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 95

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 95

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Spanish Dry Diggings, located on the Middle Fork of the American River. There he remained for three years, principally in ground sluicing on the mountain sides, meeting with gratifying success. His luck seemed to have been confined to this locality, as large amounts of his gains here were squandered in ventures in other sections. Notwithstanding his unlucky investments, his California experience to him was on the whole highly satisfactory. He returned to Ohio by the steamer to New York, where he arrived March 1, 1853. The fol- lowing May he removed from Ohio to Indiana, locating in De Kalb County, Jackson Township, buying a farm of one hundred and thirty-six acres south of and adjoining the village of Auburn, upon which he lived for twenty- one years. He subsequently increased his acreage to three hundred and fifty-five, comprising a large and well selected tract of land, valuable for its position, and rich in soil, timber, and production. With its substantial and convenient dwelling and spacious out-buildings, it is re- garded as one of the most desirable farms in the county. While actively engaged in agricultural pursuits, Mr. Mc- Clellan was regarded as a typical farmer ; his thorough system of tillage, the order of his fences, the well-cared for condition of the fields, yards, and lawns, all demon- strated his intelligent management and substantial thrift. In 1874 Mr. Mcclellan rented his farm, removing to Auburn, where he now lives, and has since been actively engaged as a dealer in stock and hogs, as well as in wool and grain. In all his dealings with men he is fair and just, commanding the confidence of all who know him. He is energetic, prompt, and method- ical. His business enterprises have never been chimer- ical projects of speculation, as he prefers to keep his affairs in hand, being content with sure and gradual gains. His is a notable example of the exercise of those sound and correct business principles which win success, and those genial traits of character that secure and retain public confidence and esteem. In 1873 Mr. McClellan, with others, organized the First National Bank of Auburn, Indiana, of which he was one of the directors, and is a stockholder. In his farming and other business enterprises he has been eminently suc- cessful, having acquired an ample competence. He is a Democrat in sentiment, and earnest and conscientious in the support and defense of his political convictions. Mr. McClellan is an honored and worthy member of the Presbyterian Church, of Auburn, and has acted as a member of its board of trustees. He is a liberal con- tributor to its needs, and by his exemplary life adds much to its spiritual and moral strength. He sympa- thizes with the work of temperance reform. Like all men of positive character, Mr. McClellan is firm in his positions, arriving at conclusions only after duc reflec- . tion, but when his mind is made up it is only changed by new and convincing proof, yet he is tolerant and

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considerate of the opinions of others not in accord with him. He is a member of the Masonic Fraternity, belong- ing to the Blue Lodge. In 1856 he was elected and served as trustee of the township of Jackson. He was married, May 11, 1854, to Mary Jane Sommers, daugh- ter of John Sommers, of Auburn, Indiana, who was one of the pioneers of De Kalb County, and a man of marked influence in the community in which he lived, a devoted and consistent Christian, and a leading and val- uable member of the Presbyterian Church. He was noted for his benevolence, his far-reaching sympathies, and his kindly charities. A kind friend of the poor, it is said that deserving want never appealed to him for relief in vain. He was an exemplary man and a kind friend and neighbor. He died July 5, 1873, in the sev- enty-fifth year of his age. Mr. and Mrs. McClellan have had four children, three of whom are living : James W., born November 12, 1855; Robert S., born June 13, 1858; Etta M., born December 8, 1864; and a son, born June 3, 1867, who died in infancy. Mr. McClellan is a true type of the successful self-made men of Indiana. He has by his talent for business, aided by good judgment, won an en- viable position, and has by his many pleasant traits of character insured the respect and confidence of all.

cCLELLAN, CHARLES A. O., a prominent cit- izen of Waterloo, De Kalb County, Indiana, and Judge of the Fortieth Judicial Circuit, was born May 25, 1845, in Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio. His parents, William and Eliza (Wiggins) Mcclellan, were natives of New Jersey. His mother was of German descent, and his father of Scotch-Irish extraction. The latter was a mechanic, but during the last ten years of his life was engaged in publishing county maps in Ohio and Indiana. Judge Mcclellan, in boyhood and early youth, had few educational advantages, and only such as were attainable by attendance at a district school during the winter terms, assisting his father about his business during the summer, spring, and autumn, until his arrival at the age of nineteen. Having then become an expert calligrapher, he gave for two years instruction in penmanship and pen drawing. In 1856 he came to Indiana, settling in Auburn, De Kalb County, where he engaged as clerk in the county auditor's office, during the administration of M. F. Pierce, remaining until 1861, five years. Notwithstanding the Judge's meager scholas- tic opportunities, he had possessed himself of an excellent education in the English branches. The Judge early felt an inclination for the profession of law, and upon enter- ing the auditor's office devoted a portion of his time to its study. continuing this through his clerkship; and at the same time making a complete abstract of the county records, which were finished under his personal super-

