USA > Indiana > Biographical and historical sketches of early Indiana > Part 13
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Senator Morton was not what is called a society man. After he entered politics he became so much absorbed that he had but little time for social gayeties and pleasures. But he was a family man, of domestic habits and tastes, passionately loving his wife and children and spending his happiest hours in their society.
The State pride of Senator Morton was intense. Indiana had been a butt for the ridicule of men for years who knew but little about her, and he determined to raise her to a plane where she could be ridiculed no longer. And he did it. In the great. civil war, which tried the mettle and patriotism of the people, Indiana came, under his guidance, to the front, vea, to the fore- front of the line. Senator Morton was an untiring worker, but he had no taste for the drudgery of details. He left this to others, and was very careful who they were. His brother-in-law .. Colonel W. R. Holloway, and General W. H. H. Terrell were his most trusted lieutenants, and rendered him services of incal- culable value. Senator Morton was not a member of any church, but he was a believer in the Christian religion. In a letter to a friend, written from New York on the eve of his de- parture for Europe, in 1865, he said :
" You are right when you say you believe that I deeply ap- preciate the prayers which have been offered up by the praying friends whom I have left behind me. I am no infidel. I was educated by pious grandparents to a professed belief in Chris- tianity, and taught to reverence holy things ; and though I may not, in many things, have led a Christian life, yet I have never fallen into disbelief, nor have I been the immoral man some would have the world to believe. The Christian gentleman is
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the noblest and loveliest character on earth, for which I enter- tain the highest respect and love. I recognize the hand of Providence in all the affairs of man, and believe there is a di- vine economy which regulates the lives and conduct of nations."
These are not the sentiments of a scoffer, nor of an unbeliever.
The mind of Senator Morton was massive and logical. He possessed the faculty of getting at the "bottom facts," and of weighing them with deliberation and judgment. He was never superficial in the examination or treatment of a subject. His comprehension was broad and far-reaching, his perception acute and penetrating, enabling him, with singular clearness, to pre- sent his opinions and arguments in a convincing and masterly manner.
As a legislator it can be said of Senator Morton that he orig- inated and accomplished much. He introduced many impor- tant measures and followed them up with persistent advocacy until they were disposed of. Many of them passed and became laws. He showed large capacity and fertile expediency as a law-maker, and as a party man never lost sight of the important bearing congressional action would have on the success of his party. And thus it was that he always took a leading part in such legislation as affected the political destiny of the organiza- tion to which he belonged. He was quick to observe the strong points of political advantage and the weak points in the record and programme of his opponents. These he pressed with a vigorous industry, scarcely equaled in Senatorial annals. He was far-seeing in the political future, full of well-defined ex- pedients, comprehending, as if by intuition, the political situa- tion, and was undoubtedly the most aggressive, bold and clear- headed Republican politician of his time.
A statue of Senator Morton has been made and will soon be placed in one of the public parks at Indianapolis. It is of bronze, is of life size, and represents the distinguished states- man in a standing posture. It was executed by Francis Sim- mons, an American artist residing in Rome. He made the statue of William King, contributed by Maine to the collection in the national capitol. He also designed the army and navy
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monument at Washington, and is known throughout the civil- ized world as a man eminent in his profession. Although the remains of Governor Morton were buried at Crown Hill, near Indianapolis, the statue of him will be placed in the heart of the city. It will stand where visitors to the State's capital can see the form and lineaments of the great War Governor, and be re- minded of his public work and patriotism. The money which is to pay for this monument was contributed by a generous pub- lic; therefore the monument will be an acknowledgment of the people's love and veneration for the man whose memory it was erected to perpetuate, and who was Indiana's most distin- guished son.
JAMES D. WILLIAMS.
