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 96

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 96

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I am yours Truly

REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF INDIANA.

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CDONALD, COLONEL ISAIAH BURRITT, counselor at law, Columbia City, Whitley County, Indiana, was born at Woodville, Rappa- hannock County, Virginia, September 18, 1826. His father, Carter McDonald, was born in Virginia, of parents who came from Inverness, Scotland. His mother, Elizabeth Carder, whose parents were also Scotch, was born in Virginia. Their family consisted of twelve children, nine sons and three daughters, all of whom they reared. The subject of this sketch is the second son and second child. His family removed in '1836 to Wayne County, Ohio, and in 1842 to Whitley County, Indiana. In early life he followed the voca- tions of carpenter and joiner and teaching school. After attending two terms at the Edinburgh Academy, in Wayne County, Ohio, he taught in the states of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana, and in May, 1852, returned to Whitley County, where he began the practice of law. The same year he was elected prosecuting attorney for Noble and Whitley Counties, in which capacity he con- tinued to serve until 1855, when he was elected county clerk of Whitley County. At the breaking out of the War of the Rebellion, he was chiefly instrumental in organizing a volunteer company of infantry, known as Company E, 17th Indiana Volunteers, in which he en- listed as a private, and was soon afterwards made sec- ond lieutenant. In July, 1861, he was appointed senior aide-de-camp and chief of staff to General J. J. Rey- nolds, in Western Virginia, in which position he took prominent parts in the battles of Elk Water, Green- brier, and Camp Alleghany. In Headley's History of the Rebellion honorable mention is made of Lieutenant McDonald, of the 17th Indiana, in the battle of Camp Alleghany, where he began the fight in the moonlight by a gallant charge upon the rebels. We make the following extract from the official report of General Mil- roy to Brigadier-general Reynolds, with regard to the battle of Camp Alleghany, December 13th, 1861: "I owe the warmest thanks to Lieutenant McDonald, of your staff, for the able and efficient service which he rendered me on the march and in the action by his ac- tivity, bravery, and coolness in leading and rallying the troops." In January, 1862, he was transferred to the staff of General R. H. Milroy, and served with him through the campaigns of Virginia in 1862-3, as cap- tain and commissary of subsistence of the United States army. The following extract, from the Philadelphia Enquirer of August 26, 1862, giving a detailed state- ment of the capture of Pope's trains at Catlett's Station- reported by Doctor Eaton, who was with General Pope-says :

"During the onset of the rebels, after the wagons of Pope's train had been fired, they started from the road to where General Milroy's trains lay, intending to pay their attention to them, but they were promptly met 1

{ by a guard of about one hundred men, headed by the gallant Captain I. B. McDonald, commissary of Milroy's brigade. His bravery and determination saved the train."

General Milroy, in his report of the terrible fight of second Bull Run, says :

" I avail myself of this opportunity to return my thanks to the members of my staff-Captains Baird, Flesher, and McDonald, and Lieutenant Cravens."

The following is a copy of the dispatch which led to Captain McDonald's promotion :

" BLOODY RUN, BEDFORD COUNTY, PENN., }

June 20, 1863. j " Governor of West Virginia, Wheeling, Virginia :

" I am at this place with near half my command, in- cluding most of the 12th Virginia. Captain I. B. Mc- Donald, my commissary, is with me, and is the only staff officer of my command who saved all his papers and money. His conduct in the battles of Sunday and Monday last was most gallant and praiseworthy, and any promotion you can give him would be well de- served, and most gratifying to me. He would make a splendid colonel for my gallant old 3d Virginia.

" (Signed) R. H. MILROY, Major-general."

In 1864 he was advanced to the rank of lieutenant- colonel of the 6th West Virginia Cavalry, and in August, 1864, resigned and returned home, after a faith- ful and brilliant military career of three years and four months. Upon settling with the government for about two million dollars' worth of money and goods he had handled while in the army, his shortage, by clerical er- rors, for the three years' transactions, amounted to only three dollars and fifty-four cents ($3.54), for which amount he holds the receipt of E. T. Bridges, Brevet Colonel and Commissary of Subsistence of the United States army. The following is a copy of a letter from General R. H. Milroy, who is a Republican, to Col- onel McDonald, who is a Democrat, written in 1870:

" DELPHI, IND., July 11, 1870.

