visited the hospitals in Washington, Alexandria, An- napolis, and Baltimore. He has joined, at different periods, the Masons, Odd-fellows, and the Knights of Pythias, and recognized in them, when properly con- ducted, a power for good. On Christmas, 1862, he married Miss Catherine E. Organ, daughter of Samuel Organ, a prominent business man of Laporte. Four living children, all boys, have been the result of this union. One experience of Mr. Greene is so much out of the usual routine of ministerial life that it richly deserves a place in this volume. A minister in his night-clothes, engaged in a deadly struggle, before day, in his own door-yard, has a sensational ring, but to Mr. Greene it calls up a most exciting reality. He had ar-
rived at his home in Terre Haute, at midnight, October 28, 1874, having been in attendance at quarterly con- ference. Two hours after he was awakened by his wife, who informed him that some one was at the kitchen window. Springing from his bed, he seized his double- barreled shotgun, approached the window, and saw distinctly a man attempting to force his way in. His first impulse was to fire directly at the man's breast ; but even at that critical moment there came over him a horror of actually killing even a burglar, and he changed his aim so as to disable. The hammer fell, but the gun missed fire, and the burglar disappeared. Mr. Greene then did what but few in his situation would have done-he followed fast after the midnight marauders- for there were two of them-caught up with one, and with the steady aim of his gun soon brought him to terms. Ile then marched him into the yard, calling lustily for help. His wife, in the mean time, had aroused some of the neighbors, and Mr. Greene, hearing them speak, glanced thoughtlessly for one moment in the direction of the voices. It was long enough, how- ever, for the wary burglar to spring forward and beat down the gun; and then commenced a hand-to-hand struggle, which continued violently for some time, but resulted at length in the burglar's securing the gun and a wounded ankle, and leaving his revolver and knife. Mr. Greene was sadly scratched and scarred, but cer- tainly had acquitted himself with honor, and fully de- served the recognition which he received from a New York illustrated paper, which gave not only a glowing account of the midnight struggle, but pictured forth the participants in all the glory of wood engraving, in which it would have been impossible for the keenest
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critic to have decided which was the minister and which the burglar but for their difference of apparel. Mr. Greene is of medium stature, compactly built, a gentle- man by instinct and culture, enjoys his full share of personal popularity, is earnest in every good word and work, enters heartily into all the reforms of the day, is a calm reasoner, seldom thunders, and would rather prefer to persuade souls by gentle means than to terrify them by threatenings of divine wrath. As a citizen, he is easily approached, and his conversation enter- taining, while his Christian character comports well with the sacredness of his calling.
AMMOND, ABRAM A., Governor of Indiana, was born in the state of Vermont, at the town of Brattleboro, March, 1814. He went to Indiana when a boy, began the study of law, and was ad- mitted to the bar in 1835. In 1850 he was made a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Indianapolis. After this he emigrated to California, but returned to this state in 1854, locating in Terre Haute. In 1860 he was elected Governor of the state, serving until 1861. His health became impaired and he went to Colorado to aid in its recovery, but died there August 27, 1874.
14th Regular Infantry, of which he was for a large part of the time in command. He was engaged in three of the battles of the seven days before Richmond, and was a participator in Mcclellan's famous "change of base." He also was an active combatant in the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, besides several of minor importance, and the records of the War Depart- ment show the gallant behavior of his regiment on these historic fields. After the evacuation of Richmond Captain Hager was appointed provost-marshal of that city, and in November, 1865, his regiment was sent to California by way of the Isthmus, and thence to the various posts in Arizona and the North-west. In August, 1866, he resigned his commission in the army, and, with his wife and daughter, made the overland journey home, which required three months to accom- plish. After his return, he engaged in the foundry business in 1867, which gradually was merged into car- building, in which he has since been employed, his establishment furnishing employment to from two hun- dred to three hundred men. Captain Hager's life has been essentially a busy one, and has been crowded with incidents, marking his steady progress, from the young man compelled to shift for himself and battle with the vicissitudes of life, to the successful and prosperous man of business, pursuing his chosen avocation with all the energy and activity of his younger days. It is im- possible within the brief limits of a sketch to present more than the salient points of his career, especially as Captain Hager is a man who shrinks from any thing that looks like notoriety; it is, therefore, from other sources that our best material is gathered. A man of
