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 56

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

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ECKNER, JAMES F., M. D., physician and sur- geon, Kentland, Newton County, was born July 4, 1817, in Botetourt County, Virginia, and is the son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Fellers) Beckner. He removed with his parents to Ohio when a child, and again removed with them when a boy of twelve years to Lafayette, Indiana, where he received a common school education. He then attended the seminary at Peru for three years, after which he studied medicine with Dr. James Ford, of Wabash, for four years. He heard lec- tures at the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati two terms, and graduated from it in 1849, beginning the prac- tice of his profession at Wabash, in 1842, and continuing there until 1855, when he went to Chicago, and attended a course of lectures at Rush Medical College, on com- pleting which he removed to Missouri, and practiced medicine at New Haven for three years. He then re- turned to Indiana, and settled at Chili, Miami County, where he practiced medicine until March, 1867, when he moved to Kentland, and entered upon the labors of his profession there, where he still remains, and has a large practice, in which he has been very successful. The Doctor joined the society of Odd-fellows in 1855, and has taken six degrees. In 1856 he became a member of the Masonic Order, in which he has taken ten degrees, and is a member of the Grand Commandery. He is a member of the Methodist Church. In politics he is a Repub- lican, having joined the ranks on the formation of the party. August 26, 1847, he was married to Keiza Harp, daughter of Samuel Harp, a wealthy farmer of Miami County. They have six children living. One son, Sam- uel H., is now studying medicine with his father. The eldest son, James F., graduated from the Pulte Medical College, Cincinnati, in the spring of 1878, and is now practicing medicine at Watseka, Illinois. The Doctor is a well-informed man, eminent in his profession, thor- ough in all its branches, genial, affable, and agreeable in manners, and enjoys the confidence and respect of the community.

IDDLE, HORACE P., LL. D., Ph. D., Judge of the Supreme Court of Indiana, was born on the twenty - fourth day of March, 1812, twenty miles below Lancaster, Ohio, on the north bank of the Hocking River, in the hills which begin there and con- tinue to the Ohio River as fragmentary spurs of the Alleghany Mountains. He was born near what is now Logan, the county-seat of Hocking County, though at that time the county (which has since been divided) was a large one, and all went under the name of Fairfield. His father was Benjamin Biddle, who came from Con- necticut in 1789, under the protection of General Israel Putnam, to look at the country, while that chieftain

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was making his tour among the Indians and arranging treaties with them. Benjamin Biddle settled at Marietta in that year, removing to Waterford in 1791, and finally, in 1802, to the place on the Hocking River. His wife, whom he married in Connecticut, was Abigail Converse, who died in 1817, leaving Horace, the youngest son, at the tender age of five years, to the care of a sister, twelve years older. His father died in 1829. There were nine children-the subject of this sketch, as before stated, being the youngest-seven of whom grew to be men and women, and all of whom, save the Judge, have crossed " the dim, unsounded sea." He worked upon the farm, going to school as occasion offered, which was rather infrequently, until he was sixteen years old, when he went to Muskingum County, and clerked in a country store for an elder brother, Daniel C. Biddle. From there he, after a time, returned to the old farm, where he remained until 1836. He was then in his twenty- fourth year, and had read and digested about every thing he could get his hands upon. He had a quick perception, was noted as a fluent talker, and had a deeply analytical mind. With these advantages in his favor, he determined to study law, and applied to Thomas Ewing, Sr., at Lancaster, then representing Ohio in the United States Senate, who recommended the aspiring young farmer to Hocking H. Hunter, who is remembered as one of the most striking men that Ohio ever produced, and a thoroughly practical lawyer. In Senator Ewing, as well as in Mr. Hunter, young Biddle found fast friends, and his progress in the study of law was rapid-satisfactory to himself, and affording pleasure to his patrons. He was admitted to the bar (state courts), in Cincinnati, in April, 1839, and in the same month, at Columbus, was admitted to practice in the federal courts. From April until October of that year he traveled the circuit with the old lawyers, among whom were Ewing, Hunter, Stanberry, Brazee, and Medill, all long since passed away, except Stanberry, but still living in the history of their state. The circuit extended over the counties of Fairfield, Hocking, Perry, and Licking, and the training received enabled the young lawyer to go to Logansport, Indiana, on the eighteenth day of October, 1839, and hang out his shingle with some degree of assurance. In 1840 he had a full and lucrative practice ; and, growing in favor with his new neighbors, he was, in 1844, placed upon the Whig electoral ticket, and stumped the northern part of the state for that most gifted man, Henry Clay, meeting in debate upon the political questions of the day such men as Dr. Graham N. Fitch (since United States Senator) and the eloquent Charles Cathcart. Judge Biddle was a warm personal friend of Clay's, and after his defeat left the field of politics with sadness and disgust, though in 1845, while attending, as an attorney, the Supreme Court at Indianapolis, he was, without his

