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 8

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 8

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

lonely and sorrowful hours by timely assistance and kindly words of admonition and cheer. At such times her mild, expressive countenance lighted up for the moment with more than usual animation, with the newly kindled zeal which shone in her gentle, suffused eyes. Her earthly mission finished, Mrs. Elizabeth Pearson, whose biography, had she been known to the author, would have been entitled to a place in the " History of Heroic, Noble Women of America," passed tran- quilly "to that bourne from whence no traveler re- turns," and her soul to immortality, in the forty-sixth year of her age; the seraphic smile upon her counte- nance being as bright and placid, while human eyes rested upon it, as when the passing angel traced it there. In her death her sadly bereaved husband sus- tained an irreparable loss, which, however, was her eternal gain. Their wedded life, of some sixteen years, was one of unalloyed happiness; no vicissitudes, no perplexity, could ruffle er mar it. He was always kind and affectionate, seldom perturbed, and she was ever ready to sympathize, advise, and encourage; hence her death was a terrible blow to him. But in time he became calm, and strove to banish his grief and live more re- ligiously than ever. In conversation with him, a few days since, while paying a glowing tribute to his wife's memory, he uttered the following beautiful sentiment:

"I have often thought that the shock which my wife's death gave me rendered softer my moral nature. A death that is connected with' love unites us with a thousand remembrances to all who have mourned; it builds a bridge of sympathy between us; it steals from nature its charm and exhilaration, not its tenderness. And, what, perhaps, is better than all, to mourn deeply for the death of another loosens from ourself the petty desire for, and the animal adherence to, life. We have gained the end of the philosopher, and view without shrinking the coffin and the pall."

Time had scarcely touched with his ameliorating hand this poignant grief, when the angel of death again passed the Doctor's threshold, and his first-born lay stricken. Then overflowed his cup of sorrow, already full. Doctor J. W. Pearson, son of Doctor Charles D. Pearson, was born at Livonia, Washington County, In- diana. He early entered Hanover College, but soon after volunteered in the navy, served out the time of his enlistment, and was honorably discharged. At the earnest solicitation of his father, he began the study of medicine. He located at Bryantsville, Lawrence County, Indiana, and up to the time of his death continued there, in the practice of his profession, and superintend- ing the Kaolin mines, in which his father had a large interest. In 1864 he married Miss Elizabeth Embree. He was soon to pursue his further professional studies in the East, and then associate with his father, to whom the great hopes of this boon, blasted as they were, added much to his bereavement. He died on

167

REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF INDIANA.

7th Dist.]

the 16th of July, 1878, of typho-malarial fever, after a lingering and painful illness of four months. He bade an affectionate farewell to those dear to him, one by one, commending the care of his wife and two little boys to his father and only brother, and fell asleep to awake in "the sweet fields of Eden," there to receive first the glad welcome of his mother, who had gone on before. In him society had a worthy member, the Christian Church a firm support; in his profession he was recog- nized as a man of culture; he was to his wife a loving companion, to his children a fond father. They have lost, but he has won, the reward of the righteous. His life was noble and true, and his death beautiful. A sublime entrance, like his, robs of half its terror the "valley of the shadow of death." Doctor Pearson's mother was a rigid Presbyterian; under her tuition he was taught to observe the Sabbath scrupulously, and to her he recited the catechism, while for all her instruc- tion he had a profound reverence. However, he seemed unable to reconcile the decrees of God, which to him was a source of great annoyance, until at last he resolved to throw all upon Christ, and trust a Redeemer's grace. He incidentally obtained two small books, "The Bible, or Common Sense," and "The Great Supper," which had great influence upon him. He was surrounded by Baptist and Methodist circles, and many counseled him that his practice would suffer by uniting himself to another Church, but their advice could not make him deviate from the path of duty. It was a matter between himself and his God. In conjunction with a young minister he organized, in his community, a Church of seventy members, in which he was subsequently chosen an elder, and he remains so to the present day. Doctor Charles D. Pearson, it will be seen, has been truly the architect of his own eminent success. He is a self-made man, and his brilliant professional attainments, high social standing, and literary culture are most worthy of emulation ; and in appreciation of them Hanover College (Indiana) conferred upon him the degree of bachelor of arts. Doctor Pearson took an active and leading part in the organization of the Central College of Physicians and Surgeons, the new medical school at Indianapolis, and is one of its incorporators. The insti- tution was organized July, 1879, and its first regular course of instruction commenced at the beginning of the ensuing October, under favorable auspices. The Doctor was elected professor to the chair of obstetrics and the medical and surgical diseases of women, and also honored with the position of president of the fac- ulty. He entered earnestly and faithfully upon the re- sponsible duties assigned him, and to his able and care- ful executive management the institution is in a large degree indebted for its successful opening, and the sub- stantial basis upon which its permanency depends. Though Doctor Pearson has attained the age of fifty-