AGER, JONATHAN B., of Terre Haute, Vigo County, was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, in July, 1822. His father, George Hager, was born in the same town in 1787. His mother was a sterling worth, sound practical sense, unflinching in- native of Virginia, having been born in the village of tegrity, and scrupulous personal honor, he pays the strictest attention to the details of his business, and the greater part of his extensive manufacturing is carried on under his personal supervision. Emphatically op- posed to all shams and pretenses, he is unsparing in his denunciation of frauds, social or political, and this furnishes a good index to his whole character. He has Falling Water, in that state, in 1794. His father was in poor circumstances, and the boys, of whom there were three, were early thrown upon their own resources. In 1835 the family emigrated to Indiana and settled in Terre Haute. In 1840 the subject of this sketch re- ceived an appointment to West Point Academy, where he reported in June. He, however, remained in that served two terms in the city council of Terre Haute, institution but two years. Among his classmates were General Hancock, General Hatch, General Pleasanton, General S. B. Buckner, of the Confederacy, and others who afterwards distinguished themselves in the war of the Rebellion. After leaving West Point, Mr. Hager returned to Terre Haute, where for several years he was actively engaged in various branches of business, and where he soon fully established himself, and ac- quired the reputation of a wide-awake, active, and en- ergetic man of business. On the outbreak of the war, Mr. Hager immediately took an active part in the sup- port of the government, and raised a company in the 14th Indiana Volunteers, but, before going to the field he was transferred, with a captain's commission, to the and while occupying that position championed the cause of retrenchment and economy, and was an out- spoken and vigorous opponent of every thing that looked like a raid upon the people's treasury. He is an active and consistent Republican, though not by any means a politician in the ordinary sense of the word. He speaks forcibly and to the point, never failing to give the true ring of his sentiments, and is persistent almost to ob- stinacy in his defense of what he believes to be right. He is a member of the Episcopal Church, and in the association of Freemasonry has filled the chair of emi- nent commander of the Terre Haute Commandery. Captain Hager is a man of culture and extensive gen- eral information, he has traveled extensively in this
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country, visiting all places of interest, and has made | McDonald. His health failing, he went to Natchez, two trips to the Pacific coast, once by sea and once by railroad. He was married, in 1853, in Utica, New York, to Miss Emeline Wright; their family consists of one daughter. Personally, Captain Hager, now in his fifty- seventh year, possesses all the vigor and activity of middle life, with no symptom of decay of physical or mental powers. With clear, penetrating eye and digni- fied demeanor, he is to all the courteous and agreeable gentleman, a kind and considerate employer, esteemed and respected for his social qualities and integrity of conduct and character.
ANNA, BAYLESS W., of Terre Haute, Indi- ana, though never, up to this time, a member of Congress, has already acquired a national rep- utation as a strong political leader and brilliant orator. He was born in Troy, Ohio, March 14, 1830. His family, on both sides, is one of the very best the county has produced. His grandfather, James Hanna, was a twin brother of Robert Hanna. They in their youth immigrated to this country from the county of Monaghan, Ireland. They were of that sturdy race known as Scotch-Irish. The former of these two broth- ers settled in Washington County, Pennsylvania, and the latter in Columbiana County, Ohio. James married Hannah Bayless, of Maryland, and very soon afterward removed to Georgetown, Scott County, Kentucky, where they reared a large family. At a later period they went to Dayton, Ohio. James Hanna, the eldest son of this marriage, who had been united to Nancy Telford, also born and bred in Scott County, Kentucky, was the father of Bayless W. Hanna. Both of these families have produced some marked men. Many of them have accumulated great riches in business life, and others have climbed to the top in professional distinction. Charles L. Telford, of Cincinnati, a cousin of Mr. Hanna, was universally admitted to be the brightest mind of that bar, including George E. Pugh, Judge Cald- well, George H. Pendleton, Alexander Long, General Lytle, William S. Groesbeck, and a number of other dis- tinguished contemporaries. In 1836 the father of Mr. Hanna removed to Crawfordsville, Indiana, where he engaged in mercantile business with his brothers Joseph S. Hanna, of Lafayette, and Judge Samuel Hanna, of Fort Wayne, and Robert C. Gregory, now a distin- guished member of the Indiana bar, and for a time on the Supreme Bench. James Hanna was one of the founders of Wabash College, where his son, Bayless W., was educated. After leaving college, in 1852, Mr. Hanna entered the law office of Hon. Joseph E. Mc- Donald, now United States Senator, and afterward pur- sued his studies under the direction of Wilson &