sanction, nominated by the Whigs of Cass County for the Legislature. As he afterwards laughingly remarked, he was so handsomely defeated, the Democracy being flushed with the election of Polk, that his nomination never hurt him. In December, 1846, by a joint bal- lot of the Legislature he was elected President-judge of the then Eighth Circuit, for a term of seven years. He held the office six years and resigned, having been nominated (1852) for Congress against the late Dr. Nor- man S. Eddy, by whom, the district being largely Democratic, he was beaten. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1850, and participated in the debates on all the leading questions. In 1857 he was elected Supreme Judge by twenty-five thousand ma- jority, but the Supreme Court held that at the time there was no vacancy ; he was, therefore, never commissioned. From 1852 until 1860 he devoted his full attention to his practice, which yielded him a yearly revenue of nearly $8,000. In that year, wishing to retire from his prac- tice, which had become exceedingly laborious, he ac- cepted the nomination, and was elected to the Circuit Bench, being re-elected to the same position in 1866, the last time without a vote against him: In 1872 he de- clined a re-election, and from that time until 1874 gave the greater portion of his time to literary pursuits. He was then nominated for the Supreme Bench by two state conventions, the Democratic and the Independent, and elected by the largest majority ever given to any candi- date in the history of the state, his majority nearly reaching 33,000, among which were fully 16,000 Repub- lican votes, a magnificent tribute to honesty and capacity from lawyers and business men who knew his worth. The position to which he has been elected is, however, far removed from a sinecure. For a large portion of the year fully eleven hours a day is given by the Judge to the examination of the cases submitted to him, and upon which he must write opinions. Many of the records in causes that come before him have from thir- teen to fifteen hundred manuscript pages of legal cap, and are not to be classed with light literature. Judge Biddle is not only foremost among the jurists of Indiana, but is a thoroughly educated man, although he has not had the benefit of a college course, nor attended any other than the ordinary country schools. He has sup- plied the deficiencies of his early education by a long and rigid course of self- instruction. He has a full knowledge of Latin, and is thoroughly conversant with German and French, from all of which he has made translations, weaving some of the poems of the two modern languages into sparkling gems of verse. In former years he was a frequent and valued contributor to two or three of the leading magazines, but not re- cently. In 1849 he published his first volume of poems, sending the book into the world with the modest and unpretentious title of " A Few Poems." This work was

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highly complimented by Irving, Longfellow, Charles Mackay, and others. In IS58 another and larger vol- ume, containing two hundred and forty pages, was issued under the same title. In 1849 he wrote his work on "The Musical Scale," a book of two hundred pages, which he did not publish until 1860, when a small edi- tion was published and distributed among colleges and scholars, but not placed in the market. Oliver Ditson, of Boston, seeing the work, purchased the copyright, and has since published two or three editions. In this book the Judge differs regarding the musical scale from preceding authorities, and also from Tyndall and Helm- holtz in their recent works, not only in the analysis of harmony, but in the combination of harmonics and in the arrangement of some of the intervals in the scale. Recently, in London, the Judge's theory was proved correct by the microphone, in opposition to the Tyndall and Helmholtz theories, and is now accepted as author- ity. Chapelle, author of " History and Science of Music," warmly indorses Judge Biddle's work. In 1864 and 1865 he wrote "Glances at the World," his third volume of poems, a book of three hundred and seventy pages, publishing in 1874 a small edition. It is in this work that he reverts to the old log school- house on the Hocking River :

" An old log school-house was his Alma-Mater; It stood hard by a gentle, winding river, High on a hill-the rounded breast of Nature- 'Neath which he watched the tiny billows quiver. The hill is there-the landscape's pleasing feature- But ah ! the building -it is gone forever ! Even the native rocks are there no more; Yet still the himpid waters lave the shore."

of them, and never return one. Of his island home he sings :

"Dear home of beauty and repose, Where all untutored blooms the rose, Where sing the birds on every spray From coming morn till parting day ; Secure from strife, away from harm, In summer cool, in winter warm, Nursed in the river's sweet embrace, Where all is gentleness and peace !"