nine, at a hasty glance a stranger would take him to be a younger man, though his hair is as white as snow. He has an erect and dignified bearing, and is devoid of ostentation, though a person unacquainted with him might at first judge differently, as he dresses with scrupulous neatness and faultless taste. He is a fluent talker, and the combination of his faculties would have made him a distinguished man in any country or in any sphere of life. He is somewhat below the ordinary stature ; his frame is well knit and proportioned. Na- ture had originally cast his frame in an athletic mold ; but sedentary habits, hard study, and the great wear of mind peculiar to his arduous professional career at home and in the army, seem somewhat to have impaired her gifts. His cheek is pale and delicate, yet it is rather the delicacy of thought than weak health. He is slightly bald; his forehead is high, broad, and majestic, and on the brow there are but few wrinkles. It suggests the idea of one who has passed his life rather in contem- plation than emotion. His face is an impressive and striking one. It speaks both of the refinement and the dignity of intellect. Such is the appearance of a man of easy, affable, and dignified deportment, of varied knowledge, and a genius wholly self-taught, yet never contented to repose upon the wonderful stores it has laboriously accumulated.

EASLEE, JUDGE WILLIAM JENKINS, Shel- byville, was born in Addison County, Vermont, January 4, 1803, and died in Daviess County, Mis- souri, July 12, 1868. When quite a young boy he removed to the state of New Hampshire, and lived there until his thirteenth year, when he went to New York. His father was an orthodox Quaker. He en- gaged in the tanning business; and took large contracts for making brogans. To this employment William, the son, for a time gave his attention. But, desiring to rise in the world, and thinking that the legal profession was more in harmony with his tastes, as well as the most direct road to distinction, he began the study of law with a leading law firm in Keeseville, New York, be- ing admitted to the bar in January, 1832. In the spring of that year he started West in search of a new home. After visiting Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, he found that Indiana was preferable, and therefore located in Shelbyville, in October, 1832. Here he closely fol- lowed his profession until 1842, when he was elected Judge of the Sixth Circuit, then composed of the counties of Marion, Hancock. Shelby, Madison, Hamil- ton, Hendricks, Morgan, Johnson, and Bartholomew. Over this large circuit he traveled on horseback, some- times being absent two or three months. He filled the office of judge nine years, displaying judicial abilities of

168

REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF INDIANA.

[7th Dist.

a high order. In 1852 he returned to Shelbyville, hav- ing resided in Indianapolis during his judgeship. After one year, he went to Gallatin, Daviess County, Missouri, where he lived up to the time of his death, with the exception of seven years during which he was located in Chicago, actively engaged in the practice of his pro- fession. Judge Peaslee was a Jacksonian Democrat until the formation of the Republican party, when he joined it, ever afterwards giving to it his hearty sup- port, often stumping his own and adjoining counties. He was an interesting and effective political speaker, and, as a lawyer, ranked among the ablest and most reliable in Eastern Indiana. He was married, in Clin- ton County, New York, June 12, 1823, to Miss Huldah Banker, who still survives him.

