USA > Indiana > Delaware County > A portrait and biographical record of Delaware county, Ind. : containing biographical sketches of many prominent and representative citizens, together with biographies and portraits of all of the presidents of the United States, and biographies of the governors of Indiana > Part 13
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Breckinridge, he gave his undivided support to the last named gentleman, influenced there- to by a belief that his election would prevent the threatening civil war. Again, when his party rallied to the support of Mr. Greeley, he manifested his dissent by supporting Mr. O'Conor for the presidency. When the war came on, he raised a regiment, the Forty-sixth Indiana, and at its head entered the federal service. He did brilliant service in several campaigns, but owing to an injury received by the falling of his horse, was compelled to leave the service before the expiration of the war. Since the close of the war, he has continued to practice his profession, not interfering in political affairs except to preserve the integ- rity of his inherent ideas with the vigor of his palmier days, opposing whatever he conceives to be wrong in civil and political affairs. In personal appearance, Dr. Fitch is a remarkable specimen of physical manhood, having a well knit frame and a courtly dignity which bespeaks the polished gentleman. In his prime he appeared a knight among men, and while a member of the United States senate is said to have been the finest looking man in that body.
0 AVID TURPIE was born in Hamil- ton county, Ohio, in 1829, graduated at Kenyon college, studied law, and began practice at Logansport, Ind., in 1849. He was a member of the legislature in 1852, was appointed judge of the court of common pleas in 1854, and of the circuit court in 1856, which post he resigned. He was again a member of the state house of repre- sentatives in 1856, and was elected to the United States senate from Indiana, as a dem- ocrat, in place of Jesse D. Bright, who had been expelled, serving from January 22 to March 3, 1863. Nearly twenty-four years
afterward he was again called on by his party to represent them in the senate, to which body he was elected by the Indiana legislature, at the session of 1886-7, after a memorable struggle. His opponent was Benjamin Harri- son, afterward elected president, and he was defeated by the votes of one or two independ- ents in the legislature, whe held the balance of power between the two great parties, which were almost equally divided in voting strength among the members. Mr. Turpie enjoys the reputation of being one of the ablest constitu- tional lawyers in Indiana, and is also graded high as a man of literary attainments.
0 ANIEL D. PRATT was born at Pal- ermo, Maine, October 24, 1813, and died at Logansport, Ind., June 17, 1877. His father was a physician and the son of David Pratt, a revolutionary soldier, of Berkshire county, Mass. Mr. Pratt's early years were years of excessive toil. necessitated by the circumstances of his fath- er's family. His early education was acquired in the district schools of Madison county, N. Y., and in 1825 he entered the seminary at Cazenovia, that state, and two years later entered Hamilton college, from which he graduated in 1831. He was a natural orator, and as a classical scholar was rarely excelled. Immediately after graduating he accepted a professorship in Madison university, and with the means thus earned began the study of law. In the spring of 1832, he decided to move west. Accordingly he set out for Cincinnati, making a part of the journey on foot, and later made his way to Rising Sun, Ind., where he taught a term of school. Subsequently he en- tered the law office of Calvin Fletcher, at Indianapolis, and in 1836 located in Logans- port, at that time a mere opening in the
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wilderness. The bright promises of his early youth were soon fully realized, for no sooner was he admitted to the bar than he rapidly rose in his profession, and in a few years the fame of the eloquent young advocate resounded throughout northern Indiana. He was one who never courted notoriety, but he made himself a necessity in the field of action, and it was often a race between litigants to see who could reach his office first. At the time of his election to the United States senate in 1869, he was recognized as the ablest lawyer in northern Indiana, and his fame was not confined to this state alone, but extended throughout the western country. For twenty- five years