Ix a book entitled " Eminent and Self-Made Men of Indiana," published at Cincinnati, by the Western Biographical Publish- ing Company, is the following monograph of the late Governor Williams, written by the author of these sketches :
James Douglas Williams, Governor of Indiana, is a type of the Western pioneer now seldom seen east of the Mississippi river. Born in Pickaway county, Ohio, January 16, 1808, he moved with his father's family to Indiana in 1818, and settled in Knox county, near the historic city of Vincennes. He grew to manhood there, and there remained until January, 1877, when he came to the capital of Indiana to take the reins of the State government, at the command of over 200,000 American freemen.
When Governor Williams arrived in Indiana, and for many years afterward, the State was sparsely populated. In many parts of it there were no white men or women, and where there were white settlements dwelling houses were far apart, and commu- nication with the outside world difficult and unfrequent. There- fore, it was hard to establish and maintain schools and churches, and the newspaper was an unusual visitor at the fireside of the pioneer. It was under such circumstances as these that Gov- ernor Williams grew to manhood and entered upon the duties of life. The little schooling he received was obtained in the log school-house. at times when his services could be spared from the farm. But, if the advantages of the school-room were measurably denied him, he was somewhat compensated for their loss by mingling with the best people in his settlement, and learning from them something of the outside world. Therefore,
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when he reached his majority he was unusually well versed, for one in his circumstances, in the news of that day and the history of the past. Added to this, he had a well-knit, hardy frame, was supple and agile in his movements, and, taken all in all, was the most promising young man in the settlement. He could make a full hand at the plow, in the harvest-field, or at the log-rolling, and was known throughout the neighborhood as a young man of industrious habits and of more than ordinary culture.
When Governor Williams was twenty years of age his father died. Being the oldest of six children, the care of the family devolved on him. He accepted this responsibility and acquitted himself well, as he has always done when charged with impor- tant duties. Three years afterward, at the age of twenty-three. he married Nancy Huffman, who lived until this year to bless and comfort him in his declining years. By her he has had seven children, two of whom only are living. His wife, like the mistress of the Hermitage, was wedded to her country home. and throughout his long life, most of which has been spent in the public service, has remained on his farm and participated in its management. Her death occurred June 27, 1880.
Governor Williams entered public life in 1839, as a justice of the peace. For four years he held this office and decided the controversies and adjusted the difficulties of his neighbors with great judicial fairness. His decisions were sometimes dissented from, but in no case were corrupt motives imputed to him. His neighbors knew his integrity, and while they sometimes criti- cised his conclusions they never impugned the motives by which he reached them. In 1843 he resigned his office of justice of the peace, and the same year was elected to the lower branch of the State Legislature. From that time until 1874, when he was elected to the national Congress, he was almost continu- ously in the legislative service of the State, sometimes in the House of Representatives, and then in the Senate. A history of his legislative work would be a history of the legislation of Indiana from 1843 to 1874. No man in the State has been so long in public life as he, and no one has more faithfully served the people. He is identified with most of the important meas- ures of legislation during this time, and is the author of many
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of them. It is to him that the widows of Indiana are indebted for the law which allows them to hold, without administration, the estates of their deceased husbands, when they do not ex- ceed three hundred dollars in value. He is the author of the law which distributed the sinking fund among the counties of the State ; and to him more than to any other man, with proba- bly the exception of the late Governor Wright, are the people indebted for the establishment of the State Board of Agricul- ture, an institution that has done so much to foster and develop the agricultural interests of Indiana. He was for sixteen years a member of this Board, and for four of them was its President. During his management of its affairs it was a self-supporting institution, and, besides, it accumulated an extensive and valu- able property during the time he was at its head. It has hap- pened, since he ceased to control its direction, that its finances have become so disordered that to preserve its existence the Legislature of the State has been compelled to take from the public treasury large sums of money and bestow them upon the society. It is safe to say that had he continued at its head no such necessity would have arisen.