EELLE, STANTON J., was born on a farm in New Garden Township, Wayne County, Indiana, on the 11th of February, 1843, and resided in that county as a farmer boy until 1859, when his father, John C. Peelle, removed with his family to a farm in Randolph County, and in the spring of 1860 located in Winchester, the county seat of that county. Mr. Peelle's education was limited to the common schools of his county during the winter season, except one term of five months in the old county seminary at Winchester in 1860. The first school he ever attended was in a log school-house, where the pupils studied out loud, and where the teacher was kept busy pointing quill pens. In the spring of 1861 he taught a three months' subscription school near Farmland, Indiana, and soon after that term expired he enlisted in Com- pany G, 8th Regiment Indiana Infantry Volunteers, and while in this regiment was engaged in the battle of Pea Ridge. He remained with the 8th Regiment until December, 10 1862, when he was promoted to a second lieutenancy in Company K, 57th Regiment In- diana Infantry Volunteers, then in the Army of the Cumberland. While in the 57th Regiment, besides being engaged in several scouts and skirmishes, he was engaged in the battle of Stone River, and December 31, 1862, received a slight wound in the right hip with a piece of shell while the regiment was lying in a cotton-field under a heavy fire of artillery. July 30, 1863, the term for which the company had been organ- ized having expired, Mr. Peelle was honorably mus- tered out with his company, and soon thereafter com- menced the study of the law with his uncle, Judge William A. Peelle, then residing in Centerville, Indi- ana. In February, 1864, the excitement incident to the wear induced him to abandon study, and he went to Nashville, Tennessee, where he was employed in the post commissary department, and soon became the chief

issuing clerk in that department, which supplied the en- tire Army of the Cumberland with rations. He re- mained in Nashville until the war was over, and then accepted a position as chief clerk in the Nashville and North-western Railroad office, at Johnsonville, Tennes- see ; but that road soon thereafter fell under the control of rebel influences, and he was removed to make room for more loyal subjects to the Confederacy ; but his re- moval enabled him to accept a more remunerative po- sition, as clerk in the St. Louis, Cairo and Johnsonville packet line, at the same place, where he remained until the spring of 1866, when he returned to his home in Winchester, Indiana, and resumed the study of the law. In March, 1866, he was admitted to the bar of the Circuit Court of Randolph County, but made no effort to practice until the fall of the following year. On the 16th of July, 1867, Mr. Peelle was united in marriage to Miss Lou R. Perkins, of South Bend, Indiana, and continued to reside in Winchester until May, 1869, when he removed to Indianapolis, Indiana, coming to the capital of the state with but sixty dollars in the world, in the midst of strangers, and with little expe- rience in the law, yet with a wife whose ambition and encouragement made him strong in the midst of his ad- versities. By perseverance and attention to business he soon commanded a fair practice in the capital city, but in the midst of his prosperity he was called upon to mourn the death of his beloved wife, which occurred on November 27, 1873, leaving him with one child, a daughter sixteen months old, who died on the 8th of January following. In 1876 he was nominated by the Republican party as one of its candidates for the Legis- lature, and was elected by a large majority, running ahead of his ticket nearly three hundred votes. He canvassed Marion County thoroughly in that centennial campaign, besides making several speeches elsewhere. His career in the Legislature was satisfactory to his con- stituents and himself. He was actively engaged in the political campaign of 1878 in speaking. In politics he has always been a Republican, and his first vote for President was cast for Mr. Lincoln. On the 16th of October, 1878, he was married to Miss Mary Arabella Canfield, only daughter of the late Judge Milton C. Canfield, of Painesville, Ohio. He was lately engaged in his profession in Indianapolis as the senior member of the firm of Peelle, Herr & Alexander, but since January 1, 1880, he has been practicing alone. He has the reputation of a painstaking, industrious, and thor- oughly conscientious lawyer, and his standing at the In- dianapolis bar is second to none of his age and experi- ence, while his character as a citizen and gentleman is above reproach. He enjoys a fair practice and has a good law library. He was nominated for Congress in the Seventh Congressional District, on the 4th of Au- gust, 1880.

011

169

REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF INDIANA.

7th Dist.]

