USA > Indiana > Vanderburgh County > Evansville > A history of Evansville and Vanderburgh County, Indiana : a complete and concise account from the earliest times to the present, embracing reminiscences of the pioneers and biographical sketches of the men who have been leaders in commercial and other enterprises > Part 39
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He and Miss Mattie J., daughter of Samuel Orr, were married March 6, 1867. She is an estimable lady of many attainments.
It is not sufficient to recount simply the material side of the life of Mr. Bayard, to narrate merely the dates of his various advancements, and to sum up the results of his activity ; there is another side, that one that gave rise to action and originated events, that inner power of direction, thinking, planning, the self behind the course of his life. In plain words he has been a master in monetary affairs, a financial leader. His friends do not hesitate to say he has a singular genius for banking, and that his great financial influence was never exerted to a happier advantage than during the panic of 1893, when he so ably bridged over the crisis in this city and prevented any bank failures. He showed a natural talent in this great crisis for managing money to the best advantage-just as a general handles troops in a
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battle to secure victory. That Mr. Bayard should succeed and wear the mantle of large-minded financiers, is not only a compliment to his own abilities, but also the placing upon his shoulders of the manage- ment of larger funds and the direction of an increased volume of busi- ness. In this respect his usefulness and his powers are seen to the best effect. He has shown his competency for any banking emergencies that may arise, and has always persisted in his plans and designs until he reached them.
DAVID J. MACKEY.
One of the greatest financiers and capitalists, as we may say, that Evansville ever had is David James Mackey. At one time he was the greatest railroad promoter and owner in the state of Indiana, and his resourceful mind has made Evansville the railroad point it is at the present time. At one time he was president of the E & T. H., the E. & I., the P., D. & E., the E. & R., the branch road to Mt. Vernon, the Belt road and still an owner in other railroad property. His extraordinary activity placed him in financial relation as owner of stock in the cotton mills, the mills at Mt. Vernon, as owner of the St. George hotel, as partner in the wholesale boot and shoe house of Dixon, Mackey & Co., as principal owner in the Mackey, Nisbet & Co's. large dry goods building, the Armstrong Furniture Co., and a large con- tributor in the magnificent B. M. A. building.
Mr. Mackey was born in Evansville in December, 1833, the only son of James E. and Eliza Mackey. His father died when he was not a year old, and as soon as he was able he began to earn a small salary with which to help his mother. He became a junior partner in the wholesale dry goods firm of Archer & Mackey in 1857. August 28, 1861, he married Caroline, the youngest daughter of Judge John Law. He pursued a most active life, no matter in what field of business he engaged. If genius is industry, then he was a genius. His ceaseless activity in commercial matters brought large returns. He prospered greatly. At one time he devoted his attention almost wholly to rail- roads and the movements of capital on a large scale. His methods knew no bounds; his schemes for investment were in proportion to the massive business capacity of the man. He was early aud late at his office, and a very hard worker, never happier than when the busiest. He had no time to waste in frivolities or squander in the vanity of show for the sake of making an impression, or in the mere desire of affection or self-secking. His large enterprises kept many men em-
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· ployed, and his benefactions were many and generous. Of late he has withdrawn from the heavy exactions of large managements, and the worries of ceaseless activity and harassings of large ownerships. He is a man greatly esteemed by his fellow-citizens.
THE INGLES.
In writing the history of a man, a recital of the personal events in his life is necessary for the reader to catch a glimpse of the spirit that actuates him. The force within is all there is of him. No man in Evansville, perhaps, ever manifested a greater degree of energy and shrewdness than did John Ingle, Jr.