vision. In the spring of 1860 he was appointed one of the two United States deputy marshals, for taking the census of De Kalb County, Indiana. In the fall of 1861 he came to Waterloo, and engaged in real estate business for a time, still diligently pursuing his law studies. Sub- sequently, on January 1, 1863, he formed a business con- nection with Judge J. I. Best for the practice of law, continuing until February, 1879, when he accepted the appointment of Judge of the Fortieth Judicial Circuit, a position he now occupies. His discharge of its varied and important duties has won the respect and esteem of the bar, as well as the confidence and commendations of the public. The firm of Best & Mcclellan was among the most noted of the law firms of Northern Indiana. For ability and conscientious fidelity, as well as for successful effort and magnitude of business, they were excelled by none and equaled by few. Judge Mcclellan, when in active practice as a lawyer, occupied a distinguished po- sition among his professional brethren, and is now presi- dent of the De Kalb County Bar Association, and a mem- ber of the State Association, while his devotion to the cause of his numerous clients insured that esteem and confidence which belong to such a relation. In the trial of suits he has been unusually successful. His logical reasoning and well-selected points, and his known candor and honesty, make him a strong advocate before court and jury. But his superior merit lies in his ability as a counselor. His familiarity with the principles of law, his judicial and thoroughly independent character of mind, his native insight, added to his acknowledged in- tegrity, eminently fit him to give advice to those about to enter the courts, as well as to dissuade those who have determined upon such a course merely from pique or wounded vanity. It is these qualities which fit him so well for the responsible position of Judge, and make it possible for him to poise the scales of justice with that degree of good judgment and exactness which his office demands. In politics, Judge Mcclellan is a pro- nounced Democrat, ready and earnest in the support of his political convictions. He is a liberal contributor in time, labor, and money to promote the interests of his party ; but he is in no way a professed politician, or an aspirant for office, believing that professional business and political office can not be made to harmonize. Ile is a member of the Democratic State Central Committee of Indiana. Judge Mcclellan is orthodox in sentiment, although not a member of any Church. He is generous in the support of all religious organizations. Whatever he finds that is of good report he helps. To his sym- pathies with the temperance reform he adds the force of personal example. Judge Mcclellan is an honored member of the Masonic Fraternity. Having previously filled all the offices in the Blue Lodge, Chapter, and the subordinate positions in the degree of Knight Templar, he is now Eminent Commander of Apollo Commanderv.

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at Kendallville, Indiana. Judge Mcclellan has always been a leader in public improvements in Waterloo and De Kalb County. He is an original stockholder and one of the directors of the Fort Wayne, Jackson and Saginaw Railroad, and exerted his influence to cause it to be laid through Waterloo. In 1868, in company with Judge Best, he built, at a cost of eighteen thou- sand dollars, the Star Mills, of Waterloo, which were in operation but a short time when they were destroyed by fire, without insurance. In 1873, in connection with Judge Best, he instituted the De Kalb Bank of Wa- terloo, which, under their judicious management, com- mands the confidence of the people. He is also a stockholder and vice-president of the First National Bank of Auburn. He was married, November 10, 1859, to Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel D. Long, one of the pioneers of De Kalb County, and a res- ident at that time of Auburn, a man of marked in- telligence and of more than ordinary acquirements, of strong moral worth, and regarded by his fellows as an exemplary citizen and a leader in all matters which promote the welfare of the community. Mr. Long subsequently removed to Waterloo, where he now lives, in the enjoyment of good health ; and now, at the age of eighty years, retains to an unusual degree both mental and physical faculties. Judge and Mrs. McClel- lan have three children. Jennie L. was born August 10, 1860. A young lady of unusual attainments, pos- sessing a capacity of mind to receive and retain instruc- tion, she has by her parents been granted liberal advan- tages. For seven years she was a student at the Mu- sical Conservatory at Fort Wayne, Indiana, from which she graduated with distinguished honors, in 1879, in both vocal and instrumental music. As a singer, she stood in the front rank at college, and is noted for her purity of tone and inflection, and for her correct- ness of enunciation. But she especially excels as a performer in instrumental music. With her brother Charles and sister Della, all graduates of the Water- loo high school, she is now in attendance at the Mich- igan University, at Ann Arbor. Her mother also has taken up a temporary residence there during the school terms. Charles was born in September, 1862; and Della was born November 1, 1864. They are bright and intelligent children, and bid fair to make fine schol- ars. While Judge Mcclellan in professional life has achieved distinction, he has been no less fortunate finan- cially, having acquired an ample fortune. The Judge is of dignified but pleasing presence, of dark complex- ion, and above the ordinary height and size, compactly though not heavily built. He stands erect, and pos- sesses good health and a robust constitution. He has been the builder of his own fortune, and his position is assured. Judge Mcclellan is now in the prime of man- hood.