he was without a rival in northern Indiana, before a jury. Gov. Hendricks and Sec. Thompson divided the palm with him in the south and west parts of the state. His eminent merits were recognized, and in 1847 he was nominated for congress, but was de- feated by Charles Cathcart. In 1848, he was one of the presidential electors, and in 1851- 53 was elected to the legislature, and soon be- came the leader in the house. In 1860 he was secretary of the national convention at Chicago, which nominated Abraham Lincoln for the presidency, and attracted great atten- tion by his eloquence and commanding pres- ence. During the war Mr. Pratt was a zeal- ous and patriotic advocate of the Union cause. In 1863 he received the unanimous vote of his party, then in the minority, for United States senator, and in 1868 was elected to congress by a handsome majority. In 1868 the legisla-
ture, without solicitation on his part, promoted him to the United States senate. It was un- fortunate that he entered that body so late in life, as he was then fifty-six years of age, and with the exception of two terms in the state legislature was without public training. The artificial restraint thrown around him in the national capital disgusted him, and interfered
with his splendid oratorical powers. As it was, however, he was recognized as one of the ablest men of that body during the period of his service, and although he made but few speeches, those he delivered were sound, log- ical and comprehensive. For six years he was a member of both claim and pension com- mittees, and for two years was chairman of the pension committee. Millions of dollars were allowed and dis-allowed on his recom- mendation. So conscientious was he that Wendell Phillips once remarked that "Pratt is the most absolutely honest man I ever knew." Upon the expiration of his term as senator, at the solicitation of Pres. Grant he took charge of the internal revenue department. In 1876, the republicans urged Mr. Pratt to become a candidate for governor of the state, but he de- clined. Personally Mr. Pratt was one of the most cheerful and genial of men, and in his social life, and all his associations, shed an in- fluence around him which was like sunshine. Although he never sought literary honors, his talents could not be unappreciated, and in 1872 Hamilton college conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL. D. In appear- ance he was above the average height, being over six feet and correspondingly portly. His presence was dignified and he moved among men as one born to command. In his death the nation lost one of its faithful public serv- ants, the state a great man, the legal profes- sion one of its ablest members and the com- munity one of its best citizens.
3 OSEPH E. McDONALD was born in Butler county, Ohio, August 29, 1819, the son of John McDonald, a native of Pennsylvania, and of Scotch descent. Maternally, Mr. McDonald is descended from French Huguenot ancestry. His mother,
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Eleanor (Piatt) McDonald, was a native of Pennsylvania and a woman of superior order of intellect. Seven years after the death of John McDonald she married John Kerr, who moved with his family to Montgomery county, Ind., in the fall of 1826. Joseph McDonald was seven years of age when the family moved to Indiana, and until his twelfth year he lived upon the home farm. In his twelfth year he became an apprentice at the saddler's trade in Lafayette, in which capacity he served out five years, studying law in the meantime, for which he early manifested a decided taste. At the age of eighteen he entered Wabash col- lege, began the study of the higher branches, supporting himself mainly by plying his trade when it was possible for him to do so. He afterward became a student in the Asbury university, and in 1842 began the systematic study of law at Lafayette, Ind., in the office of Zebulon Beard, one of the leading lawyers of the state. He was nominated for the office of prosecuting attorney before his admission to the bar, and was elected to that position over one of the prominent lawyers of Lafayette. He was re-elected prosecutor, and discharged the duties of that office for a period of four years. In the fall of 1847, he moved to Crawfordsville, which place was his home until 1859. In 1849 he was elected from the old eighth district and to the twenty-first con- gress, and served one term, and in 1856 was elected attorney general of Indiana, being the first chosen to this office by the people. He was re-elected in 1858, and served two terms.