Mississippi, where he finished his studies under Josiah Winchester, Esq., and was examined and licensed by Judge Stanhope Posey, at his June term, 1855. He then returned to Indiana, and was elected prosecuting attor- ney of the Crawfordsville District in 1856. He filled this office until November, 1857, when he opened a law office and established his home in Terre Haute, his present place of residence. October 9, 1858, he mar- ried Oakalla Read, only daughter of Doctor Ezra Read, and niece of Hon. Nathaniel C. Read, formerly on the Supreme Bench of Ohio. Mr. Hanna, though one of the most sought for and effective political speak- ers of the country, seems not to have been ambitious for public place. However, he has occupied some responsible positions. In 1862 he was elected to the Indiana Legislature, in 1864 to the Senate, and in the year 1870 was nominated and elected attorney- general of Indiana. In each of these stations he ac- quired marked distinction. His debates in the Senate at once placed him in the front ranks of party leader- ship. His finest efforts of this grade perhaps were his speeches of December 15, 1865, on the Agricultural Col- lege bill, and his argument against the ratification of the fourteenth amendment of the Constitution of the United States, delivered in the Senate of Indiana, Jan- uary 16, 1867. The former of these two speeches has been widely commented upon, and was masterly in every part. It ranks among the very best models of satirical eloquence extant. The day after its delivery the Indianapolis Herald pronounced it "one of the finest specimens of parliamentary invective and eloquence that had graced our legislative hall since the days of Hannegan, Mar- shall, and Dunn." Among the best published speeches of Mr. Hanna may be classed, perhaps, the one deliv- ered before the state convention of Kentucky, at Louisville, May 1, 1866; his address before the Athe- næan and Union Literary Societies of the University of Missouri, at Columbia, June 26, 1871 ; and his address at Indianapolis, March 17, 1872, before the Irish Socie- ties, on St. Patrick's Day. In 1872 Mr. Hanna was se- lected by the Indiana Democratic State Convention as one of her delegates for the state at large to the Baltimore Convention, and after the nomination he was made one of the senatorial electors for Indiana. In 1876 he was again appointed by his party one of the delegates for the state at large to the St. Louis Convention, which nomi- nated Tilden and Hendricks. In that convention he was chairman of the committee on permanent organization, and afterwards one of the committee to notify Governor Tilden of his nomination. For the past twelve years Mr. Hanna has been subjected to the closest discipline of business life, as the attorney of the Indianapolis and St. Louis Railroad Company, a station he now fills effi- ciently and with much distinction. Mr. Hanna is a fine
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specimen of physical and intellectual manhood. His | years. At this time the state of his health suggested massive head, crowned with dark, flowing locks and lighted by keen, expressive eyes, sits upon a tall and well proportioned figure. He impresses the most casual observer with a sense of power and rare intelligence. On the rostrum Mr. Hanna is seen at his best. There, when aroused to his theme, his face lights up with the fires of intellect ; while the earnestness engendered by the depth of his own feelings impresses all who hear him with the sincerity of his convictions, and the magnetism of his manner keeps an audience " hang- ing on his words." His gestures are graceful and replete with power and meaning ; not an atom of oratorical effort is wasted; every movement tells, and every rhetorical resource is husbanded, and used only when most effec- tive. His bursts of invective are grand, majestic, almost terrible; his speeches at all times bear evidence of the most refined culture and chasteness of thought; and not in his wildest denunciatory harangues has he ever descended to coarseness. In his illustrations he is at all times original, and, while stately in his language, he has the rare faculty of having his meaning under- stood and appreciated by all classes of hearers. Social and domestic in his habits, he is universally popular, and highly esteemed in all classes of society. He already holds a prominent position in the ranks of In- diana's popular men, and, while it is not the province of the biographer to anticipate events, those who read " the signs of the times" are convinced that if life and health are spared an important niche in the gallery of national fame awaits him.
ARTER, DAVID, merchant, Crawfordsville, was born May 8, 1815, in Stark County, Ohio. His ancestors were German, and emigrated to this country prior to the Revolutionary War, as there are traditions in the family of their having done service during our struggle for independence. His parents were Pennsylvania farmers, and moved to Ohio before David was born, and when that state was a comparative wilder- ness and the Indian disputed the possession of the soil with the white intruder. An elder brother of David's was in the War of 1812, and was wounded near Detroit. David got his early education in a log school-house, one and a half miles from his home. In 1833, when he was past eighteen, his father died. At nineteen he became a school-teacher, and for three years he instructed pupils in both English and German, to suit the mixed popula- tion of the neighborhood, and he can still transact busi- ness in German almost as fluently as in English. At the age of twenty-two, in 1837, he was a clerk in a general store in Massillon, Ohio, then a town of perhaps twelve hundred inhabitants, and continued there for six
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