cCOY, MATTHEW, farmer and prominent cit- izen, of Lagrange, Indiana, was born June 23, 1823, in Trumbull County, Ohio, and is the youngest born of a family of ten children-nine of whom grew to manhood and womanhood-of Thomas and Mary (Wilson) McCoy, and were natives of Penn- sylvania and Delaware. They were of Irish and Scotch descent. James Wilson, grandfather of Matthew McCoy on the maternal side, was a soldier with Mr. McCoy, his other grandfather, in the War of the Revolution, and both fought in the American army for the existence and independence of our country. Thomas, father of Matthew, was a man of local consideration and pure worth in his surroundings, a consistent and active Chris- tian, and a valued member of the Presbyterian Church, of which for many years he was an efficient elder. He died November 28, 1865, in the eighty-fifth year of his age. His wife was a devoted Christian, an honored member of the Presbyterian Church, and had cheerfully and uncomplainingly shared all his many toils, hard- ships, and cares. She died in 1857, at the ripe age of eighty years, lamented and regretted by her Church and family. Matthew McCoy enjoyed in early boyhood ex- tremely limited school advantages, attending common district schools quite irregularly a part of each winter during his minority. After reaching his majority he continued as before with his father's family, then living in Wayne County, where they had moved when Matthew was a child of three years. In 1846 his father and he located on a farm north of and adjoining the town of Lagrange, continuing as before, remaining there until 1854, when he married and his wife also became a mem- ber of the family. On the death of the parents, Mr. McCoy became owner of the homestead, upon which he has since resided, successfully pursuing his agricultural pursuits. As a farmer he is a representative man in his community, and by his industry, prudence, and good judgment has acquired a handsome competence. His farm is extremely desirable for its location, rich in its native soil, and valuable for its improvements, high state of culture, and generous productiveness. Mr. McCoy is regarded as an excellent farmer. The condition of the premises, and good repairs of his fences and buildings, give the place the appearance of a model of neatness and order. He is also a good manager and financier, and is usually correct in his judgment of matters of busi- ness policy. His is a notable example of the exercise of sound and correct business principles. Mr. McCoy was educated in the old Whig school of politics, and adhered to that party until 1854, when it was merged into the Republican organization. Since that time he has adhered to the latter body. While he is uncom- promising in his political convictions, he is not a politi- cian. Mr. McCoy is a leading and valuable member of the Presbyterian Church, of Lagrange, of which he has

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for about twelve years been an elder. He was a lay delegate to the General Assembly at Cleveland. He is a man of strong religious convictions, earnest and sin- cere in the cause, and in his Christian life affords a living example to the class of careless, indifferent, and time-serving professed Christians. He was married, Feb- ruary 25, 1854, to Miss Hannah Ferguson, of Wayne County, Ohio. She is a native of Pennsylvania, and a descendant from Scotch-Irish ancestry, devout and God- fearing Protestants. She is of a long-lived race of peo- ple, many of her family having attained to a ripe old age, her father dying in his eighty-sixth year. Mrs. McCoy is a valued member of the Presbyterian Church, warm-hearted, benevolent, and of generous sympathies, charitable alike to all, both in thought and deed. They have had five children, three sons and two daughters. The sons survive : Walter T., born May 5, 1858, now as a student attending the University at Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio, which he entered in the fall of 1878; John C., born July 30, 1860; William E., born April I, 1863 ; Mary R., born January 23, 1856, died Sep- tember 22, 1859; Jane, born February 5, 1865, died November 16, 1865. Mr. McCoy's domestic habits are strong, and his devotion to those sacred obligations are such as to command the love and esteem of his family. His home is the center of a generous hospitality. Here, surrounded by his family and friends, he enjoys that repose which comes from a cordial interchange of kindly --