In 1864 he was nominated for governor of Indiana by the democratic state convention, and made a joint canvass with Oliver P. Mor- ton, the republican nominee. At the election he received 6,000 more votes for governor than the state ticket did in 1862, but. Mr. Morton was elected by nearly 20,000 votes. Throughout his entire life he has strictly
adhered to his resolution to follow the law and make a success of the profession, and as a lawyer he has for years ranked among the most successful and profound in the nation. He was elected to the United States senate for six years, to succeed David D. Pratt, and entered upon the duties of that position March 5, 1875. While a member of that body he was chairman of the committee on public lands, a member of the judiciary committee, took a conspicuous part in the debates on finance, and ranked as one of the ablest law- yers in that body of distinguished men. He served with distinction until 1881, since which time he has given his attention principally to the practice of of his profession, though taking an active part in political affairs, being one of the recognized leaders of the democracy in the United States. He made the principal argu- ment for the objectors in the count of the electoral vote of Louisiana before the electoral commission appointed to determine the result of the presidential election in 1876. In the national democratic convention, held in Chi- cago in 1884, Mr. McDonald's name was pre- sented as a candidate for the presidential nomination, and he had a strong following in the delegation from a number of states. He is and always has been a representative demo- crat of the Jeffersonian school, and believes that the true idea of democracy is to preserve, unimpaired, all the rights reserved to the states respectively, and to the people, without infringing upon any of the powers delegated to the general government by the constitution. "He believes in the virtue of the people, and in their ability and purpose to maintain their institutions inviolate against the assaults of designing men." "As an orator, both at the bar and on the hustings, he is cool, logical and forcible, and as a citizen, he has the confi- dence and respect of all who know him, regardless of political creeds." "His views
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are broad and comprehensive on all questions of public interest, and his steadfastness of pur- pose, his honest desire of accomplishing what is best for the people, have given him a home in their hearts and won for him the greatest honors they had to bestow."
0 ANIEL W. VOORHEES was born in Butler county, Ohio, September 26, 1827, and was brought to Indiana by his parents when two months old. The family settled in Fountain county, where Mr. Voorhees grew to manhood on a farm about ten miles from the town of Covington. His father, Stephen Voorhees, was a native of Mercer county, Ky., and a descendant of an old Holland family, many representatives of which were among the early settlers of the eastern states in the time of the colonies. His mother was Rachel (Elliot) Voorhees, born in Maryland of Irish ancestry, and married Stephen Voorhees in the year 1821. The early farm experience of Mr. Voorhees proved of great value to him in after life, and served to bind him in ties of sympathy with the com- mon people. He graduated from the Asbury, now DePauw, university, at Greencastle, in 1849, and soon afterward entered the law office of Lane & Wilson, Crawfordsville, and on his admission to the bar, began the practice of his profession at Covington, Fountain county, where he soon effected a co-partnership with Hon. E. A. Hannegan in 1852. In June, 1853, Mr. Voorhees was appointed by Gov. Wright prosecuting attorney of the circuit court, in which position he soon established a fine repu- tation as a criminal lawyer. In 1856 he was nominated by acclamation democratic candi- date for congress, but was defeated by 230 majority in a district previously republican by 2,600. In 1857 he removed to Terre Haute,
and the following year was appointed United States district attorney for the state of Indi- ana by President Buchanan. He was elected to congress in 1860 and 1862, and in 1864 was again a successful candidate, but in the last election his majority of 634 votes was contested by his competitor, Henry D. Washburn, who obtained the seat. He was again elected in 1868, re-elected in 1870, but in 1872 was de- feated by Hon. Morton C. Hunter. In 1859 Mr. Voorhees was retained as counsel to defend Col. Cook, who was arrested with John Brown as an accomplice of the latter in the celebrated Harper's Ferry raid, and his speech at the trial was one of the greatest ever delivered before an American jury, and it gained him a national reputation. It was listened to with rapt attention by a vast audience, and was afterward published all over the country, and in Europe in several different languages. Mr. Voorhees was appointed November 6, 1877, to succeed Gov. Morton in the United States senate, and has served by successive re-elec- tions in that distinguished body until the pres- ent time. From his entrance into public life he has occupied a conspicuous place in the eyes of the public, and at the bar, on the stump or in the halls of national legislation, he has been a man of mark. His powers as a parlia- mentary orator and a statesman are a portion of the history of the nation, and as a party leader few if any have exercised as great an influence upon the people of Indiana as he. "From the sobriquet of the Tall Sycamore of the Wabash, so often applied to him, it will be inferred that he is of tall stature, which is the case, as he is over six feet in height and weighs over 200 pounds. He carries himself erect, and his commanding presence and dignified bearing make him a conspicuous figure in the senate chamber." During his term of service in the senate he has been assiduous in his attention to the public needs. He is always
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present and allows no measure of his political opponents to pass without the severest scru- tiny, and with him vigilance is the price of liberty.