His father John Ingle, Sr., was born in Somersham, Huntingdon- shire, England, in 1788. As a farmer he was prosperous, and pursued his business with a carefulness that is a happy trait in all his posterity. He watched the war between the allied powers and Napoleon with great interest, and had strong feelings in the results, of the world- shocking conflict. It appears that the unsettled condition of affairs after the overthrow of Napoleon at Waterloo caused him to look toward the United States for a new home, where liberty was enthroned by the generosity and wisdom of broad-minded men. He immigrated to this country in 1818, and reached Evansville on the first Monday in August of that year. In those days Princeton was more desirable as a place to dwell than Evansville, and he at once proceeded there and purchased a home in which to live. To his mind the town was not up to its reputation, and he soon after returned to Vanderburgh county and bought a farm in Scott township, a place now known as Inglefield. His incorruptible manhood retained for him the postoffice there for over forty-five years, his appointment to the position having first been made by President Monroe. He was a man of many supe- rior excellencies, and endowed with more than ordinary talent. Exact in business methods, yet his broad humanity made every one his abid- ing friend. It is more than tradition that "John Ingle's cabin" never pulled in the latchstring, and was a well known half way house for what might be called the almost homeless itinerant preachers who passed on their ways up and down the land, preaching the gospel, as did St. Paul. Even emigrants availed themselves of the reputation of his " open house," and for many years they never left it hungry or unprovided for. His plain, simple and honest habits of life length-
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ened out his days and gave him the delight of good health all along. He died in 1874, at the green old age of eighty-six years.
The eldest son was called John after his father. This son was born in the very same shire in England in which his father was born. His birthday was the 29th of January, 1812. With a correct sense of edu- cation the father placed him for some time in what was called a "dame" school ; that is, a school taught by an elderly lady, who tried to keep the children out of mischief He was less than five years old when his father settled at Princeton, Ind. When about twelve years old he spent a year and a half in the common schools of Princeton, which were then regarded of a superior character, and are still among the best of the kind. The schooling he had so received but whetted his taste for reading and increased his thirst for knowledge, and he poured over the small but select library of his father until he had devoured everything in it. Many a night he read, as did Abraham Lincoln, by the flickering firelight, while the hungry, prowling wolves were howl- ing hideously on the outside of the cabin. He believed in educating the hand, however, as well as the head, and for two years he worked at the cabinet-makers' trade and furniture business in Princeton, and finished his apprenticeship at this trade at Stringtown. Then in 1833 he started south as a journeyman worker, and engaged in his trade at Vicksburg at the time of the great cholera epidemic there. He pushed on further south and worked eight weeks at New Orleans, where he engaged passage in the steerage of a sailing vessel destined for Philadelphia. It is with no sense of oddity or boastfulness that we speak of the attraction he caused by his hogskin cap and Kentucky jeans clothes on the streets of the City of Brotherly Love; but in this sort of garb he walked the streets for more than two weeks, hunting work. At length he found employment at a place where he labored at his trade ten hours a day. But the aspiring, unsatisfied character of the young man induced him to read law eight more hours a day in the office where George R. Graham, since well known as the editor of . Graham's Magazine, and Charles J. Peterson, who later became the publisher of Peterson's Ladies' Magazine, were also students. They were all young men then, looking forward in life to greater things, and received their instructions from Attorney Thomas Armstrong, Jr., in his office. Mr. Armstrong subsequently became noted for his success in his profession. He was president of a debating society, and his young students availed themselves of this opportunity to cultivate their forensic powers. Many were the stirring debates in which they participated, and Mr. Ingle manifested surprising skill in handling
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the side of a question in which he had no faith. For three years he pursued his labors and his studies in this fashion, and finally in March, 1838, he was admitted to the bar to practice law. He returned to Evansville and associated himself with Hon. James Lockhart, but a year later formed a partnership with Charles I. Battel. In 1846 he and H. Q. Wheeler became law partners, and in 1849 Asa Iglehart was admitted as junior member of the firm. The following year Mr. Ingle took up the career of a promoter of railroads, which were then just reaching out like spider lines all over the country, and he devoted his entire time and attention to the Evansville and Crawfordsville railroad, which had been set on foot by him, Judge Lockhart, Judge Jones, and others. Later Judge Hall was connected with the plan or project. Mr. Ingle, with his broad view of things and his shrewd in- sight into the promises of the future, saw that if Evansville was to rise out of the depression hanging over it and recover from the failure of the canal, it must be through the outlet of a railroad. Through his invincible energy the city was persuaded to issue bonds for $100,- 000 and the county to pledge itself for an equal amonnt, and with these as collateral, iron was secured, the road-bed finished to Prince- ton, the track laid, and the road set in operation upon a small scale, of course. As superintendent Mr. Ingle manifested superior skill, both as financier and director. His talents in this direction elected him president of the corporation, where he continued for more than twenty years. He labored on year after year extending the line northward, and did more to connect Evansville and Chicago than any other man that ever dwelt here or elsewhere. On account of failing health he resigned from the presidency of the railroad in 1873.