In 1872 Governor Williams ivas the nominee of the Demo- cratic members of the Legislature for United States Senator, but his party being in the minority he was defeated for the office by the late Senator Morton. In 1874 Governor Williams was elected to Congress from the Vincennes district, and took his seat the ensuing fall. He was made chairman of the Com- mittee on Accounts of the House. Abuses had crept into this branch of the public service. Officers and employes acted upon the theory that " Uncle Sam" was a rich goose, from which every one had the right to pluck a quill. He soon taught them that public property was as sacred as private property, and that no one had a right to its use without rendering an equivalent. This brought upon him the maledictions of those who hover about the capital to fatten upon the rich pickings there to be found ; but it endeared him to those whose money supplies them. It was while at his post at Washington, attending to his public duties, that a telegram was handed him announcing his nomination for Governor of Indiana by the Democratic conven- tion of that State. He had not been a candidate for the place,
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and was as much surprised as any one when informed that the nomination had been made.
The campaign of 1876 in Indiana was a memorable one. It never had its counterpart in this country, except in 1858, when Douglas and Lincoln, in Illinois, contested for the Presidential stakes in 1860. Senator Morton announced early in the can- vass, in a speech he delivered in the Academy of Music in In- dianapolis, that the election of Williams as Governor meant the election of Tilden as President. Events proved the truth of the Senator's declaration ; for neither the decision of the electoral commission nor the legerdemain practiced by the re- turning boards can obscure the fact that the United States voted in November as Indiana did in October. Hendricks and McDonald, Landers and Gooding, Voorhees and Williams, and many other able men, entered the fight as champions of the Democracy ; while Morton and Harrison, Cumback and But- ler, Gordon and Nelson, and other men of prominence and ability, marshaled the forces of the Republicans. The conflict was so fierce that it shook the whole country. The Republican speakers and journals ridiculed the Democratic candidate for Governor, and made sport of his homespun clothes and plain appearance ; but the Democracy seized upon his peculiarities and made them watchwords of victory. Blue Jeans clubs were formed throughout the State, and the name the Republicans had given the Democratic candidate in derision was accepted by his friends and made to do service in his behalf. When the campaign was ended and the ballots were cast and counted, it was ascertained that the plain and honest old farmer of Knox had beaten his opponent-General Benjamin Harrison-over 5,000 votes. The result was as gratifying to his friends as it could have been to him, for they knew he had never been found wanting in any place he had been called upon to fill ; and they felt entire confidence that his legislative and congressional laurels would not turn to gubernatorial willows. The predeces- sors of Governor Williams for more than two decades have been eminent men. The three immediate ones were Morton, Baker. and Hendricks, the first and the last of whom have national reputations. While he has not the organizing ability and aggres- siveness of Morton, the reading and legal erudition of Baker,
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nor the elegance and symmetrical development of Hendricks, he has other qualities as an executive officer as valuable as those possessed by any of them. He is careful and painstaking, and enters into the minutest details of his office ; and he per- forms no official act without thoroughly understanding its im- port and effect. He is self-willed and self-reliant, and proba- bly consults fewer persons about his official duties than did any of his predecessors for a generation.
During his canvass for Governor it was charged by his politi- cal opponents that his selection would place in the executive chair one who would be influenced and controlled by others, but experience has proved the falsity of the charge. If any just criticism can be made upon him in this regard, it is that he has not sufficiently given his confidence to his friends. Instead of being swayed to and fro by others, he goes, perhaps, to the other extreme, and refuses to be influenced by any. Better, however, be stubborn than fickle, for the first insures stability and fixedness of purpose, while the latter always results in un- certainty and doubt.