" DEAR COLONEL,-Yours of the 6th inst. was duly re- ceived. I was much pleased to hear from you after your long silence, for the truth is, notwithstanding the unac- countable hallucination that has led you to oppose the party that saved the Union, I have ever entertained for you personally the warm feeling and sincere friendship of a brother soldier, from the fact that for near two j years you were a member of my staff and one of my military family, and we saw much hard service and some hard fighting together. I suppose that politically we widely differ, but no mere difference of opinion, be it political, sectarian, or otherwise, would cause me to swerve from the truth or refuse to do justice to a brother soldier. It therefore affords me pleasure to state that while you were with me you proved yourself to be a gallant soldier and a most faithful and efficient officer. I always found you at the post of duty, and you were often with me in battle performing the duties of an aide-de-camp in front when you might have excused yourself, under the duties of a commissary of subsistence, in looking after your commissary trains in the rear. No portion of the army was better fed or better supplied with commissary stores than my command while you

REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF INDIANA.

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were my commissary of subsistence. Your character for promptness, energy, and efficiency in your duties as com- missary of subsistence was widely noted in the army, and other commands around mine whose commissaries of sub- sistence were lacking in those requisites often came to you to borrow rations for their men. Your reputation for honesty and fair dealing with the army and the government was above suspicion while you were with me, and I have heard nothing against you since you left me. You are at liberty to refer to me for the falsity of any charge against you as an officer and soldier while you served with my command. Hoping that you may live long and prosper, and that you may soon see the error of your ways in politics and amend them, I am very truly Your friend,

"(Signed)

R. II. MIL.ROY."

While commissary, Colonel McDonald kept an accurate account of his transactions, and upon examination of his books by some prominent citizens of Whitley County, Indiana, in 1868, it was found that at the end of his service he had saved the government the large sum of over forty-two thousand dollars. Upon the Colonel's return home, in the fall of 1864, he was appointed school examiner for Whitley County, in which position he served until December, 1870, when he resigned, to take the office of Representative in the state Legisla- ture, where he served as chairman of the House Judi- ciary Committee. He is a stanch war Democrat, and was elector for the Twelfth Congressional District of In- diana in 1876. Every one of the counties gave him a majority, and with the other electors he cast his vote for Samuel J. Tilden for President and Thomas A. IIen- dricks for Vice-President of the United States. He is now a member of the Columbia City school board. In 1854 he married, in Columbia City, Miss Catharine Bren- neman, and has four sons, the oldest of whom, James E. McDonald, is city clerk, and a teacher in the high school. Colonel McDonald is an active member in the Masonic Order, Independent Order of Odd-fellows, and Independent Order of Red Men, of Columbia City. He is strictly a self-made man. Coming to Indiana poor in pocket but with great energy and industry and unim- peachable integrity, he has succeeded in financial pursuits, and is now one of the wealthiest men in Whitley County. He has done much for the school and agricultural inter- ests of the county in which he lives; more than any other man in the building up of Columbia City, and is the owner of its finest residence and business blocks.

family being possessed of a fine library, he received in- struction from his mother at home, and subsequently attended the Indianapolis Business College, where he took a full course. When the Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad was completed, his father was appointed sta- tion agent at Larwill, but a short time afterwards he gave it in charge of his son IIenry, who had been act- ing as a clerk in his father's store. From 1860 until 1870 he was engaged in that capacity, but at the ex- piration of that time, being elected to the office of county treasurer, removed to Columbia City, the county seat. At the end of his term of office, he was re-elected, and held that responsible position four years. In 1874 he became a partner with his brother, and, after spend- ing a few months as deputy county clerk, engaged actively in banking, to which he has since devoted his time. June 7, 1866, he was married, in Fort Wayne, to Miss Lavinia C. Clugston, a lady from New Castle County, Delaware, and has a family of four sons. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which he joined at Larwill in 1868 and in which he has held offices and positions of trust. He is a Democrat, and member of the Masonic Fraternity and Independent Order of Odd-fellows. The former secret organization he joined in 1862, being secretary of the lodge at Larwill a number of years, and at present holds a mem- bership in the Fort Wayne Commandery of Knights Templar. In the Independent Order of Odd-fellows he has occupied all the chairs, holds the title of Past Grand, and has been representative to the Grand Lodge of Indiana. Mr. McLallen, like his brother, gives his close attention to business. He is highly respected for his innumerable good qualities. While county treas- urer he performed his duties faithfully, was always to be found at his post, and received the universal appro- bation of the residents of Whitley County for his care- ful and correct performance of the duties of the most responsible office in their power to bestow.