0 R. DAVID J. JORDAN .- The above named gentleman is one of the most prominent of that coterie of scientific writers who have done so much to attract attention to the physical resources of Indiana. For many years Prof. Jordan has been president of the state university. He was educated at Cornell university, and after- ward studied biology under the famous Agassiz, in his celebrated summer school, Penikese is- land. Coming west, Jordan taught his spec- ialty in the university of Wisconsin, Indianapo- lis high school, Butler university and finally the Indiana university, of which his talents even- tually made him president. Prof. Jordan de- voted most of his attention for many years to the study of the habits and classification of the fishes of North America. On this subject he has published over 200 papers, besides a large work which has become a standard authority on ichthyology. In enthusiastic pursuit of his favorite study. Dr. Jordan made a fine and extensive collection of nearly ten thousand specimens of fishes, reptiles and birds, but un- fortunately these were all destroyed by a dis- astrous fire in 1883. With characteristic energy he set to work to repair the damage, and soon had a better collection than ever. He has been a voluminous writer on scientific subjects; the greater part being devoted to his specialty, the fishes of the western states. He has gathered around him, at Bloomington, a school of students who have grown up under his care, imbibed his tastes, and greatly assist- ed him in his scientific researches. The re- sult of their conjoint labors and writings has been to make the state university the center
and authority on subjects relating to biological work.
ROF. JOHN COLLETT, the most distinguished of Indiana geologists, is a native of this state, having been born in Vermillion county in 1828 and graduated at Wabash college in 1847. He has taken an active part in politics, having been state senator, state house commissioner, state statistician and state geologist. But his chief fame and his chief claim upon the grati- tude of his state, are based upon his work as a scientist. Prof. Collett's life has been studi- ous, useful to the geology of Indiana, and has done more than any other person to make known the natural resources of the state, es- pecially to advertise to the world the value of its coal measures and stone quarries. Chicfly through his efforts, the building stone of In- diana has been introduced to commerce, and is now used extensively for the construction of public buildings in all parts of the Union. He proved its superiority by a series of tests. From 1880 to 1884, he was state geologist, and for many years previously had served as an assistant in that office, to which he contri- buted his most earnest labor and the riches of his well stored mind. In 1884, he published the first and best geological map of the state ever issued, and has written voluminously on all subjects relating to the geology of the state. There is not a county he has not visited and studied, nor one with those geological history, dating far back into the dim twilight of the pre-historic periods, he is not so familiar as to be able to trace and read like an open book. Prof. Collett belongs to that useful class of citizens which, while not obtaining the passing applause and glittering fame that is conferred upon the politician in high office, confer more lasting benefits upon mankind and are of more
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actual value to a state than all its politicians put together. Indiana needs more John Col- letts and fewer "statesman" of the Col. Mul- berry Sellers and Senator Dillworthy type.
AURICE THOMPSON .- There is no more picturesque personality in the Hoosier state than the poet, naturalist, essayist, story writer and publicist, whose name heads this sketch. A native of the south, he possesses the frank- ness, ardor, geniality of disposition and fervent feelings so characteristic of the warm latitudes. His home, however, since the war has been in Indiana, with whose institutions and people he has become thoroughly identified. Mr. Thompson's tastes are literary and his occupa- tion and fame lie in that direction, but occa- sionally he takes an excursive flight into poli- tics, more by way of diversion than otherwise. He has served one or two terms as member of the lower house of the legislature, and one term also as state geologist by appointment of Gov. Gray. He prefers, however, to wander over the fields and woodlands, watching the habits of birds, and studying nature in all her varying moods. On these subjects he writes most entertainingly in stories, in poems, and in magazine essays. He is a born naturalist and is never so happy as when studying the in- teresting flora and fauna of his adopted state. He views nature with the eye of an artist, and describes her charms with the heart of a poet. One of his books covering these subjects, en- titled "Sylvan Secrets," is as charming as an Arabian tale. "The Red-head Family" is a bird sketch of the most delightful description, in which the imaginings of a poet, and the word painting of an artist are mingled with, and give color to, ornithological information of the most exact kind because gathered by a
student of nature in actual contact with what he describes. Bird song, nest building, bird anatomy, the loves, hates, trials and habits of the songsters of the grove, are themes which this poet-naturalist has enriched with the ap- preciation of a Thoreau, and the descriptive powers of a Goldsmith. One of his articles, a gem of its kind, describes the habits of the mockidg-bird in his native southern haunts. Mr. Thompson says, what is not generally known, that the mocker sometimes sings as it flies, after the manner of the skylark, and he dwells at length, on one of these "descending songs," which the mocker poured forth as he fluttered on ecstatic wing from branch to branch, and finally, by slow degrees, to the earth, where he fell exhausted with the efforts to produce his own exquisite melody. Mr. Thompson is a voluminous magazine writer and covers a wide variety of topics with un- flagging ability. He is a conspicuous member of that galaxy of literary stars who have shed such luster upon Indiana since the war period, and contributed so much to give her high rank in the world of letters.