Mr. Ingle married in 1842, at Madison, Indiana, Isabella C. David- son. She was the daughter of Wm. Davidson, who removed from Scotland to America. Seven children were the fruits of this union.
One of the grand schemes put into operation by Mr. Ingle was the development of the coal fields in this vicinity. An eccentric English- man declared with much assurance there was coal here, and Mr. Ingle, having faith in his declaration, sunk a shaft, and at a depth of about 240 feet found coal of a fine quality. The firm of John Ingle & Co., was organized as miners and dealers in coal. This was in 1866. The first shaft sunk was at Coal Mine Hill, in the bend of the river, and is still yielding an output that is in excess of any other mine in this locality. This valuable business is to-day in the hands of John Ingle, Jr's. sons, John and George Ingle, and is very adroitly managed. The mine employs about 100 men. The average tonnage is 50,000 tons per
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annum. The whole yield is consumed locally, by steamboats, rail- roads and families.
Previous to 1870 the mine was operated by Wymond, Norwood and Ingle. Since then the Ingles have been sole owners. They own 200 acres near the Insane Asylum, and it is all wooded. They own 140 acres near Coal Mine Hill, all wooded. Except these landed interests there are no single bodies of wood in the county to-day of over ten or fifteen acres.
Mr. Ingle lived in a quiet manner the remainder of his days. His death transpired October 7, 1875. It needs to be said, in order to illustrate the character of the man more fully, that he was a strict temperance man. On one occasion, when the election was held in the first brick court house, yet standing on Main street, but used as a business house, he showed his utter abhorrence of the "miser- able stuff." In those days it was the custom to use whisky freely at elections. On this particular occasion a barrel of whisky with the head knocked out and two tin cups chained to it, was standing in front of the building on Main street. Some seven or eight got so beastly drunk they could not get upstairs to vote, but slept off their stupor in the gutter. Mr. Ingle came up and seeing the free whisky, said to the crowd: "This will not do, boys. The vile stuff is a corrupting bribe. We will conquer it before it conquers us." And he planted his foot against the barrel and upset its contents in the gutter and then went on his way.
Another incident in his life deserves telling. Once he went up the line of the E. & T. H., shortly after he had been appointed superin- tendent, and he was obliged to wait at a small way station for a re- turning train till after night. He sat very quietly and unknown in the dingy little depot. The pale oil lights did not reveal him in the dark corner. The operator asked the "boys" whether they had seen the new superintendent. None of them had. He overheard all they said. "Well, I have. He looks like he'd been sinoked and dried for a month; or rather dead and buried and dug up after six months." After he had heard himself thoroughly dissected and pictured as others saw him, he stepped forth and without a smile or frown revealed himself. The fellow's face looked as expressionless as the negative of a photographer after it has been erased.
He was a strict member of the Methodist church, and one of the leading official members of the board of Trinity church. He believed in tithing and scrupulously gave the tenth to the church. His church beneficence and his leadership in all church finance were mat-
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ters of wide comment and commendation. He was a man of pro- found thought, zealous in all his plans, studious all his days, very en- terprising and unobtrusive. Small physicially almost as the author of the "Essay on Man"-Alexander Pope-he was a giant in intellect. He was masterful in reason, resourceful in emergencies, quick in apprehension, careful in the details of his plans, and invincible in his purpose. His life was a useful and active one, and his death was a source of profound aud discouraging regret.
THE FOSTER FAMILY.