CLALLEN, ELISHA LYMAN, banker, of Co- lumbia City, was born February 2, 1836, at Trumansburg, Tompkins County, New York. His father, Henry McLallen, was of Scotch extrac- tion. His mother, Frances M. Lyman, was of En- glish descent, the genealogy of her family being traced to Richard Lyman, who was born at High Ongar, near London, England, in 1580, removed thence to the United States, and died in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1640. Henry and Frances M. (Lyman) McLallen were parents of twelve children, only four of whom attained ma- jority. Three still survive : one daughter, Mrs. Mar- garet A. Clugston, a resident of Larwill, Whitley County,

cLALLEN, HENRY, banker, Columbia City, was born August 2, 1841, in Trumansburg, New York. For an account of his parents and their ancestors we refer to the sketch of his older brother, E. L. McLallen. His parents removed to Indiana when he was but four years old, and, settling upon a farm, gave him very limited chances for a school education ; but, the | Indiana ; Henry McLallen, of the firm of E. L. Mc-

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Lallen & Co., bankers, of Columbia City, whose biogra- phy appears in this work ; and E. L. McLallen, the sub- ject of this sketch. In 1844 the family removed from New York to Northern Indiana, and settled in Whitley County on a farm. The sons received only a limited school education, but had the advantages of a large li- brary at home, and instruction from their mother; E. L. McLallen only attending school two terms in Indi- ana, and, after eighteen years of age, two terms in Massa- chusetts. During the building of the Fort Wayne and Chi- cago Railroad he was one of the civil engineer corps, and in 1857, in partnership with D. B. Clugston, bought out the mercantile business which his father had con- ducted at Larwill since 1852, and continued in that part- nership sixteen years. In April, 1874, after having closed up his affairs, Mr. McLallen removed to Colum- bia City and engaged in banking, which, in company with his brother, under the name and firm of E. L. Mc- Lallen & Co., he still continues, having met with satis- factory success and a steady increase of business each year. He is also a member of the firm of L. B. Sny- der & Co., hardware dealers, of Larwill, with which he has been connected about ten years. In the Masonic Fraternity he is a member of the Blue Lodge, Chapter, Commandery, and Scottish Rite, and for the last three years has been chairman of the committee on foreign correspondence for the Grand Lodge of Indiana. Mr. Mc Lallen possesses extraordinary business qualifications- far better than the average. IIe is an attentive student and close observer, very accommodating, of unimpeach- able integrity, and honorable in every transaction. With these qualities, and a strict attention to the details of his business, he has been successful where most men would have failed. In 1874, at the time Mr. MeLallen began his banking career, the panic which began the year before was still continuing, but the confidence of the people in the firm of E. L. McLallen & Co. was such that they gave it their support from its beginning. So- cially, Mr. McLallen is thought a great deal of. He is a pleasant-spoken, fine-appearing gentleman, above me- dium height, of large frame, wears a full beard, and talks to the point. He is respected and esteemed by all who know him, and is justly entitled to a place among the foremost of Indiana's representative men.

cMEANS, JOHN, farmer and pioneer, of Albion, Noble County, was born in Montgomery County, Ohio, November 23, 1807. His grandfather em- igrated to this country from Scotland during the last years of the Revolution. His son, John McMeans, father of our subject, was married in early life to Susan Shively. Though poor in purse, they relied on their stout hearts and willing hands for that ultimate success