After the defeat of Clay, in 1844, Judge Biddle ceased to be a partisan, and paid little or no attention to politics, dividing his time between his profession and literature. When the old Whig party disintegrated, he stood on neutral ground, with but one violent and deep-rooted antipathy -an uncompromising opposition to Know-Nothingism. When the flag went down at Sumter he was with the government-a Republican or War-Democrat until the conclusion of the struggle. After the abolition of slavery and the adoption of the amendments, he saw no great differences between the parties, though differing from the Republican party in its reconstruction measures. Though sixty-seven years of age, he has a clear, bright eye and a steady hand, and has always maintained his old-time supremacy with the rifle, being still able to shoot a squirrel scurrying along the top of a zigzag fence. In 1876 he published another volume, a poem entitled " American Boyhood," containing 288 pages. The poem portrays American boyhood, with its surroundings, as found in the West in the early part of the nineteenth century, with the joys, sorrows, hopes, fears, trials, and ambitions of the early settlers. He evidently had his own mother in mind in this tribute to the grand old pioneer women of the days of log-cabins and Indian alarms - " humble mothers, who bore brave sons and daughters, pure and fair:"

Surrounded by books and birds, paintings, music, and flowers, Judge Biddle lives on what is known as Biddle's Island, in the Wabash River, opposite the city of Logansport. There are seventeen acres in the island, "Old-fashioned mothers of the day, Whose hands, though hard with toil, Soft as the touch of angels lay Upon the brow ; whose smile Could make us happy in our tears ; Whose word could reconcile Us to our pain, banish our fears, And all our woes beguile " with thirty-two acres of riparian rights, which water privileges are of no inconsiderable consequence to the subject of this sketch, who is an enthusiastic disciple of Izaak Walton, and better acquainted than that ancient angler, not only with the denizens of the deep, but with woodcraft also. The house in which the Judge resides was built in 1836 by the late General John Tipton, then In a note appended to his "Glances at the World," Judge Biddle gives sixty-eight different reasons for his belief that Horace Walpole was that great literary mystery, " Junius." He shows that Walpole uses the phrases and modes of expression peculiar to "Junius;" that "Junius" wrote nothing from August, 1770, until October, 1770, and that Walpole was sick all that time; that, after the reconciliation of Walpole to the king, "Junius" wrote no more. "Junius" hated the king, the Luttrells, the Conways, the Duke of Bedford, Lord Barrington, the Duke of Grafton, Lord Mansfield, Lord United States Senator from Indiana, a sketch of whose life appears in another part of this book, though two wings have since been added by the present owner. The library in this old mansion is the largest private library in the state, containing over six thousand books, many of them being extremely rare and curious. There are few law-books, the Judge having disposed of his law library-an exceedingly voluminous one-when he took the Supreme Bench, giving as a reason for the sale that he was compelled to dispose of them in that way for self-protection, as the lawyers wouldl borrow every one | Camden, the Scotch people : so did Horace Walpole,-