The immediate antecedents of Matthew Watson Foster were George Foster and Jane Watson his wife. Matthew was born at Gilesfield, county of Durham, England, on June 22, 1800. His father was a tenant farmer, and the family of Jane Watson were tradespeople. Matthew's mother was his school-teacher, and at the age of ten years he was put in a Newcastle bookstore. When Matthew was only fifteen years old his father emigrated to America, arriving in New York in 1815. Farming was not as profitable in New York as was expected, and in 1817 young Matthew set out alone on foot, without bag or scrip, to seek a better place in the far west. Except an occasional ride on a " movers " wagon, he walked all the way to St. Louis-a great under- taking in that day in the wilderness intested by redmen. Induced by his dislike of slavery, he returned across Illinois and selected a home for his family about twenty miles east of Post Vincennes. Then he returned east afoot, made report, and in 1819 the family set out for the new home in wagons, carrying their household effects along with them. Matthew's father and mother and two brothers, James and William, constituted the family. On the headwaters of the Allegheny river they took flat-boats and journeyed eight hundred miles that way into the Ohio and down that stream almost to the juncture of the Wabash. On the way down the Ohio James Foster and wife located in Cincinnati, and the parents, the father seventy-nine and the mother seventy-three, remained with them. But the two brothers, William and Matthew, pushed on down the Ohio to the small village of Evans- ville and thence fifty miles by land to the interior where Matthew had selected a home. The government gave Matthew M. Foster a land patent, on the 8th day of August, 1819, for eighty acres, about seven miles northeast of Petersburgh, Indiana. After building a log cabin Matthew went to Cincinnati, overland, and returned with his parents,
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who remained with him till the day of their death. In that day a barrel of salt cost sometimes as much as forty acres of land. The tather, George Foster, died in 1823. Matthew Foster made his first trip "down the river" to New Orleans in a flat-boat, as a hired hand or oarsman, in 1820. Twice he made the return trip on foot, before he used the steamboat for the up river journey. His flat-boating busi- ness grew larger each year, until he at length sent to New Orleans in a single season as many as ten or twelve flat-boats. Shortly after his father's death he established a small country store on his farm, which became a valuable adjunet to his flat-boat traffic. In 1827 his business had so increased that he found it necessary to remove to Petersburgh. Here his activity and industry and prudence gained for him a large and profitable trade. He also built a horse-mill for grinding corn and a cording-mill for preparing the wool and flax. In 1830 he saw the need of a large mill, and he built the first water-mill in the county, on Patoka river, about ten miles from Petersburgh. June 18, 1829, Matthew married Eleanor Johnson, "the belle of the whole county," the danghter of Colonel John Johnson, who was the son of a Revolutionary hero, who emigrated to Kentucky and was with General William Henry Harrison at Tippecanoe. She was a lovely woman, an adherent of the Cumberland Presbyterian faith, and trained her children in her Christian belief. The itinerant preacher always found a welcome in her home. Matthew Foster, though a very busy man, was elected judge of the probate court, a legal organi- zation that had mainly to do with the settlement of estates. He had had little schooling, but he had caught the valuable spirit of a great reader, and his education therefore never ceased. He was a great admirer of Scott's writings. When a young man he endangered his health by so much reading and by late application to books over a variable firelight. By night study he became a well-educated man. History, poetry, and other writings were favorites, and he memorized much of Shakespeare, Scott, Thompson and Burns. After he was elected judge he carefully read Blackstone and other text-books, and became a fairly well-read lawyer, though he never practiced it.
His father died at the age of 83 and his mother at the age of 88, both at his home, and both loved for their many virtues. Judge Foster was a whig protectionist, and always took a lively interest in politics. He retired temporarily from merchantile pursuits in 1835, chiefly to settle up old claims, and re-entered the business in 1839.
The fruit of his marriage to Eleanor Johnson was six children who attained adult age, as follows: George Foster, (1830), Eliza Jane,
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(1834), John Watson, (1836), Alexander Hamilton, (1838), Eleanor, (1840) and James Hiram, (1842.)
Desiring a wider field for business Judge Foster removed to Evans- ville in the spring of 1846, and began general merchandising. In a short time he purchased the lots on the corner of Main and First streets, adjoining the State bank, now the Old National bank, and pur- sued his business in two buildings. Then he entered upon the whole- sale or jobbing trade, and met with success as usual. He was prom- inently connected with the building of the first railroad out of Evans- ville, the Evansville and Crawfordsville, now Evansville and Terre Haute, and was a member of the board of directors. He was a direc- tor of the Evansville branch of the bank of the State of Indiana; be- ing associated first with John Douglas as president and later with George W. Rathbone. He through this bank relationship, established a close relationship with Hon. Hugh Mccullough. In municipal affairs he was early elected to the council, a position he filled often. There he showed an unimpeachable firmness in the right under all circumstances, and was ever ready to defend his course at whatever sacrifice. He was president for some time of the board of trade, which he greatly aided to found. He was active in the foundation of a library association, of which he was also president, and secured several series of lectures by men of National repute.