deeds with those dear to him, and without which life loses many of its charms. Mr. McCoy is a true type of the successful self-made men of Indiana.

IcCULLOCH, HUGH, ex-Secretary of the United States Treasury, and one of the ablest financiers this country has ever produced, is the son of Hugh McCulloch, of Kennebunk, Maine, who was in his day one of the most enterprising and at one time one of the largest ship-owners in New England, and who, like others in that business, suffered severely by the War of 1812. Owing to these reverses Hugh, who was one of the youngest of a large family, found himself as he approached to manhood dependent upon his own exertions for making headway in the world. He had received, however, the necessary preparatory education, and he entered Bowdoin College in 1824, graduating in 1826. After leaving college he taught school until he had saved money enough to cover the ex- ; penses of a course of legal studies, which he completed in Boston in 1832. In April, 1833, he came West, and after spending a few weeks in Madison, Indiana, in the office of Jeremiah Sullivan, to acquaint himself with the statutes of the state, he went to Indianapolis, and upon examination was licensed to practice law in the supreme

and inferior courts of the state. From Indianapolis he went to the lake, and after traversing, alone and on horseback, the northern part of the state, which was at that time, as he has described it, a magnificent wilder- ness, he reached Fort Wayne, then little more than an Indian trading-post, through which the Wabash and Erie Canal was being constructed, and where, as there seemed to be a good future before it, he determined to remain. The State Bank of Indiana, chartered in 1833, was organ- ized for business in 1834. In 1835 a branch was established at Fort Wayne, and Mr. McCulloch was appointed its cashier and manager, not because his education had fitted him to become a banker, but because there was no one at Fort Wayne who seemed to be as capable as he to undertake the management of it. In 1837 he be- came, as the representative of the branch, a member of the board of control or director of the State Bank, which position he held in connection with the cashiership of the Fort Wayne branch until the expiration of the charter, in 1857. The State Bank of Indiana was a most successfully managed institution. During the whole of its existence its credit was not excelled by that of any bank in the United States. Its notes were cur- rent from the lakes to the gulf. Its capital and credit were so used as to encourage the industrial interests and develop the agricultural resources of the state, and, although the regular annual dividends averaged between ten and twelve per cent during the twenty years of its existence, it had at the expiration of its charter a sur- plus of nearly one hundred per cent to be divided among the stockholders. The state was the owner of one-half of the stock, the profits on which were the foundation of that noble school fund which is now the pride of the people of Indiana. It is no disparagement to the other able men who were associated with Mr. McCulloch in the management of this excellent bank, to say that its deservedly high credit and successful career were attributable in no small degree to his sound judg- ment, his enterprise and industry. In the winter of 1855 and 1856, in anticipation of the expiration of the charter of the State Bank, another bank was organized, to go into operation on the Ist of January, 1857, under the name of the "Bank of the State of Indiana," with twenty branches, and an authorized capital of six million dollars, one-half of which was paid in. Of this bank Mr. McCulloch was, in 1856, elected president, by the unanimous vote of the directors, and as the control im- mediately after its complete organization passed into the hands of his former associates, and others of equal care- fulness and ability, it became from the start a worthy successor of the State Bank. It was undoubtedly the strongest bank in the United States. When Mr. McCul- loch left it, it held upwards of three million dollars in gold coin in the vaults of its branches, and so good was | its discount line that it could, within sixty days, have paid