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and all whom "Junius" attacked were Walpole's ene- mies. The Judge maintains that all claimants to the authorship of "Junius's" letters, except Horace Wal- pole, meet with facts inconsistent with their identity with "Junius." Judge Biddle has contributed several pamphlets to the literature of the country, prominent among which are, " A Discourse on Art," "The Defini- tion of Poetry," " A Review of Prof. Tyndall's Work on Sound," "The Analysis of Rhyme: an Essay," " Russian Literature," and "The Tetrachord : a New Musical Instrument." The last-named pamphlet is an explanation of a new musical instrument of the viol kind, invented by the Judge, which, from the mode of stringing and scale of tuning, is a distinct instrument in quality of tone, method of obtaining the scale, and in practice, from any of the viols as now used. The lowest string is tuned to the same as the violin, G ; the others are tuned to A, B, C, ascending consecutively. The Judge was first to put his theory into practice, and became as skilled in the handling of his invention, which he pre- fers to the violin, as he is in the use of that instrument. Judge Biddle has now a new book, not written for the general reader, but for the student, entitled, " Elements of Knowledge," a prose work, almost ready for publi- cation. He has also a volume of manuscript poems, which will be put in type at the expiration of his term of office. In addition to publications named in this sketch, Judge Biddle printed, a number of years ago, a volume in scrap-book form, for distribution among friends, but not intended for public circulation. This little book contains many gems. In 1878 a beautifully bound and elegantly gotten-up volume, entitled, " Ama- tories, by an Amateur," was printed by a house in Cin- cinnati, only ten copies comprising the edition. Yet this volume is the chef d'œuvre of the literary productions of Judge Biddle's pen, the Anacreontics being exceedingly beautiful. His reason for printing so limited a number was, that there were not ten people in the world whom he cared to have read it ; and it was by the urgent solic- itation of a literary friend that he was induced to print it at all. His disposition is kindly and genial, though he may appear slightly dignified and reticent towards strangers. The poor children of the neighborhood are his especial favorites, and many a young aspirant for fame in literature or law has been aided largely in his endeavors by this generous, noble-hearted man. When surrounded by friends he is remarkable for his quaint humor and the brilliancy and erudition of his conversa- tion. His mind contains vast stores of useful knowl- edge, acquired partly in the course of his professional experience in courts and legislative bodies, and partly gathered by hard work from various departments of sci- ence and literature. Poet, scientist, jurist, and philos- opher, it may truly be said of Horace P. Biddle that he is one of the notable men of his day and generation.

RAKEMAN, REV. NELSON L., A. M., of Val- paraiso, is the son of Lewis J. and Candace Brakeman, who were natives, respectively, of New York City and Hartford, Connecticut. Lewis J. Brakeman-a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church-was a German, and the grandfather was a native of Darmstadt, Germany. Nelson L. was born October 8, 1829, in Michigan, St. Clair County, Clay Township. His father was a merchant and furrier at Algonac, Michigan, and owned a vessel on the lakes. He lost his life by the shipwreck of his own vessel, in December, 1832. In the settlement of the estate the widowed mother and her children-three daughters and an only son-were fraudulently deprived of almost the entire amount. At the age of thirteen Nelson had to go into the world for himself. His early educational advantages were limited to the district school, but he improved them well. He inherited strong religious tend- encies, and in his twelfth year united with the Method- ist Episcopal Church ; after which, steadfastly, under all circumstances, he maintained a consistent, active, de- voted Christian life. While at work as a mechanic, he diligently improved his evenings and other leisure hours in prosecuting his studies. Meanwhile he had been appointed class-leader in the Church, and had received a license to exhort. In his eighteenth year the way was opened for him to attend the academy at Niles, Mich- igan, which he improved for two years and a half, teach- ing in the winter, but keeping up his academic studies, and reading in theology as well. He thus prepared himself for entering the college at Albion, Michigan, under Dr. Hinman as president, with a view of prepar- ing for and entering the ministry. Before settling down to a college course, he resolved to make a tour of ob- servation, and traveled through New York state, New England, and into Canada, gathering much useful knowledge by the way. Returning by the route of Niagara Falls, sickness hindered his entering college at the time appointed, and he went to Michigan City, In- diana, to spend the winter, intending to enter college at the spring term. At this last-named place the Church authorities unwisely persuaded him to abandon his col- lege course, and enter at once upon his contemplated life-work. He reluctantly yielded to their solicitations (the mistake of his life), and on the 13th of March, 1850, was licensed to preach, and was appointed, by the presiding elder, to the Crown Point Circuit, which he traveled on foot. He was obliged to journey one hundred and sixty miles every four weeks, and meet eighteen regular appointments, some of the Sabbaths requiring a walk of twenty-one miles, and three sermons. The official cash receipts for seven months of that kind of walking and talking were three dollars and sixty cents. Of those who were converted, two became ministers and one a professor in college. In October of that year he