There was no Cumberland Presbyterian church in Evansville when the family settled here, so the members attended the Walnut Street Presbyterian congregation. While Judge Foster was not a church member, he was a thoroughly Christian man, attended regularly church services, gave liberally to religious interests and read the Bible much. His beloved wife died in 1849.
Judge Foster was an affectionate husband and a considerate father. He took a wise and fatherly interest in the education of his children, and his letters to them when away at school show the bright and graceful character of the father. He delighted to follow the expansion of their minds, give kindly counsel, and encouraging them in well- doing and well-pursuing. He always wrote cheerfully and healthfully, so to speak.
On November 18, 1851, he was married to Mrs. Sarah Kazar, widow of Nelson Kazar, a Christian lady of culture and many attainments. To them were born Matthew William, (1852) and Sarah Elizabeth, (1857.)
From the whig party he naturally allied himself with the free soil party, because it met the aggressive spirit of slavery with an equally
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aggressive determination. On the organization of the republican party he became an active member and a staunch anti-slavery advo- cate. To be an "abolitionist" then was almost to ostracise one's self, in this part of the country. He was a great admirer of Abraham Lincoln. Their early experiences held much in common, and when the martyr president lived in Indiana the two men were neighbors. On the election of Mr. Lincoln he soon saw the lowering of the war cloud, which Helper had long predicted. And when the storm burst he encouraged his sons to go to the front and told them that whatever the fate of war might be for them their young wives should not suffer for the blessings of life. He looked after the families of the soldiers, and contributed for the reliet of the men in the field and in the hospital. He was among the first to reach Fort Donelson and extend relief to the wounded and sick after the engagement there.
The long busy life he had led, and the worry growing out of the war, no doubt brought on the end, which occurred peacefully early on Monday morning, April 13, 1863. He was a man who from the first manifested his independence and his entire freedom from the financial support of others of his family. His great application and singleness of purpose are shown by his ceaseless pursuit of knowledge trom the books under the most trying circumstances-he never relin- quished his purpose. His unselfishness and large public spirit were matters of frequent remark by his neighbors and friends. His con- victions were always strong and well defined, and his great prudence and broad judgment naturally put him in the lead in many enterprises that had for their object the general good. And not the least of his many virtues and excellent traits of character was his pre-eminently domestic disposition. His memory is cherished to-day by many people for his excellence and his liberality.
JOHN W. FOSTER.
Of all the distinguished men of Evansville, none rank above Hon. John Watson Foster, son of Matthew Watson Foster, in learning, statesmanship and genuine manhood, and none his equal in diplomacy and the knowledge of the spirit of the governments of the earth, past and present. This distinguished fellow-citizen of Evansville was born in Pike county, Ind., on the 2d of March, 1836. He was boru upon a farm, and like other farm boys, he had the great book of nature open before him like a scroll, from which he read to great profit. His
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father had a fine appreciation of the beauties and advantages of a good education, and he naturally encouraged his children to secure a higher knowledge of the languages, the sciences, history and all that goes to make the humanities. He saw to it that all his children had opportu- nities of acquiring good education at the best institutions of learning within easy reach. John W. Foster was graduated from the State university at Bloomington, Ind., in 1855, when he was not yet twenty years old. He adopted the profession of the law, and in order to qualify himself, he pursued his legal studies at Harvard law school in the years 1855-56. He was admitted to the bar in 1852, and prac- ticed his profession at Evansville till July, 1861, when he laid aside everything and offered his services in the war for the preservation of the Union. As major of the 25th Indiana volunteers, he entered the service, and his abilities soon put him in command of the 65th and subsequently of the 136th Indiana regiments. In the battle of Fort Donelson he distinguished himself by his fighting qualities and his ability to anticipate the enemy and checkmate him. His record on the bloody field of Shiloh, in the fight at Knoxville and many other hard-contested engagements is one among the best achieved by any of the renowned soldiers and commanders who participated in these fearful contests. It is not the purpose here to more than allude to his career in the army. It would require a volume to do justice to this part of his life, and furthermore, it is not in our power here and now to treat it fully and satisfactorily. As commander of the cavalry brigade and division of the 23d army corps, in the east Tennessee campaign, he demonstrated his excellent ability to handle large forces speedily and effectively His war record is one of honor and efficiency and his services to his country cannot be summed up in words. He was mustered out of the army in September, 1864.
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