ERKINS, SAMUEL ELLIOTT, was born in Brat- | Jacob B. Julian, J. S. Newman, and others. The tleborough, Vermont, December 6, 1811, being Jeffersonian, a weekly paper, had been established in 1837 by a Democratic club, with Mr. Perkins as editor. In 1838 the Jeffersonian was sold to Lynde Elliott, who conducted it about a year, and failed. He had mort- gaged the press to Daniel Reed, of Fort Wayne, for more than its value. Mr. Reed visited Richmond, after Elliott's failure, for the purpose of moving the press to Fort Wayne. Unwilling that the Democracy of the place should be without an organ, Mr. Perkins came forward and paid off the mortgage, took the press, re- commenced the publication of the Jeffersonian, and con- tinued it through the campaign of 1840.' In 1843 he was appointed by Governor Whitcomb prosecuting at- torney of the Sixth Judicial Circuit. In 1844 he was one of the electors who cast the vote of the state for Mr. Polk. In the winter of 1844, and again in 1845, he was nominated by Governor Whitcomb, a cautious man and a good judge of character, to a seat on the Supreme Bench, but was not confirmed either time. On the adjournment of the Legislature, quite unex- pectedly to himself, he received from the Governor the appointment, for one year, to the office for which he had been nominated. He was then thirty-four years of age, and had been at the bar and a resident of the state but nine years. With much reluctance he accepted the appointment, having to risk the re-election of Governor Whitcomb for a renomination to the Senate of the fol- lowing year. He was, however, re-elected, and Judge Perkins, having served on the bench one year, was re- nominated, and confirmed by the Senate, receiving a two-thirds vote, seven Whig Senators voting for him. In 1852, and again in 1858, he was elected, under the new Constitution, by the vote of the people to the same position, and was therefore on the Supreme Bench nine- teen consecutive years. When, in the stress of polit- ical disaster in 1864, he left that court, he did not therefore despair or retire, there was no impatient com- plaint or repining. He entered at once into the prac- tice of his profession. In 1857 he accepted the ap- pointment of professor of law in the North-western Christian University, which position he retained several the second son of John Trumbull and Catherine (Willard) Perkins. His parents were both natives of Hartford, Connecticut, and were temporarily residing in Brattleborough, where his father was pursuing the study of law with Judge Samuel Elliott. Before he was five years old his father had died, and his mother removed with her children to Conway, Massachusetts, where she also died soon afterwards. Before this, how- ever, his mother being unable to support her family, Elliott was adopted by William Baker, a respectable farmer of Conway, with whom he lived and labored until twenty-one years of age. During this time, by the aid of three months' annual schooling in the free schools of the state in winter, and by devoting evenings and rainy days to books, he secured to himself a good English education, and began the study of Latin and Greek. After he attained his majority, he pursued his studies in different schools, working mornings, evenings, and Saturdays to pay his board, and teaching occasion- ally a quarter in vacation to provide means for tuition and clothing. The last year of this course of study was spent at the Yates County Academy, New York, then under the presidency of Seymour B. Gookins, Esq., a brother of the late Judge Gookins, of Terre Haute, In- diana. Having obtained a fair classical education, he commenced the study of law, in Penn Yan, the county seat of Yates County, in the office of Thomas J. Nevins, Esq., and afterwards, as a fellow-student of Judge Brinkerhoff, late of the Supreme Bench of Ohio, study- ing in the office of Henry Welles, Esq., since one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of New York. In the fall of 1836 he came alone, on foot, from Buffalo, New York, to Richmond, Indiana, a stranger in a strange land-not being acquainted with a single indi- vidual in the state. His original intention had been to locate in Indianapolis, but on reaching Richmond he found the roads impassable, from recent heavy storms, it being necessary to carry even the mails on horse- back. Finding it impossible to proceed further, and de- siring to lose no time in qualifying himself for practice, he inquired for a lawyer's office, and was referred to years. In 1870, 1871, and 1872 he was professor of law at the Indiana State University, at Bloomington. He felt much pride and gratification in the marked success of so many of his students. Among the number were Hon. Charles L. Holstein, Judge Daniel Howe, Judge John A. Holman, Senator A. C. Harris, Hon. John A. Finch, Hon. John S. Duncan, of Indianapolis; Sen- ator I. H. Fowler, of Owen; Judge C. N. Pollard, of Howard; Senator George W. Grubbs, of Morgan; and Judge John A. Cornahan, of Lafayette. In addition to his immense labor as one of the Judges of the Su- preme Court, and professor of law, he prepared in 1858 the " Indiana Digest," a book containing eight hundred Judge J. W. Borden, then a practicing attorney in Rich- mond, and now Criminal Judge of Allen County. He spent the winter in his office, doing office work for his board. In the spring of 1837, after a satisfactory ex- amination before Hon. Jehu T. Elliott, Hon. David Kilgore, and Hon. Andrew Kennedy, a committee ap- pointed by the court for that purpose, he was admitted to the bar, at Centerville, Wayne County, Indiana. He immediately opened an office in Richmond, and soon obtained a large and lucrative practice, coming in con- tact with such eminent lawyers as Caleb B. Smith, Samuel W. Parker, Charles H. Test, James Perry,

170

REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF INDIANA.