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was received on trial in the North-west Indiana Confer- ence as a traveling preacher. In two years he was re- ceived into full connection in the conference and or- lained a deacon, at Attica, Indiana, by Bishop Ames, and in two years more (1854) was ordained an elder, at Delphi, by the same bishop. In September, 1860, he was stationed at Strange Chapel, in Indianapolis (now California Street Church), and on the breaking out of the war with the South he was commissioned by Gov- ernor Morton as chaplain of the 21st Indiana Regiment Light Infantry (afterwards Ist Heavy Artillery). June 6, 1861, his regiment was ordered to Baltimore, Maryland, and thence to Fortress Monroe, Virginia. In March, 1862, they were attached to General Butler's expedition to the South-west, and, after a week's sailing, reached Ship Island, in the Gulf of Mexico, off the Mississippi coast. Of his services as chaplain the Indianapolis Daily Journal says this :

" Mr. Brakeman was the only chaplain from Indiana who went into the war at the beginning, and stuck to the work in the field till the war closed. It is worthy of note that he had but one leave from duty during the entire war, and that was a sick-leave of but sixty days. He saw his family but once in three years. During the war he became known, especially in Indiana, as an army correspondent. The Journal of those days and the Church Advocates contain several of his letters, which were widely copied into other periodicals. The chaplain is honorably mentioned in 'Indiana's Roll of Honor,' and in the ' Indiana Soldier.' In the latter work (Vol. J, p. 564) the historian, after complimenting the sur- geons for faithfulness and bravery at the battle of Baton Rouge, says: 'The chaplain, N. L. Brakeman, was equally attentive to his duty. At the siege of Port Hudson he was "on hand" in all the fighting, and at the front with the men, serving, by request, on the gen- eral's staff, as aid, in all engagements.' In the official report of the siege he is thus mentioned: 'Chaplain Brakeman rendered efficient services in repeatedly carry- ing orders, under fire of the enemy.' (' Indiana Soldier,' Vol. II, p. 320.) Near the close of the war he received a commission from President Lincoln, and was appointed post chaplain at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, whereupon the officers of his regiment called a meeting compliment- ary to him, and passed, among others, the following res- olution ;

** * Resolved, That while we forbear to express our high estimate of his labors among us during over three years in the field, in all of which time he has been ab- sent from the regiment but sixty days, and then on " sick-leave," we bear cheerful testimony to his faithful- ness and efficiency in all that pertains to the office and work of a chaplain. And it gives us peculiar pleasure to here renew with emphasis the special confidence we posed in his patriotism, valor, fidelity, and ability, when, in 1861, he was unanimously chosen our chaplain. He leaves us as he came to us, and has lived among us, with an unblemished character as a man and Christian min- ister, and bearing with him the benediction of the entire regiment.' "

Angust 4, 1865, while serving as post chaplain at Baton Rouge, he met with a severe and dangerous acci- dent, which resulted in the complete dislocation of his

right ankle, and the breaking of the leg below the knee, nearly costing him his life. Previous to this accident Mr. Brakeman had been selected by the Methodist bish- ops as one of the few men to whom was to be commit- ted the difficult work of reorganizing the Methodist Episcopal Church in the Gulf Department-Texas, Lou- isiana, and Mississippi. On his leaving the service for this work, the New Orleans Times of October 17, 1865, among other things, has the following :

" Mr. Brakeman came to the Gulf Department early in 1862, and of all the chaplains who came with Gen- erals Phelps and Butler he is the only one remaining in it. He contemplates returning to the regular work of the ministry, now that the war is over, and is in the city to settle his accounts with Uncle Sam. He has served through the entire war, and now leaves the serv- ice most honorably, and with very favorable written indorsements from his own regiment, and from Generals Butler, Banks, Sherman, Canby, and Sheridan. When he is mustered out the government will lose a compe- tent and faithful servant."

December 25, 1865, the three states above named were organized into the Mississippi Mission Conference, and Mr. Brakeman was appointed presiding elder of the Mississippi District, with that entire state for a district. Dr. Phelps, of Philadelphia, went to Texas, and Dr. Newman to Louisiana. Rev. A. C. McDonald, D. D., writing of that year's work by Mr. Brakeman, in the Southwestern Advocate, says :

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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 56

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