Governor Williams is economical and simple in his tastes and habits. By industry and care he has accumulated a handsome competency, which, no doubt, will increase each succeeding year of his life. The necessities of his youth caused him to be careful and saving of his earnings, and he has clung to the hab- its then formed to the present day. He is fond of amusements and is an adept in social games and pastimes. He frequently visits the theater, and it is as pleasant as it is common to see him enter a place of public amusement accompanied by his grand- children or some of his country neighbors. He is courteous in his intercourse with others, is a good conversationalist, and is never at a loss for words to express his thoughts. He stands six feet four inches in his boots ; is remarkably straight and erect for one of his years ; has large hands and feet ; has high cheek bones ; a long, sharp nose ; twinkling gray eyes ; a clean shaven face, skirted with whiskers upon his throat, and a head covered profusely with black hair, in which scarcely a gray filament is to be seen. His physiognomy denotes industry and shrewdness. and does not belie the man. He dresses plainly but with scru- pulous neatness. He is a good judge of human nature, and he
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who attempts to deceive or overreach him will have his labor for his pains. Such is James D. Williams, the Centennial Gov- ernor of Indiana.
Governor Williams will retire from his office in January, 1881. His age is such that it is probable that his public life-forty-two years in the service of the people -- will then be ended. That he has acquitted himself well in all the positions he filled ; that he has made the world better by having lived in it, and that he is entitled to honorable mention in the history of his adopted State, will be the verdict of the people, when, like Cincinnatus of old, he lays aside the robes of office and retires to his farm. there to spend the evening of his life in quietude and rest.
On Saturday evening, October 30, 1880. Governor Williams attended the dedication of the dining hall of the House of Re- fuge, at Plainfield. During the dedicatory exercises he was called out by a toast to " Our present Governor," and responded in a neat speech of some ten minutes, the last speech he ever made. He told the boys when they left the House of Refuge to go into the country, to keep away from towns and cities, which, he said, were filled with pit-holes and sinks of iniquity. He declared that he had fully realized this to be true during the four years he had lived in a city, and that as soon as his term as Governor expired he was going back to his farm to stay while he lived. (Alas ! he was taken there before another put on his official robes.) That night Governor Williams and the author slept in the same bed. He was up many times, a dozen or more, on account of discharges from the bladder, and next morning I said to him that I thought he ought to consult a phy- sician, as he evidently had disease of the kidneys or bladder. He replied, he thought not, that the trouble was "a breaking down of the fence all along the line." It struck me at the time that the words were very expressive, and they sank deep into my memory. The illustration was drawn from the farm, a place he never forgot, no matter where he was, nor in what business he was engaged. The next day Governor Williams, Governor Baker, Senator Briscoe and myself drove from Plain- field to Indianapolis in a two-horse carriage, Governor Baker holding the reins. During most of the trip the conversation ran
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upon farm-life and its effect upon boys. Both the Governors expressed great concern about the future of the boys at Plain- field, and agreed that the farm was the place for them to go when they left the Reformatory.
On the Tuesday after the dedication at Plainfield, Governor Williams walked to the polls and cast his ballot for electors for President and Vice-President of the United States. He was unwell at the time, and after exercising this right of citizenship he returned to his rooms at the Washington Club House, never to leave them again. For several days he retained his cheer- fulness and saw those of his friends who called upon him. He also dispatched such public business as demanded immediate attention, his last official act being to respite a man sentenced to be hanged. During his illness he had the best of medical attention, careful nursing and the presence of several personal friends. among them Hon. John T. Scott, who remained with him almost constantly. He continued to grow worse until Sat- urday noon, November 20, when he died.
The news of Governor Williams's death spread over Indiana- polis with great rapidity. In an hour or two flags were placed at half-mast on all the public buildings, and upon many private ones. That afternoon a meeting of citizens was held in the parlors of the Washington Club House to take action in relation to the Governor's death. A committee was appointed to pre- pare a memorial, and it was determined that the remains should lie in state at the Court-house at Indianapolis on Monday, on Tuesday morning be taken to Vincennes, and lie in state at the Court-house there until that evening, and then be conveyed to the homestead near Wheatland, and the next day be buried.