which is the aim of all young people who assume the responsibilities of matrimony. Within a year a child was born to bless their union, but before another twelve- month had run its course the father sickened and died, leaving the widow, with her infant son, to struggle against poverty and the selfishness of a cold world. After three years of widowhood she married a farmer named Nicholas Tinkle. John McMeans, the immedi- ate subject of this sketch, lived on the farm with his- parents until he had reached the age of fifteen. He was literally ignorant of the simplest rudiments of an education, but he determined to change, even if he could not better, his surroundings. He accordingly left home and apprenticed himself to C. Winebrerer, for a period of five years, to learn the pottery trade, the contract stipulating that he should receive nine months' school- ing during the time, and his board and clothing, and at the expiration of the agreement an extra suit of cloth- ing, commonly called a freedom suit. The stipulations were so faithfully adhered to by both parties that, at the close of his apprenticeship, he remained with his em- ployer two years longer as a journeyman, when he pur- chased the business. With the beginning of this year, January 1, 1829, he was married to Miss Eliza Beecher, of Montgomery County, Ohio. In 1838 he sold out his shop and stock and emigrated to Indiana, and located in Noble County, at a backwoods settlement called Port Mitchell. Here he began the pottery business, but the country was so sparsely settled, and the inhabitants in general so poor, that it proved unremunerative. Mean- while he had become very popular in the community, and in 1844 was elected treasurer of the county. This office he continued to fill by successive re-elections for nine years. He was now possessed of some money, which he invested in a farm in the vicinity of Albion. He kept on increasing his landed possessions until they gradually required his exclusive attention; and a few years ago, having reached the age of threescore and ten, he practically retired from business. Of the eleven children born to him six are yet living, all of whom he has liberally endowed. Mr. McMeans is a stanch Re- publican in politics, and has been for half a century a member of the Christian Church. Mrs. McMeans, the faithful partner of his joys and sorrows, died April 12, 1877, in the sixty-eighth year of her age.

ITCHELL, JOHN, a banker, and a prominent citizen of Kendallville, Noble County, Indiana, was born June 2, 1830, in Montgomery County, New York, and is a son of William and Nancy (Keller) Mitchell, who were also natives of that state, and farmers by occupation. Wm. Mitchell was of Scotch-En- glish descent, and his father's ancestors came to Amer-

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ica before the Revolutionary War, as British soldiers, in the army of General Braddock. Nona (Keller) Mitchell was of German descent. In 1836 Wm. Mitchell re- moved with his family to Noble County, Indiana, where he located on a tract of one hundred and sixty acres of timber land, in what was then an unbroken wilderness, but now is the city of Kendallville, which he began clear- ing and improving. He platted the first village lots on . grounds then in the woods, thus founding the place now grown, with its subsequent additions and plats, to the present city of Kendallville. During his life-time he al- ways occupied a position of distinction and influence among the people. Although a man of meager scholastic opportunities, yet his good sense and sound judgment made him master of a practical education, which, with his native energy of character, insured him a financial success. In 1843 Mr. Mitchell was the leader in the construction of the plank road built from Fort Wayne to Ontario, La- grange County, a distance of about fifty miles, which opened up that section of country to the trade of a large part of Southern Michigan. Mr. Mitchell, in connection with Samuel Hanna and Pliny Hoagland, in 1852, also engaged in the work and completion, under contract, of the Ohio and Indiana Railroad (now a part of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad), the first railroad constructed in North-east Indiana, extend- ing from Crestline, Ohio, to Fort Wayne, Indiana, a distance of one hundred and thirty-one miles, and to Mr. Mitchell is mainly due the credit for the growth and present prosperity and importance of the city of Kendallville. Of strong religious convictions, but not a member, he was an attendant of the Presbyterian Church, of which his wife was a devoted member, and a liberal contributor to its funds. He was always foremost with those advocating reforms and measures tending to amel- iorate the condition of the people. In 1840 he was elected by the Whig party to represent his district in the state Legislature, and served with distinction, and to the acceptance of his constituents. In 1860 he was, by the Republicans, elected as their Representative from his district to Congress, and had served the public in minor offices, and in many ways was made conscious of the power and trust reposed in him by the people. While on a business expedition at Macon, Georgia, in 1865, he died, in the fifty-eighth year of his age, la- mented by his family and a large circle of acquaint- ances. His wife was a lady of marked worth, possess- ing many Christian traits of character, and with her husband had uncomplainingly and cheerfully shared all the trials in the life of the pioneer, and was a help in- deed. She died in 1864, aged fifty-seven, having pre- ceded her life's partner by one year. John Mitchell enjoyed such opportunities for an education as the com- mon schools of a new and sparsely settled country in those days afforded. His family removed from New