J AMES WHITCOMB RILEY .- Some fifteen or twenty years ago there commenced to appear in various pa- pers of Indiana poems in dialect, re- lating to homely phases of human life and touching on those domestic topics that are common to every fireside. At first they only attracted the attention of a few, but by de- grees their fame spread as they were more and more appreciated, and people began to en- quire the author of such pieces as "The Old Swimmin' Hole," "When the Frost is on the Punkin and the Fodder's in the Shock," "The Flying Islands" and other gems, the charac- teristics of which were a gentle humor, always
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accompanied by a rich vein of tenderest pathos. Usually these poems purported to be written by "Mr. Johnson, of Boone," or some other bucolic individual unknown to fame. Most of them were published in the various newspapers edited by the late George C. Harding, himself a universal genius of the first water, and always in sympathy with ris- ing literary talent, which he did more than any other newspaper proprietor of the state to foster and develop. By degress it leaked out that the author of the popular dialect poems was none other than James Whitcomb Riley, a young man of Hancock county, who from the rude life of a farmer boy found him- self drifting irresistibly into rhyme, like the noted Mr. Wegg. In the course of time, Mr. Riley's fugitive pieces were collected and published in a volume, which was succeeded, at intervals, by others of a similar tenor, all of which were were warmly welcomed and generally read by lovers of that kind of verse which deals with lowly human nature, and as it comes from the heart of the writer, goes di- rectly to the hearts of the readers. Soon Mr. Riley had a state reputation and was wel- comed everywhere with affection as the typi- cal "Hoosier Poet." It was not until the national meeting of authors in New York, in the winter of 1886-87, that Riley's fame spread across the state lines and extended to boundaries that are touched by the two great oceans. The select critics of literature in the east fell easy victims to his genial personal address and platform ability, and when the meeting adjourned, Mr. Riley was, by general consent, placed high up on the temple of fame alongside of the most popular American poets. After that, he figured conspicuously on the lecture platform as a reciter of his poems, and has been much sought after for concert and lyceum work. Mr. Riley is a distinctive Hoosier product and his poems are rich with
the flavor of the soil from which their author sprang. He has done much to give Indiana high rank in the literary world, and for this, as well as for the intrinsic merits of his compositions, enjoys a warm place in the hearts of his fellow citizens of the Hoosier state.
EWIS WALLACE .- Though a sol- dier of distinction in two wars, it is not as a military man that Gen. Wal- lace has achieved his principal fame. It has been rather with the pen than the sword he has conquered, and no Indianian has carved his name so high on the literary temple as the distinguished subject of this sketch. A son of Gov. David Wallace, he was born in Brookville, Ind., on the 10th of April, 1827. He received a common school education and was studying law when the Mexican war roused him from his reveries. He served in that war with credit as a first lieutenant, and at its close resumed his profession, which he practiced chiefly in the cities of Covington and Craw- fordsville, Ind. He served a term of four years in the state senate, but never took kindly to politics. At the breaking out of the civil war, he was appointed adjutant general of In- diana, soon after becoming colonel of the Eleventh Indiana volunteers, with which he served in West Virginia, participating in the capture of Romney and the ejection of the enemy from Harper's Ferry. He became a brigadier general of volunteers in the fall of 1861, led a division at the capture of Fort Donelson, and displayed such ability as to receive a major general's commission in the following spring. He participated conspicu- ously in the fated field of Shiloh. In 1864 he was assigned to the command of the middle department, with headquarters at Baltimore, Md. With 5,800 men, he marched to the
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