On Sunday the remains lay in state in the parlors of the Washington Club House. On Monday morning they were taken to the Marion county Court-house and placed on a bier in the main hall. Thousands of people-white and black- citizens of Indianapolis, and citizens from other parts of the State, passed by the casket and viewed, for the last time, the face of the farmer Governor. The same day a meeting of the citizens was held in the Court-house, at which Hon. Joseph E. McDonald presided and the author of this sketch acted as sec- retary. Hon. Walter Q. Gresham, Solomon Claypool, Thomas
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F. Davidson, Augustus N. Martin and William P. Fishback, the committee appointed the Saturday previous, reported a me- morial, from which I make the following extracts :
" He never lost his fondness for the soil, nor for the men who till it; and in the midst of his most pressing official engage- ments it was his wont to seek a respite from public care in the active management of his farm at Wheatland. It is worthy of note and emphasis that Governor Williams was a man of singular purity of character. His private and domestic virtues are attested by all who enjoyed the intimacy of his per- sonal friendship, and his official integrity was never blurred by even an imputation of dishonesty. His conception of official station was that it was a public trust, to be administered with the same care, prudence and frugality which a wise man would bestow upon his private affairs. It is to his honor that at a time when the tendencies in official station were in the direction of a lavish and careless expenditure of the public moneys, he used his influence in Congress to check those tendencies and expose existing abuses. As Governor he evinced the same watchful care of the public interests, and, though a warm partisan, no alleged party necessity, no consideration of personal friendship. could swerve him from what he believed to be the path of duty.
* *
" Measured by the best standards Governor Williams was a worthy citizen, a faithful public servant, a good man. His vir- tues were many and conspicuous,
"' And e'en his failings leaned to virtue's side.'"
Hon. William H. English arose and seconded the adoption of the memorial, and in a very appreciative speech said, among other things :
" When I say he represented the people, I mean it in the broadest and best sense, for he was literally of the people, and always especially devoted to their interests-himself a hard- working tiller of the soil, a true type of that class of sturdy pio- neers whose stout hearts and strong arms have made Indiana the great and prosperous State it is to-day. The masses of the peo-
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ple did honor to themselves in honoring him, for he was their true representative. He was not a man learned in the lore of books-not in one sense a man of culture-but he was a man of most excellent judgment, and his mind was well stored with useful and practical information ; and what is more than all, and better than all, he was what is said to be God's noblest work, an honest man."
Ex-Governor Hendricks said :
" I believe that no man living has served the people of the State in so many important respects for so long a period, com- mencing, as I perceive by the memorial, in' 1839, almost con- tinuously. He was a public servant until the day of his death, more than forty years-not all the time in public service, but for the greater portion of that period, and what gives emphasis to this circumstance, is the fact that for the most of the time he was selected by his immediate neighbors, among whom he was raised, and with whom he had all the relations of life. Such a man, so indorsed, is worthy of the respect which we pay him to-day. It is a great loss when such a man dies, and I feel that the public service suffers in his death. I wish simply, in rising, to express my profound regard for his character and for the ex- cellence of his public service."
Hon. Jonathan W. Gordon closed a very eloquent speech, as follows : .
" When a generation of men shall come-as it will come in the State of Indiana-that will believe that economy will be subserved by lavish expenditure of money in building a temple to preserve the memory of the great who have served the peo- ple, Governor Williams's name and memory and face and monu- ment will be entitled to a conspicuous place in that temple."
General Benjamin Harrison, who was Governor Williams's opponent in the gubernatorial contest of 1876, paid this gener- ous tribute to the memory of the departed Governor :
" If there were nothing to be said of Governor Williams's relation to the public affairs of Indiana at all. his life would be
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an honorable and successful one. I have always felt that the successful pioneer, one of those who pressed toward the edge of civilization in the early days, and made a successful fight with the wilderness, and cleared the primitive forest and made of it a meadow, and of the marsh a dry field, and who built up around him and for himself and for the family that God gave him, a competence, elevated them, that that life was an honor- able life and worthy of mention in any assembly. This work Governor Williams has done conspicuously."
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