[ 7th Dist.

and seventy pages, and requiring, in its writing, ar- rangement, and compilation for the press, a great amount of labor, involving the deepest research into the statutes of the state and the decisions of the Su- preme Court. This work has received the approbation of the members of the Indiana bar, as a work of great merit and utility. In 1859 he also produced the "Indi- ana Practice," a work of about the same number of pages and no less importance, and requiring as much labor in its preparation, as the Digest. In 1868 he un- dertook the editorship of the Herald, formerly and since the Sentinel, the Democratic state organ. In August, 1872, he was appointed by Governor Baker, to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge Rand, to a seat on the Superior Bench of Marion County-a nisi prius and inferior tribunal, one of great labor and responsibility-and discharged its duties with all diligence and fidelity. He was subsequently elected to the same office in 1874 without opposition. Nor was there ever a juster act of popular gratitude and recog- nition than when the people of the state, in 1876, almost without action upon his part, took him from this place and returned him to a higher station in the courts of the commonwealth, which he had formerly so long adorned with his presence. To his studious application, which supplemented the natural qualities of his mind, much was due for the reputation of the Indiana Supreme Bench in the days when it was honored for its wisdom. He helped to give it the name it had in the days of Blackford and Dewey, his first associates in the court, and not the smallest part of the loss occasioned by his death is, that it deprives the bench of the quality it needs most and has least. Shortly after Judge Perkins's appointment to the Supreme Bench, he became a resi- dent of Indianapolis, where he continued to reside until the time of his death. He took a lively interest in the development of the material interests of his adopted city, and during his long residence there assisted with his means and influence in many enterprises looking to- ward the prosperity of Indianapolis. As he was familiar with adversity in his early days, and often experienced all that was bitter in poverty, his heart continually prompted him to acts of benevolence towards the unfor- tunate of his neighborhood. It was a mystery to many how he could apply himself professionally with such unremitting diligence, and at the same time take such a lively interest in every thing looking toward the pros- perity of Indianapolis; but the fact is he knew no rest ; he was indefatigable; he never tired when there was any thing to be done. His life was an unceasing round of labors which he never neglected, and which he pur- sued with a devoted industry from which more robust constitutions might have recoiled. On political subjects the Judge was a pertinent and forcible writer, and when his pen engaged in miscellany its productions possessed

a truthful brevity, perspicuity, and beauty which ranked them among the best literary productions of the day. His eulogy on the late Governor Ashbel P. Willard, delivered in the Senate chamber during the November term, 1860, of the United States District Court, does ample justice to the character and memory of that dis- tinguished man; and the sentiments that pervade the entire address bear testimony to the soundness of the head and goodness of the heart from which they ema- nated. The pith and fiber of his mental faculties are not by any thing better attested than by the very evi- dent growth and progress of his judicial style. His mind was of that finest material which does not dull with age or become stale with usage. He improved steadily and constantly to the very last. His last opin- ions are his best. There is in these a manifest terse- ness, a cautious, careful trimming and lopping off of all superfluousness; the core only, the very kernel of the point to be decided, is presented. But for this tacit acknowledgment of a fault in his earlier writings he is not to be upbraided, but is to be commended, rather, for the moral courage necessary in the avowal and avoid- ance of such fault. The first, and not the least, quality in a judge is thorough integrity of purpose and ac- tion. In this great qualification he was faultless. In a long and diversified course of public life no charge was made against him of corruption or op- pression, or even of discourtesy or unkindness. In his intercourse, whether with his colleagues of the bench and bar, or with the people at large, no stain was ever found upon the ermine which he wore. Too much praise can hardly be bestowed upon the firmness with which he maintained his political integ- rity. In early life an ardent friend and supporter of the principles of Jackson and Jefferson, he remained faithful in his adherence to them to the end. There were many notable examples in his day of political apostasy ; there were many of his contemporaries who, yielding to what was called the force of circumstances, or the course of events, did

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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 8

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