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every dollar of its liabilities and returned to the stock- holders the amount of their stock, with a large surplus for subsequent distribution. Mr. McCulloch held the office of president of the Bank of the State until April, 1863, when he resigned to accept the office of con- troller of the currency, which was strongly pressed upon him by Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Chase. The or- ganization of the National Currency Bureau, which was soon to become one of the largest and most important bureaus of the Treasury Department, was a task of no little difficulty. He commenced the work with a deputy controller-Mr. Howard, who proved to be a very valuable assistant-and two lady clerks. The business of the bureau rapidly increased, and, as it took time to educate the clerks-the number of whom was multiplied from week to week-to the per- formance of duties which were entirely new to them, the labors of Mr. McCulloch were severe and contin- uous. He was, however, equal to the work he had un- dertaken, and so thorough and systematic was the organization of the bureau that no changes of any im- portance were found to be necessary by his successors. It is understood that Mr. McCulloch feels a greater pride in the work which he performed in the organiza- tion of this bureau, and in putting the national banking system into successful operation, than in any of his other triumphs as a public man. In March, 1865, upon the resignation of Mr. Fessenden, Mr. Lincoln tendered to Mr. McCulloch the office of Secretary of the Treasury. As the office was neither solicited nor desired, the action of Mr. Lincoln in offering to him the most important and responsible office in the government was a very gratifying recognition by the President of his financial ability, and of the value of the services he had ren- dered as controller of the currency. As the department at that time was in a very embarrassed condition, and great financial troubles were expected to occur at the close of the war, the office was not an attractive one to those who had either a reputation to make or sustain. Mr. McCulloch had been on terms of intimacy with both Mr. Chase and Mr. Fessenden. He had rendered serv- ices to both, particularly to the latter, in the discharge of their difficult and trying duties, and he had become somewhat familiar with the financial operations and the routine of the department. He knew that the office was an exceedingly laborious and responsible one, and that in accepting it he undertook to perform duties upon the right performance of which depended not only the credit of the government, but in a very large measure the inter- ests of the people. He did not, however, feel at liberty to decline the position, which had been voluntarily offered to him, and he entered upon the discharge of his duties not without distrust of his ability properly to per- form them, but with the feeling that the government had a right to demand of him such services as he might

be able to render. Of the manner in which he adminis- tered his great office ; of his success in raising the enor- mous amount of money required to meet the demands of the army and navy in the closing scenes of the war; in paying the soldiers and sailors when the war was ended; in funding the temporary obligations of the government, amounting to some fifteen hundred millions of dollars, without disturbing the business and industrial interests of the country, it is not necessary to speak. The record of these operations is one of the most inter- esting chapters in the history of the Treasury Depart- ment, and he is quite willing that his reputation as secretary should rest upon it. Mr. McCulloch resigned his office at the close of Mr. Johnson's administration, on the 3d of March, 1869, and gave himself the rest which he required after six years of hard and unremit- ting labor. In November, 1870, he went to London and organized the banking house of Jay Cooke, McCul- loch & Co., which did a very large and profitable busi- ness-larger and more profitable, perhaps, than had ever been done by any new house in that great city-until September, 1873, when it was forced into liquidation by the misfortunes of his American partners, the informa- tion of whose failure was the unwelcome intelligence which he received on his arrival in the United States, whither he had come to spend a few weeks with his sons. The blow which he received was a stunning one, but he did not sink under it. The profits of the Lon- don house were swept away, but, contrary to the fears of its friends and the expectation of the public, it did not fail, and by not failing, as its business and liabilities were very large, it prevented a financial crisis in Lon- don. In January, 1874, the London partners of Jay Cooke, McCulloch & Co. were joined by Hon. R. L. Melville, a gentleman of means and ability and high so- cial position, and a new firm was formed, under the name of McCulloch & Co., which is understood to be doing a prosperous business. Mr. McCulloch has ever been distinguished by his industry, and his fidelity to the trusts which have been confided to him; by the care with which he has formed his financial opinions; by the tenacity with which he has adhered to them, and the directness and clearness with which he has presented them in his official reports, his letters to the press, and his speeches. He contends that the financial condition of the country since 1873 has verified the correctness of the views expressed in his reports as Secretary of the Treasury, none of which has he had the disposition to change or modify. He divides his time, in looking after the interests of his firm, between London and New York ; and, although he has nearly reached the age of threescore and ten, he is still in the enjoyment of robust and vigorous health. His services to the repub- lic have been great ; it owes him many thanks for the measures he inaugurated.

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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 95

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