York state to Indiana when he was a child of six years of age. He attended the district school irregularly dur- ing the winter terms, working on his father's farm the rest of the time during his minority, after which his whole time was devoted to agricultural pursuits and real estate transactions. In 1863, in connection with his father and others, the First National Bank of Kendall- ville was organized, in which he was a stockholder and director. His father was president, a position he held until his death, when his son John succeeded him in the office, since holding the position of president un- interruptedly for about fifteen years-a better tribute to his fitness for the place than any thing we might say. The success and prosperity of the bank are due to the in- dustry and efficiency of its president and manager. It receives from the people a liberal patronage. In con- nection with the banking business Mr. Mitchell is en- gaged in farming and real estate transactions. He is a good business man and an able financier, and his sound judgment rarely makes a mistake in business. Mr. Mitchell is a worthy member of the Presbyterian Church, of Kendallville, to the support of which he is a gen- erous contributor, and a member of its board of trus- tees. He is a member of the Masonic Fraternity, and has attained the Knight Templar degree. He is earnest in temperance and other reforms tending to improve the moral and educational interests of his community. Mr. Mitchell's family were among the earliest settlers of Kendallville. The first village lots were laid out June I, 1849. Mr. Mitchell has lived to see Kendall- ville emerge from the forest, with a few log cabins and pole sheds and a population of a half dozen white peo- ple, surrounded by numerous Indians of the Pottawat- tamie tribe, and grow to a town of nearly three thousand souls, adorned with splendid dwellings and magnificent business blocks, representing great wealth, and churches, school-houses, and other public improvements. He can look with pride and satisfaction upon the part taken by his father and himself in this wonderful transformation. Mr. Mitchell is in strong sympathy with the Republican party. He was married, January 6, 1857, to Miss Sophronia J. Weston, of Rome City, Noble County, In- diana, a lady of marked presence and fine personal acquirements. She is a consistent member of the Pres- byterian Church. She is respected and influential. She reads much, and is informed on general topics as well as on matters of literature. They have three children : Lydia A., born October 1, 1860; Kate R., born Decem- ber 18, 1863; and William, born August 23, 1865. Mr. Mitchell is now in the noontide of usefulness. In social life he is a genial Christian gentleman. His domestic habits are pure and strong, and his home is the center of a generous hospitality. There, surrounded by his family and friends, he enjoys that repose which comes from a cordial interchange of kindly deeds with those

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near to him, and without which life loses many of its charms. His position is assured as a business man, as well as in society.

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INER, BYRUM D., was born in Northampton Township, county of Hampshire, in the state of Massachusetts, June 12, 1816. His father, Sam- uel Miner, was of Welsh descent and a native of Connecticut, and his mother was of Irish ancestry, of the Hamilton family. In 1817 they emigrated to the then far West and settled in the state of New York, ten miles east of where is now the city of Rochester. In 1823 they settled in Orleans County near the village of Holley, twenty-five miles west of Rochester, about the time of the construction of the Erie Canal. That country being at the time a wilderness, Mr. Miner's early education was limited. In 1833 his parents again emigrated West, and settled at Akron, Portage County, Ohio. In 1835 the subject of this sketch, then a youth, under the influence of the Western fever, went to Fort Wayne, Indiana, having walked from Akron to Perrysburg, whence he worked his way on pirogues up the Maumee River to Fort Wayne, where he arrived July 7, destitute of worldly effects and barefooted. He immediately obtained work in the harvest field, of William Rockhill. In the fall of that year he visited the mud-hole known as the village of Chicago, crossed the country to the Wabash, to the small Indian trading- post which is now the city of Logansport, thence to Fort Wayne, where he arrived in November, having made the entire trip on an Indian pony, and being the most of the time solitary and alone. Soon afterward he arranged with Newel D. Stewart to purchase furs for the Messrs. Hollisters, of Perrysburg, Ohio. In that capacity he remained until 1838, when he engaged with the firm of W. G. & G. W. Ewing, with whom he con- tinued until the death of William G. Ewing, which occurred July 11, 1854. The old firm being then dis- solved, Mr. Miner continued in the business as a partner by previous contract until 1859, when he arranged with George W. Ewing, and Hugh McCulloch, administra- tor of William G. Ewing, in the settlement of the busi- ness of the old firm, which was closed in October, 1865. On May 29, 1866, George W. Ewing departed this life, and Mr. Miner undertook the settlement and manage- ment of his estate, in which he is still engaged, con- ducting the affairs of the large estate with ability and to the satisfaction of the heirs and legatees. He con- fines himself strictly to his business, and has been very successful. In 1868 and 1869 he represented Allen County in the state Legislature, besides holding impor- tant official positions in the city and county where he resides. His acquaintance extends over the entire North- west, both with the whites and Indians, as his busi-

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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 96

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